Risk/Reward Festival 2022

Sadly, our Saturday and Sunday evening performances have been canceled. Please reach out to katie@risk-reward.org if you would like to receive a refund for your tickets.

The Risk/Reward Festival showcases seven new works by indie performing artists from across the region. Come celebrate our 14th year blurring the boundaries of theater, music, dance, and performance art in new and surprising ways.

OUR 2022 FESTIVAL ARTISTS

KATE DUFFLY & PETER KSANDER – performance (Portland, OR)
ROMAN NORFLEET & BE PRESENT ART GROUP – musical performance (Portland, OR)
WADE MADSEN & NANCY CRANBOURNE – movement theater (Seattle, WA)
JENNY MAY PETERSON – performance (Seattle, WA)
NOELLE SIMONE – contemporary jazz/modern/hip hop (Portland, OR)
ATOLE – ritual performance/electronic music (Portland, OR)
JAMES MAPES / FLY PAPER GAMES – interactive installation (Portland, OR)

Watch this year’s VIDEO TRAILER for a sneak peek at the festival artists

This year’s work was curated in collaboration with a panel of local tastemakers including:

Jerry Tischleder, Founder of Risk/Reward
Marilou Mariko Carrera, Project Manager
Justine Nakase
Joaquin Lopez, Creative Laureate, City of Portland
Reuben Roqueñi, Director of Transformative Change Programs, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation
Pat Moran
Roshani Thakore
Yawa
Master Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson, Jr.
Hannah Kracfik
maximilliano

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Due to the popularity of our Pay-What-You-Will model —
we are making ALL TICKETS PAY-WHAT-YOU-WILL for the entire festival again this year!

What is the Risk/Reward Festival?

Each day the festival includes the same six new works, performed back-to-back over a 2+ hour extravaganza with short breaks and one intermission.

We solicit proposals from regional artists for new works that can be performed 20-minutes or less. A panel of local artists and tastemakers select a lineup and we challenge the artists to run wild – encouraging creative risks, experimentation, and bold investigation. No one really knows what to expect until opening night. Several performances are staged back-to-back nightly in a festive environment. Audiences come to sample a variety of artistic voices and art forms in what the Willamette Week calls, “speed dating for contemporary performance.”

Thanks to our festival sponsors!

Photo of Risk/Reward sponsor logos

The Risk/Reward Festival is dedicated to the presentation of new performance and preference is given to works that are currently in development or that have not been produced fully in the past. Risk/Reward addresses some of the most pressing needs of local artists and audiences by providing a platform for artists to present new work while introducing Portland audiences to artists from across the west coast.

The festival’s major goals are:

To provide a supportive environment for artists to present new work with full technical, administrative, and marketing assistance.
To introduce audiences to new artists and forms.
To provide a place for artists and audiences to mingle and connect over a shared artistic experience.
To promote creative experimentation in the performing arts