In 2026, the Cultural Advocacy Coalition Foundation (CACF) will carry this work forward as we translate The Big Re/Think findings into recommendations that will guide our work for the coming years. We are also preparing for the upcoming short legislative session, where we will be fighting hard to protect and preserve the funding commitments the state made in the last session. To do that, we’re asking for your support for the first time.

CACF is a small nonprofit with a statewide mission, and your tax-deductible year-end gift will help us:

– Advance The Big Re/Think ideas into real policy recommendations

– Strengthen cultural advocacy during and after the legislative session

– Keep community voices at the center of this work

If you believe in this effort, we invite you to share a contribution. Your support ensures we can move this work from ideas to action.

DONATE

Thank you again for being part of this statewide conversation and we look forward to continuing the work with you in 2026.

With appreciation,

The Cultural Advocacy Coalition Foundation

The post Thank you for helping us re/think what’s possible for Oregon arts and culture appeared first on Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon.

By Marie Gettel-Gilmartin, Fertile Ground Communications (written in 2021; updated for 2025)

Many of us grew up learning the myth of Native Americans teaching the struggling pilgrims how to survive and celebrating with a feast in 1621. But for most Native Americans, Thanksgiving is a day of mourning.

Thanksgiving is in fact a holiday of colonizers.

What actually happened on Thanksgiving?

As Claire Bugos writes in the Smithsonian, “Massacres, disease, and American Indian tribal politics shaped the Pilgrim-Indian alliance at the root of the holiday.” The settlers stole land, spread disease, and exploited resources from the Wampanoag tribe. Then King Philip’s War “devastated the Wampanoags and forever shifted the balance of power in favor of European arrivals.”

Each year, Native American people gather to honor their ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples on the National Day of Mourning. Thanksgiving serves as a reminder of the unjust treatment that Native Americans have continued to receive since the 1620 Plymouth landing.

What is Oregon doing to shift the narrative about native stories and honor native peoples?

• KOIN 6 celebrates Native American Heritage Month with “KOIN Storytellers: Indigenous Life in the Northwest,” highlighting powerful stories from across our Native community. The special features the Native American Youth and Family Center’s Oscar Arana, Representative Tawna Sanchez, and Paul Lumley, along with moving segments on Elders who survived boarding schools. Thanks to the incredible work happening every day across NAYA in affordable housing, accessible childcare, Indigenous food sovereignty, youth education, and economic development. You can watch the special here.

• NAYA hosts Culture Nights each first and third Wednesday nights. They also celebrated their 22nd annual gala and auction earlier this month. Follow and donate to this great organization, which serves over 10,000 community members from nearly 400 Tribes across the country.
• The Willamette Falls Trust offers a number of great resources, including Native-owned businesses, book recommendations, events, and more.
• The Portland Art Museum is showcasing several amazing Native artists, including Marie Watt (Seneca), Dyani White Hawk (Lakota), Gail Tremblay (Onondaga and Mi’kmaq), Nan MacDonald (Metis and Algonquin), and Silas Aittauq (Inuit), to name a few.
• Willamette University is featuring “Ancestral Dialogues: Conversations in Native American Art” on permanent view in the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde Gallery.
• The World Forestry Center, in cooperation with Indigenous artists and the High Desert Museum, features “Sasquatch: Ancestral Guardians,” until January 4, 2026. Indigenous peoples have long been in relationship with and shared stories about sacred forest protectors, often called Sasquatch and Bigfoot.
• The Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts shared an incredible list of suggestions, “Five Ways to Celebrate Native American Heritage Month in Reciprocity, Not Just Symbolism.”
• Multnomah County Library is offering a series of opportunities, including Native Storytime and Edible Native American Plants on 12/2,
• Our member organization, the Native Arts and Culture Foundation, is a Native-led national organization committed to mobilizing Native artists, culture bearers, communities, and leaders to influence positive social, cultural, and environmental change. The foundation offers grants and funding to support Native artists in their creative endeavors.
• The Grand Ronde tribes have an excellent collection of tribal history curriculum videos for grades kindergarten to tenth.
• Oregon universities and colleges now offer financial assistance to members of the 574 federally recognized Tribes.
• The Oregon Department of Education rolled out a “Tribal History/Shared History” curriculum in 2020. Oregon schools now have historically accurate and culturally inclusive lessons about Native Americans. Oregon’s nine Tribes collaborated on this curriculum to banish stereotypes, myths, and inaccuracies.

