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The Oregon Arts Commission has announced $140,620 in grants awards in the seventh year of its Arts Build Communities program designed to broaden the impact of the arts in the community and to foster community partnerships. "These projects demonstrate the serious commitment that artists and arts organizations have in building sustainable communities", said Norm Smith of Roseburg, Chairman of the Arts Commission." The Arts Build Communities projects address many of the important issues facing Oregonians: growth, downtown revitalization, facility development, community building and at risk youth. These efforts really make a difference in communities."
"Initiated by civic leaders, organizations, and volunteers throughout Oregon, these projects speak to the vitality of the arts in community life. In every case, people have come together to address community needs, and in every case the arts are recognized as part of the solution," noted Arts Commissioner Cynthia Addams of Salem who chaired the grant review panel.
"The arts are integral to community development in Oregon and this program recognizes the expanding role that arts organizations are taking in the broader social, educational, and economic arenas of their communities," said Christine D'Arcy, director of the Oregon Arts Commission. "All across the state communities are looking to arts and culture to deepen and sustain community development. We are able to reach as many communities as we do through our funding partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts."
A total of 63 community and arts groups submitted requests of over $350,000 to the Oregon Arts Commission. Of the 63 requests, 32 projects were selected for funding.
The list of grant recipients follows.
Agness
Chetco Tribe of Southern Oregon, $2,630
The Chetco Tribe, in partnership with Foggy Creek Council and the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Suislaw will sponsor "Weaving our Past into the Future Cultural Education Workshop", to promote the study, cultivation and utilization of native plants, bark and grasses for the construction of traditional South Coast Native Basketry and Clothing. Arts Commission funds will pay for fees of artists, facility rental, meals, advertising, and other workshop costs.
Contact: Nancy Dupaquier, (541) 439-4841, chetcotribe@msn.com
Baker City
Baker County Library District, $2,490
The Halfway Branch of the Baker County Library, along with local merchants, Pine Valley Play Group, Pine Valley Presbyterian Church, local industrial arts classes, and Master Gardeners, will landscape the area surrounding the new Halfway Branch Library. The focus of the landscaping effort is on creating a gathering place for outdoor festivals, children's garden rooms, and a north wall mural to be completed at a later date. Arts Commission funds will pay for landscaping materials and other materials for children to create the outdoor rooms.
Contact: Linda Bergeron, (541) 742-5279, bakerlib@oregontrail.net
Crossroads Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, $3,780
Crossroads Center for the Creative and Performing Arts and the City of Baker City continue to be the principal collaborators in the renovation of Baker City's 1909 Carnegie Library into an arts center for the community. Arts Commission funds will support phase one of renovation construction.
Contact: Kathleen Chaves, (541) 523-5369, crossroads@webcom.com
Bend
Arts Central, $4,940
Arts Central and the Central Oregon Community Action Agency will expand the artist residency program for under-served children in low-income housing complexes and provide hands-on training for at-risk youth to become residency instructors. The project will increase access to the arts through an after-school program. Arts Commission funds will help pay for artist residencies and artist training.
Contact: Ingrid Lusting, (541) 317-9324, artsed@artscentraloregon.org
Burns
Harney County Arts & Crafts, $2,330
The Harney County Arts and Crafts Association and its partners, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County Chamber of Commerce, Harney County Historical Society and Silver Spur Motel, will undertake the Malheur Refuge Legacy Mural Project. The project will use the creation of a downtown mural and related public and school activities to build community relations and community pride with the Wildlife Refuge, as well as support the development of a stronger tourist economy. Arts Commission funds will support mural mounting, artists in the schools, a mural unveiling event, administrative and marketing costs.
Contact: Linda Whiting, (541) 573-6321
Cascade Locks
City of Cascade Locks, $2,000
The City of Cascade Locks, together with local organizations and city committees, will develop a community arts and culture vision plan that will incorporate economic development, tourism and cultural programming. Through this process a city arts commission will be formed. Arts Commission funds will be used to secure professional services to facilitate the planning process.
Contact: Roger Freeborn, Mayor, (541-374-8484), mayor@clbb.net
Cave Junction
Illinois Valley Community Response Team, $6,160
The Illinois Valley Community Response Team will develop a series of rock sculptures used as a unifying design theme for main street Cave Junction. This project is one element of an ongoing Cave Junction Public Arts Plan. Partners include the Illinois Valley Arts Council, local businesses, and the City of Cave Junction. Arts Commission funds will fund sculpture and project coordination.
