The Oregon Community Foundation has finalized the latest step in its $21 million commitment to arts and cultural organizations throughout Oregon, announcing grants totaling more than $4 million to 315 groups on Monday morning, April 21.

It’s OCF’s share of an almost $52 million commitment over three years, announced in March 2024 in partnership with the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation and the Oregon Legislature. The OCF and Miller foundations pledged $20 million each. Since then, OCF members have pledged another $1 million to the fund, bringing the combined total to $53 million.

The OCF grants are distributed both geographically and by population density, with awards going to organizations in virtually every corner of the state, and a greater share to larger population centers. The awards, which go to large, medium, and small arts and cultural groups, cover a three-year span, and for most of the awardees announced today, this is their first year under this program.

Grants are made for both special projects and for much-needed general operations, which keep nonprofit organizations going day to day. “We let folks say what they wanted money for,” commented Jerry Tischleder, OCF’s senior program officer for arts and culture. The foundation awarded money to a little more than half of the groups that submitted grant applications, he added: “I wish we could fund every single one. That’s the hard part.”

The March 2024 announcement listed immediate relief for major arts groups including the High Desert Museum, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Oregon Symphony, Portland Art Museum, Portland Center Stage, and Portland Opera. The remaining 308 awards are announced today. See the full list of 308 awards and their amounts here.

Monday’s announcement included awards to several organizations that have been struggling financially, among them $100,000 each for general operating support to Oregon Children’s Theatre and Artists Repertory Theatre. In addition, Oregon Humanities received $20,000 to expand its Conversation Project. As Tischleder noted, Oregon Humanities receives about 40 percent of its funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, whose funds have been largely cut off by the Trump Administration.

In addition to its war on scientific and medical research, the adminstration has also taken aim at the National Endowment for the Arts, Public Broadcasting Service, National Public Radio, Institute of Museum and Library Services, colleges and universities, U.S. Department of Education, and other federal cultural and education programs, threatening to deeply slash their budgets and/or eliminate the agencies entirely. These cuts are on top of arts and cultural groups’ pandemic-years heavy losses, from which most are still struggling to recover.

Since a good deal of federal money flows to state agencies such as Oregon Humanities and the Oregon Arts Commission, which in turn pass on money to city and regional groups, private foundations such as the Oregon Community Foundation become all the more important — especially since Oregon ranks 41st out of the 50 states in state funding for the arts, at 51 cents annually per person.

“When Oregon’s arts and culture leaders asked us to go beyond keeping the lights on, we listened,” Lisa Mensah, the Oregon Community Foundation’s president and CEO, said in a prepared statement. “We said ‘yes’ to going big, and they responded with vision, creativity and determination. We called this investment a ‘love letter’ to express our appreciation for how they help communities thrive. We’re proud to stand with our arts and culture partners every step of the way.”

Total grants, broken down regionally:

• Central Oregon: 24 grants, $366,500.
• Eastern Oregon: 21 grants, $627,900.
• Portland Metro: 138 grants, $2,237,100.
• North Coast: 24 grants, $360,000.
• North Willamette: 22 grants, $398,800.
• South Coast: 9 grants, $155,000.
• South Willamette: 45 grants, $720,700.

A sampling of awards granted across the state. (Oregon ArtsWatch received $35,000 to build information resources for the arts community throughout the state.):

• Museum at Warm Springs: $100,000 to return staffing to pre-Covid levels, add key staff, and rebuild core operations and programming.
• Eastern Oregon Regional Arts Council, La Grande: $100,000 to install a lift in the city-owned historic Carnegie Library.
• BendFilm: $20,000 for general operating support.
• Lan Su Chinese Garden, Portland: $25,000 for general operating support.
• Japanese American Museum of Oregon, Portland: $10,000 for general operating support.
• Ethos, Inc., Portland: $75,000 for strategic planning and capacity building for music education services.
• Columbia Center for the Arts, Hood River: $25,000 to revitalize core visual arts and performing arts programming.
• Painted Sky Center for the Arts, John Day: $25,000 for general operating support.
• Heppner Community Foundation: $20,400 for South Morrow Art Center.
• Harney County Historical Society, Burns: $24,000 for porch and roof repair.
• Gallery Players of Oregon, McMinnville: $100,000 to repair a vial elevator.
• Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde: $100,000 for general operating support.
• Sitka Center for Art & Ecology, Otis: $100,000 to expand K-8 Create program in Title 1 schools across Clatsop, Tillamook, and Lincoln counties.
• Oregon Coast Council for the Arts, Newport: $60,000 for a flexible-use community arts laboratory space.
• El Centro NW, Seaside: $35,000 to support a full-time folkloric dance instructor for underserved North Coast youth.
• Regional Arts & Culture Council, Portland: $100,000 for general operating support.
• Portland Indigenous Marketplace: $100,000 to transform an abandoned building into a cultural center for Indigenous and Black artists and entrepreneuers.
• Performance Works NorthWest, Portland: $25,000 for construction of ADA bathroom and ramps to improve building access.
• PassinArt: A Theatre Company, Portland: $25,000 for general operating support.