PICKATHON 2026 - Building Futures Through Design, Sustainability, and Community
Introduction
For more than 25 years, Pickathon has been more than just a music festival—it has been a proving ground for innovative ideas in design, sustainability, and community building. At the heart of this work is Creative Neighborhoods, the nonprofit partner that turns Pickathon into a living classroom for students, artists, builders, and makers.
As we look toward Pickathon 2026, we are inviting partners and supporters to invest in a model that brings hands-on education, sustainable design, and community impact together in one unforgettable event.
Why Pickathon Matters
Pickathon is not just a stage for musicians—it’s a stage for the future workforce, for sustainable innovation, and for creative placemaking. It’s where nonprofit partners of Creative Neighborhoods gain real-world experience that cannot be replicated in a classroom, while making lasting contributions to festival design, community infrastructure, and environmental sustainability.
Every year, hundreds of students, mentors, and professionals contribute their creativity and labor to building immersive environments that inspire festival-goers and serve communities long after the music fades.
Proven Impact: Highlights from 2024
1. Building Futures with Sabin-Schellenberg Professional Technical Center
For over 50 years, Sabin-Schellenberg has provided North Clackamas students with career-focused learning. In 2024, their students designed and built tables and seating for the Market neighborhood at Pickathon—functional installations used by thousands of festival-goers. This was the first step in what will become a long-term partnership with local schools, giving students real-world, hands-on design/build experience.
2. The Grove Stage: A Living Classroom
In 2024, the Grove Stage was transformed into more than just a festival centerpiece—it became a hub of education and sustainability.
Partnerships: Creative Neighborhoods joined forces with the Home Builders Foundation, Building to Scale training program, and Scott Edwards Architecture.
Impact: Dozens of building trades students participated in a large-scale design/build project, learning side by side with professional architects and builders.
Sustainability: Every component of the stage and bar area was designed for reuse. After the festival, materials were repurposed into bike shelters, office spaces, outdoor seating, and A-frame sheds, many of which were donated to local shelters serving unhoused neighbors.
3. Mentorship Through ACE
The ACE Mentor Program expanded student opportunities at Pickathon:
One student worked directly with our festival art curator, learning about project management in the arts.
Other students gained hands-on building experience by helping construct the Wildhorse neighborhood.
These layered opportunities reflect our vision: education meets sustainability, creativity meets community, and festivals ripple outward into long-term benefit.
The Vision for Pickathon 2026
We are building on these successes to make Pickathon 2026 the most impactful year yet. Our goals include:
Expanding Student Partnerships: Involving more schools, trade programs, and mentors, giving hundreds of students opportunities to learn and build.
Scaling Sustainable Design: Designing festival infrastructure with reuse and repurposing as central goals, ensuring materials find new life in community-serving projects.
Deepening Mentorship: Connecting students not only to trades and design, but also to art curation, project management, and cultural placemaking.
Strengthening Community Benefit: Ensuring every build serves a need beyond the festival, from shelters and seating to public installations.
Why We Need Your Support
To make this vision possible, Creative Neighborhoods needs investment. Your support will:
Fund the design/build education programs that bring students into real-world, high-impact projects.
Provide resources for materials, transportation, and mentorship, ensuring student participation is accessible and equitable.
Expand our sustainability initiatives, creating festival infrastructure that lives on in communities in need.
Strengthen long-term partnerships with schools, nonprofits, and trade organizations.
Your donation is not just support for a festival—it is an investment in the next generation of builders, designers, and changemakers.
Join Us
By supporting Creative Neighborhoods at Pickathon 2026, you are helping to shape a future where education is hands-on, design is sustainable, and community is at the center. Together, we can create spaces that inspire, empower, and endure.
Let’s build more than stages. Let’s build futures.
Program starts late fall of 2025 and culminates at Pickathon in August of 2026.
Proposed budget: $250,000