Skip to main contentYour art tax dollars at work!
Portland’s Office of Arts & Culture announced Wednesday the 80 organizations splitting a pot just north of $4 million for the 2024–25 fiscal year. Of those 80, only five—Oregon Ballet Theatre, Oregon Symphony Association, Portland Art Museum, Portland Center Stage, and Portland Opera—received six-figure general operating support grants mostly coming from the $3.85 million Art Access Fund powered by the city’s art tax (Portland’s general fund kicked in $240,000).
Two groups received $84,000 awards, eight got $63,000, 14 got $42,000, 12 got $28,000 and 30 got $21,000. The rest, including the six-figure winners, got unique sums. Literary Arts, for example, got $94,675, falling just shy of the six-figure club. Portland Youth Philharmonic got $68,550, Northwest Dance Project got $66,310, Metropolitan Youth Symphony got $45,695, and Portland Gay Men’s Chorus got $48,390. White Bird got $53,205, an affront to round numbers.
According to OAC’s release, these figures include a stipulated Arts Access Investment Award, an additional prize equal to 40% of their core awards given to organizations “based on their proven service to K–12 schoolchildren and/or people in underrepresented communities, as called for in the Arts Tax.” Nonprofit clients of the Portland’5 Centers for the Arts also have a one-time subsidy rolled into their awards to cover coming venue rent increases.
OAC’s website notes that seven of the 80 recipients did not meet all grant requirements, but received funding due to their preexisting relationships with RACC and “because they provide essential, culturally specific programming and other services for current and historically underrepresented and underserved populations.”
OAC doesn’t note specifically how the seven recipients—Cymaspace, En Taiko, Instituto de Cultura y Arte In Xochitl in Cuicatl, MedaRites, Takohachi, Theatre Diaspora and World Arts Foundation—don’t meet the city’s existing requirements, which are to have Portland headquarters, hold 501(c)(3) tax status, generate a minimum income of $75,000 annually, employ at least one paid professional administrative staff member, and “have continuous administration throughout the year.” The seven organizations were each awarded $21,000 grants.
The new fiscal year marks the first in which OAC manages Portland’s artistic funds instead of the Regional Arts & Culture Council. The city ended its nearly 30-year contractual relationship with RACC last summer amid questions about how the council spent its budget and tracked its success. OAC’s website still lists RACC as a resource for artists and creative entities, along with funds from MusicOregon, Friends of IFCC, and the city’s Small Grants Program.
OAC’s announcement says funding levels from the previous fiscal year were met to ease the transition from RACC administration to OAC. Mayor Ted Wheeler wrote a memo in August forecasting shortfalls in Portland’s 2025–26 budget. The Oregonian reported Tuesday that Wheeler directed city bureaus except public safety to begin cutting their budgets by 5%.
The full list of grant winners, their award breakdowns, and links for future grant opportunities are on OAC’s website.