The Multnomah Arts Center (MAC) Gallery opened in 1982. It serves as an educational venue for the community and a supportive environment for artists to share their work. Artists who show here are residents of Oregon and southern Washington near Portland.

Exhibiting artists are selected by a group jury process each year. The resulting shows reflect the artistic dynamism of the area, with an emphasis on the following:

• a wide spectrum of media is shown throughout the year
• diverse subject matter is explored
• unique perspectives are shared
• multidisciplinary and intersectional approaches are appreciated

As a community-based gallery, we seek to grow our collective ability to create, connect and share beauty in its many forms. Towards that end, some of the current equity practices at the Multnomah Arts Center Gallery include:

• We embrace and encourage artists with differences in age, color, ethnicity, race, language, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, family or marital status, gender identity, political affiliation, veteran status, physical and mental ability, and socio-economic status. 
• We show work by artists based on the merit of their work. Artists who exhibit here may not be represented by commercial galleries, or some do not have formal arts training.
• Exhibiting artists receive 65% of any sales they make. The remaining 35% is used by our nonprofit organization, The Multnomah Arts Center Association, to support equity and access to arts education through MAC programming.
• Community artists who are BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, immigrant or refugee, and/or disabled are invited to be a part of the group jury each year. Jurors receive an honorarium for their work.
• The jury helps to identify a theme for a community exhibit each year. This group show is juried through a separate call, and the selection of work is led by the members of the community being called to participate (i.e. the Latinx PDX exhibit of 2022, which was juried by members of that community).
• The annual Call for Artists encourages the submission of work that expands opportunities for participation by gallery visitors. This might take the form of music by a local musician playing on loop in the gallery, 3D work that is meant to be touched, or a reading by a local poet that includes sign interpretation.
• Barriers to participation are address by a) ensuring that there is no application fee when submitting work for jurying, b) providing transparency in how decisions are made and who is making them, c) offering access to adaptive supports as needed in the application process, and d) providing translation services when requested (see below). Additionally, we recognize that matting and framing artwork for display can present a significant financial burden to artists when their work requires it and welcome the opportunity to explore possible solutions with those artists.