Washington County, Oregon: The Cultural Coalition of Washington County (CCWC) recently awarded grants totaling $55,650 to 36 local organizations for cultural projects to be conducted between January and December 2020. Grants were distributed through a competitive process to address goals of the Washington County Cultural Plan in amounts ranging from $500 to $3,000.
“Our local arts, culture, heritage organizations and schools rely on funding to provide educational and cultural programming for our communities. The CCWC is pleased to invest the Oregon Cultural Trust funding at the local level in Washington County,” notes Melissa Moore, CCWC Coalition Chair. Grants will support projects including music, dance, theater, children’s programs, community events, library programs, heritage, marketing, and art experiences in communities from Aloha to Tualatin to Cornelius and all points in between.
Funding for this grant program comes entirely from the Oregon Cultural Trust, which distributes money to Oregon counties and tribes annually to support local community cultural programs. This year’s awards bring the total of grants distributed in Washington County over the past sixteen years to over $675,000. The Oregon Cultural Trust receives its support through a unique tax credit program. Any Oregon resident can make a donation to the Trust and then match that with a donation to a local arts, heritage or humanities organization, for example one of the organizations listed below. Then, when it is time to pay their Oregon taxes, the donation to the local organization qualifies as a charitable contribution, and the donation to the Trust can be deducted as a full Oregon tax credit (you get the whole match back). For details on the program or to make a donation, visit the Oregon Cultural Trust website.
The CCWC was appointed in February 2005 by the Washington County Board of Commissioners to administer and distribute funds from the Oregon Cultural Trust to support locally based arts, heritage and humanities projects. For more information about the CCWC, visit its website.
2020 CCWC Community Cultural Participation Grants
| Organization Name | Grant Amount | Project Description |
| Aloha Community Farmers Market | $1,800 | Up to five special event/culture days per season designed to engage market patrons in culture, history, traditions and values as they relate to agriculture and food. Presented in partnership with local and regional cultural organizations. |
| Aloha Community Library | $1,000 | Family-friendly, hands-on arts and culture workshop series to learn, create and engage with art and music. |
| Bag & Baggage Productions | $1,000 | Using an equity and diversity lens an emerging playwright of color will adapt Shakespeare’s Measure of Measure into a new performance: Measure of Innocence. 12 shows will be performed by a multi-racial cast March 5 – 22, 2020. |
| Beaver Acres Choir/Music Program | $1,000 | Musically Diverse – a fine arts night of cultural exploration for 850 families with food tasting, art displays, traditional heritage costumes, singing, ukulele student band, and family dance along with professional musicians. An experience for all of the senses. |
| Beaverton Civic Theatre | $1,800 | Live theatre for elementary students – Ramona Quimby production in partnership with Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB). |
| Beaverton Education Foundation | $3,000 | Artistic enrichment for 700 middle school students – giving them the opportunity to participate in either a band or choir music festival. Band Festival is April 2, 2020. Choir Festival is in April 2020. |
| Broadway Rose Theatre Company | $1,000 | 8 theater performances set in WWII “Baseball Saved Us”. Shares story of the 120,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned in incarceration camps. Told from the voice of young Shiro. Presented to 3,000 elementary students – includes post performance Q & A and supplemental curriculum for teachers. |
| Centro Cultural del Condado De Washington (Or Centro Cultural) | $1,800 | 2nd Annual showcase of Centro Ballet Folkloric, designed for 1st & 2nd grade Latinx youth to learn & practice dances of the diverse regions of Mexico. |
| Classical Up Close | $1,800 | 8th Annual Chamber Music Festival brings up to 7 classical music performances to the County, designed for all ages. Showcasing a diversity of formats – they will utilize full-length concerts, blitz 1/2 hour music explosions, kids concerts at local libraries, and pop-up performances. |
| Experience Theatre Project | $1,000 | 2nd Annual Westside Shakespeare Festival – theater, period food and merchandise July 19, 2020 on the lawn in front of the Beaverton Library. |
| Five Oaks Museum (formerly Washington County Museum) | $1,800 | Arts based curriculum taught on-site in conjunction with the museums new art exhibit “This IS Kalapuyan Land”. Focused on making the arts more accessible to local students. |
| Free Orchards Elementary School | $1,400 | Weekly, After-School Art Club focused on 5th and 6th grade students. Focused on arts integration as a means to improve academic skills. |
