Since 2013, From the Ground UP has been producing new artistic works; creating space that empower artists, inviting the unusual, challenging norms and forging new paths that elevate individuals and communities here and beyond.
OUR MISSION
From the Ground UP : A Research and Development Center for New Art is a Portland OR, based organization that fosters the creation of new art. We seek to expand, reimagine and invent new ways of making, producing and presenting art.
Focusing on marginalized populations we elevate sidelined voices, invoke important community dialogues and support the creation and presenting of stories that are often overlooked. Knowing that by bringing these stories to the forefront we can create spaces that empower artists, invite the unusual, challenge norms and forge new pathways that uplift individuals and communities both here and beyond.
What we do…
Since 2016 we have focused ALL programming on women/femme-identified artists. Regionally, we are the only arts organization that is entirely led by and serving women/femme-indviduals. In our tenure we have served the full spectrum of women/femme-identified individuals ages 14-79. We offer the training, resources, and infrastructure to produce their stories and lived experiences. Creating art across disciplines - theater, music, dance, and social practice (art that is concerned with personal, political and global change.) We bring to life the culture and lives of the individual artists producing art that is rooted in bravery and is essential to the great work of dismantling systems of oppression.
Why we do it…
Studies show that engagement with the arts decreases crime, reduces poverty and increases academic success, just to mention a few. By focusing on women/femme-identified artists whose we are securing this concrete resource and bringing these profound benefits to this community. Currently women only make 37% of playwrights nationally and only 35% of artistic directors yet women receive undergrad and graduate degrees in the arts at a much higher rate than men. By focusing 100% of our efforts on women we are actively dismantling structural oppression in the arts and American culture.
How we do it…
As a multi-functional organization we move from the philosophical goal of individual and community evolution.
Our programming has three key areas:
Incubation: offers the support and resources needed to develop authentic voices and create new art. Offering a creative process that centers around flexible learning we have created a core curriculum that is in response to each unique individual that walks into our room. Our participants thrive, creating new art that develops deeper understanding, dialog and the awareness that is necessary for transformative change. Incubation includes: workshops, trainings, new work commissions, and our flagship program, an annual nine-month artist residency.
Presentation: Through intimate live productions, art exhibits, community events, and our annual new works festival, we have produced over 60 new works of art and reached upwards of 7000 audience members. With the goal of advancing collaboration and engagement with diverse communities we partner with BIPOC lead spaces such as New Expressive Works and the Historic Alberta House as well as spaces that are located in underserved areas such as the Ramona Street Art Farm. These partnerships create interesting engagements and opportunities inside diverse spaces and communities across Portland.
Resource & Research Center: We extend resources through mentorship, professional support, collaborative fundraising, and partnerships with other organizations. Research, our newest effort, is poised to examine the impact of our programming and discover new possibilities for live art. Looking at why and how engagement with authentic storytelling helps to enrich the lives of those who create and encounter it.
Our Team
““Katherine and the entire From the Ground UP team, are one of the most passionate and driven group of mentors I have ever had. Their commitment to the program, theatre arts, and the residents made me feel empowered to take risks.””
Katherine Murphy Lewis
Artistic Director
Katherine Murphy Lewis is the founding Artistic Director of From the Ground UP: A Research and Development Center for New Art. Since 2013 Katherine has championed programing, workshops, residencies and new art development. Crafting her own innovative approach to community and nonprofit leadership and curriculum she has developed a model that puts artists' authentic voices and expressions in the forefront by creating a space for individuals to develop stewardship over their artistry, careers and lives. In the past six years, Katherine has spearheaded a refocusing of the organization’s mission towards serving female and female identifying populations, launching the Young Women’s Residency Program in 2017. This program has evolved into an annual nine month Artists Residency that produces upwards of ten new works from a cohort of multigenerational artists, each presented in From the Ground UP’s annual Mini festival of New Art.
In addition to her work in leadership and education, Katherine had enjoyed collaborating locally and internationally, including her residence with Company of Wolves in Glasgow Scotland, in which she traveled and toured their show Achilles at Edinburgh Fringe and throughout the UK and Europe. Locally she has co-wrote and co-produced the new play, Tonight Nothing, in partnership with Merideth Kaye Clark, which premiered at CoHo Production’s summer of 2019. Most recently she produced and directed You Can’t Be Serious, a hilarious and tragic story about witnessing, and grappling with death. This new work blends contemporary dance, comedy and authentic storytelling that lives between light and dark, between down and up, between the weight of tears and the levity of laughter.
Currently Katherine is leading From the Ground UP into its next phase of evolution, working with the Regional Arts and Council Cultural Cultural Leadership Program Katherine is bringing forth a new phase of programs, all aimed at reimagining who, what and how we create new live art. In doing so she is fostering innovation, expanding artistic spaces and supporting artists who have struggled to find space, support and funding traditional artistic spaces.
Jacquelle Davis
Program Director
Jacquelle Davis is a Portland based Actor, Writer, Improviser and Fight/Intimacy Choreographer. She studied at Willamette University. Jacquelle is not only an experienced actor, but also has a background in Theater Administration, Rentals Management, producing and devising. Her passion is creating art through humor, empathy and authentic storytelling. Jacquelle discovered From The Ground Up while working on her solo show about her journey to sobriety. Not only did she find a creative home at FTGU, she found a way to combine her own lived experience, social work background and skills as an artist to support others in finding their own voice. Jacquelle firmly believes that Art Saves Lives, and that is should be accessible to all.
Kate Perri
Company Apprentice
Kate/KP is a strange and lovable goof. She found From The Ground UP in 2019 and never left. In 2019 and 2021 she was an artist in residence as well as the Artistic Development Intern in 2020. KP is so thankful to have a creative container after graduating college that creates invaluable storytelling and performance opportunities with minimal barriers of entry, a revolutionary and rare practice. KP uses a variety of styles of comedy, poetry, song, movement, the body, and whatever else she can find, with the intention of creating work that inspires connection and liberation. She wants to thank Katherine and everyone who makes From the Ground UP possible; the transformative effects on the artists that emerge from this organization can not be overstated. She wants to thank her awe-inspiring mom, her brother Andy and her beloved community of roommates, friends, artists, comrades, and all those who have given and still give so much to creating a safer and freer world.