"I THINK there's definitely a divide between youth culture and adult culture," says Hannah Ginsberg, a junior at St. Mary's Academy. Ginsberg is also a youth committee member at Friends of Noise, a new group dedicated to creating safe spaces for all-ages concerts in Portland, supporting arts education, and bridging this palpable gap in Portland's music community.
On Sunday, May 22, Friends of Noise will host their first show and launch party at Los Prados Event Hall in St. Johns, with performances from the Doo Doo Funk Allstars, Neo G Yo, Drex Porter, and GEM Dynasty. It's the first of four concerts the group plans to put on this year, thanks to a grant from the Multnomah County Cultural Coalition. Friends of Noise ultimately hopes to find a permanent location for an all-ages venue that could serve as a home base while they continue to put on networked shows across the city.
Friends of Noise is "for youth, by youth, supported by adults," says Ginsberg. During our meeting at Tiny's on SE Hawthorne she's joined by fellow St. Mary's junior and youth committee member Frances McClain, as well as Rebecca Miller, who has worked for the Regional Arts and Culture Council, and Gina Altamura, Holocene's talent buyer, both from the group's board of directors. The youth committee has about 10 active members and 15 to 20 adult mentors on the board of directors.