| Friends of the Sherwood Center for the Arts | $1,000 | Engaging Sunday Concerts designed for adults. Launches with international concert pianist Darin Niebuhr: “Piano on the Edge”. Followed by popular “Science on Tap” program featuring neuroscientist Dr. Larry Sherman and musician Naomi LaViolette – explore music and its effects on the brain. |
| Hillsboro Historical Society | $1,000 | Creation of Stories on the Streets – historical signs with a twist. Series of 23 porcelain signs share the stories of real people who created Hillsboro. Signs tied to website for citizens to share memories. |
| Hillsboro Symphony Orchestra | $1,000 | Radio advertising designed to reach a broader audience to increase awareness of and attendance at Orchestra events. |
| Hillsboro Tuesday Night Marketplace | $1,000 | Cultural entertainment/activities in Arts and Eats area of Market. Focus on increasing diversity and quality of performances/artistic activities. |
| Iranian Woman Association of Oregon | $500 | Improve racial tolerance, community awareness and education by bringing local ethnicities together (Iran, Iraq, Tajiki’s, Afghani …) through the Celebration of Spring with a planned flash mob style dance and performance in a public venue. |
| ISing Community Choir | $1,800 | Free Choral Music Concert Series to raise awareness and funding for local non-profit organizations Depave and Home Plate. |
| Mask & Mirror Community Theatre | $1,800 | Up to 12 Live Theater shows held in Tigard and Tualatin. A play of unique merit not usually produce by community theater will be presented – a bold provocative, or unconventional quality for a suburban audience. |
| Masque Alfresco | $750 | Summer Park Tour – 6 free outdoor theater shows: Looking Glass Alice in Wonderland, adaptation of both of Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s books. |
| Oregon Chorale | $1,800 | Supports 3 goals: Serve & grow a diverse audience; collaborate across artistic disciplines to support social issue; promote Emerging Voices program -14 high school singers perform with the Chorale. |
| Portland Community College Foundation | $1,800 | Experience Music Series – culturally diverse lecture and concert series open to students, staff and community. 11 educational-based concerts. |
| RASIKA | $1,800 | Support Outreach: Bring international artists to County; present local students learning music and dance to the public; encourage the lay public to understand and appreciate the local cultural diversity by allowing access to these free events. |
| Scott Pipe Band | $500 | Secure rental of indoor practice hall to march and play bagpipes. Purchase uniforms and equipment to grow the band membership. |
| STAGES Performing Arts Youth Academy | $1,800 | Classes, camps, workshops and productions for students. Scholarships offered. Musicals performed in semi-staged concert/cabaret format. |
| Theatre in the Grove | $1,800 | A three-part CAST Playhouse Series is an educational theatre program designed to provide children with a free opportunity to learn about musical and technical theatre and experience being on stage. Two live theatre productions and one tech intensive will be offered. Programs are designed for both ages 7 – 11 and ages 12 – 17. |
| Tigard Cadet Percussion | $1,000 | Extend the culture of music by investing in the replacement and repairs of the bands equipment, and props/supplies for competitions. |
| Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District | $1,800 | 3rd Annual Fiesta en el Parque – premiere free public celebration of Latinx culture in the Beaverton area – August 2020. Featuring culturally-specific performances, vendors, food, music, games, activities and more. |
| Tualatin Valley Creates | $1,500 | Targeted marketing, communications and outreach to under-represented and bilingual organizations with a focus on the Spanish-speaking populations. |
| Tualatin Valley Symphony | $1,800 | Symphony Concert designed to open the world of orchestral concert music to local families. |
| Twality Band | $1,800 | Develop a music resource library for middle school students, provide related student transportation and professional coaching services for the band. |
| W. Verne McKinney Elementary | $1,800 | Support artist residencies at the school. Part of the arts-integrated literacy program, Arts for Learning (A4L) |
| Washington County Art Alliance | $1,800 | Interactive Washington County Open Studios Tour – 3rd weekend in October 2020 |
| Westside Youth Choir | $1,800 | Master class level singing coaching sessions open to local students and community members. |
| Willowbrook Arts Camp | $1,800 | Matching support for two forms of collaborative camp scholarships focused on exposing youth to ethnic arts. Both multicultural school based scholarships and financial aid scholarships for children enrolled in qualified assistance programs to be offered for students in the Tigard-Tualatin school district. |
| World Music for TTSD (through Foundation for Tigard Tualatin Schools) | $3,000 | Establishing a World Music Ensemble comprised of elementary students. Purchase of instruments and support to scale up the program. First goal is to establish a student marimba band, followed by mbira, jumi-daiko/taiko ensemble and Javanese gamelan. A celebration of cultures and heritages. |
| $55,650 | Total amount awarded |