What can we do in our organizations or at home to decolonize Thanksgiving?

• Think about what you eat for Thanksgiving dinner. How did these foods come to you? You can buy American Indian foods from local Tribes and businesses.
• Volunteer your services on Thursday, 11/27 or Sunday, 11/30 by helping out at Unthanksgiving events. Since 2021, NAYA has gathered community on the fourth Thursday in November, National Day of Mourning according to our Wampanoag relatives, to shift the narrative from a misleading colonial holiday toward one of mourning genocide and celebrating Indigenous survival. This year, they invite volunteers to join in honoring the land, uplifting Indigenous food sovereignty, and supporting the garden that nourishes our community year-round. Come lend a hand, learn, and stand in solidarity with Native peoples. Registration required.

• Visit the Indigenous Marketplace at SE Uplift on 11/28 and 29 and support Native artists and craftspeople.

• Visit Blackfish Gallery’s collaboration with NAYA, a holiday market on December 6.

• Buy from Oregon’s Native artists and performers, as we shared in this article from 2022.
• Visit the “We Are the Land” public art installation in Portland, a collaboration between the City of Portland and indigena (an Indigenous storytelling cooperative), the City Arts Program, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Multnomah County, and Metro.
• Learn which Tribes are native to Oregon.
• Donate to and follow local Native American organizations, such as the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, the  Native American Youth and Family Center, and Wisdom of the Elders.
• Visit Native-owned farms and restaurants around the state and buy from Native-owned businesses.
• Plan an Oregon vacation to celebrate Indigenous Oregon by visiting Travel Oregon’s website.
• Listen to perspectives on thanksgiving from Wampanoag youth or watch a brilliant Native American film.
• Unlearn myths with your kids. The Portland Public Schools website has some excellent resources. Read books about Thanksgiving by indigenous authors, such as Catherine O’Neill Grace’s 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving and Joseph Bruchac’s Squanto’s Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving. Or use this great hands-on activity from Teaching Tolerance. Get adult book suggestions from firstnations.org.
• Support contemporary Indigenous struggles by learning about the #LandBack movement and current land struggles faced by the Mashpee Wampanoag people. The U.S. Department of Arts and Culture has a virtual resource pack on its Honor Native Land page.
• Find out what your community is doing to support the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women’s crisis.
• Follow the work of indigenous-led organizations such as Native American Rights Fund, Illuminatives, National Congress of American Indians, and the American Indian College Fund...or organizations here in Oregon.

Arts and culture are two of the best ways to honor Native Americans and decolonize Thanksgiving, as we’re reminded by Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate and board chair of the Native Arts and Culture Foundation:

“We’ve come to a point in the world of great challenge, but also great opportunity, in which to revise and revitalize our communities. How do we do that? It always comes back to the arts, because arts revitalize, they tell us who we are, they tell us where we’re going and where we’ve been. Art makes connections on a deep soul level; it connects us in a way beyond words.”
-Joy Harjo

We can still be thankful while acknowledging the harm done to Native peoples by this holiday. To decolonize Thanksgiving, we need to examine our history to begin the healing process.

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.

The post Decolonizing Thanksgiving in Oregon 2025 appeared first on Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon.

The post A Crowded Table for Oregon’s Arts and Culture appeared first on Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon.

As we start 2025, we thought we’d give you a little inspiration. Our cultural landscape in Oregon is strong, and opportunities abound across the state to get involved.

