Salem, Ore. – Using the arts as a means of addressing community need is at the heart of 31 projects awarded $175,000 by the Oregon Arts Commission’s Arts Build Communities grant program for FY2019.
The Arts Build Communities program targets broad geographic impact and arts access for underserved audiences in Oregon. More than half of this year’s awards go to communities outside of the Portland area.
“This program provides financial support to arts and other community-based organizations for projects that address a local community problem, issue or need through an arts-based solution," said Arts Commission Vice Chair Jenny Green, who led the review panel. “Local citizens employ creative thinking and collective response to identify a local need and provide an arts-based solution. These modest grants also spark and leverage many other investments and resources, serving as a catalyst for greater economic and civic impact.”
In many cases these awards are seed money to spur additional local funding. In recent years Arts Build Communities projects attracted more than $600,000 in additional investment, much of it representing salaries paid to artists and others as well as products and services purchased in the funded communities.
Arts Build Communities grants are made possible, in part, through a funding partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
The 2019 recipients are:
Art of Community, Hood River: $5,500
To support increasing the Hispanic population’s access to and engagement in the public art BIG ART Walking Tour, including the creation of a bilingual Spanish/English Public Art Map.
Arts Alliance of Yamhill County, McMInnville: $3,500
To support the Fire Writers Project and host a youth conference bringing 150 high school writers, teachers and professional writers together for sessions inspiring students to keep their writing practice.
Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon, Portland: $6,000
To support the Roots to Rise Mural Project by creating an art plan for a new community center and affordable housing development at the heart of East Portland's Jade District.
Astoria Arts and Movement Center, Astoria: $6,000
To support the formation of Pier Pressure Productions, a non-profit theater organization and venue.
Boom Arts Inc, Portland: $6,000
To support artistic, production and outreach costs associated with a presentation of Pescador, a puppet theatre piece for family audiences by Chilean puppet theatre troupe Silencio Blanco, as well as related educational outreach programs.
Cascade School of Music, Bend: $6,000
To support the Song Catchers Outreach Music Programs with four partner organizations that for under-served, diverse, pre-k & elementary school children.
Clackamas County Arts Alliance, Oregon City: $6,000
To support Expanding Youth Arts for Change, adding additional visual arts and theater programming to existing programs in Estacada and Canby middle schools as well as at Oregon City’s Parrott Creek Ranch.
Cornucopia Arts Council, Halfway: $6,200
To support a Clear Creek Music Festival performance of “Scenes from the Oregon Trail, part V” by Festival Resident Composer Blaise Ferrandino.
Deschutes Public Library Foundation, Bend: $4,700
To support the Library’s community read program, A Novel Idea. Residents are encouraged to read, discuss, create and explore the selected book together.
Eugene Symphony Association, Eugene: $6,000
To support the Symphony’s 2019 Link Up partnership with Eugene School District 4J’s BEST Afterschool Program. ESA’s professional teaching artists will deliver an experiential music curriculum.
Eugene-Springfield Youth Orchestras, Eugene: $6,250
To support the String Academy program, a youth music education program that provides a full year of beginning strings to underserved children in public schools at low or no cost, plus two second year ensembles.
Experience Theatre Project, Beaverton: $3,300
To produce the first-ever Westside Shakespeare Festival July 28-30, 2019, a collaboration between local theater companies and art educators that will feature full-length plays, scenes, songs, workshops, food and more.
Fishtrap Inc, Enterprise: $6,550
To support Fishtrap’s 2019 Big Read when more than 1,700 Wallowa County residents will read and celebrate Ursula K. Le Guin’s “A Wizard of Earthsea.” 2019 goals include building a partnership with Art Center East in Union County and expanding programming.
Four Rivers Cultural Center and Museum, Ontario: $4,300
To support a Tradition Keepers event that features buckaroo/ranching traditions as well as Mexican, Basque, Japanese and Native American arts and traditions.
Josephy Center for Arts and Culture, Joseph: $4,900
To support Women on the Edge, an art exhibit with accompanying programs in March and April of 2019. The exhibit will honor local women artists and invite women artists exploring and experimenting with technique and subject matter.
