High Desert Museum among 23 Oregon arts organizations receiving arts learning grants

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A total of 23 arts organizations, including Bend's High Desert Museum, will each receive $10,000 grant awards to support their educational projects in partnership with Oregon schools through $230,000 in FY2022 Oregon Arts Commission Arts Learning funding, the commission announced Tuesday. 

“As the pandemic continues to affect our students’ lives and learning environment, this is an especially important time to protect their social and emotional wellbeing,” said Arts Commissioner Matthew Stringer, who chaired the review panel. “Creative outlets can offer young people a way to soothe their fear and anxiety. The beauty and challenge of arts learning can be a hopeful diversion during difficult times. It also inspires further development of problem-solving skills, important for our future leaders,” he said.

Arts Learning grants are designed to: support high-quality projects that provide a responsive opportunity for learning in and through the arts to benefit K-12 students; foster exchange of knowledge between artists and educators; and impact the achievement, skills and/or attitudes of learners. 

Applications were evaluated by the review panel based on project quality and artistic excellence, project support, artistic merit and project impact.

Note: Although grant recipients are listed with their organizations’ base location, the population they reach may be outside of their immediate community – often in rural and underserved parts of the state. Priority for funding was given to projects that primarily impact schools in one or more of the following categories: Title 1 participation; location within a county with more than 16.9 percent of the population experiencing poverty; or location in a rural community. 

Organizations receiving FY2022 Arts Learning grants, and their project descriptions, are:

Bay City Arts Center, Bay City

To support arts access for youth grades K through 6 in Tillamook School District #9 during the 2021-22 school year, providing comprehensive art education to youth as part of their regular school day schedules to remove access and equity barriers.

Caldera, Portland

To support long-term, in-person and virtual art- and environmental-based mentoring and engagement for approximately 175 youth from underserved communities in Portland and Central Oregon through partnerships with 11 schools.

Ethos Inc, Portland

To support music education for immigrant background youth through the continued development of both credited and enrichment-based “Pass the Mic” music classes on site at David Douglas high school and other East Portland schools.

Eugene-Springfield Youth Orchestras, Eugene

To support affordable, accessible strings classes in nine Eugene elementary schools and online, giving children of all backgrounds the benefits of learning an instrument.

Fishtrap Inc, Enterprise

To support the continuum of arts learning opportunities Fishtrap offers to youth across Eastern Oregon. In 2021-2022, they hope to engage 500 young rural writers ages 7 through 18 with Fishtrap’s youth writing programs.

Hand2Mouth, Portland

To support Student Voices, free theatre education for youth workshops in Portland area public schools.

Lane Arts Council, Eugene

To support Creative Link, an arts integration program pairing artists with teachers and classrooms to co-develop curricula in two Lane County school districts, deepen creative learning in the Migrant Student Services summer program, and provide arts integration training to educators countywide.

Literary Arts Inc, Portland

To support activities that empower students through storytelling by hosting writing residencies at 7 Multnomah County high schools.

Miracle Theatre Group, Portland

To support a three-day UNIDAD Movimiento Residency at Nellie Muir Elementary in Woodburn.

OK You Inc, Portland

To support the OK You Partner Program, is a pilot-based collaboration between OK You and three program partners to explore, develop, measure and model new possibilities for supporting youth in the classroom through the development of student groups and deeper connections with the community.

Oregon Ballet Theatre, Portland

To support OBT LAB (Learn About Ballet) in-school residencies for 650 students at three low-income Title 1 schools in the 2021-22 school year: Chehalem, Gilbert Park, and Parklane Elementary.

Oregon BRAVO Youth Orchestras, Portland

To support over 300 hours (per child) of instrumental music instruction and performance opportunities at six priority schools in North Portland, offered in partnership with Portland Public Schools.

Portland Art Museum, Portland

To support in-depth, bilingual arts learning about Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican arts and culture for sixth-grade students at César Chávez School (N. Portland) through a program that combines experiences at the Portland Art Museum with artist-led workshops at the school.

Portland Playhouse, Portland

To support planning, implementation and evaluation of the 2021-22 Social Justice Theatre Project and bring the power of creating live performance to 240 students at eight middle and high schools in Portland.

Portland Youth Philharmonic, Portland

To support musical and social-emotional growth for middle school youth in Gresham, Beaverton and Portland in partnership with local professional musicians, while also enhancing music educators' teaching skills on specific instruments to positively affect student learning and outcomes.

Rogue Valley Symphony Association, Ashland

To support group instrumental coaching and private instrument lessons to middle and high school students in Jackson, Josephine and Umpqua counties, serving 12 middle schools and 12 high schools, including 100 scholarships offered to middle and high students for nine months of free private lessons.

Rogue World Music, Ashland         

To support 80 hours of instruction for children, developing musicality as a life skill through cooperative singing, movement, body percussion and play.

Ross Ragland Theater, Klamath Falls

To support the Theater’s in-person Youth StARTS and Youth Audience Matinee virtual programs, providing comprehensive arts education for K-6 students in Klamath County School District, anticipating 16,400 students served in coordination with KCSD and Klamath Falls City School District in 2021-22.

Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Otis

To support arts access with Sitka Center’s Youth Arts Program, providing hands-on arts education integrated into public school curriculum in the 2021-22 school year, along with a six-week summer art ed series for over 500 underserved, rural youth living in Tillamook County in grades K-8.

The Circus Project, Portland

To support the second year of an arts learning exchange between the Circus Project and the George Middle School Unified program that provides circus arts learning opportunities to students with disabilities.

The High Desert Museum, Bend

To support Kids Curate, a meaningful, year-long education program that will provide over 50 hours of sequential arts learning experiences to 55 underserved students, sparking ongoing interest in the arts and advancing academic success.

Wordcrafters in Eugene, Eugene

To support intensive Creative Writing Residencies for 240 Lane County underserved, low-income students (at a rural high school, a program for incarcerated students and a high school for at-risk students) that are proven to increase school engagement, creativity, writing skills and academic success.

Young Audiences of Oregon, Portland

To support implementation of The Right Brain Initiative program at four elementary schools in Washington county during the 2021-22 school year.

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 Business Oregon (formerly 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.

In 2003, the Oregon legislature moved the operations of the Oregon Cultural Trust to the Arts Commission, streamlining operations and making use of the Commission’s expertise in grantmaking, arts and cultural information and community cultural development. 

The Arts Commission is supported with general funds appropriated by the Oregon Legislature and with federal funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as funds from the Oregon Cultural Trust. More information about the Oregon Arts Commission is available online at: www.oregonartscommission.org.