Deschutes Cultural Coalition Gives Grants, Plans Awards

The Deschutes Cultural Coalition, a program of the Oregon Cultural Trust that distributes funding to local cultural organizations, recently awarded its 2013 cultural grants to five arts and culture organizations in the amount of $13,400. The Oregon Cultural Trust supports Oregon culture, which in turn supports Oregon’s economy, with vibrant, livable communities—and jobs and prosperity for Oregon families, which provide the taxes and fees that are needed to fund services like education and public safety in communities across Oregon.

Each of the organizations is dedicated to program excellence and the delivery of arts and culture programs accessible to all.  Grant recipients are: Tower Theatre Foundation, $2,650; Sunriver Music Festival, $1,000; Deschutes Historical Society, $2,750; Deschutes Library Foundation, $3,000; KPOV, $1,000; and the Nancy R. Chandler Visiting Scholar Program, $3,000 for a total 2013 distribution of $13,400.

The Deschutes Cultural Coalition awarded Brad Tisdel, executive director of the Sisters Folk Festival, the first Ben Westlund Memorial Award in October of 2012. The award included a $1,000 discretionary grant that the recipient can designate to the qualifying cultural non-profit of his or her choice. Tisdel designated the Americana Project, the educational outreach of Sisters Folk Festival, as the 2013 recipient.  The funds will support early childhood music education programming at Sisters Elementary School.

Brad Porterfield, executive director of the Latino Association of Central Oregon, has been chosen to receive the Deschutes Cultural Coalition’s 2013 Ben Westlund Award. The award ceremony is planned for October in Redmond.

About the Oregon Cultural Trust

The Oregon Cultural Trust benefits all Oregonians by providing funding support for Oregon’s arts, heritage and humanities assets. The goal of the Trust is to secure sustainable funding for Oregon culture in perpetuity. As an investment, it creates vibrant communities by strengthening the economy, improving education, and bettering our quality of life. In the first 10 years of the Trust, 21,000 Oregonians have raised $25 million for culture, created more than $9 million in grants that benefit every county in Oregon and have built the endowment to nearly $15.5 million.

The Oregon Cultural Trust is literally a unique funding model for arts and culture in this country and has been ranked with the bottle bill and vote-by-mail as among Oregon’s most forward-thinking public policy measures.

A look at cultural nonprofits and Oregon’s Cultural Economy.

The Oregon Cultural Trust supports Oregon culture, which in turn supports Oregon’s economy, with vibrant, livable communities—and jobs and prosperity for Oregon families, which provide the taxes and fees that are needed to fund services like education and public safety in communities across Oregon.

Cultural nonprofits and Oregon’s economy by the numbers:

Total economic impact
14,890 jobs
$466.3 million in income
$1.2 billion in sales
$57.2 million in taxes and fees to state and local governments

For more information about the Oregon Cultural Trust, visit http://www.culturaltrust.org/.