Contact: Ron Phillips, (541) 592-4440, ronphillips@ivcrt.org
Eugene
Hult Center for the Performing Arts, $5,550
The Hult Center and the University of Oregon American Sign Language Club will sponsoring a residency with the National Theatre of the Deaf, in collaboration with Oregon agencies that serve the hearing impaired and the deaf communities. The project will include lecture/demonstration workshops and performances that combine sign language and spoken word to teach participants about signing, teamwork, tolerance and self-reliance. Arts Commission funds will provide artists' fees and travel expenses for residency work in Portland, Salem, and Eugene.
Contact: Darrel Kau, (541) 682-2057, darrel.l.kau@ci.eugene.or.us
Joint Forces Dance Company, $1,950
Joint Forces Dance Company, in collaboration with Eugene 4J School District, Lane Arts Council's YouthArts Program, and the Eugene Specialized Recreation Department, will produce the Integrated Performing Arts Outreach Project. Arts Commission funds will support teacher participation fees for a workshop at the Performing Arts Festivals in Eugene and Cottage Grove which will include performances and workshops integrating diverse ages and people with disabilities. The workshop will provide information on how to involve and engage people with disabilities, as well as how to pay artists and instructors.
Contact: Alito Alesso, (541) 342-3273, alito22@yahoo.com
Oregon Festival of American Music, $2,170
Oregon Festival of American Music/The American Music Institute and Central Latino Americano will undertake Creando Puentes, a long-term relationship building project among Lane County's immigrant Hispanic community, OFAM/AMI, and The Shedd, Eugene's new performance and educational facility. Creando Puentes will support: 1) a series of focus groups with youth regarding music instruction and performance, needs and resources; 2) OFAM staff and faculty cultural sensitivity and issues training; 3) outreach materials and procedures development; and, 4) access and recruitment for OFAM/AMI's new after-school and vacation bi-lingual instructional offerings.
Contact: Ginevra Ralph, (541) 687-6526, gralph@ofam.net
Gladstone
Camp Fire USA Mt. Hood Council, $1,760
Camp Fire USA Mt Hood Council will begin Youth for Arts, an after-school enrichment program for 170 youth in two Oregon City/Clackamas County Housing projects. Arts Commission funds will support a theater class culminating in a performance, and a field trip to a performance presented by the Northwest Children's Theater. Collaborators include the Northwest Children's Theater and School, Clackamas County Housing Authority, and Holcomb and Park Place Schools.
Contact: Jessika Allen, (503) 656-2530, jallencfusa@teleport.com
Independence
Adelante and Rainbow Dance Theatre, $6,300
Project Adelante and Rainbow Dance Theatre will partner to develop The Rainbow Project, a program of dance workshops and performances aimed at bringing together through dance the ethnically polarized populations of Monmouth and Independence. Arts Commission funds will contribute to fees for performing and workshop artists, publicity, technical staff, and performance tickets for low-income families.
Contact: Dick Keis, (503) 606-2292, dkeis@central.k12.or.us
La Grande
Eastern Oregon Regional Arts Council, $5,530
The Eastern Oregon Regional Arts Council will organize Artists of Eastern Oregon 2002, a regional juried exhibition. In conjunction with the exhibit, the council will sponsor workshops with community artists on the development of artist guilds, train artists on gallery relationships, and produce a catalogue of the works shown. Collaborators include the Eastern Oregon University's Nightingale Gallery.
Contact: Jane Howell, (541) 962-3080, jhowell@eou.edu
Medford
Arts Council of Southern Oregon, $5,750
The Arts Council of Southern Oregon will coordinate Through the Children's Eyes, a project that will involve Illinois Valley pre-K - 5th grade children in designing and painting movable murals that reflect their perceptions of life in their community. The finished murals will tour through communities in the Illinois Valley. Funds will support fees for the artist and instructor, on-site project coordination, marketing and administration.
Contact: Lyn Godsey, (541) 779-2820, office@artscouncilso.org
Mosier
City of Mosier, $5,880
The City of Mosier, working with the Mosier Alliance, a community improvement group, will commission a 29-foot totem pole by noted Wasco County wood sculptor Jeff Stewart. The pillar will serve as a centerpiece for a community park and gathering place at the town's center. Arts Commission funds will be used to pay the artist.
Contact: Jeannie Reeves, (541) 478-3505
Newport
City of Newport, $5,670
The Oregon Coast Council for the Arts, in partnership with the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and the City of Newport, will install a whale skeleton sculpture intended to act as a catalyst for multiple local cultural interpretations. The sculpture will serve as a focal point for story telling, lectures and performances describing the whale's significance, both now and throughout history. Arts Commission funds will be applied toward artistic fees.
