And the two shall become one.

That’s the plan that the Oregon Arts Commission and the Oregon Cultural Trust, two state agencies that overlap in much of their goals and responsibilities, are presenting to the Oregon Legislature. The two boards and their staffs hope to dissolve their separate organizations and reorganize as a single agency that would begin business in 2027.

The advantages, the two agencies say, are in efficiency, increased impact in the state governmental system, more independence within the state bureaucracy, and a streamlined process for arts, cultural, and heritage groups seeking grants and other aid from the state. “We can make it easier to get funding out to the sector,” Sean Andries, board chair of the Oregon Cultural Trust, said.

“Greater representation. That’s the thing,” said Subashini Ganesan-Forbes, chair of the Oregon Arts Commission. “This is a future, and it’s a big idea.”

The big idea, Andries added, needs some rethinking of how the state gets things done. Oregon, he noted, is No. 1 in the nation per capita for individual arts and cultural support, but No. 39 in state support. “There’s a disconnect,” he said. “How do we best serve?”

Two bills – HB 2283 and HB 3048 — have been filed in the Legislature to make the merger a reality. They’re among roughly 3,000 bill proposals so far that legislators must work through. Both bills are essentially placeholders at this point, with details to be added via amendments. If the Legislature approves, the two agencies would spend roughly two years setting up their new system and then, in 2027, dissolve so the new single agency can take over.

The two state agencies have much in common, and some differences. The arts commission deals specifically with art, in all its forms from visual to performance to film and literature and more. The cultural trust has a broader reach, including tribal and county coalitions and partnerships with Oregon Humanities, the Oregon Heritage Commission, State Historic Preservation Office, and the Oregon Historical Society as well as the Oregon Arts Commission.

Both groups fall under the wider governmental umbrella of Business Oregon, which has a combined budget of about $2 billion and many departments. The arts commission was founded in 1967 and became a part of Business Oregon in 1993. The cultural trust, founded in 2001 as part of the Secretary of State’s office, shifted to Business Oregon the following year.

The new proposal would reshape the combined arts and cultural group as a semi-independent state agency, along the model of the Oregon Office of Film and Video, allowing it more freedom to make its own decisions.

“Business Oregon is great,” said Brian Rogers, executive director of both the arts commission and the cultural trust. “We have a really good working relationship.” Yet at Business Oregon, he added, “we’re one of many.”

Rogers’ directorship of the two agencies is an indication of how close the two are, and how easy it can be for people not directly involved to mix them up: Some other staffers also work for both agencies.

The idea of merging the two agencies, Rogers said, has been in discussion for several years. In 2018 the director of Business Oregon suggested that the two groups explore combining their boards. In 2021 the two boards met but decided to remain separate: Some cultural trust board members, Andries said, were concerned that arts funding might cut into money available for the trust’s other programs. In 2024 the governor’s office suggested that the two reexamine combining forces, and in May and June of that year both boards voted unanimously to continue to look at combining. In December 2024 both boards voted unanimously to approve the merger concept and move forward to drafting bills for the Legislature.

With budgetary dangers on the national, state, and local levels, the idea of greater efficiency could be appealing to the Oregon Legislature. Arts, cultural, and humanities governmental funding faces several challenges. Nationally, the first Trump administration attempted to eliminate the national endowments for the arts and the humanities, as well as funding for the Public Broadcasting System. Congress refused to go along. But with Republican majorities now in both the House and Senate and the possibility that the new Trump administration will try to make the cuts again, the chance remains that federal cultural spending could be radically reduced or largely disappear.

With the lingering effect of the pandemic economic slowdown, Oregon’s current Legislature also faces tough budgeting decisions. And in Portland, as Sophie Peel reported in Willamette Week, Interim City Administrator Mike Jordan has warned that a projected $27 million budget deficit is likely to grow to $100 million before the 2025-26 fiscal year, throwing the budgeting process into crisis mode.

Much of the governmental funding that supports arts and humanities programming flows from the national endowments to state commissions and from the state commissions to county, tribal, and local agencies. The arts commission’s Ganesan-Forbes stressed the importance of making sure that Oregon’s proposed combined state agency be set up in such a way that federal money can continue to funnel to the new agency.

Both Andries and Ganesan-Forbes expressed confidence that combining staffs and boards could broaden the new group’s thinking and give birth to new and more expansive creative ideas. “We talk about intersectionality,” Ganesan-Forbes said. “Let’s own it.”

And both stressed that getting input from individual artists and groups will be important while the two agencies set up their new combined processes. “Reach out. If you would like to be involved, reach out,” Ganesan-Forbes said.

Andries concurred. “If you haven’t been heard, we’re looking for you,” he said. “For the next two years it’s going to be essential” that everyone involved in the switchover be out gathering people’s views.

A couple of upcoming events could help in that process. On Feb. 12 the Legislature’s Arts and Culture Caucus will host a party at the Elsinore Theatre in Salem, with music by esperanza spalding and Darrell Grant. And April 15 will be Arts and Culture Advocacy Day in Salem.

Under a new solo agency, Oregon’s Cultural Tax Credit program, which allows state taxpayers to match their contributions to eligible nonprofit cultural groups and get a dollar-for-dollar deduction on their state taxes within certain limits, would remain in effect. So would money raised from sales of the state’s automotive cultural license plate. All funding sources and programs now in effect are expected to transfer over. That includes, among other things, programs ranging from the Governor’s Art Awards and the state Poet Laureate program to grant-funding available to roughly 1,600 arts, heritage, and humanities nonprofit organizations.

The Oregon Cultural Trust’s expenses for the 2023-25 biennium are $12.9 million, with $6.8 million going directly to grants. The Oregon Arts Commission’s expenses for the same period are $8.2 million, with $5.2 million going to grants. The cultural trust has a board of nine members plus two nonvoting legislative members. The arts commission’s board has nine members. The proposed single board would have 11 members, and members of the two current boards would be eligible to serve on it.