Each month we’ll focus on a particular theme. This month it’s ART.

What kinds of art appeal to you?

Checking out the Paul McCartney Photography at the Portland Art Museum (exhibit closes Jan. 19).

Applying to be part of the 76th Annual Salem Art Fair & Festival from September 12-14, 2025, which draws thousands of visitors. Early bird applications due by Feb. 17.

Taking an art class at the Crossroads Carnegie Art Center (Baker City), Josephy Center (Joseph), Lincoln City Cultural Center, Tualatin Valley Creates(Washington County), or the Multnomah Art Center (SW Portland).

How will you expose yourself to art in January?
(Famous photo of former Portland Mayor Bud Clark in 1978. The coat Clark wore is now on display at the Oregon Historical Society, thanks to a donation by Thomas Lauderdale of Pink Martini.)

The Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon (CACO) is the only statewide advocacy organization lobbying Salem on behalf of arts, culture, history, heritage, and humanities. We operate solely through support of individuals and organizations who understand the importance of maintaining an advocacy presence in Salem. Please consider becoming a member today. Every gift we receive, whether from you as an individual supporter or your organization, makes an impact!

The post A year of arts & culture will enhance your health & well-being appeared first on Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon.

Here’s how the tax credit works:

1. Total what you gave to the nonprofits on this list during 2024.
2. Give the same amount (up to $500 filing individually or $1,000 filing jointly) to the Cultural Trust online or by mail by December 31.
3. On your Oregon tax form, report your donation to the Oregon Cultural Trust. You’ll get 100% of it back!

If you itemize your deductions, you’ll benefit even more with federal and state deductions. Find out more on the Oregon Cultural Trust website.

The Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon has a long history with the Oregon Cultural Trust. In fact, our coalition was formed in 1998 by people who lobbied for legislation that created the Oregon Cultural Trust. We are the only statewide advocacy organization lobbying on behalf of arts, culture, history, heritage, and humanities.

Consider donating to one of our supporting organizations to double your impact! The following evolving list of donors is broken out into categories:

Arts, Culture, and Humanities
Arts & Business Alliance of Eugene
Beaverton Arts Foundation/Reser Center for the Arts
Black United Fund of Oregon
Josephine Community Library Foundation
Crossroads Carnegie Art Center
Cultural Advocacy Coalition Foundation
Historic Jacksonville, Inc.
John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts
Josephy Center for Arts and Culture
KLCC Public Radio Foundation
Lane Arts Council
Lincoln City Cultural Center
Literary Arts
Native Arts and Cultures Foundation
Oregon Chinese Coalition
Oregon Humanities
Oregon Public Broadcasting 
Performance Works Northwest, Inc.
Prismid Sanctuary 
Regional Arts & Culture Council
Salem Parks Foundation
Southern Oregon Historical Society
Tualatin Valley Creates
 
Comedy
Kickstand Comedy
 
Dance
Ballet Fantastique
Eugene Ballet Company
Oregon Ballet Theatre
 
Education
Caldera Arts
PHAME Academy
 
Film
Mack Theater
Outside the Frame
PAM CUT/Portland Art Museum Center for an Untold Tomorrow
 
Fine Art
Portland Art Museum 
Portland Institute for Contemporary Art
Salem Art Association
 
Music
All Ages Music PDX
Britt Music & Arts Festival
Chamber Music Northwest
Eugene Symphony
Friends of Chamber Music
Metropolitan Youth Symphony
Music Oregon
Oregon Symphony
Portland Opera
 
Museums
B-17 Alliance Foundation
Clatsop County Historical Society
Columbia County Museum Association
Columbia River Maritime Museum
Coos Art Museum
Friends of the Oregon Caves and Chateau
Gilbert House Children’s Museum
High Desert Museum
Japanese American Museum of Oregon
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center
Mt. Hood Museum
The Museum At Warm Springs
Oregon Historical Society
Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education
Rainier Oregon Historical Museum
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
Shelton McMurphey Johnson House
World Forestry Center
 
