Pull up a seat for conversations throughout the weekend with the people shaping Portland’s creative community.
NestFest Panels are brought to you by the Home Building Association.
NestFest 2026 Speaker Schedule
Think Like a Designer
Saturday, September 19th
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Professional designers make hundreds of decisions most homeowners never see. This practical discussion pulls back the curtain on how designers approach projects—from space planning and materials to budgets and finishing touches.
The Business of Creativity
Saturday, September 19th
3:00pm - 4:00pm
What happens when your creative practice becomes your livelihood—and your work is ultimately made for someone else? Hear from three full-time artists and creatives about building businesses around their creative practices, from finding the people who value their work to learning how to translate a personal point of view into something that serves a client’s vision.
Speakers
Kate Blairstone
Daren Todd
Matthew Abadi
Nick Tretiak
Moderated by Amy Jeffers.
What transforms a house into a home? Nester-featured homeowners share the choices, collections, colors, and personal stories that make their homes uniquely their own, exploring how homes evolve alongside the people who live in them.
Home as Identity
Sunday, September 20th
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Every building is haunted by the stories and people that came before. How do we balance historic sensitivity with updates for modern life? Does the past have anything to teach us in this media-saturated age? Join designers and community leaders as we discuss how historic sensitivity can enrich design; how and when things are worth preserving, and what it means to make those decisions for both public and private spaces.
Speakers:
Melanie Nead, Lonseome Pictopia
Eric Cheong, North 45 Projects
Anne De Wolf, Arciform
Mira Eng-Goetz, Jessica Helgerson Design
Chandler Boyd, Cascadia Builds
The Stories We Keep
Sunday, September 20th
1:00pm - 2:00pm
Artists Up Close
Saturday, September 19th
10:30am - 12:00pm
Before NestFest opens to the public, step inside the Signature Rooms for an intimate morning with the Portland creatives, artists, and makers who brought them to life.
This is a chance to go behind the scenes and get up close with the people making Portland’s creative community so interesting. Hear the stories behind the installations, dive into the materials, methods, and ideas that shaped each room, and ask the questions you can’t answer by simply walking through the finished space. Meet the artists and craftspeople doing inventive, highly personal work across disciplines—and discover that many of them are right here, working in your own creative community.
Artists Up Close is a ticketed experience. Ticket sales and additional details will be announced soon.