Pacific Power announces grants to support arts and cultural organizations
PORTLAND, Ore. — Arts and cultural organizations play an essential role in maintaining healthy and resilient communities. To support their vital work, the Pacific Power Foundation is donating more than $164,000 in new grant funding across the three states it serves.
The grants will help fund projects ranging from Shakespeare performances with American Sign Language interpretation to free music events, and from programming that engages diverse youth in public art projects to museums that share regional cultural history.
“These groups foster creative expression, inspire young minds, nurture well-being, and help us look at the world in new ways,” said Stefan Bird, president and CEO, Pacific Power. “We’re honored to support the incredible work they are doing.”
This recent round of grants focused on art and culture is one of the foundation’s four annual grant cycles.
The following 61 grants were given to local organizations supporting communities in Oregon, Washington and California:
Oregon
Greater Portland area
A-WOL Dance Collective for Aeros, an aerial dance training company for students ages 10-18.
Bridging Voices for winter and summer concert performances by this LGBTQ and allied youth chorus.
Caldera for the Youth Arts Mentoring program, which provides 200 Portland and Central Oregon youth (grades 6-12) with year-round, arts-based mentoring that makes connections with nature and is grounded in positive youth development.
Columbia Gorge Orchestra Association (CGOW) for Opera Through the Ages, which showcases opera excerpts from the 18th through 21st centuries, emphasizing works from women and diverse composers.
Global Works Community Fund for the Unity Through Arts youth arts and mentorship program, which engages youth from diverse and low-income communities in public art projects.
Make Music Day PDX to organize free musical performances in eight Portland parks as part of the global Make Music Day event.
Open Hearts Open Minds for its Arts in Prison program at the Columbia River Correctional Institution that supports adults in custody by promoting healing and transformation through the process of making and sharing art.
Oregon Historical Society to help create a new permanent exhibit about Portland’s history, slated to open in 2024.
Oregon Repertory Singers for expansion of the Youth Choirs program and to increase and diversify enrollment while championing choral compositions from historically underrepresented communities.
Play It Forward for the Keys to Learning program that connects students from diverse and low-income communities to music education through free electric keyboards.
Playwrite for 10-day youth playwriting workshops that pair student writers with trained coaches to create original plays.
Portland Center Stage for the Stage Door youth education program that serves over 6,000 youth from 60 secondary schools with free or reduced-cost tickets to shows, free in-school and onsite workshops, backstage tours, resource guides and transportation subsidies.
Portland Institute for Contemporary Art for the SPACE (Supporting Partners, Artists and Community Events) program that makes their facility available for smaller partner community organizations to use for meetings, residencies, performances and large-scale projects.
Portland Opera for Portland Opera to Go, a statewide arts education tour that brings live opera performances for youth into K-12 schools and community centers throughout Oregon.
Portland Symphonic Choir for community choral education programming that supports Portland-area high school music students.
Portland Youth Philharmonic for its 90th annual children’s concert series, which offers four in-person performances for 8,000 children in Portland and online streaming for schools across Oregon.
Shaun Keylock Company (SKC) to provide archive services and legacy management for LGBTQ dance elders, creating a record of Oregon’s dance history that can be shared through live performances, workshops, artist talks and screenings.
Theatre Diaspora for staged readings of Asian American and Pacific Islander plays revolving around family themes.
Third Angle New Music Ensemble to increase accessibility for audience members experiencing a wide range of disabilities so they can experience the ensemble’s four spring concerts.
Women in Film Portland (WIF-PDX) for Vision Grants to support local women filmmakers working on documentaries or fiction films.
Young Musicians & Artists to support scholarships for six Ockley Green Middle School music students, from homes experiencing low incomes or from historically oppressed groups, to attend a two-week, overnight summer music camp.
Willamette Valley
Albany, Oregon American Legion Post 10 for upgrades to the facility that welcomes veterans daily and is in the process of becoming certified as a military heritage museum.
Generations Theater Company to help create a stage for its 2023 musical theater productions of “Cinderella” and “Fiddler on the Roof” in Junction City.
Polk County Historical Society for chimney caps as part of renovations at the Brunk farmhouse, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Revitalize Downtown Stayton for the revitalization of Mick and Mom’s restaurant storefront as part of an ongoing storefront improvement project in downtown Stayton.
Santiam Hearts to Arts to help provide music and art in the Santiam Canyon area, including a community chorus that welcomes anyone who wants to sing and a non-commercial community radio station that keeps area residents informed on local events.
Western Oregon University Foundation for the 2023 production of the Apple Box Children’s Theatre program.
Northern Coast
Cascadia Chamber Opera for the Mozart Festival that makes opera accessible to everyone by featuring small- and large-scale operas over Labor Day weekend in Astoria in less formal environments.