Klamath Community College Foundation, Klamath Falls: $3,100
To support EDUCATION/TRANSFORMATION for which eight Klamath Community College students with educational challenges will write monologues about how their lives are being transformed by education.
Lane Arts Council, Eugene: $6,800
To support Empowering and Connecting Lane County’s Latinx Arts Community, a series of professional development workshops and networking events tailored to Latinx artists and arts groups.
Literary Arts Inc, Portland: $5,850
To support the Oregon Book Awards Author Tour, taking Book Award authors to four to six towns across the state to teach writing workshops, visits schools,and present their work at free community gatherings.
Miracle Theatre Group, Portland: $6,250
To support Milagro’s bilingual UNIDAD theatre residency with school workshops and a public performance in Redmond, Oregon, in May of 2019.
Music Education & Performing Artists Association, Eugene: $6,000
To support The Rock Orchestra Expansion Project, purchasing equipment and workshop materials for weekly music workshops and community outreach.
My Voice Music, Portland: $6,300
To support the pilot of My Voice Music’s after school drop-in program focused on serving a diverse group of 100 youth, ages 9-18, referred from social service partners and/or neighborhood schools.
Open Hearts Open Minds, Portland: $6,200
To support the 2019 Theatre at Coffee Creek program at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville. The program consists of two facilitators working with residents for twice-weekly dialogue groups.
Oregon Symphony, Portland: $6,250
To support year two of the Lullaby project in partnership with Portland Homeless Family Solutions, using music as a tool for healing and community-building among families experiencing homelessness.
Outside the Frame, Portland: $6,500
To support Frameworks: Cameras, Creativity, Career and Community, weekly film education programming and outreach/educational programs for homeless and marginalized youth.
Portland Meet, Portland: $6,250
To support the 2019 Pass the Mic Music Camp for Immigrant and Refugee Youth. Grant funds will be used to help pay for stipends for camp counselors and translators and to help pay for instruments and music equipment.
Portland Taiko, Portland: $4,250
To support a museum exhibit at the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center dedicated to the history of Portland Taiko within the context of taiko in North America. The exhibit will celebrate Portland Taiko’s 25th anniversary season.
Portrait Connection, Long Creek: $6,000
To support Portraits in Eastern Oregon, engaging a minimum of 12 artists to paint 12 portraits of children struggling with serious health issues. Grant funds will be used to pay artist fees, purchase program supplies, and for 10 percent indirect costs.
Rogue Valley Chorale Association, Medford: $4,000
To provide three concerts for 3,000 students from area schools at Central High School Theater to motivate children to sing.
Salem Art Association, Salem: $6,550
To support Art Intersection/Intersección de Arte, connecting the northeast and southeast communities of Salem by increasing art opportunities for Latinx youth and connecting them with the broader art communities.
The High Desert Museum: Bend: $6,500
To support a collaboration with Arts East. Grant funds will be used to empower middle school students in rural eastern Oregon to engage with artists and explore issues relevant to their community through innovative art experiences.
Write Around Portland, Portland: $7,000
To support Writing for Social Change: Arts in Affordable Housing, providing eight ten-week creative writing workshops free of charge for 70 to 100 residents of affordable housing buildings.
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The Oregon Arts Commission provides leadership, funding and arts programs through its grants, special initiatives and services. Nine commissioners, appointed by the Governor, determine arts needs and establish policies for public support of the arts. The Arts Commission became part of Business Oregon (formerly Oregon Economic and Community Development Department) in 1993, in recognition of the expanding role the arts play in the broader social, economic and educational arenas of Oregon communities. In 2003, the Oregon legislature moved the operations of the Oregon Cultural Trust to the Arts Commission, streamlining operations and making use of the Commission’s expertise in grantmaking, arts and cultural information and community cultural development.
The Arts Commission is supported with general funds appropriated by the Oregon legislature and with federal funds from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as funds from the Oregon Cultural Trust. More information about the Oregon Arts Commission is available online at: www.oregonartscommission.org.