(Washington County, Oregon) The Cultural Coalition of Washington County (CCWC) recently awarded grants totaling $85,313 to 35 local organizations for cultural projects taking place between January and December 2022. Individual grants ranged in amounts from $670 to $2,000. Organizations were selected through a competitive process based on their proposed arts, heritage and humanities project serving CCWC’s outlined goals based on the Washington County Cultural Plan:
- Public Awareness, Audience Building and Participation
- Support Existing Cultural Organizations
- Increase Public Art Opportunities
- Support Cultural and Heritage Learning
- Increase Youth Access to the Arts
Projects will take into consideration state COVID guidelines. Grants will support projects including mentoring of students in technical theater skills, production of original plays, musical events and training via virtual and in person experiences, virtual theater, children’s programs, library programs, heritage, marketing, and digital art experiences in communities from Tualatin to Hillsboro 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 eighteen years to over $801,581. 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 administers and distributes funds from the Oregon Cultural Trust to support locally based arts, heritage and humanities projects. For more information about the CCWC, visit its website.The Cultural Coalition of Washington County is fiscally sponsored by Tualatin Valley Creates, an Oregon nonprofit corporation.
Below is a complete list of the CCWC 2022 Grant Awards:
| Organization | Amount | Project Title |
| Aloha Community Library | $2,000 | Independent Art for Teens |
| Association of Seniors of Indian Origin (ASIO) | $2,000 | Build awareness and appreciation for the Indian Classical music and dance |
| Bag&Baggage Productions | $2,000 | “Our Utopia” by Carlos-Zenen Trujillo |
| Ballet Forest Grove | $2,000 | 2022 Nutcracker Production |
| Beaverton Symphony Orchestra | $2,000 | Young Artists Concert – Rising Stars |
| Broadway Rose Theatre Company | $2,000 | 2022 Internship Program |
| Cedar Mill & Bethany Community Libraries | $2,000 | Celebrate Culture & Diversity: Hispanic Heritage Month & Asian Pacific American Heritage Month |
| Classical Up Close | $2,000 | 2022 Chamber Music Festival |
| Experience Theatre Project | $2,000 | Westside Shakespeare Festival featuring Rosencranz and Guildenstern are Dead |
| Golden Road Arts | $2,000 | ART IN THE PARK WITH HILLSBORO LIBRARY ON THE LOOSE |
| International Performing Arts | $2,000 | Complementary Dance Class |
| ISing Choir | $2,000 | 2022 Season |
| L.C. Tobias Elementary School | $2,000 | STEM to STEAM; Using arts integration to expand SEL and STEM programming |
| Mask & Mirror Community Theatre | $2,000 | 2022 Mask & Mirror UnMasked Show Series |
| Nordic Northwest | $2,000 | Folktales Reimagined at Nordic Northwest |
| Northwest Chinese Alliance (NWCA) | $2,000 | Video Internships on Cultural Dance Performances |
| Oregon Chorale | $2,000 | Emerging Voices Internship Program |
| RASIKA | $2,000 | ‘Strings of India’: Mandolin-Veena |
| Sherwood Public Library | $2,000 | Sherwood Public Library Welcomes and Celebrates Immigrants |
| STAGES Performing Arts Youth Academy | $2,000 | Summer Time Bliss |
| Twality Band | $2,000 | Level up in music |
| Valley Art Association | $2,000 | Print Day in May |
| Willowbrook Center for The Development of Human Potential | $2,000 | Enhanced Community Scholarships |
| Beaverton Community Band | $1,950 | Performance Rental for Audience Retention and Building |
| Friends of HART, INc. | $1,634 | HART Marketing Refresh 2022 |
| Hillsboro Symphony Orchestra | $1,500 | HSO gets a new venue |
| The Friends of the Sherwood Center for the Arts | $1,500 | Broadway MasterClass Series |
| W Verne Mckinney Elementary | $1,500 | Looking Closely and Speaking Out loud |
| Washington County Play to Stage | $1,500 | Script writing education and performance 2022 |
| Westside Quilters’ Guild | $1,500 | A Quilted Paradise Quilt Show |
| Five Oaks Museum | $1,250 | Spanish translations for arts-based pilot projects |
| Hillsboro Tuesday Night Marketplace | $1,000 | Support local artists and performers |
| Masque Alfresco Theatre | $1,000 | 2022 Summer Park Tour: Winnie the Pooh and Lao-tzu Too |
| Scarlet Sails Cultural Foundation | $1,000 | Knowledge transfer of Russian culture through performance of the Russian folk tale “Zhikharka.” |
| Forest Grove Community School | $750 | Student Mural in Back Yard Garden |
| Total Awarded January 2022 | $85,313 |
2021 Grant Recipient Projects