Fall 2026 27 ↙ The gallery contains traditional as well as interactive areas devoted to visual arts, sculpture, performance art, literary art and music. SI’s main gallery theme, “Climate of Change/Clima de Cambio.” The inaugural exhibition’s works are all centered around the subtheme of water, with the dance performance “Rising” from PRAx’s 2025-26 season projected onto the life-size video screens, a commissioned piece by musician Eli Stine playing in the gallery’s headphones, and paintings and sculpture lining the gallery’s walls. “It is a big deal for OSU. OMSI gets more than 800,000 visitors a year,” said Peter Betjemann, the Patricia Valian Reser executive director at PRAx and associate vice provost of arts and humanities at OSU. “It was a new kind of challenge to curate a space in which the primary audience is 6- to 16-yearolds. But we are delighted to be partnered with OMSI and to bring the unique PRAx vision of arts, humanities and science integration to Portland.” The museum and OSU have a lot of shared values, said Akiko Minaga, OMSI’s vice president of learning experiences. “At OMSI, we think a lot about how to make science more accessible and interdisciplinary,” she said. “For this exhibition in particular, we wanted to explore different ways of being able to talk about and explore climate change, and this partnership with PRAx came at a great time.” OMSI Creative Director Ciera Iveson has been enjoying watching students experience the PRAx exhibition as they find new ways to engage with the sometimes-abstract concepts of climate change. “You often see kids imitating “YOU OFTEN SEE KIDS IMITATING THE DANCERS AND DOING THEIR OWN DANCES. THEY’RE LITERALLY EMBODYING IT.” the dancers and doing their own dances. They’re literally embodying it,” Iveson said. “I’ve spent a lot of time observing and checking in with teachers from different age groups, and I think there’s something for everyone in this year’s PRAx gallery.” PRAx in Bend On the other side of the state, PRAx kicked off a new concert series designed to let the OSU-Cascades community share in the performances experienced by the Corvallis campus. The concerts are co-presented by OSU-Cascades and PRAx at the Tower Theatre in Bend. In the 2025-26 season, the visiting artists were Ukrainian band Yagódy and percussionist and 2025-26 Patricia Valian Reser Artist-in-Residence Andy Akiho. Next year, there will be three performances, one for each term. Barcelona-based sextet Maruja Limón brings its fusion of flamenco, Latin rumba and electronic experimentation to the Tower Theatre on Sept. 27. Dutch-Israeli jazz musician Nani Vazana appears with the OSU Chamber Choir on Jan. 23. And Third Coast Percussion collaborates with DJ and pioneering electronic composer Jlin on April 7. (See beav.es/cascades-connect for details and tickets.) The series is the culmination of conversations with Central Oregon community members who want OSU-Cascades THE ARTS ARTS ACROSS OREGON Visit the new PRAx Gallery at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) on 1945 Southeast Water Avenue in Portland. Go to omsi.edu for tickets and hours. See details about upcoming PRAx shows at the Tower Theatre on 1500 Southwest Chandler Avenue in Bend at beav.es/cascades-connect. View the 2026-27 PRAx season lineup and buy tickets for Corvallis shows at prax.oregonstate.edu. continues
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