Theatre
Artists Repertory Theatre
Athena’s Gem Theatre
Bag&Baggage Productions
Coho Productions
Cottage Theatre
Eastern Oregon Regional Theater
The Historic Elsinore Theatre
Imago, The Theatre Mask Ensemble
Liberty Restoration/Liberty Theatre
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Portland Center Stage
Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble
Portland Playhouse
The Very Little Theatre
Third Rail Repertory Theatre
Whiteside Theatre

Thank you for supporting the arts in Oregon!

The post Donate to your favorite arts nonprofit and double your impact! appeared first on Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon.

By Marie Gettel-Gilmartin, Fertile Ground Communications (written in 2021; updated for 2024)

Many of us grew up learning the myth of Native Americans teaching the struggling pilgrims how to survive and celebrating with a feast in 1621. But for most Native Americans, Thanksgiving is a day of mourning.

Thanksgiving is in fact a holiday of colonizers.

What actually happened on Thanksgiving?

As Claire Bugos writes in the Smithsonian, “Massacres, disease, and American Indian tribal politics shaped the Pilgrim-Indian alliance at the root of the holiday.” The settlers stole land, spread disease, and exploited resources from the Wampanoag tribe. Then King Philip’s War “devastated the Wampanoags and forever shifted the balance of power in favor of European arrivals.”

Each year, Native American people gather to honor their ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples on the National Day of Mourning. Thanksgiving serves as a reminder of the unjust treatment that Native Americans have continued to receive since the 1620 Plymouth landing.

What is Oregon doing to shift the narrative about native stories and honor native peoples?

• The Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA)  celebrated Culture Night on Wednesday, November 20, where families and community members came together to participate in beading, singing, crafting, intertribal drumming, and dancing.
• Our member organization, the Native Arts and Culture Foundation, is a Native-led national organization committed to mobilizing Native artists, culture bearers, communities, and leaders to influence positive social, cultural, and environmental change. The foundation offers grants and funding to support Native artists in their creative endeavors.
• The Five Oaks Museum in Beaverton centers descendant communities in their storytelling. Visit the museum to learn about the Kalapuya Tribe and Kalapuyan land thanks to guest curator Steph Littlebird Fogel and other Native American experts.
• Cowlitz Tribal member Suzanne Donaldson and CEO of Donaldson Consulting LLC is sharing compelling facts, challenging stereotypes, and shedding light on important issues on LinkedIn each day during November, Native American Heritage Month.
• The Grand Ronde tribes have an excellent collection of tribal history curriculum videos for grades kindergarten to tenth.
• Oregon universities and colleges now offer financial assistance to members of the 574 federally recognized Tribes.
• The Oregon Department of Education rolled out a “Tribal History/Shared History” curriculum in 2020. Oregon schools now have historically accurate and culturally inclusive lessons about Native Americans. Oregon’s nine Tribes collaborated on this curriculum to banish stereotypes, myths, and inaccuracies.
• The Oregon Food Bank honors the National Day of Mourning, acknowledging that Native Americans experience food insecurity at a staggeringly high rate and some of the most anti-Native policies happened in Oregon.
• The University of Oregon’s Native American Student Union hosted “Thanks But No Thanks-giving: Decolonizing an American Holiday” in 2020 and 2021, where they discussed ways to show gratitude while decolonizing the holiday.

What can we do in our organizations or at home to decolonize Thanksgiving?

