An urgent update on the legislative process: WE NEED YOUR HELP in the remaining two months of this session.

The grants program of the Oregon Arts Commission is under threat and may see cuts of over $400,000 in the next biennium if we aren’t able to convince legislators to add more general fund dollars to this critical agency budget. There are many competing state priorities but we know where Oregonians stand on strategic investments in the arts—the majority of our residents believe arts and culture are important to local business and the economy, and that arts and culture are important to overall quality of life.
Art is not a luxury…it is a practice that changes people; that builds people; that strengthens our civic fabric. Due to rising administrative costs, and budgets that have not kept pace with inflation, the squeeze of resources will come not only from administrative cutbacks but from reductions in existing grant programs. Grants will get smaller and it will take longer for dollars to reach our artists, collaborators and organizations.

Now is the time to raise your voice for the Arts, for Culture, for Heritage, for Humanities…for Oregon.
We ask two things:
1) Please contact your legislator and ask them to hold harmless the grants budget of the Oregon Arts Commission by providing an additional $400,000 in general fund dollars to cover the administrative shortfall.
2) Become a member of the Cultural Advocacy Coalition, if you haven’t already, so we can show the capitol building the force of advocates who represent Oregon’s commitment to the best quality of life we can achieve.A small investment here will impact so many of our pressing issues. Now is the time.