Contact: Sam Sasaki, City Manager, (541) 574-0601, s.sasaki@thecityofnewport.net
Oakridge
City of Oakridge, $5,170
The City of Oakridge will develop and build an amphitheater in Greenwaters Park for use by local groups and artisans. Project partners are the Oakridge School District, USDA Forest Service, Lane Arts Council, and the Zero Clearance Theater Company. Arts Commission funds will partially cover the cost of materials.
Contact: Kevin Urban, (541) 782-2258, kevinurban@ci.oakridge.or.us
Port Orford
Port Orford Arts Council, $4,760
The Port Orford Arts Council will sponsor Arts Unite Us, a program for children and Families of North Curry County. Program goals are to increase art awareness and appreciation and build community pride in local artistic heritage. Partners include North Curry Families' and Children's Center, Southwestern Oregon Community College, 2CJ Port Orford-Langlois School District, and local businesses. Arts Commission funds will support artist fees, art supplies, transportation to classes, and studio and classroom facilities.
Contact: Susan Lincoln, (541) 332-1040, cpalincoln@harborside.com
Portland
Artists Repertory Theatre, $6,020
Artist Repertory Theatre, in partnership with the Rural Organizing Project, Equity Foundation, and local social justice organizations will tour The Laramie Project to Pendleton, Baker City, and John Day. Work in those communities will include performances, workshops and facilitated discussions, based on the play's examination of a rural community in crisis and its messages of tolerance, self-reflection and hope. Arts Commission funds will underwrite artists' fees and administration.
Contact: E. Barrett Anderson, (503) 241-9807 x142, barrette@artistsrep.org
Bump In The Road Theatre, $2,540
Bump in the Road Theater, Parish Nurse Ministries and Loaves and Fishes will collaborate on the creation of a new play exploring aging and care giving. The play, created through a community-based process with the elderly and caregivers, will be presented in autumn of 2003 along with facilitated audience talkback sessions. Arts Commission funds will support workshop costs including artist fees, recording and transcription costs, production costs, and marketing materials.
Contact: Carmela Lanza-Weil, (503) 750-1439, carmela@bumpintheroad.org
Haven Project, $3,750
The Haven Project (Portland) seeks support for The Afield Program which pairs under-served teens with professional artists. During two weeks of intense classes, each youngster writes a play that is performed for the community by professional actors. The Program will include six residencies with commitments from the Clinton, Open Meadow and Portland Night High Schools, Rosemont Treatment Facility, and Lents Education Center. Arts Commission funds will underwrite a portion of approximately 95 artist/mentor stipends.
Contact: Gretchen Corbett, (503) 872-9635, info@havenproject.org
Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, $6,300
The Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, working with the Oregon Historical Society Folklife Program, will present In My Country: A Gathering of Refugee and Immigrant Fiber Traditions. In My Country is a multi-faceted touring exhibit, including interactive public programming, and a project video and catalogue. Arts Commission funds will be used for coordinating the exhibit tour to three sites, maintaining the Sewing Circle, a regular gathering of refugee/immigrant fiber artists, and developing a long-range plan whereby the group can become self-sufficient.
Contact: Laura Marcus, (503) 234-1541, ircoarts@yahoo.com
Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, $1,980
Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, in partnership with Portland Accessible Theatre, NW Theater of the Deaf and Lumiere Players Theatre of the Imagination will convene an Audiences and Artists Accessibility Committee to improve the Interstate Firehouse's access services for constituents with disabilities and to raise awareness of their support to these audiences. Arts Commission funds will improve access services by providing interpreters for the meetings, underwrite new exterior and interior disability services signage, cover the costs of telephone handset amplifiers and audience assistive listening devices and support marketing efforts to promote these services.
Contact: Carol Chism, (503) 823-4322, ifcc@teleport.com
Lents Community Market, $3,490
The Lents Community Market will host a series of three multicultural festivals featuring food, music and dance in the summer months of the Lents Community Market season. Cultural festivals will build on the Market's role as a public gathering place that engages all segments of the Lents community, stimulates community involvement, and fosters cultural interaction. Arts Commission funds will be used to compensate performers, coordinate festivals, and conductive extensive community outreach.