• Think about what you eatfor Thanksgiving dinner. How did these foods come to you? You can buy American Indian foods from local tribes and businesses.
• Visit the Native Arts and Culture Foundation on Friday, November 22 or Saturday, November 23 to attend “Citizen Fellow: Art as Archive and Memory,” a sampling of the past 15 years of the foundation’s work and perspectives.
• View the Five Oaks Museum‘s current exhibit, Replenish the Root: Six Centuries of Gathering Under the Oaks, which explores the Oregon white oak savanna ecosystem that once flourished in the Tualatin Valley under Kalapuyan stewardship. They offer free educator tours.
• Stand with the Portland Native community by attending Unthanksgiving events with NAYA at Wapato Island Farm on November 23 and the NAYA Garden on November 28. Register in advance.
• Attend the Grand Ronde Restoration’s public powwow on November 23. The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde will celebrate the 41st anniversary of the Grand Ronde Restoration Act, which in 1983 restored the tribe’s federal recognition. Grand entry will be at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. for the powwow, which will take place at Spirit Mountain Casino.

  
  

• Support Indigenous artists and entrepreneurs at the Indigenous Marketplace in downtown Portland from November 15-December 31 or in Oregon City on November 23-24; the Native American Youth and Family Center’s Winter Native-Made Marketplace on Dec. 14-15 at Lloyd Center; or Eugene Native American Arts & Crafts Makers on December 1, 14, or 15.
  
  
• Take your children to Native Story Hour on November 27 at the Capitol Hill Library in Southwest Portland. The event will feature songs and books from Native cultures, and is open to people of all ages. The event is supported by the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
• Buy from Oregon’s Native artists and performers, as we shared in this article from 2022.
• Visit the “We Are the Land” public art installation in Portland, a collaboration between the City of Portland and indigena (an Indigenous storytelling cooperative), the City Arts Program, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Multnomah County, and Metro.
• Learn which Tribes are native to Oregon.
• Donate to and follow local Native American organizations, such as the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, the  Native American Youth and Family Center, and Wisdom of the Elders.
• Visit Native-owned farms and restaurants around the state and buy from Native-owned businesses.
• Plan an Oregon vacation to celebrate Indigenous Oregon by visiting Travel Oregon’s website.
• Listen to perspectives on thanksgiving from Wampanoag youth or watch a brilliant Native American film.
• View the Oregon Historical Society’s “Oregon is Indian Country” traveling exhibit at Pacific University until December 1, 2024, before it’s moved from circulation.
• Unlearn myths with your kids. The Portland Public Schools website has some excellent resources. Read books about Thanksgiving by indigenous authors, such as Catherine O’Neill Grace’s 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving and Joseph Bruchac’s Squanto’s Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving. Or use this great hands-on activity from Teaching Tolerance. Get adult book suggestions from firstnations.org.
• Support contemporary Indigenous struggles by learning about the #LandBack movement and current land struggles faced by the Mashpee Wampanoag people. The U.S. Department of Arts and Culture has a virtual resource pack on its Honor Native Land page.
• Find out what your community is doing to support the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women’s crisis.
• Follow the work of indigenous-led organizations such as Native American Rights Fund, Illuminatives, National Congress of American Indians, and the American Indian College Fund...or organizations here in Oregon.

Arts and culture are two of the best ways to honor Native Americans and decolonize Thanksgiving, as we’re reminded by Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate and board chair of the Native Arts and Culture Foundation:

“We’ve come to a point in the world of great challenge, but also great opportunity, in which to revise and revitalize our communities. How do we do that? It always comes back to the arts, because arts revitalize, they tell us who we are, they tell us where we’re going and where we’ve been. Art makes connections on a deep soul level; it connects us in a way beyond words.”
-Joy Harjo

We can still be thankful while acknowledging the harm done to Native peoples by this holiday. To decolonize Thanksgiving, we need to examine our history to begin the healing process.

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.

The post Decolonizing Thanksgiving in Oregon 2024 appeared first on Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon.

By Marie Gettel-Gilmartin, Fertile Ground Communications (written in 2021; updated for 2023 with items in blue text)

Many of us grew up learning the myth of Native Americans teaching the struggling pilgrims how to survive and celebrating with a feast in 1621. But for most Native Americans, Thanksgiving is a day of mourning.

