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📬 Mailbox watch: Arts Access Fund flyers are headed your way!
 Did you know that revenues from the Arts Tax are distributed to Portland’s six school districts via the Arts Access Fund? Schools use those funds to hire certified K-5 teachers to the tune of $7.8 million for the 2024-25 school year! After school districts receive their allotment, remaining funds are distributed as grants to local arts organizations through the Office of Arts & Culture’s General Operating Support and Small Grants for Artists & Arts Organizations programs.
“Prior to the Arts Access Fund, there were 31 full-time arts teachers and educators serving K-5 students across Portland schools,” Dawn Isaacs, the City of Portland’s arts education coordinator said. “Last year, during the 2023-24 school year, there were 111. That increase is directly related to the Arts Access Fund.”
Leading up to Tax day, every Portlander will receive an Arts Tax mailer, explaining what the tax is and how to pay it. In the spirit of arts education, we’re also asking you to set aside a moment to get a little creative—this year’s mailer will include a coloring sheet. 🎨 Grab your crayons or markers, take a photo, and share your creation with us on Instagram at @pdxartsculture. 🎨
 The Arts & Culture team is hiring—we’re looking for a public art administrator to guide the evolution and refinement of Portland’s public art programs! The right person for this role will be ready to imagine what’s next, not just manage what already exists. They’ll oversee the City’s public art collection, Percent for Art program, contractor coordination, public engagement initiatives, and more. Join us at our virtual meet and greet on March 3, 2025 to learn more about the position and get to know some of the team.
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 Arts & Culture and its partners held the Portland Monuments Symposium, hosted by Converge 45 at Portland Community College Cascade Campus, in October 2024. We were thrilled that 100+ attendees participated across two days of symposium programming, which included panel discussions, facilitated conversations, and a keynote speech from Hamza Walker. The event’s turnout underscored the desire for public dialogue about the role of monuments in public life, and conversations reflected deep engagement with and nuanced perspectives on the roles of art, history, and memory in our shared spaces.
In the article linked below, we share what we heard from Portlanders at the symposium and how the City will leverage that feedback moving forward. It also links to a new Portland State University report that catalogues their key findings from the event.
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Arts & Culture's Arts Education Coordinator advocates for arts access on Capitol Hill
 Arts & Culture's Dawn Isaacs (left) with Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (middle/front), and educators from Portland Public Schools' Visual and Performing Arts Department (middle/back, right)
Earlier this month, the Office of Arts & Culture's Arts Education Coordinator Dawn Isaacs traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with Oregon's congressional delegation—including Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici. Alongside Portland Public Schools' Kristen Brayson and Eleanor LeClair, both part of the district's Visual and Performing Arts Department, Isaacs made the trip from Portland to advocate for arts education as part of the Kennedy Center's Any Given Child initiative. The Office of Arts & Culture is the backbone organization for the initiative in Portland.
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New Multnomah Arts Center exhibition by Katsuyuki Shibata and Julie Johnson
 The Front & Center Galleries at the Multnomah Arts Center (MAC) have a new show this month by regional artists Katsuyuki Shibata and Julie Johnson.
Katsuyuki Shibata creates many of his photographs during his backpacking treks through the alpine regions of the Cascade Range. Julie Johnson is a plant-based fiber artist whose sculptural baskets and abstract forms are made out of materials that she harvests sustainably throughout the Pacific Northwest.
The exhibition will run February 21 to March 29, 2025. The opening reception (Saturday, March 1 from 1-3 p.m.) and artist talk (Saturday, March 29 at 1 p.m.) are both free and open to the public.
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General Operating Support grantees celebrate Winter Light Festival, receive Data Crystal demo at the Portland Building
 Willamette Light Birgade Executive Director Alisha Sullivan, center (below the Data Crystal), on the opening night of the Winter Light Festival. Photo by David Kressler / kresslerphoto.com
On February 7, the Winter Light Festival’s opening night, Arts & Culture invited General Operating Support grantee organizations to the Portland Building to celebrate!
The Office of Arts & Culture’s Director Chariti Montez offered opening remarks, including a reminder to all that the Portland Building is home to dozens of pieces of the City’s public art collection—all free to access on the first and second floors. Members of PBOT’s Street Plaza Program highlighted their collaborative efforts to activate Ankeny Alley for the Winter Light Festival, as well.
