The Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon (CACO) is a 501(c)4 non-partisan advocacy group formed to lobby policymakers in Salem to ensure that all Oregonians have the opportunity to access arts and culture in their communities.
The primary mission of CACO is to increase ongoing public investment in arts, culture, history, heritage, and humanities. Volunteers serve on the Board of Directors and include representatives from a broad number of interests to best represent the diverse mix of Oregon’s cultural community.
Sue Hildick / Senior Advisor
A state where Oregonians are able to access and engage in arts, culture, history, heritage, and humanities in their community without barriers; where students have equitable access to quality arts education throughout their academic careers; and arts and culture organizations are able to provide innovative, world-class programming that allows for the export of ideas, innovation, and creative work while contributing to Oregon’s economy and quality of life.
We advocate for policies and funding that will create a thriving environment for arts, culture, history, heritage, and humanities across Oregon.
The Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon is committed to cultural equity and strives to embody values, policies, and practices that ensure that all people—including but not limited to those who have been historically underrepresented based on race, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, citizenship status, or religion—are represented in the development of arts policy; the support of artists; the nurturing of accessible, thriving venues for expression; and the fair distribution of programmatic, financial, and informational resources.
The coalition acknowledges the many tribes and bands who call Oregon their ancestral territory, including: Burns Paiute; Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw; Confederated Tribes of Cow Creek Lower Band of Umpqua; Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians; Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation; Coquille Tribe; and Klamath Tribes. We honor the ongoing relationship between the land, plants, animals and people indigenous to this place we now call Oregon. We recognize the continued sovereignty of the nine federally recognized tribes who have ties to this place and thank them for continuing to teach us how we might all be here together.