About PHAME

PHAME is a fine and performing arts academy serving adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Located in Portland, Oregon, and also operating online, our education and performance programs empower students to learn new skills, take artistic risks, and build lasting relationships with people who share their experience of having a disability.

PHAME is built upon the belief that art is for everyone, and that our community is stronger when it champions opportunities for all. With that in mind, PHAME brings passion, joy, and rigor to arts education and performance.

Mission Statement

PHAME empowers individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to lead full, creative lives through arts education and performance. 

Vision Statement

PHAME envisions a community that champions opportunities and possibilities for all.

PHAME was founded in 1984 to create performance opportunities for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. PHAME students, families, staff and volunteers came together on Saturdays to explore singing, dancing and acting, and in the winter of 1984 this new performance troupe performed their first staged theatre production.

Over the next 25 years PHAME continued to grow, adding staff and more weekly classes and performance opportunities. In 1993 PHAME was certified as a 501c3 nonprofit. And while the organization changed leadership and locations a few times over that quarter century, PHAME’s mission continued to be grounded in performance and education for all, taught and produced by working artists in the Portland region.

In 2014, PHAME created a new set of core values. By including Self-Determination, Dignity of Risk, and Inclusion in its values statement, PHAME committed to shaping its programming around the voices, opinions and stories of its students. Students now serve on staff and on the board.

In recent years, PHAME has developed valuable relationships with arts leaders and advocates, has built a partnership model that brings local arts organizations into PHAME, and has implemented a core curriculum across the Education Program.

PHAME continues to be driven by the belief that art is for everyone. Through classes, performances and community events, PHAME empowers adults with disabilities to explore their creativity, advocate for themselves, and embrace their dreams. PHAME believes that all communities are stronger when everyone is included, and to that end, PHAME continues its work: Creating art. Expanding possibility.

1984: PHAME’s first production, an adaptation of “The Nativity Story,” launches PHAME in December 1984. The production is directed by PHAME's founder, Carol Stady, alongside a group of dedicated families, care providers, and young and older adults with developmental disabilities.

1987: PHAME produces its first fully staged traditional Broadway-style musical, My Fair Lady.

1993: PHAME formally incorporates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

1994: A group of PHAME artists travels to Brussels, Belgium, and offers a command performance as part of the VSA Very Special Arts International Festival.

1998: PHAME holds its first gala fundraising event at Portland's World Trade Center, Portland.

2008: PHAME tours across the Pacific Northwest.

2010: PHAME takes up new residence at Grace Memorial Episcopal Church in Northeast Portland.

2011: PHAME is recognized with the City of Portland “Making A Difference Award,” and breaks attendance records with its summer production of “Grease,” making it the best-attended PHAME production in the organization’s history.

2012: PHAME embarks on its most ambitious touring project to date, with “PHAME: The H is for Honored Tour,” in which over 50 PHAME artists tour across the four-county region, performing to over 3,000 community members in schools, community centers, and concert halls. The tour culminates in a blowout show at the Aladdin Theater. Later that year, PHAME partners with Runaway Mustache Productions to produce the feature-length documentary, In This Together, premiering August 1, 2012 at The Hollywood Theatre. Finally, PHAME collaborates with and opens for Oregon's own globe-trotting world pop mini orchestra, Pink Martini, at the Oregon Zoo.

2014: Supported by the board and the leadership of Executive Director Stephen Marc Beaudoin, PHAME creates a new set of core values. By including Self-Determination, Dignity of Risk, and Inclusion in its values statement, PHAME commits to shaping its programming around the voices, opinions and stories of its students. This commitment spurrs the addition of two students to the PHAME board, fast-tracks the creation of staff positions for students, and is the impetus for creating a student leadership and public speaking program.

2015: PHAME presents the world premiere play with music Up the Fall. Written by Debbie Lamedman and featuring music and lyrics by Laura Gibson, Up the Fall is performed at Artists Repertory Theatre and is PHAME’s first integrated performance featuring actors with and without disabilities.

2017: PHAME launches the One Community initiative, including the One Community Luncheon and the Oregon Arts Leaders for Inclusion Coalition. In partnership with PHAME students, Director Matthew B. Zrebski develops In a Single Breath, an original play inspired by student experiences. The play is performed at Artists Repertory Theatre by actors with and without disabilities. In August, PHAME hires Jenny R. Stadler, Ph.D. as Executive Director.

2018: PHAME launches a multi-year collaboration with Portland Opera and introduces a new school-wide core curriculum.

2019: Continuing its multi-year collaboration with Portland Opera, PHAME presents The Poet’s Shadow, an original rock opera featuring artists with disabilities at every stage of the process.

2020: PHAME introduces online classes, virtual hangouts, Cabarets, and other Zoom-based programing in order to keep students connected and creative during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students from across the country join PHAME’s expanding community.

2022: PHAME reintroduces in-person classes after operating 100% online during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2023: PHAME takes the stage at Revolution Hall to present Stop Making Sense, a multimedia production inspired by Talking Heads’ 1984 concert film of the same name.