Siletz Bay Music Festival to help stage a free concert series that includes bringing musicians to schools to broaden students’ musical experiences.
Central Oregon
Deschutes Public Library Foundation for its A Novel Idea literary celebration that includes author appearances, programs and workshops.
High Desert Chamber Music for free pop-up concerts that bring classical music to the public in unique outdoor settings.
High Desert Museum to address K-12 education disparities, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, by expanding access to engaging STEM educational experiences for rural students and students from families experiencing low incomes.
Redmond Senior Center for website improvements that include offering information in Spanish and allowing electronic signup for Meals-on-Wheels and other services.
Umpqua Valley
Wildlife Safari to help provide free ZooSchool field trips to Wildlife Safari for 300 children from families experiencing low incomes.
Southern Coast
Southcoast Clambake Music Festival to bring a band to the Coos Bay area for the Music in the Schools program that helps educate more than 4,500 local students.
Eastern Oregon
Arts Council of Pendleton to support access to free arts education and experiences for over 1,200 rural youth in Eastern Oregon, including visual arts, literary arts and music instruction.
Fishtrap Inc for Fishtrap Reads, which provides free books and resources to schools, libraries and community centers to enable local residents to enjoy a great work of literature together.
Inland Northwest Musicians to offer free classical music concerts in the Eastern Oregon region.
Josephy Center for Arts and Culture to support Native artists and speakers and provide teaching materials to increase Nez Perce educational and cultural learning in Wallowa County schools.
Oregon’s Alpenfest to help bring back the annual Swiss-Bavarian cultural festival.
Oregon East Symphony for production of the concert season in the Pendleton area.
Rogue Valley
Collaborative Theatre Project for Spanish-English bilingual programming for young adults and youth, and a new puppetry program that provides participants with freedom of expression to present their stories.
Illinois Valley Community Development Organization (IVCanDo) for a botanical restoration and wheelchair trail project at the Rough and Ready Botanical Area, including a wheelchair-accessible trail, benches for resting spots and interpretive signage.
Illinois Valley Little League to help install a digital scoreboard for the community’s only Little League field.
Josephine County Foundation for Project SMART (Students, Music, Art, Recording and Theater) through which K-12 teachers in Josephine County and Rogue River can apply for funding for special projects.
OCPA (Oregon Conservatory of Performing Arts) for planning and staging two theater camps in partnership with Collaborative Theatre Project Kids, which provides Spanish-English bilingual programming.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival for American Sign Language interpreters to support audience members as part of its series of Fourth Friday Weekend ASL+ Performances.
Youth Symphony of Southern Oregon to support the organization’s 35th anniversary season, including music education, performances and complimentary tickets for audience members in need.
Klamath Falls
Klamath Film for the Klamath Independent Film Festival, the only festival that exclusively showcases made-in-Oregon films.
Washington
Blue Mountain Artisans Guild for art supplies, tables, chairs and lights to help serve more than 100 K-12 students through this Garfield County community art program.
Capitol Theatre Committee for the Capitol Kids Series that provides multilingual, multicultural performances and artist residency activities for student groups from kindergarten through college and for community events in Yakima.
Carnegie Picture Lab for the Creativity Curated Program that provides instruction for Walla Walla County elementary students on the elements of art and art movements, with a focus on contemporary and diverse artists.
Fort Walla Walla Museum to help provide students with free access to organized museum tours that connect children with the history of their region.
Gesa Power House Theatre for the Tango del Cielo theatrical music and dance performance as part of the 12th anniversary celebration for this Walla Walla landmark.
Humanities Washington for the Speakers Bureau series of free cultural presentations covering history, literature, politics, music, art, philosophy, the environment, spiritual traditions and other topics at libraries, museums, theaters, senior centers, colleges and correctional centers.
Lelooska Foundation for the creation of 10 cultural sharing boxes that provide a new way to help educate Southwest Washington and Oregon students and deepen their understanding of the Native Peoples of North America.
Shakespeare Walla Walla to bring the Seattle Shakespeare Troupe to Walla Walla for a performance of Romeo and Juliet, providing many students with their first Shakespeare performance.
Yakima Valley Museum & Historical Association for upgrades to its conference room heating/ventilation/air conditioning system.
California
Nevada California Oregon Railway for archive upgrades, including protective storage materials and an environmental monitoring system, to safely preserve historical railway documents, photographs and other artifacts.
Red Scarf Society for the Performing Arts for staging of six concerts in the Yreka area.
Voices of the Golden Ghosts Siskiyou for a short film, high-school presentations and a study guide for students and teachers to help students learn the history of Black Americans in Siskiyou County during the California Gold Rush.