A cartoon arts museum opens in Portland

Artwork by Josh Simmons

(NOVEMBER 14, 2025) Portland has a new museum. It's the Northwest Museum of Cartoon Arts located at 322 NW 8th Ave. The museum will open to the public December 9, 2025.

Michael Rosen is a leader of the museum. He says, "The museum is three things. It’s a community center where we ask artists to come in and work during the day and interact with people. It’s a teaching museum where we’re focused on teaching underrepresented communities about the power of comic arts, and it’s a museum."

According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, the museum has six sections. Each section focuses on a different part of the history of comics in Portland. One section, for example, shows the work of queer cartoonist Rupert Kinnard. Another section shows the nonfiction work of comics journalist Joe Sacco.

“People can come in and create, they can learn. The connection between comics and literacy is really strong. This is a museum for the whole city of Portland. It’s not just for comics nerds,” says Rosen.