Wake of Vanport 2016 Series Workshop Begins

In their efforts to continue collecting stories from Vanport survivors, The Skanner Foundation in partnership with Portland Community Media is training ten producers equipment use, how to conduct interviews with Vanport survivors and how to put the final touches on their productions by learning Final Cut Pro X editing. Equipment for the project is loaned to producers throughout the workshop at no charge.

The project is sponsored by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Mt. Hood Cable Regulatory Commission and in partnership with the Oregon Historical Society for archived materials.

On Memorial Day 1948, a dike broke on the Columbia River starting a flood that would leave 18,000 people homeless and altering race relations in Portland forever. The Wake of Vanport 2016 Series is designed to tell the stories through oral history video production based on interviews with survivors. Student producers will interview Vanport flood survivors as they talk about their lives in Vanport before, during and after the flood that displaced many Portlanders in 1948. The stories are packed with intrigue and passion as memories emerge.

Another workshop will be schedule in mid summer to train ten new students. Productions will be finalized and screened in the community in November and December of 2016. For more information about the project, please go to www.npmtc.org or call Naomi Pierce at 503-285-5555 x 521.