Contact: Marianne Esposito, (503) 774-2851, lentsmarket@yahoo.com
MediaRites, $5,670
The Breast Cancer Outreach Project is a partnership with MediaRites, Project Quest and KBOO-FM. MediaRites will provide multi-disciplinary arts workshops during January-October 2003 at Project Quest to breast cancer survivors, families, and friends. The project culminates in October with a KBOO town hall broadcast and a theatre event at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center during Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Contact: Dmae Roberts, (503) 233-2919, mediar@aol.com
Miracle Theatre, $5,740
Miracle Theatre Group will bring Latina author Kathleen Alcala and writer/director Olga Sanchez to Portland to create an original adaptation of Ms. Alcala's novel Spirits of the Ordinary. Miracle will stage this piece on its mainstage and initiate a community dialogue about its subject Cyrypto (hidden) Jewish culture in Latin America. Program components include performance, a lecture series engaging prominent local and national artists/scholars, talkbacks, and a writing workshop focusing on Latino-Jewish heritage. Partners include Mittleman Jewish Community Center and PSU's Latino/Chicano Studies and Jewish Studies programs.
Contact: Montana Wojczuk, (503) 236-7253, jefe@milagro.org
Portland Community College Foundation, $5,240
Portland Community College will present the 13th Annual Cascade Festival of African Films. The Festival provides thousands of Africans, African Americans, and other Oregonians the opportunity to view and discuss films from the African Continent. Arts Commission funds will support: 1) the participation of director Aminah Abdul-Jabbaar, who will show her documentary, Bilalian; 2) the rental of acclaimed Ethiopian-American director Haile Gerima's Film Adwa, and other films in the series; as well as honoraria for after-film speakers. Project partners include Portland State University Black Studies, Washington State University-Vancouver Black Studies, Black United Fund of Oregon, and other community-based organizations.
Contact: Kristin Watkins, (503) 977-4696, kwatkins@pcc.edu
Portland Taiko, $4,920
Portland Taiko will present Art Explosion! A Showcase of Asian American Performing Arts. This event seeks to strengthen relationships between diverse Asian American artists and communities, develop local Asian American performing artists, and increase the visibility of Asian American artistic excellence. Arts Commission funds will provide fees for artists and support for outreach.
Contact: Ann Ishimaru, (503) 288-2456, info@portlandtaiko.org
Wisdom of the Elders Inc, $6,090
Wisdom of the Elders will undertake the Folkart and Wisdom Project which will record and transcribe oral histories, stories and interviews of 15 exemplary indigenous elders, storytellers and artists from Umatilla, Warm Springs and Grande Ronde Nations as part of the Lewis and Clark Bi-centennial. The Oregon Historical Society will provide consulting services and archive materials for future research purposes. Title VII Indian Education will use the recordings to prepare educational curriculum materials for schools and supplements to The Oregonian. Oregon Public Broadcasting will provide recording studio services. Arts Commission funds will support honoraria for the elders, travel expenses, services of an oral history professional at Oregon Historical Society, professional recording engineer, recording supplies, logging and transcription, curriculum planning and administration.
Contact: Rose High Bear, (503) 775-4014, wote@pcez.com
Write Around Portland, $6,230
Write Around Portland (WRAP) will collaborate with the Regional Arts and Culture Council and nine local agencies to provide 11 creative writing workshops to low-income, under-represented individuals in the Portland area. One project goal is to create inclusion within communities by giving voice to those most ignored. Arts Commission funds will fund artistic oversight, coordination of the workshops and production of the Spring 2003 anthology.
Contact: Ben Moorad, (503) 796-9224, wrapmail@teleport.com
Powers
Powers School District, $5,880
Powers School District and Powers Community Response Team, working with the Oregon Historical Society Folklife Program, Powers 4H Technology Team, I-Media, and ITEACH, will develop Spirit of the Siskiyous: Tales of Tradition, a documentation of life in a logging community and Native traditions in the Powers area. Arts Commission funds will be used to train and facilitate local students and adults in gathering first-hand accounts using audio and video, supported by historic documents - pictures, diaries, and other written records.
Contact: William Gehling, (541) 439-2291, bgehling@powers.k12.or.us
Sweet Home
East Linn Museum Society, $1,950
The East Linn Museum Society and the Linn-Benton Council on the Arts will partner on the Sweet Home Mural and Brochure Project. An artist will work with at-risk youth to complete an historically based mural, while talented and gifted students research and design a self-guided walking tour brochure to showcase the Sweet Home murals. Arts Commission funds will support fees for the artist and assistants, mural art supplies and printing costs for the brochure.
Contact: Gayle Gregory, (541) 367-4580
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 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.
