Hold on to your hats. New American Art Union is offering you the best opportunity you will find in Portland.
Here are the details:

NAAU IS CURRENTLY ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS FOR 2008 EXHIBITS
1. EXHIBITS WILL BE 6 WEEKS IN DURATION.
2. ALL MEDIA QUALIFY.
3. ARTISTS WILL BE PAID A $7,000 STIPEND + AN ADDITIONAL $1,000 FOR MATERIALS.
4. SUBMISSIONS ARE DUE BY THE 26TH OF AUGUST

NOTES:
THIS 2008 SERIES IS INTENDED TO FOCUS ON ARTISTS WHO ARE INTERESTED IN TAKING OVER THE ENTIRE NAAU GALLERY AND CREATING AN INTERDISCIPLINARY, MULTIMEDIA ENVIRONMENT; SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE RETURNED UNLESS YOU FEEL THE NEED TO INCLUDE SLIDES, THEN PROVIDE A SASE; ALL TEXT FILES HAVE TO BE IN RTF FORMAT OR MAC COMPATIBLE; ABSOLUTELY NO WINDOWS FILES; THIS INCLUDES POWER POINT; DO NOT EMAIL SUBMISSIONS, HARD COPIES OR FILES ON DISK ARE REQUIRED; AS A GENERAL RULE, INCLUDE ANY INFORMATION THAT YOU DEEM NECESSARY FOR US TO PICTURE YOUR PROPOSAL (EX: STATEMENT, RESUME + OR -); ALL SUBMISSIONS WILL BE REVIEWED IN A TIMELY FASHION; PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE GALLERY TO INQUIRE ON THE STATUS OF YOUR SUBMISSION.
MAIL SUBMISSIONS TO NEW AMERICAN ART UNION
922 SE ANKENY
PORTLAND, OR 97214

This seems like a great opportunity. I'm curious about a couple of things:

How many shows will be in this cycle?

Who will be judging the submissions?

It is Ruthann's call. She's planning 6 week shows (meaning 8 shows at most) and I suspect that the # that fall into this series of funded installation shows is entirely dependent on the # of submissions she feels strongly about.

Dear Port,
OK....junior high math....
(8X7,000)+(8X1,000)=$64,000
$64,000!!!!!
There must be many $64,000 questions.
....and only two comments!!
I know it's not about the money but ......
OMG.

Thanks
Chris Brown.

Well this lil scoop has netted a huge # of hits so I suspect that people stopped talking and started doing something. My email inbox was pretty full.

Money makes people act real funny and talk is cheap. Also, the amount of asskissing Ruthann is being subjected to is predictably funny.

The key to this project is picking the right artists... this city is an installation art haven but most artists who want to do large scale installations end up having to do them in warehouse shows of their own devising... The NAAU opportunity steps into the old role that Haze had and adds something to the equation.