Thanksgiving is in fact a holiday of colonizers.

What actually happened on Thanksgiving?

As Claire Bugos writes in the Smithsonian, “Massacres, disease, and American Indian tribal politics shaped the Pilgrim-Indian alliance at the root of the holiday.” The settlers stole land, spread disease, and exploited resources from the Wampanoag tribe. Then King Philip’s War “devastated the Wampanoags and forever shifted the balance of power in favor of European arrivals.”

Each year, Native American people gather to honor their ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples on the National Day of Mourning. Thanksgiving serves as a reminder of the unjust treatment that Native Americans have continued to receive since the 1620 Plymouth landing.

What is Oregon doing to shift the narrative about native stories and honor native peoples?

• The Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA)  and the Native community celebrate a worldwide social event, Rock Your Mocs, by wearing moccasins to unite, celebrate tribal individuality, and honor ancestors and indigenous peoples worldwide (Nov. 12-18 this year). Search #ROCKYOURMOCS to check out the collection of photos.
• Our member organization, the Native Arts and Culture Foundation, is a Native-led national organization committed to mobilizing Native artists, culture bearers, communities, and leaders to influence positive social, cultural, and environmental change. The foundation has provided $14 million in 594 grants to 394 Native artists and organizations in 34 different states and the District of Columbia. Their center opens monthly for a tour, where you can connect with their community of Native makers and cultural innovators.
• The recently rebranded and reopened Five Oaks Museum in Beaverton is now centering descendant communities in all storytelling work. Visit the museum to learn about the Kalapuya Tribe and Kalapuyan land thanks to guest curator Steph Littlebird Fogel and other Native American experts. 
• The Grand Ronde tribes have an excellent collection of tribal history curriculum videos for grades kindergarten to tenth.
• Oregon universities and colleges now offer financial assistance to members of the 574 federally recognized Tribes.
• The Oregon Department of Education rolled out a “Tribal History/Shared History” curriculum in 2020. Oregon schools now have historically accurate and culturally inclusive lessons about Native Americans. Oregon’s nine Tribes collaborated on this curriculum to banish stereotypes, myths, and inaccuracies.
• The Oregon Food Bank honors the National Day of Mourning, acknowledging that Native Americans experience food insecurity at a staggeringly high rate and some of the most anti-Native policies happened in Oregon.
• The University of Oregon’s Native American Student Union hosted “Thanks But No Thanks-giving: Decolonizing an American Holiday” in 2020 and 2021, where they discussed ways to show gratitude while decolonizing the holiday.

What can we do in our organizations or at home to decolonize Thanksgiving?

• Think about what you eat for Thanksgiving dinner. How did these foods come to you? You can buy American Indian foods from local tribes and businesses.
• Stand with the Portland Native community by attending Unthanksgiving gardening events on November 23-25. UnThanksgiving has expanded to three organizations this year: NAYA Community Garden, Prismid Sanctuary, and Wapato Island Farm. Wear attire appropriate for the weather and for gardening, bring gloves, a water bottle or thermos to keep you hydrated, and tools. Registration is required and can be found here: https://forms.gle/5kn8yW4AtWFSaGVt8 
• Support Indigenous artists and entrepreneurs at the Indigenous Marketplace events on Nov. 24-26 or Dec. 6-8 and the Native American Youth and Family Center’s Winter Native-Made Marketplace on Dec.  9-10 at Lloyd Center.
• Buy from Oregon’s Native artists and performers, as we shared in this article from 2022.
• Visit the “We Are the Land” public art installation in Portland, a collaboration between the City of Portland and indigena (an Indigenous storytelling cooperative), the City Arts Program, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Multnomah County, and Metro.
• Learn which Tribes are native to Oregon.
• Donate to and follow local Native American organizations, such as the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, the  Native American Youth and Family Center, and Wisdom of the Elders.
• Visit Native-owned farms and restaurants around the state and buy from Native-owned businesses.
• Plan an Oregon vacation to celebrate Indigenous Oregon by visiting Travel Oregon’s website.
• Listen to perspectives on thanksgiving from Wampanoag youth or watch a brilliant Native American film.
• Rent the Oregon Historical Society’s “Oregon is Indian Country” traveling exhibit for free through 2023. It’s displayed in the City of Eugene from Nov. 27-Dec. 3, 2023.
• Unlearn myths with your kids. The Portland Public Schools website has some excellent resources. Read books about Thanksgiving by indigenous authors, such as Catherine O’Neill Grace’s 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving and Joseph Bruchac’s Squanto’s Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving. Or use this great hands-on activity from Teaching Tolerance. Get adult book suggestions from firstnations.org.
• Support contemporary Indigenous struggles by learning about the #LandBack movement and current land struggles faced by the Mashpee Wampanoag people. The U.S. Department of Arts and Culture has a virtual resource pack on its Honor Native Land page.
• Find out what your community is doing to support the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women’s crisis.
• Follow the work of indigenous-led organizations such as Native American Rights Fund, Illuminatives, National Congress of American Indians, and the American Indian College Fund...or organizations here in Oregon.

Arts and culture are two of the best ways to honor Native Americans and decolonize Thanksgiving, as we’re reminded by Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate and board chair of the Native Arts and Culture Foundation:

“We’ve come to a point in the world of great challenge, but also great opportunity, in which to revise and revitalize our communities. How do we do that? It always comes back to the arts, because arts revitalize, they tell us who we are, they tell us where we’re going and where we’ve been. Art makes connections on a deep soul level; it connects us in a way beyond words.”  -Joy Harjo

We can still be thankful while acknowledging the harm done to Native peoples by this holiday. To decolonize Thanksgiving, we need to examine our history to begin the healing process.

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.

The post Decolonizing Thanksgiving in Oregon appeared first on Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon.

It is devastating to learn of death threats for any Oregon artist. This situation calls on us and our new governor to create a safe and protective environment for all Oregonians to experience arts and culture.

As one of our long-time members, OSF is the largest theatre in Oregon and one of the most prominent regional theatres in the country. Nataki capably steered OSF through the pandemic, surviving under unprecedented financial pressures. Emerging from lockdown, OSF presented a vibrant first season, presenting Shakespeare with diverse casts and new plays by diverse contemporary writers. Many OSF theatergoers are thrilled with OSF’s evolution. Nataki is a leading advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in theatre, and the first Black woman to direct OSF. Now she must travel with a security team in public.

Nataki’s vision, creativity, and courage in transforming OSF into a fully diverse, contemporary performing arts program is breathtaking. She encourages young, diverse playwrights to pitch ground-breaking, one-of-a-kind new plays directly to OSF. Oregon desperately needs creative leaders like Nataki Garrett.

We are grateful for the world-class talent we are fortunate to have in Ashland.  We should be able to guarantee an environment where OSF can support its artists and help all its audiences thrive with the healing impact of the arts and the economic impact they generate.

We urge everyone to support Nataki Garrett and OSF by buying tickets and standing up publicly against hate.

J.S. May
President, Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon

The post Statement in Support of Nataki Garrett and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival appeared first on Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon.

A conversation with our new board member: arts advocate, historian, and gallerist Jenny Green.

Tell us about your involvement in the arts.

I’ve been immersed in arts and education for the past 30 years. I’ve worked for museums, auction houses, and art galleries and taught art history at Central Oregon Community College.

I’ve opened two art galleries: the Jenny Green Gallery, an “occasional gallery” that exhibited in pop-up spaces and art fairs in Bend; Palm Springs; New York; Miami; and Venice, Italy; and At Liberty Gallery (now the Scalehouse Gallery), which I opened with friends.

