Partner Resources
Nonprofit Status & EIN
PHAME is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our EIN is 93-0991167.
Logos
The PHAME logo may be used in publications and communications only when a partnership and/or understanding of collaboration has been established between PHAME and the other party. The PHAME logo should never overlap with other logos or text, and care should be taken to ensure sufficient contrast between the logo and any image it overlaps. Whenever possible, the logo should be used over a white or very dark solid background (using the logo with contrasting text color). The logo should not be modified or edited in any way. If you have questions about proper use of this logo, please email Anya at aroberts@phamepdx.org.
The PHAME logo is available in several formats. Please choose the version that works best for your application. To download the logo file, click the link (JPG, PNG, or EPS) that appears below the logo. (If you’re not sure which to choose, we recommend downloading either of the JPGs)
Get to Know PHAME
We love talking about the wonderful work our partners do, and we know the feeling is mutual. Below are some key talking points about what we do, as well as a few things we’d love partners to keep in mind when sharing our story.
What is PHAME?
PHAME is a fine and performing arts academy serving adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Offering art classes and workshops in a wide range of disciplines, as well as a robust performance program, PHAME empowers students to learn new skills, take artistic risks, and build lasting relationships with people who share their experience of having a disability.
Located in Portland, Oregon, and also offering robust online programming, PHAME creates accessible pathways for students to engage, grow, and thrive in the arts—wherever they are.
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.
Our Mission
PHAME empowers individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to lead full, creative lives through arts education and performance.
Key talking points
Student-Centered
We are committed to shaping our programming around the voices, opinions and stories of our students. Students work on our staff and on our board, and student feedback drives class offerings and program development. The story of PHAME is the story of our students: their experiences, beliefs, desires, and achievements.
Teaching Artists
Our teachers, known as “Teaching Artists,” are professional artists, actors, movers, writers, makers, and musicians who come to PHAME to share their art forms with our students. While many organizations serving people with disabilities rely on disability specialists to offer simple arts programming, our Teaching Artists are practicing artists who receive training on differentiated instruction and accommodations.
Vision & Partnerships
We envision a future where people with disabilities are fully included in our society. With that in mind, we offer opportunities for local arts organizations to partner with us to learn about how they can better include and support people with disabilities, both on their staff and in their programming. Partnership opportunities empower other organizations to learn about disability and how it serves a vital role in their equity and inclusion goals. Recent partnerships have included staged productions, collaborative dance projects, writing workshops, ticket opportunities, and so much more. Learn more on our partnerships page.
Our Community
We’re a community—a place where people with disabilities come to connect, make friends, learn, and grow. Making lasting relationships is important for people with and without disabilities, and PHAME gives people with disabilities a place where they can spend time with people who share their lived experience.
Things to Keep in Mind
Adults, Not Kids
At PHAME, our students are adults ages 18 and up who are pursuing continuing education classes and performance opportunities. We often hear people with disabilities referred to as “kids,” an inappropriate infantilization for adults. We ask that our community partners make sure to refer to our students as adults, not kids.
Empowerment, Not Inspiration
People with disabilities are very often used as tools for inspiring people who don’t have disabilities. Social media is full of examples of this: videos or posts that focus on the accomplishments of people with disabilities for the sake of making people without disabilities feel better about their lives. This is called “inspiration porn,” and it dehumanizes people with disabilities and defines them by their difference, rather than acknowledging it as one aspect of their full personhoods. At PHAME, we don’t refer to our students as automatically “inspiring;” they’re pursuing their own empowerment by learning new things and expanding their knowledge and skills—something that everyone should have the opportunity to do.
We ask that our community partners avoid using the word inspiration in any context when discussing our organization, and instead focus on our students as individuals who are advocating for themselves and living their own unique lives. Additionally, we ask that our partners avoid language that implies that working with people with disabilities is “rewarding” or “heartwarming” for the people working with them. Instead, we hope that you will focus on our students themselves and the work they do here.
Disability Is Diversity
People with disabilities add to the diversity of our community. And yet, disability—both I/DD and physical disabilities—is so often left out of conversations about equity, diversity, and inclusion. We challenge our partners to add disability to their EDI conversations and to seek out opportunities to welcome people with disabilities into every level of their organizations.
Is PHAME an Acronym?
PHAME was originally an acronym, but we stopped using the acronym because it no longer felt representative of who we are and what we do. Now we’re just PHAME—no need to mention what it once stood for.