You are here: Public News  >  National Endowment for the Arts Awards Over $800,000 to Oregon Arts Groups

Contact: Cynthia Kirk, Salem, (503) 986-0081, cynthia.kirk@state.or.us
 Christine D’Arcy, Salem, (503) 986-0087, christine.t.darcy@state.or.us 

The National Endowment for the Arts has announced it will award more than $63 million in grants to arts organizations nationwide in its second major round of funding for fiscal year 2006. Ten arts groups in Oregon will be awarded over $800,000 in this round of funding.

Overall, the Arts Endowment will provide 970 nonprofit arts organization with $21,509,500 in funding through its Access to Artistic Excellence, Learning in the Arts, Arts on Radio and Television, and Folk Arts Infrastructure grant categories. In addition, $42,230,200 will be distributed to state, jurisdictional and regional arts agencies (such as the Oregon Arts Commission) in keeping with the NEA’s mandate to allocate 40% of its grantmaking budget to these partners.

"The Arts Endowment is happy to announce these grants which will help make the best of the arts and arts education accessible to communities across the country," said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. "What better way to celebrate the NEA's 40th anniversary than to continue our legacy of supporting excellence in the arts for all Americans."

In addition to a distribution of $611,700 to the Oregon Arts Commission (Salem), the NEA has awarded grants, ranging from $75,000 to $10,000 to nine nonprofit organizations in Enterprise, Eugene and Portland. Christine D’Arcy, executive director of the Oregon Arts Commission, commented, “Our partnership with the Arts Endowment is essential to the vitality of arts organizations in Oregon. We congratulate Oregon’s grantees since funding from the NEA affirms excellence at the national level. The Endowment’s distribution of nearly $612,000 to the Arts Commission will allow us to extend and deepen our support of the arts across Oregon.”

The Oregon grantees include:

Caldera, Portland
$75,000
Learning in the Arts for Children & Youth
To support the Celebration of the Drum. Professional musicians will conduct residencies and give performances in symphonic percussion, Japanese taiko, Afro-Brazilian, Ghanaian, and other West African drumming traditions.

Eugene Ballet, Eugene
$10,000
Access to Artistic Excellence: Dance
To support regional dance touring in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. The tour will consist of performance and outreach programs in rural communities.

Fishtrap, Inc., Enterprise
$10,000
Access to Artistic Excellence: Literature
To support writing workshops, discussions, and readings for residents of the rural Northwest. The theme for Summer Fishtrap 2006 is "a nation of immigrants."

Oregon Arts Commission, Salem
$611,700
State & Regional Partnership
To support Partnership Agreement activities.

Oregon Historical Society, Portland
$30,000
Access to Artistic Excellence: Folk & Traditional Arts
To support the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program and related costs. The project is designed to increase the program's visibility within Native American communities especially through apprenticeships and school-based programs.

Oregon Public Broadcasting, Portland
$25,000
Arts on Radio and Television: Media Arts
To support the production of a documentary film about the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon. Directed by Jon Else and produced by Bonni Cohen, Shakespeare's Wings will be a two-hour, behind-the-scenes cinema verité program intended for national broadcast on PBS.

Oregon Symphony, Portland
$25,000
Access to Artistic Excellence: Music
To support the Community Music Partnership program. The orchestra will select an underserved, rural community to participate in a two-year outreach residency including professional development for teachers, educational programs for students and adults, and performances.

Northwest Film Center of the Portland Art Museum, Portland
$40,000
Learning in the Arts for Children & Youth
To support the Service Learning Center. The Northwest Film Center will create and administer its new center as a joint initiative of the School of Film, Young Filmmakers Program, and three partnering high schools.

Portland Youth Philharmonic Association, Portland
$20,000
Learning in the Arts for Children & Youth
To support an orchestral training program. Refinements to the existing program will include the addition of wind ensemble opportunities, advanced music theory courses, and community master classes.

Western Arts Alliance, Portland
$20,000
Access to Artistic Excellence: Presenting
To support the creation of an online database of artist, agent, and presenter information. Web-based forms and reports will assist members in searching for potential programming.
Number of Grants: 10           Total Amount: $866,700

The Oregon Arts Commission believes that the arts and culture are touchstones of community and civic life and that it is essential to preserve, stabilize and develop their central role in Oregon. The 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 the 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, federal funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and funds from the Oregon Cultural Trust. More information about the Oregon Arts Commission is available at www.oregonartscommission.org .

Print this page  

Dated for freshness! Page last updated May 02, 2008