About:

Fertile Ground, a flagship program of the Portland Area Theatre Alliance, is new works performing arts festival spanning the entirety of the Portland Metro Area. The Festival was founded in 2009 by Tricia Pancio Mead and flourished for over a decade under the leadership of Festival Director Nicole Lane.

Fertile Ground features the new work of our LOCAL artists, performers, and resident theatre companies from Portland and the surrounding areas, ensuring that the artistic and financial benefits of the festival stay in the community. Where other new works festivals are typically curated by one entity, this Festival is collaboratively shaped by community participation, uplifting a variety of aesthetic voices.

In 2021, Fertile Ground created the GROW Grant program was created to increase access to presenting work in the Fertile Ground Festival for marginalized and traditionally underrepresented artists. Through the GROW program, Fertile Ground seeks to support the artistic and professional growth of these artists, and to enrich the Portland arts landscape by providing direct support to artists from underrepresented communities.