The Red Door Project

The mission of The Red Door Project is to leverage the power of stories to change racial ecology. The need for our work is demonstrated by the divisive political climate and the tragedy of injury and deaths due to conflicts between communities of color and law enforcement and criminal justice systems. We ask participants in our programs to engage in open dialogue, witness multiple truths, discover shared values, and consider how to apply these learnings in everyday life. For this work, the Red Door Project has received multiple awards including Portland Monthly’s Best New Non-Profit 2012, City of Portland’s Best Nonprofit 2016, Regional Arts and Culture Council's Juice Award for Innovation 2018, and Americans for the Arts Robert E Gard Award 2020.   Our current focus is The Evolve Experience, an innovative training for criminal justice professionals, combining live performance and an engagement curriculum, resulting in systems change and increased public safety. The performance portion of the experience interweaves monologues from our popular productions of Hands Up: 7 Playwrights, 7 Testaments, and Cop Out: Beyond Black, White & Blue, juxtaposing multiple, often conflicting perspectives from police officers and African Americans. The accompanying curriculum provides a framework for engaging in potentially divisive conversations, promoting empathy and trust, and building strategies for systemic change. Since 2019, we have presented 13 Evolve Experience workshops, reaching 1,740 individuals, including over 800 criminal justice professionals, including FBI agents, judges, Oregon Department of Justice staff, and students from Oregon public schools, law schools and universities.