A Proclamation for Peace Film Preview and Celebration

A Proclamation for Peace premieres at the Portland Art Museum on Sunday, November 8, with a screening followed by a conversation with the people who made it. The film is the work of filmmaker Ron Bourke, based on a poem by Kim Stafford and music by Theresa Koon.

It started with Stafford, Oregon's ninth poet laureate, who published the poem in 2024 as a prayer for a more unified future. Composer Theresa Koon set it to music after a Cascadia Composers call connected her with Stafford, and Bourke brought the whole thing to the screen. The piece is sung in seven languages, filmed across the Portland metro area with more than 40 background performers. They used local landscapes — a wheat field near Banks, Wahkeena Falls, and the Columbia Gorge — to evoke places around the world. Since then, Koon has written two choral versions and is working on a symphonic one.

The artists describe the work as a personal commitment to peace rather than a political prescription, and they hope it will be performed in schools, churches, and families worldwide. Bourke presents it as more than just a film: "a gift from Oregon to the world."

The screening is at the Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 Southwest Park Avenue, from 7 PM to 9 PM, with doors opening at 6:15 PM. Afterward, poet Kim Stafford, composer Theresa Koon, and filmmaker Ron Bourke will stay for a conversation. Tickets are free but limited and must be procured in advance, with an optional donation to help offset expenses.