Portland's Artist Mentorship Program, a nonprofit that feeds and mentors homeless youth in Old Town, is moving to a facility three times its current size at Northwest Fifth and Flanders, with a Nov. 15 opening planned.

To help fund the expansion, AMP is hosting a two-night music festival Friday, Sept. 11, and Saturday, Sept. 12, at The Star Theater in downtown Portland. Oregon ArtsWatch first reported on the move and the festival.

"It's a giant blank canvas … The new space gives us three times the amount of space," Executive Director William Kendall told Oregon ArtsWatch.

AMP has served Portland since 2005, when Kendall brought the program from San Francisco, where founder Jake Sinclair started it.

The organization works with youth ages 15 to 25 who are experiencing homelessness. Its current drop-in center at 16 N.W. Broadway opens from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Inside, volunteers run an industrial-sized kitchen alongside recording studios and practice rooms, with grab-and-go hygiene kits and boxes of donated clothing near the welcome desk. AMP also opens early on Friday mornings for youth to play Dungeons & Dragons.

Last year, AMP's volunteers served more than 20,000 meals, hosted more than 1,500 recording sessions and distributed 36,000 pounds of food through its pantry, according to the nonprofit's most recent impact report as cited by ArtsWatch.

Kendall describes his staff as "four and a half" people. The organization is sustained primarily by monthly individual donors rather than government grants, ArtsWatch reported.

Night one of the festival features Is This Real?, a band that includes Matt Cameron, a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee with Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Jenny Don't and the Spurs and Pete Krebs of Hazel round out the bill. Night two brings Grolixes, Triple Lutz, The Mistons, Ogre (Willamette Week's Best New Band of 2025) and Altar Girl (Willamette Week's Best New Band of 2026).

The festival also includes an opening event at AMP's current Old Town space. Ticket and schedule details are available at amppdx.org/fest. The new facility at Northwest Fifth and Flanders is set to open Nov. 15.