Will Oregon fund arts organizations left in the lurch last year?

A stream of state officials and people involved in cultural organizations testified in Salem Thursday about how the arts bolster the economy and enrich lives across the state.

According to Rep. Janelle Bynum, who chairs the House Committee On Economic Development and Small Business, all 20 people scheduled to testify Thursday at the hearing planned to testify in support of House Bill 4124, which would fund cultural groups in Oregon, many of which missed out on expected funding from the Oregon Legislature in 2023.

So many people wanted to testify in support of the bill, however, that the hearing was carried over to next Tuesday.

“The arts are about healing,” said Sen. Deb Patterson, who represents south and west Salem, Monmouth and Independence. “We need to make this investment to heal our arts communities and let the arts help us learn to heal each other and heal our communities.”

The bill would allocate $27,414,113.59 to cultural organizations across the state.

The state’s “anchor arts organizations,” called “major venues” in the bill, would get a total of $5,918,747. Those venues are the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the High Desert Museum, the Portland Art Museum, Portland Opera, Portland Center Stage, Oregon Ballet Theatre and the Oregon Symphony. The funding would include $379,750 for the High Desert Museum, $743,298 for the Portland Art Museum, $949,375 for the Oregon Symphony and $2,555,175 for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Cultural Resources Economic Fund venues, a list vetted by the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon, would receive $7,880,293.

The Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon is a non-partisan nonprofit arts advocacy group. In 2023, Oregon didn’t fully fund the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon’s list of projects for the first time since the organization began putting forth such a list in 2013. Only two out of 16 projects were funded last year and lawmakers and cultural leaders are hoping to make up the difference this session.

Read more: Oregon arts organizations struggle as audiences are slow to return and money dries up

On the list this year are those 14 left-out projects, including $455,690 for Friends of Oregon Caves and Chateau, $500,000 for Painted Sky Center for the Arts and $2,000,000 more for the High Desert Museum, specifically to construct a new wing of the museum.

The bill also includes $13,465,000 to develop and implement a grant program for Oregon cultural organizations still struggling in the wake of COVID-19.

“Arts do the things that we want our main streets and our communities to have available to them,” said Rep. Rob Nosse, one of the sponsors of the bill who represents parts of Northeast and Southeast Portland.

“We also know that these things frankly touch the hearts and minds of people. It’s one of the good things about humanity,” he added.

“If we don’t stand up for this sector right now,” Nosse said, “we are really at risk of losing something that’s very valuable for this state.”

Testimony in support of the bill will resume on Tuesday.

— Lizzy Acker

503-221-8052; lacker@oregonian.com; @lizzzyacker

Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe