A recent Oregon ArtsWatch article captured the energy and purpose behind The Big Re/Think, a statewide initiative led by the Cultural Advocacy Coalition Foundation to chart the future of Oregon’s arts, culture, heritage, and humanities.
On November 4 at Patricia Reser Center for the Arts in Beaverton, more than 100 cultural leaders from across Oregon came together to strategize about what can be done to strengthen the sector. As ArtsWatch reported, “everyone focused on helping decide what to request from state lawmakers.”
The session was the sixth in a series of community conversations following earlier meetings in Eugene, Ashland, Baker City, Bend, and Newport. Participants (from the Oregon Arts Commission to small local nonprofits) agreed that Oregon’s creative organizations are vital to overcoming division and building community. Portland Opera Executive Director Sue Dixon summed up the shared spirit: “We are facing so many challenges in the arts today. This is the group that’s going to make things happen.”
Participants discussed expanding the Oregon Cultural Trust tax credit, establishing a dedicated statewide tax for arts and culture, increasing fundraising support for smaller organizations, and bolstering funding for regional anchor institutions such as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the High Desert Museum.
As ArtsWatch noted, a statewide Steering Committee will refine these ideas into a focused legislative agenda, which will be proposed to our CACO board to consider for 2027. The agenda will reflect Oregon’s collaborative, forward-looking cultural community.
As facilitator Rob Fenty told participants, quoted in the article: “We have to identify a compelling need and the way to solve that need if we want the Legislature to listen to us.”
Read the full article at Oregon ArtsWatch.