Oregon Arts Commission awards $150,000 in learning grants to 15 organizations
Bend, Ore. (KTVZ) --- The Oregon Arts Commission awarded $150,000 in Arts Learning grants to 15 organizations across the state today. Each recipient will receive a $10,000 grant to strengthen K-12 arts education for the 2026-2027 academic year.
The Arts Learning grant program supports hands-on arts experiences for students while encouraging collaboration between local artists and school educators. Funding for the grants comes from the state of Oregon general fund along with a federal grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. A community review panel evaluated the applications before the commission approved the final grant allocations.
Tiff Harker, arts education and grants coordinator for the Oregon Arts Commission, described the statewide impact of the awards on classrooms. “Through this grant program, thousands of students will have an opportunity to engage with the arts in the classroom,” Harker said. “Arts organizations partner with schools and students greatly benefit from the enhancement of cognitive skills, creative problem-solving and self-empowerment.”
Several grants were awarded to organizations serving Eastern Oregon. The Pendleton Arts Center will receive funding for a four-month paper and book arts project reaching more than 250 kindergarteners at Pendleton Early Learning Center. The Oregon East Symphony in Pendleton will provide 45 hours of after-school classical strings instruction for fourth and fifth grade students. In Wallowa County, the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture will fund three interconnected initiatives, including after-school classes, a charter art program and a Youth Arts Festival.
In Union County, Art Center East in La Grande will bring eight residency weeks of its improv program to four Title I elementary schools. The Native Performing Arts Network in Hillsboro will expand arts education at the Native American Youth and Family Center's Many Nations Academy and the McDermitt Combined School, which serves members of the McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe.
Coastal communities will also see new programming funded by the grants. Future Prairie in Portland will co-develop a six-month vocal arts project with Fire Mountain School in Arch Cape and Neah-Kah-Nie High School in Rockaway Beach, featuring monthly workshops led by Portland Opera tenor Emmanuel Onry Henreid. The Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in Otis will run a photography outreach initiative for K-8 students. The Oregon Coast Council for the Arts will bring ceramics, painting, printmaking and fiber arts instruction to Newport Middle School to replace art programming lost to budget cuts.
In Central and Southern Oregon, The Open Arts Center in Bend will partner with Bear Creek Elementary, a bilingual Title I school, to offer three six-week artist residencies for 75 to 90 students. In Jacksonville, Sticks and Stones Studio will convert an existing classroom at Ruch Outdoor Community School into a studio space for students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
Grants awarded to Willamette Valley and Portland area groups will fund a variety of specialized workshops. Eugene-based #instaballet will conduct dance workshops in Life Skills classrooms across Springfield and Eugene public schools. Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre Northwest in Portland will provide creative movement classes for students from Pre-K through seventh grade. Parrott Creek Child & Family Services Inc. in Oregon City will expand its photography program for at-risk youth at its residential facility. SCRAP Creative Reuse in Portland will expand its mending and textile arts program. In Salem, Theatre 33 at Willamette University will offer free art, design and animation workshops to high school students in economically distressed areas.
