Trillium Monument Project

The Trillium Monument Project is a community-led public history, public art, and civic engagement initiative in Portsmouth, Ohio, that will create a comprehensive community archive documenting the opioid epidemic and a permanent public monument that serves as a memorial, exhibition space, and gathering place for community programming.

For decades, Portsmouth and Scioto County have been represented nationally through stories of addiction, overdose, poverty, and loss. Journalists, filmmakers, authors, and researchers have documented the region's experiences, often telling the story from the outside looking in. The Trillium Monument Project asks a different question: What does it mean for a community that has been written about for so long to become the author and steward of its own public memory?

Originally conceived as a permanent monument honoring those affected by the opioid epidemic, the project has evolved into a larger vision for a permanent cultural and civic institution built around three interconnected components: 1.) a community archive, 2.) a public monument, and 3.) a civic forum.

The community archive will comprehensively document the history of the opioid epidemic in Portsmouth, from its origins through its continuing effects on individuals, families, and the community. It will preserve oral histories, documentary interviews, photographic portraits, personal narratives, historical records, objects, and other materials that capture the experiences of those who lived through the crisis. The collection will also include historical and contextual materials that situate Portsmouth's experience within the broader regional, state, and national opioid epidemic. The goal is to create a substantial, professionally managed historical resource that preserves the complexity of this period and makes it accessible to residents, educators, researchers, artists, and future generations.

The permanent monument will be a significant work of public art and an accompanying structure or designed public space that functions simultaneously as a memorial, exhibition venue, and gathering place. It will provide a space for remembrance and reflection while accommodating exhibitions, public conversations, educational programs, commemorative gatherings, and other community events. Objects, messages, photographs, and other materials left at the memorial will be documented and, when appropriate, incorporated into the community archive, allowing the collection to continue growing through public participation.

The civic forum will be a volunteer-led body responsible for developing exhibitions, public programs, educational activities, and community conversations informed by the archive. Its programming will bring the archive's collections into public life, creating opportunities for residents to engage with the history and ongoing effects of the opioid epidemic. Professional staff will support the forum by coordinating volunteers, managing the monument and archive, and providing the operational capacity necessary to implement its programming.

Together, these three components create a continuous relationship between historical preservation, public interpretation, and community participation. The archive will preserve the historical record and inform programming. The civic forum will interpret and activate that record. The monument will provide a permanent public setting for remembrance, exhibitions, and events while generating new contributions to the archive.

Project Development and Funding to Date

The Trillium Monument Project is being developed and funded in phases, allowing the project to establish its community and historical foundations before undertaking the construction of the permanent monument.

The project began with a $100,000 award through Monument Lab's Re:Generation initiative, which included participation in a national cohort focused on community-centered approaches to public memory and monument-making. The project subsequently received $18,000 from the Ohio Arts Council to support its creative and community engagement work.

These investments have supported the project's initial development, including community listening, documentary interviews, photographic portraits, project visioning, and public exhibitions. The We Do Recover: Stories, Strength, and Second Chances exhibition demonstrates the project's commitment to making the experiences of people affected by addiction and recovery visible through art and storytelling.

The project currently has the resources necessary to establish the community archive and initiate a competitive artist selection process for the permanent monument. This process will include a Request for Qualifications (RFQ), followed by invitations to three to five finalists to visit Portsmouth, explore potential sites, engage with the community and project team, and develop compensated preliminary design proposals. A final artist or design team will then be selected to develop the monument.

Next Phase: Capital Investment and Institutional Sustainability

The Trillium Monument Project is now seeking transformational philanthropic investment to move from foundational development into permanent construction and long-term operations.

Our immediate funding priorities include:

1. Monument Commission and Construction — Up to $1 Million. Funding will support the selected artist's commission, design development, engineering, site preparation, fabrication, construction, and installation of the permanent monument and associated exhibition and gathering space.

2. Multiyear Operating Support. Three to five years of support will help establish a sustainable operating structure that includes one full-time employee, potentially one part-time employee, and paid internships. Staff will oversee the archive, coordinate monument maintenance, support the volunteer civic forum, and implement its public programming.

3. Founding Endowment Investment — $200,000 to $1 Million. The project's preferred founding endowment goal is $1 million, although an initial gift between $200,000 and $600,000 would provide a meaningful foundation for long-term sustainability. The endowment would generate ongoing support for archival preservation, monument maintenance, public programming, and institutional operations.

Long-Term Vision

The Trillium Monument Project intends to establish an independent nonprofit organization responsible for managing the community archive, stewarding the monument, and supporting the civic forum and its public programming.

This institution will become a permanent cultural and historical resource for Portsmouth, Scioto County, and the broader southern Ohio region. It will preserve an essential chapter of local history within its larger national context, create a significant new work of public art, and provide ongoing opportunities for community engagement, education, remembrance, and dialogue.

The project's phased development has already attracted substantial outside investment and established the foundation for this vision. The next stage will transform that early work into permanent cultural infrastructure supported by professional staff, community leadership, and long-term financial resources.

The Trillium Monument Project is not simply building a memorial to the opioid epidemic. It is building the archive that preserves its history, the public space where that history can be encountered, and the civic institution that will carry those stories forward for generations.