My Voice Music and Ascending Flow to Unveil Youth-Designed Mural and BUS-A-Flow Mobile Studio at East Portland Block Party
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Trent Finlay
Communications Director, My Voice Music
info@myvoicemusic.org
503-442-1663
The August 30 celebration will introduce Ascending Flow’s BUS-A-Flow mobile studio and feature live youth music, DJs and skateboarding on SE 89th Avenue.
PORTLAND, Ore. — [July 28, 2026] — My Voice Music and Ascending Flow will host the My Voice Music Block Party & Ascending Flow Show: Community Mural and BUS-A-Flow Reveals on Sunday, August 30, 2026, at My Voice Music’s East Portland youth music center, located at 8911 SE Stark Street.
For the event, SE 89th Avenue beside My Voice Music will be closed to traffic and transformed into a community celebration featuring live music throughout the day, DJs, skateboard ramps and basketball from Dream Big City, and two major public unveilings: a new youth-created mural covering the exterior of My Voice Music Studios and Bus-A-Flow, Ascending Flow’s newly completed mobile recording and media arts studio.
The event will also serve as Ascending Flow’s annual Ascending Flow Show and the official launch celebration for BUS-A-Flow.
“This celebration represents what we have always wanted this building to become: a place where young people, artists and community partners can create something together and feel that the space belongs to them,” said Amy Sabin, Executive Director of My Voice Music. “The mural and Ascending Flow’s Bus-A-Flow both make young people’s creativity visible, whether that creativity is happening inside our building, outside on the street or in neighborhoods throughout Portland.”
Community Stories Transformed Into Public Art
The new mural was created through a partnership between My Voice Music and Ascending Flow, with support from an Oregon Metro Community Placemaking grant. Ascending Flow led the organization of the project, while Cada Casa contributed curriculum and helped guide the youth-centered creative process.
Members of the My Voice Music community shared stories about what MVM and its East Portland studio have meant to them. Young artists then interpreted those stories, experiences and ideas through workshops centered on identity, cultural expression and music, using them to develop the mural’s imagery and design.
Artists Damon Smyth and OC Note led the mural’s design and execution, helping participants build artistic skills while keeping youth voices at the center of the finished work. Smyth is a Portland muralist and comic-book illustrator known for community-centered work exploring history, empathy and healing, including The Life of Frederick Douglass with David F. Walker and the collaborative Portland mural Streets of Hope. OC Note is a former My Voice Music student and one half of the rap duo Alta Vocez, which recorded its debut album through My Voice Music.
The finished mural transforms the studio’s formerly plain exterior into a public expression of youth voice, culture, belonging and community. The original project was designed to make the creativity taking place inside the building visible from Stark Street and SE 89th Avenue while signaling to young people that they are welcomed and celebrated there.
BUS-A-Flow Brings the Studio Into Portland Neighborhoods
The block party will also mark the official launch of BUS-A-Flow, a bus that Ascending Flow has transformed into a mobile creative studio.
BUS-A-Flow was designed to bring free music production, media arts, mentorship, performances, leadership development and workforce opportunities directly into Portland neighborhoods. By taking equipment and programming to young people, the project seeks to reduce transportation barriers and expand access to creative opportunities regardless of where participants live.
Ascending Flow youth played an active role in designing the bus and documenting its transformation through photography and documentary filmmaking. Additional project partners include the Mt. Hood Cable Regulatory Commission, which invested in the bus’s renovation; Canopy Builds, which led the interior construction; Alex Chiu, who designed and painted the bus’s exterior mural; and Malcolm Pascua-Weaselboy, who led the interior design. My Voice Music has supported Ascending Flow by providing the organization with a home for its youth programming.
“This is more than the unveiling of a bus,” said Talilo Marfil, founder and executive director of Ascending Flow. “BUS-A-Flow is the beginning of a new chapter in which creative opportunities can travel directly to young people. It shows what is possible when youth, artists, builders, nonprofits, educators and funders come together to create something that belongs to the community.”
Live Performances Throughout the Day
The block party will feature performances representing the range of music being created by young artists connected to My Voice Music and Ascending Flow.
Scheduled performers include:
Talilo Marfil • FRENZI • Shiloh Day • ShockT • DJ Tempo • Pale Season • P.L.E.T.O. • Sid Murrell • Zay the Maker • The Kai Wickham Trio • TaiShoku •
The celebration will be co-headlined by FRENZI, a My Voice Music youth band, and Talilo Marfil, a Filipino-American hip-hop artist and youth mentor whose work combines music, cultural storytelling and community engagement. Marfil’s set will feature a live backing band composed of Ascending Flow and My Voice Music students.
Continuing Ian Mouser’s Vision for East Portland
The event also marks another milestone in the vision of My Voice Music founder Ian Mouser, who worked for years to establish a permanent home where young people from different backgrounds could write, record and perform music, build relationships and receive long-term mentorship.
Mouser envisioned the building not only as a headquarters for My Voice Music, but as a community youth music hub where organizations with shared missions could work alongside one another and expand opportunities for young people.
Mouser died in 2021 before the East Portland studio could be completed. My Voice Music’s staff, board and community carried the project forward, opening the new facility in 2023. His legacy continues through the young people, former students, teaching artists and partner organizations now creating within the building.
The partnership with Ascending Flow, the community mural and the launch of Bus-A-Flow represent the next stage of the building’s development into the collaborative youth hub Mouser imagined.
Event Information
My Voice Music Block Party & Ascending Flow Show: Community Mural and BUS-A-Flow Reveals
Date: Sunday, August 30, 2026
Time: 1PM-6PM
Location: My Voice Music, 8911 SE Stark St., Portland
Block party location: SE 89th Avenue at Stark Street
Admission: Free
More information: https://myvoicemusic.org/events/blockparty
About My Voice Music
My Voice Music is a Portland nonprofit that amplifies young voices and ignites self-discovery through music and performance. Since 2008, MVM has helped young people write, record and perform original music while developing creative, social and leadership skills. MVM serves youth ages 9–24 through programs at its East Portland studios and through partnerships with schools, mental health treatment programs, juvenile justice facilities and community organizations.
About Ascending Flow
Ascending Flow is a youth-serving nonprofit that uses hip-hop, music production, media arts and mentorship to help young people express their stories, develop leadership skills and build pathways toward independence. Its work includes programming for young people navigating foster care, housing instability and other barriers to opportunity.
Media Assets
High-resolution photos, project images, organizational logos and broadcast-quality B-roll are available at: Mural Media Kit
The media kit includes images of the mural painting in progress, Ascending Flow’s Bus-A-Flow mobile recording studio, the mural-development process and participating artists and youth. Please credit photographers as identified in the individual file names, captions, and folders. ###