Fiona is a former arts and culture editor and editor in chief for Portland Monthly.

DANCE

How Do You Make Performance Art Less Stuffy? With Step Aerobics

Portland’s Physical Education hosts readings, curates shows, and offers free dance classes. And now they’re throwing a dance party to help fund it all.

02/25/2016 By Fiona McCann

MUSIC

Wanna Hear All-New Songs from Some of Portland’s Best Bands—for Free?

Boone Howard, And And And, Genders, the Domestics, and more. They’ve all joined forces for a new record showcasing Portland’s music scene right now.

02/24/2016 By Fiona McCann

MUSIC

Can Claire Chase Make Portland Fall in Love with the Flute?

The MacArthur Fellow—praised in the New York Times for her "extravagant technique" and "penetrating musicality"—gives Portlanders a taste of her 23-year new music project.

02/18/2016 By Fiona McCann

FILM

Our 11 Picks for the Portland International Film Festival

From Icelandic sheep farmers to a Hong Kong song-and-dance number, a famed French restaurateur to a surrealist Colin Farrell caper, here are the 11 films at PIFF we’re seriously stoked to see.

02/11/2016 By Fiona McCann and Rebecca Jacobson

THEATER

Portland-Raised Playwright Tanya Barfield Talks Race and Writing

The award-winning playwright is in town to open a season of her work at Profile Theatre. She told us what it's like to see her work staged in Portland for the first time, and why she's both sad and glad we're ready to talk about race.

02/04/2016 By Fiona McCann

MUSIC

Smashing Pumpkins and Liz Phair to Kick Off US Tour in Portland

The dream of the '90s will return to Portland when Billy Corgan’s beloved band starts a 19-city tour at the Schnitz in March. Tickets go on sale Friday.

02/02/2016 By Fiona McCann

2016 ELECTION

Promises, Promises: Five City Government Candidates on the Arts

Is the arts an election issue? Portland's mayoral and City Council candidates showed their cards on culture at a packed debate on Tuesday.

01/28/2016 By Ramona DeNies

BOOKS

Passages Bookshop Opens Its Doors . . . Again!

After basement beginnings and a recent eviction, Portland's beloved purveyor of rare books is back.

01/28/2016 By Fiona McCann

THE ESSENTIALS

February's Pop Culture Hot List

The art, the film festival, the concert, and the book you can't miss this month.

01/27/2016 By Fiona McCann

MUSIC

Listen to New Move’s New Album Right Here Right Now

Plus front man Jesse Bettis on how a knife in his side altered the album's course.

01/27/2016 By Fiona McCann

COMFORT FOOD

The Wide World of Comfort (or, We’re All Gonna Die Anyway)

We scoured the city for the best warm-blanket dishes from across the globe. So go ahead, wrap your napkin around your shoulders like a Snuggie and dig in!

01/25/2016 Edited by Kelly Clarke By Karen Brooks, Ramona DeNies, Zach Dundas, Rachel Grozanick, Amy Martin, Fiona McCann, Marty Patail, Rachel Ritchie, Benjamin Tepler, and Tuck Woodstock

COMFORT FOOD

Hot Cups for Cold Days

From chai to hot buttered rum, we’ve got the liquid cure for whatever ails you.

01/25/2016 By Kelly Clarke, Fiona McCann, and Benjamin Tepler

TELEVISION

How One Portlander Went from Jefferson High to Hollywood

After roles on True Blood and Rectify, Johnny Ray Gill returns to the small screen in a new series about the Underground Railroad.

01/25/2016 By Fiona McCann

THEATER FESTIVAL

Five Picks for the Fertile Ground Festival

Dozens of new, homegrown works of theater and performance will hit stages over the next 11 days. Here are the five shows we’re most looking forward to.

01/20/2016 By Ramona DeNies and Fiona McCann

FILM FESTIVAL

POWFest to Host Twilight Director Catherine Hardwicke

Portland's annual women's film festival is bringing award-winning director Catherine Hardwicke to town in March, as part of the lineup for POWFest 2016.

01/19/2016 By Fiona McCann

EDUCATION

Inside Portland’s Schools

Explore the fast-changing landscape of local learning.

01/15/2016 Edited by Ramona DeNies By Zach Dundas, Fiona McCann, Rachel Grozanick, Katelyn Best, and Alex Madison Illustrations by Matthew Billington

INSIDE THE SCHOOL BOARD

Gentrification, Testing, and Social Justice: School Boards Sit at the Center of the Storm

How Portland’s volunteer education leaders cope with an impossible job.

01/15/2016 By Fiona McCann

MUSICAL THEATER

Five Things You Should Know about The Book of Mormon Before You See the Show

Broadway smash-hit The Book of Mormon is back in Portland and set to delight and offend, probably in equal measure. For a quick primer—and our takeaway from Wednesday’s opening night—read on.

01/14/2016 By Sylvia Randall-Muñoz, Ramona DeNies, and Fiona McCann

CULTURE CALL SHEET

The Latest in Portland Arts News—Powell's Expands on Hawthorne

Plus: Portland Art Museum promises Warhol and Rodin, and Pickathon starts the party.

01/14/2016 By Fiona McCann

MUSIC

Josh Ritter Brings His 'Oracular Honky Tonk’ to Portland

He’s earned comparisons to Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie, but the one-time PDX resident told Portland Monthly why he’s pumped to live in the age of Kanye West and Jay Z.

01/13/2016 By Fiona McCann