The Department of Cultural Transformation

The Department of Cultural Transformation aims to elevate & prioritize Pasifika & Queer cultures within UTOPIA PDX & the broader community. This department focuses on fostering an inclusive, culturally aware environment internally & externally while engaging in advocacy, outreach, and educational efforts to ensure greater cultural understanding & visibility for QTPIs.

Within the Cultural Transformation Department resides our two culturally specific programming: The COVE & Cultural Currents Initiative.

The COVE

  The COVE stands for The Creation of Vibrant Exchanges. Through our cultural stewardship programming we aim to Raise the Tides of Intergenerational Knowledge. When living in diaspora*, it becomes difficult to hang on and pass down cultural traditions, practices, and rituals.

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When living in diaspora*, it becomes difficult to hang on and pass down cultural traditions, practices, and rituals.

UTOPIA PDX’s The COVE program restores and reimagines the integral roles of Queer and Trans Pacific Islanders (QTPIs) within our communities. The COVE responds to the pressing need to bridge generational gaps within the QTPI community, ensuring the transfer of traditional art forms, wisdom, and values to future generations.

The COVE seeks to elevate QTPIs’ contributions by fostering an environment where cultural practices and artistic expressions flourish. Our monthly workshops serve as a dynamic platform for learning and practicing traditional art forms, encompassing a diverse range of expressions including weaving, fabrics, and creating with nature.

These art forms serve as conduits of history, identity, and connection, transmitting stories that are woven into the fabric of the QTPI experience.

*people who have spread or been dispersed from their homeland

Cultural Currents Initiative

The Cultural Currents Initiative draws inspiration from the idea of ocean currents. Powerful invisible forces that shape landscapes, connect continents, & drive change.

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Just as ocean currents carry water & energy across vast distances, this Initiative channels the cultural knowledge, traditions, and identities of QTPI across generations & communities.

By focusing on the flow of cultural exchange & advocacy, the initiative seeks to uplift QTPI voices and ensure that their contributions remain & ground our outcomes in both local and broader contexts.

STAFF