Swim Meet is a public art event series I began at my local indoor swimming pool at Matt Dishman Community Center in Northeast Portland last spring. The events are created collaboratively with local artists of the Dishman community I've met during my daily swims, and utilize social practice art methodologies to expand how the pool can be a site for play, creativity, and community-building. The project was started in response to the reduced play-based social programming at the Dishman pool due to citywide budget cuts following the pandemic. Using the appropriated language of the “swim meet,” or swim events where swimteams race one another, we’re interested in rethinking the idea of a Swim Meet to be a gathering space for fellow swimmers of all ages, identities, and abilities to find joy and intergenerational connection through unconventional pool parties.

In this project so far we have hosted an underwater singing circle, a monthly Hot Tub Book Club where we discuss books about swimming while we soak, and a social club for Unsynchronized Swimmers. We’re seeking funding to continue our Swim Meet series so we can provide 5 additional public events from January - June 2026. The events will be informed by past Dishman favorites, like cardboard boat races in the pool, as well as introduce new artist-led programs like a poetry reading from the diving board, a disco splash mob with the Friday morning aqua aerobics class, and an attempt to set Portland's record for largest group cannonball.

The Dishman pool is a compelling site for this project because it naturally brings many different kinds of people in the neighborhood together and encourages a culture of care, camaraderie, and curiosity. Because swimming pools have historically been a site of inaccessibility on the basis of race, religion, gender identity, sexuality, ability, and body type, we are interested in how Swim Meet might recenter the pool as a place of leisure, joy, and equity for all Dishman patrons.