In addition to joining the board of the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon (CACO), I chair the Oregon Arts Commission and serve on the Scalehouse Collaborative for the Arts board. I believe people’s lives are better when they can access arts and culture.

What led you into the arts?

I am not an artist, but I stand in awe of the power and gift artists have. Even as a child I was always drawn to the arts, intrigued with the stories art can express. I’m happiest when surrounded by arts and culture.

Tell us about what your work in central Oregon.

I’ve served on the boards of Scalehouse, World Muse, Bend Cultural Tourism Fund, Ellipse Theatre Community, Cascades Academy of Central Oregon, and the Arts & Culture Alliance of Central Oregon. I have also served in an advisory role to the High Desert Museum.

Why did you decide to join the CACO board?

I believe in CACO’s mission to increase ongoing public investment in arts, heritage, and the humanities. I firmly believe that arts and culture make us stronger – as individuals, families, businesses, communities, and a state.

Arts and culture are the foundation of innovation, prosperity, and vibrant people and places. We need robust funding for arts & culture, as they benefit Oregonians across the state.

Tell us about your work as commissioner of the Oregon Arts Commission.

I am honored to play a role in supporting artists and arts organizations across the state. The arts connect and uplift people, foster understanding and acceptance among cultures, draw attention to society’s ills, and provide a roadmap to a better future. The only downside is having to turn away deserving grant applicants because of lack of funds. Increasing funding for arts is one of CACO’s goals, and this is where my work with the two organizations converges.

What do you love most about your job?

I love working with and supporting artists and arts organizations. Most artistic creations have a vibrant pulse at their core, and life is more exciting when I am closer to that pulse.

How can Oregon arts & culture be more inclusive?

The answer to this question lies in connection and hard work. We need to make better connections across Oregon’s diverse population to celebrate and support the arts and culture of all Oregonians.

For too long we have celebrated and supported only a fraction of Oregon’s arts and culture. Systemic racism, inequities, and barriers have been embedded into how we define arts and culture, regulating who has access and which arts and culture have been valued.

This needs to change. All arts and culture organizations need to start or improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility to ensure that all voices are being represented and supported.

At the state level, public servants need to take seriously our responsibility to provide equitable access to arts & culture funding, programs, and services across the state.

Although the Oregon Arts Commission and CACO focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, we have more to do to remove barriers. Making arts and culture more inclusive will strengthen our great state and help build a vibrant, innovative, and prosperous foundation for all of Oregon.

The post New board member Jenny Green advocates for arts across Oregon appeared first on Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon.

Simply said, that’s what we do at the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon (CACO). We get money for arts, culture, history, heritage, and humanities organizations in Oregon by:

• Cultivating relationships with elected officials, governments, and business to get money flowing to creative organizations and individuals like you
• Working with Business Oregon, the Oregon Cultural Trust, the Oregon Arts Commission, and others to get committed COVID recovery funds flowing directly to you
• Amplifying your work and publicizing creativity around the state
• Advocating for equal access to funding and exposure, no matter where you are in Oregon
• Creating and promoting grants for you to produce innovative, world-class programming
• Funding your capital projects

As organizations still struggle to recover from the pandemic, we know funding is still crucial to continue your work. As a unified, diverse, statewide coalition we can have incredible impact when we work together. Here’s how we help:

• During the height of the pandemic, Oregon arts & culture organizations received $50 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. At the time this was the largest amount any state allocated to the creative sector from federal relief dollars, thanks to our advocacy and lobbying!
• Since 2013, we have also advocated for over $30 million to support 36 capital projects of cultural institutions. Organizations like yours are tapping into state funds to design, build, and rebuild venues, interpretive centers, and museums.
• And another $35 million in federal relief funds are being distributed to the creative sector this year via Business Oregon.

As we enter our third year of the pandemic, we know that true recovery depends on arts, culture, heritage, and humanities to deliver hope and inspiration to rise as a people.

If you’re not already a member, will you join us?

The post Why support the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon? appeared first on Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon.