PSU joins LAIKA to celebrate “All the Little Things” with Portland Winter Light Festival

Portland State University (PSU) is proud to partner with award-winning Portland-based animation powerhouse LAIKA, transforming PSU's downtown campus into a glittering hub of light-based creativity as part of the 2026 Portland Winter Light Festival.

PSU is collaborating with LAIKA to populate the South Park Blocks with illuminated displays celebrating "all the little things" - the theme of this year's festival. The installation takes festival goers behind-the-scenes of LAIKA's films, showcasing the detailed work of the artists who bring LAIKA's groundbreaking stop-motion worlds to life.

"It's a thrill to expand our partnership with LAIKA in this way and open our campus to visitors across the city to take in these illuminated creations as part of the Portland Winter Light Festival," said PSU President Ann Cudd. "PSU is a cornerstone of the city's creative economy and to see our buildings and the Park Blocks come to life as part of the festival is tremendously exciting."

PSU and LAIKA are in the first year of an innovative partnershipwhere selected students and faculty in the College of the Arts receive funding, mentorship and opportunities for collaboration with LAIKA professionals, expanding the pool of career-ready graduates to support the region's creative industries.

The PSU and LAIKA collaboration will include the following installations during the festival, which runs in Portland Feb. 6, 7, 13 and 14 and has adopted the theme "All the Little Things" for the 2026 event.

• Stephen Lee, associate professor in the Schnitzer School of Art + Art History + Design and part of the inaugural cohort of LAIKA faculty fellows, will create a light display at the Simon Benson House on the PSU campus. Behind-the-scenes imagery from LAIKA Studios will be composed and projection-mapped by Lee and his students, filling up the windows of the historic house.
• Across the Park Blocks, media artist Andrew Wade Smith will create a dynamic original installation on the west side of the Smith Memorial Student Union, showcasing the hand of the artist at work.The installation will include colors, textures, and behind-the-scenes footage from LAIKA's films.
• The South Park Blocks will shine with environmental LAIKA-themed light displays created by Steven Harper of Indigo Design, creating a magical atmosphere among the trees in the blocks between Montgomery Street and Harrison Street, anchored by a glowing tent populated by cocoa-serving volunteers, these displays will complement the other two installations, transforming the heart of PSU.

"Art is not just envisioning brilliant creations and then magically executing them," said Jeff Schnabel, a professor in the PSU School of Architecture and one of the founders of the Portland Winter Light Festival. "It requires inspiration, skill, focus, and a commitment to getting every last detail just right. LAIKA and the arts faculty and students who thrive in PSU's many creative programs know the imagination, intense dedication and long hours required to create art in all its forms, and we are thrilled to share this process with Portland Winter Light Festival audiences."

PSU's partnership with LAIKA - and the illuminated installations during the festival - illustrate PSU's important contributions to Portland's creative industries and the arts and culture fabric of the city.

PSU occupies the 10-block Broadway arts corridor, stretching from the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall to the Native American Student and Community Center. This lively cultural zone connects city landmarks like the Portland Art Museum and Oregon Historical Society with PSU's creative centers: the historic Lincoln Hall - home to the Schools of Music & Theater and Film and several performing arts venues - and Shattuck Hall, which houses the School of Architecture. The corridor features the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and the soon-to-open new building for the Schnitzer School of Art + Art History + Design. The university is also working with the city to develop an exciting new Performing Arts + Culture Center complex at the southern end of campus.

About LAIKA
Founded in 2005 just outside Portland, Oregon, LAIKA has produced five films: Missing Link(2019), Kubo and the Two Strings(2016), The Boxtrolls(2014), ParaNorman (2012) and Coraline(2009). All were nominated for the Academy Award® for Outstanding Animated Feature. Kubo and the Two Stringswon the BAFTA® Award for Best Animated Film and received an additional Oscar® nomination for Visual Effects. Missing Linkwas awarded the Golden Globe® for Best Animated Film. LAIKA was awarded a Scientific and Technology Oscar® in 2016 for its innovation in 3D printing. LAIKA is currently in production on its next animated film Wildwood. Among the animated films in development are The Night Gardener, from an original idea by Bill Dubuque, creator of the hit series Ozark, and Piranesi,based on the NYT bestselling novel by Susanna Clarke with a screenplay to be written by Dave Kajganich.

LAIKA's Live Action subsidiary has a range of projects in development including a feature film based on the action thriller novel Seventeenby screenwriter John Brownlow; the original script Crumble, written and directed by Brian Duffield (Spontaneous) with Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Spider-versefilms) producing, and an original project from Oscar®-nominated screenwriter Jon Spaihts (Dune). Captain Marvelfilmmakers Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck will write and direct LAIKA's live action adaptation of #1 New York Times bestselling author Taylor Jenkins Reid's novel Atmosphere. Lucy Liu and Charles Melton will star in director Lulu Wang's film version of Katie Kitamura's bestselling novel Audition, which LAIKA is producing alongside Higher Ground Productions. www.laika.com