By Jonise Orie | Contributing Writer
Youth-serving nonprofit Friends of Noise has reached a major milestone with the opening of The Off Beat, an all-ages community arts venue in North Portland. As an ADA-accessible concert space with a 400-person capacity. The Off Beat is designed to be both welcoming and transformative.
Friends of Noise is a nonprofit dedicated to transforming access to the music industry for BIPOC youth, LGBTQ+ youth, and their allies. It fosters a healthy arts ecosystem for all ages by providing mentorship, professional development, and real-world creative opportunities within the music industry.
The Off Beat is the culmination of years of perseverance and deep community support. The organization formed in 2016, when a group of creative professionals— organized by now Executive Director André Middleton—came together to address the lack of youthcentered creative spaces in Portland. At the time, Middleton was simply looking for a way to attend concerts with his teenage daughter. Those conversations created youth-led shows in church basements and art galleries, and later led to programming like music industry workshops and a workforce development track for youth sound engineers.
Opening a permanent space required Friends of Noise to first develop systems, staffing, and build the financial reserves necessary for the ambitious project; feats that took a decade. Along the way, two potential buildings fell through before the right home was found at 8440 N. Interstate Avenue. The location is just steps from a MAX stop and situated between Roosevelt and Jefferson High Schools, both of which serve large BIPOC student populations.
In addition to hosting an ongoing selection of all-ages concerts featuring a spectrum of genres at The Offbeat, Friends of Noise anticipates serving more than 1,000 youth in 2026 through a variety of workshops, open mics, workforce development programming, and creative incubation opportunities.
“This inclusive safer space represents what’s possible when a community prioritizes youth development and joy over alcohol sales, and collaboration over competition,” says Middleton.
To celebrate this long-awaited moment, Friends of Noise is inviting the community to a grand opening event on Friday, February 13th, featuring a unique lineup of musical artists of all ages including:
Team Dresch:
Rock from Olympia fresh off their 30th anniversary tour
Brown Calculus:
Blending spacey soul and spiritual jazz
Spiderling:
Emotional rock from Portland
Ad Nauseum:
Youth rock band with a grunge edge