The IPRC is available for lectures and workshops on topics relating to independent press. Any of our regular workshop offerings can be tailored to your group. In addition to giving tours of our Center, we engage in more in-depth outreach projects that serve the local community. We have presented to a variety of ages and grade levels, from elementary schools to colleges and universities, primarily in the Portland Metropolitan Area. Please contact for rates and availability.

Some of our recent projects:

Introduction to Zine Publishing
An overview of zine publishing in it's historic and contemporary forms. Examples of age-appropriate publications (self-published zines, chapbooks & comics) shown and discussed, and a brief synopsis of how to produce your own zine are given. Emphasis on self-publishing as an empowerment tool and a venue for personal expression. This talk can be expanded to a workshop that assists your group in publishing a collaborative zine over multiple sessions. Also can be concentrated in one area (i.e. "Independent Comic Publishing from 1981-2001").

Talks on the IPRC and zine publishing have been presented at: Roosevelt, Jefferson, Cleveland & Benson High Schools in conjunction with Literary Arts/Writers in the Schools programming. Also recently presented as a workshop at: West Linn Library Young Adult Program (2 sessions), Gresham Library (2 sessions), Rock'n'Roll Camp for Girls (4 sessions).

Zine Camp!
Initiated in the summer of 2002, "Zine Camp" will become a yearly event in which participants are introduced to the facets of zine publishing over a series of 6 weeks. Weekly sessions are held at the IPRC for 2 hours. Participants receive a historic & contemporary overview of zine publishing, receive technical instruction as to layout & production, and practice distribution and promotion. Local zinesters are invited to each class session to discuss their projects and talk about a facet of self-publishing. Each participant publishes 2-3 zines over the course of the camp.

Outreach to Volunteers of America Marie Smith Center
Starting in 2006, our outreach volunteers have been working at the Volunteers of America Marie Smith Center, an Adult Day Center for seniors, including those with memory loss and disabilities. Each week, volunteers share zines and stories with participants, logging their tales and rich histories to publish in an Anthology Zine due out this July (2007).

Book Authorship Project
This project sought to encourage those who might feel unrespresented in the world of literature and books a chance to experience authorship first hand. We worked with street youth and students at an alternative high school on collaborative books on a subject of their choice. 2 staff from the IPRC conducted workshops weekly on the subjects of bookbinding, relief printing (linoleum block carving), and type setting (for letter press printing). In conjunction with Write Around Portland and with school staff, we also offered a creative writing session to explore the theme chosen. Youth were encouraged to maintain involvement over a 3 month period, and in completion, published a book written, illustrated, printed and bound by their own hands. Produced an edition of 25 books, distributed to individual participants, staff & administration, and the IPRC Library.

Recently presented at New Avenues for Youth and Lents Education Center (Janus Youth Programs).*

Downtown Street Zine
The IPRC began facilitation of a zine publishing project in the Portland Metropolitan Area where street youth and homeless teens experience publishing from start to finish on a regular basis in October 2001. The zines created can be a collaborative or individual forum in which young writers and artists will have a chance to express their views and creativity uncensored by schools or agencies, and where youth interested will have a chance to act as editors, writers, artists, designers and publishers. The IPRC organizes zine workshop days at a number of agencies to provide instruction and work time.

Continually being implemented at New Avenues for Youth, Outside In, and other downtown agencies**

Neighborhood History Project
In culmination of 2 years of research, interviews and information collecting, the group of teenage girls who comprise Parkrose Community Builders (PCB), and their leader from Familyworks, engaged in a documentary publishing project, with the assistance of the IPRC. The IPRC worked with the youth to define their publication, gain technical skills for the production and layout of their booklet, print covers for the edition, and distribute the end product to local archives and individuals. The resulting publication was an approximately 80 page book documenting the history of the Parkrose neighborhood of Portland, as told orally by elders of the community. The publication, The Wheel Keeps Turning, was released at the annual Rossi Farms Harvest Festival, and PCB participants talked about the process of researching & publishing this neighborhood history.

*Funded in part by grants from Braemer Memorial Trust, Mrs. Moe M. Tonkin Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation, Oregon Council for Humanities, and by a donation from Art Media.
**Funded in part by the Hoover Family Foundation and PGE-Enron Community 101.

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