"While OrpheusPDX has not incurred debt and is not facing an immediate financial crisis, the company is responding proactively to shifting funding realities by taking a deliberate, strategic pause."
These cuts threaten shovel-ready projects, major employers, and rural and urban communities across the state. And they come at a time when [Oregon] arts funding is already among the lowest in the nation. Legislators had been considering cutting nearly $900,000 in arts and culture funding when the session started on Feb. 2.
The Music and Sonic Arts (MSA) program is an industry-shaping program focused on music recording, production, audio programming, interactivity, and composition using contemporary tools including Ableton or Max MSP software. Offered at the Portland Community College (PCC) Cascade campus in North Portland, the program includes pathways for two-year associate's degrees in music, or one-year certificates that can be useful in music and other tech jobs.
WolfBrown found that Eugene had an abundance of art; however, the town needed more support from the business sector. The results showed that "we punched above our weight for a community our size," said Kelly Johnson, executive director of the nonprofit Arts & Business Alliance of Eugene, which the city created in 2008 to link the arts and business communities.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Fiscal Year 2026 ominibus appropriations bill by a vote of 397 to 28 on Jan. 8 that included $207 million each for the NEA and NEH. It includes funding for multiple other federal agencies, too, including the Department of Commerce, the Department of Justice, and the Department of the Interior. The bill now moves to the U.S. Senate, which is expected to take up the legislation during the week of Jan. 12-16.
We can find a middle ground. PSU could reduce the size of its planned theater to between 800 and 1,200 seats, clearing the way for the Keller to be remodeled as a mid-size 1,500 to 1,800 seat venue.
The 15-member commission, which was created by the Oregon Legislature, has already awarded $125,000 in community grants to 38 eligible organizations for projects focusing on how the 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 has shaped the state. The funding, which was approved in two rounds, has flowed to both urban and rural parts of Oregon. Now the commission has announced that a third round of grants totaling $50,000 will be available starting on Wednesday, March 4. The maximum grant is $3,000 and no match is required. Fifty percent of the grants will be dedicated to rural communities.
Urban Renaissance, the real estate development group that partly owns the mall, has a vision for what comes after demolition. The group's Lloyd Center Central City Master Plan wipes the venerable mall from the map in favor of development that will be familiar to most Portlanders: an intersecting street grid with green space and mixed-used architecture.
The day after Whitelaw testified, the state economist said that Oregon now has about $300 million more to spend than previously expected. The new revenue forecast does not mean the budget is in the black, however. There are new demands for the available dollars, including $600 million in upgrades to the Moda Center to retain the Portland Trail Blazers, a recently announced $50 million shortfall in Portland Public School funding,
"For over a decade," the news release states, "he has developed and led arts-based programs with marginalized youth, including co-founding Ascending Flow in East Portland and helping develop Keys, Beats, Bars at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in partnership with the Oregon Health Authority. He is the founder of Peer Tribe Foundation, which supports artists and leaders creating measurable impact in their communities. ... The grant will support cultural exchange in the Philippines, sustain hip-hop workshops for youth in correctional facilities, and launch a portable recording studio project in Oregon."
With most of us, 90 minutes of reminiscing wouldn't make for scintillating theater. Gert Boyle, as played by Wendy Westerwelle, is the exception to that rule. The late Gert came to fame when she took the reins of Columbia Sportswear after her husband's death in 1970 and also became the "One Tough Mother," with gray hair and glasses, of its comedic '80s and '90s ad campaigns. In one, she put her son, Tim, through a carwash to test the durability of a coat.
Artists make California vibrant, innovative and culturally rich, yet our state ranks 35th nationally in per capita arts funding. When the state budget allocates just 53 cents per person to the arts, it's clear how little we're investing in the creative workers who shape the state's identity and economy. California's artists are delivering extraordinary value with minimal investment. Imagine what a stronger commitment to the arts could do for our communities, our economy and our future.
The Portland Housing Bureau has found additional unspent dollars in its coffers, adding to the previous $21 million it found through an audit last year. It is unclear exactly how much money is in the fund, but Council President Jamie Dunphy called councilors over the weekend to tell them they would soon learn of the specifics of what was found in the Housing Investment Fund. He told the Mercury February 2 that he did not yet know how much total funding was available.