Next, Willamette Light Brigade Executive Director Alisha Sullivan previewed what that night’s kickoff festivities would include and shared her thanks for the funding support the Willamette Light Brigade received as part of this year’s General Operating Support program from the Office of Arts & Culture.
Then Regional Arts & Culture Council’s Ivan Salcido, 2-D Curation & Collections Manager, walked the group through a demonstration of Data Crystal by Refik Anadol. The large-scale, 3-D printed, AI data sculpture was designed specifically for the Portland Building and represents the material connections that emerge from invisible interactions between Portlanders by combining art, technology, and communities.
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Public art spotlight: Dread of Dufur by Ivan McLean and Glen Boyd 🐲
 Installed as part of Portland’s 2025 Winter Light Festival, which ran from February 7-15, The Dread was originally created for What the Fest, a music festival held in Dufur, near The Dalles. The piece, created by artists Ivan McLean and Glen Boyd, stands at over 80 feet long with a pagoda on its back for performers.
Although the Winter Light Festival has come to an end, Portlanders have until March 14, 2025 to see The Dread—located at Salmon Springs Fountain in Tom McCall Waterfront Park at 1000 SW Naito Parkway.
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Meet the MusicOregon Echo Fund recipients
 MusicOregon announced their 2024 Echo Fund recipients late last year. Now, over on Instagram, they’re introducing Portlanders to those musicians—22 artists and bands who received a total of $85,000 to put toward creative, non-performance projects.
MusicOregon, along with Friends of IFCC and the Regional Arts & Culture Council, is an Arts & Culture grantmaking partner. Through our small grants initiative, we provide funding that is distributed by our partners as grants—including the Echo Fund.
The Office of Arts & Culture is proud to support Portland’s independent, working musicians through this partnership.
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 The cultural contributions of Black artists, writers, musicians, and creatives is—and always has been—immense. The Arts & Culture team recognizes these contributions and honors Black culture-makers of the past, present, and future. We remain committed to our mission of putting art at the center of public life for all Portlanders, including through supporting Portland’s Black artists and creatives.
Add it to your calendar 🗓️
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February 20-March 1
The Biamp Portland Jazz Festival, taking place across the city, is a ten-day multi-venue celebration of jazz, presented by PDX Jazz.
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February 28-March 9
Presented by Boom Arts, Dear Laila shares the Palestinian experience of displacement and resistance through the story of one family, exploring how war and exile are experienced through the everyday, the domestic, and the public space.
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March 15-23
Experience an unnerving journey through madness and the supernatural in this gripping adaptation of Stephen King’s iconic novel, presented by the Portland Opera.
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Grant opportunities and open calls
- "Holding Our Own: Works by LGBTQIA2S+ Ceramic Artists & Potters" call for art from Multnomah Arts Center | Application deadline: March 7, 2025
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"Shift Work: Queer Artists in Tectonic Times" call for art from Multnomah Arts Center | Application deadline: March 7, 2025
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Grants for Arts Projects for the National Endowment for the Arts | $10,000-$150,000 | Application deadline: March 11, 2025
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Art in Public Places Roster from Oregon Arts Commission | all artists must reapply to remain on the roster | Application deadline: March 15, 2025
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Scale Up Grant from Portland Events & Film | up to $25,000 | Application deadline: March 17, 2025
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Call for Proposals: Community-Based Archives from the Mellon Foundation | $25,000-$100,000 | Application deadline: March 28, 2025
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Oregon Media Arts Fellowship from Oregon Arts Commission via PAM CUT | Two fellowship, each $5,000 | Application deadline: March 31, 2025
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LIFT: Early Career Support for Native Artists from Native Arts + Cultures Foundation | $15,000 | Application deadline: April 8, 2025
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SHIFT: Transformative Change and Indigenous Art from Native Arts + Cultures Foundation | $100,000 | Application deadline: May 15, 2025
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Traducción e Interpretación | Biên Dịch và Thông Dịch | अनुवादन तथा व्याख्या
口笔译服务 | Устный и письменный перевод | Turjumaad iyo Fasiraad
Письмовий і усний переклад | Traducere și interpretariat | Chiaku me
Awewen Kapas
Translation and Interpretation: 311
The City of Portland ensures meaningful access and reasonably provides: translation, interpretation, modifications, accommodations, alternative formats, auxiliary aids and services. To request these services, call 311 for Relay Service or TTY: 711.
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