March 2019 Oregon Arts Commission News!

Eight grants awarded through The Ford Family Foundation’s Art Acquisition Fund, a partnership that supports our state’s collecting visual arts institutions, ensure works by important Oregon artists will be accessible to the public in perpetuity.

Funds were awarded by a panel of art professionals to: the City of Halsey, Coos Art Museum, High Desert Museum, Portland Art Museum, Portland State University, Reed College, The Schneider Museum of Art, and Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at University of Oregon.

The artists whose works were acquired include Gale Everett, Christiaan H. Mostert, James Lavadour, Chris Johanson and Jo Jackson, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Heather Watkins, Elizabeth Malaska and Victor Maldonado.

Read the full release, including images and descriptions of all acquisitions.

All school contests are completed and winners are advancing to three regional contests Saturday, March 2, in Medford, Portland and Salem. The top three students from each region will advance to the state contest in Salem on March 9. The state winner will be invited to participate in the national contest in Washington D.C. at the end of April.

Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation in partnership with state arts agencies, Poetry Out Loud encourages students to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance.

The guidelines and application for FY2020 Operating Support grants are now posted. Remember that ALL organizations must apply every year.

For grant year FY2020 the following disciplines must submit full applications:

Arts Services; Literary; Theatre; and Visual Arts.

The following disciplines must submit interimapplications:

Dance; Film/Media; Interdisciplinary; and Music.

Organizations applying for Operating Support for the first time may only do so in their discipline’s assigned full application year. If you have questions about your organization’s eligibility or discipline please call 503-986-0082.

Applications for Operating Support are due by

5 p.m. on Friday, March 29.

NOTE: Recorded webinars on completing the required DataArts profiles are available at the links below.

Congratulations to the 31 organizations awarded FY2019 Arts Build Communities grants!

They share $175,000 for projects using the arts as a means of addressing community need.

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.

See the news release for a complete list of awards and project descriptions.

Portland artist Intisar Abioto will exhibit “Black Legend, Black, Oregon” in Governor Kate Brown’s Office in the Oregon State Capitol Building in Salem through March 29.

“Black Legend, Black, Oregon” explores the lore and living legend of Black presence in Oregon through photographs of artists, elders, poets, historians, luminaries and beloved community members. Works in the exhibition include images from the artist’s ongoing photographic endeavor and exploratory blog The Black Portlanders as well as photographs taken around Oregon for the Urban League of Portland’s “State of Black Oregon” 2015 publication. She has been photographing and writing about people of African descent in Oregon since 2013.

An exhibition in the Governor’s Office is considered a “once in a lifetime” honor.

Read the full release.