As coverage of the arts in other media has plunged, Oregon ArtsWatch has filled this critical news gap and become the state’s leading arts journal. We have been publishing independent Oregon-focused arts journalism and criticism at orartswatch.org since 2011, producing a breadth and depth of coverage not found elsewhere.
IMPACT
Our work supports the entire cultural ecology in the region and ripples out to bolster hundreds of organizations. We provide critical analysis, visibility, and validation that cultural organizations use to amplify their work, and we create documentation that provides a lasting impact for temporary works of art. As one of only a handful of organizations in the country that specializes in this kind of work, we provide an essential contribution to public dialogue about arts and culture.
MISSION
Oregon ArtsWatch produces independent, professional arts and culture journalism and criticism that is transparent, fair, and accurate.
VISION
We envision being an essential resource that publishes broad coverage and supports the entire arts ecosystem of the region.
VALUES
Oregon ArtsWatch (OAW) is a trusted public source for journalism about arts and culture. We foster a welcoming environment, and are especially conscious of the barriers faced by people who come from historically marginalized populations. Oregon ArtsWatch is and reflects a diverse array of communities, and treats everyone, their work, and their experiences with respect. OAW is committed to continually learning and improving. We embrace public dialogue and believe the exchange of ideas is vital to a healthy culture.
WHAT WE DO AND WHO WE ARE
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- News, reviews, previews, analyses, profiles, interviews, and essays covering traditional art forms (music, dance, theater, and visual arts) and broader cultural topics and communities.
- A weekly e-newsletter
- 7 editors
- 65 contributors
- 300 individual donors
- 145 sponsors and community partners
OUR REACH
From January 1, 2022-December 31, 2022:
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- 4.2 million Google impressions
- 483,922 page views
- 255,00 users
- 723 stories published
DEMOGRAPHICS
NEWS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- Steph Littlebird talks with Dave Miller on OPB’s Think Out Loud about what Indigenous resilience means in Oregon.
- Steph Littlebird talks about the importance of visibility in this feature produced by The Oregon Community Foundation
- Indigenous History & Resilience series written by Steph Littlebird was selected as the common reading assignment for Lewis & Clark students in fall 2022.
- Executive Editor Bob Hicks and Executive Director Laura Grimes chat with Suzanne Nance at All Classical Portland about the state of the arts.
All Classical Portland · The State of the Arts: Laura Grimes and Bob Hicks
“I am quite amazed at what you have created with Oregon Arts Watch – an entire online ecology of arts journalism covering nearly every aspect of the arts throughout many regions of Oregon, not only replacing what print journalism once did but going well beyond in scope and depth.” – Devoted reader and patron
KEY INITIATIVES
● Underreported communities, which we define as ethnic, cultural, gender, age, geographic, and smaller arts organizations: It’s our goal to tell the stories of these communities, and to find correspondents who represent them who can provide an inside look.
● Statewide coverage: It’s our goal to tell stories from a variety of places around the state and reflect the distinct cultures from different regions.
● New contributors: We consciously work to identify, train, and mentor young or less experienced writers.
These initiatives meet these strategic objectives: diversify our coverage, amplify the voices of marginalized communities, strengthen our organization, provide fresh perspectives, nurture a new generation of cultural journalists, offer sustainability.
KEY PROJECTS
● Arts Education: Much evidence points to the importance of the arts as a key to learning. An expansive series explains what is working, what is still needed, and what points the way forward.
● Gender Deconstruction: A series of written and photo essays spotlights the experiences of the gender nonconforming and trans community.
● Cultural Hubs: Cultural centers are essential gathering places that uniquely serve and reflect their communities.
● Indigenous History and Resilience in Oregon: An expansive series of stories explores the shift from the intended erasure of tribal identities in the past to institutions and groups that are actively claiming, fostering, and celebrating Indigenous identity in the present
STATEMENT OF COMMITMENT
Oregon ArtsWatch is deeply committed to amplifying voices of historically marginalized communities, being inclusive of significant issues pertaining to them, and continuing to raise mutual awareness and understanding of our shared heritages, humanity and future together.
NONDISCRIMINATION NOTICE
Oregon ArtsWatch does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender expression, age, national or ethnic origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Osiyo nigada,
We are on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, and many other Indigenous Peoples who lived in intricate rhythm with our natural systems. For at least 11,000 years, they have created communities and encampments to embrace and harvest the pulses and resources of this area, they still do.
We recognize that our area today includes many diverse Native people who continue living in cadence with the natural ebb and flow. We respectfully acknowledge and honor all Indigenous communities, past, present and future, and support their ongoing influence.
Native peoples continue to suffer the effects of genocide, relocation and cultural destruction, but ultimately, we are all, every form of life on the planet, sisters, brothers and others, together. As we acknowledge our Native ancestors’ resilience, wisdom and grasp of natural reality, may they inspire us to find more of it within ourselves, in confluence for all.
Wado
Joe Martin Cantrell
Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
Modified from an acknowledgment from the Portland Parks Foundation
This version initially given at the Oregon Symphony Concert at Waterfront Park, September 2021
PURPOSE AND GOALS
We believe that the arts play a central role both in individual lives and in a democratic society, and Oregon ArtsWatch provides ever more useful descriptions of this dynamic interplay – the arts, the individual, the culture. We will discover, report and comment on art that we think is most important to the public, and encourage discussion by the public of that art and the issues it raises. We are committed to being a trusted public source for stories about the arts, written in a manner that is independent, transparent, fair, accurate and responsive.
We report on Oregon and Northwest culture here, mostly the arts end of that culture, though we may digress from time to time, because the arts are permanently entangled within life itself, life in all its degrees and stations. The arts offer special benefits to the culture – a model for the finest execution of our daily tasks and momentary respite from those tasks, a space to consider the deepest problems and greatest joys we face as individual humans and societies, a place to wonder and laugh and celebrate together.
Deep down, we think that the arts are central to the sustenance, renovation, celebration and re-creation of our life together in the Northwest. They aren’t a decoration or a sideshow. They give us an ongoing reflection of ourselves. They suggest solutions. They grieve and roar in pain and anger. They know when things aren’t fair, and they speak out. At least at their best, they do. And then they encourage us to think and feel along with them. This sense of social cohesion, a sense of the whole, this common sense, is often missing from our national lives, and it has made democracy itself difficult to conduct. We believe that Oregon has a chance to generate a common sense that is complicated and practical and adaptive. And if we are going to succeed, it will be because the arts have helped us create a shared language, shared experiences and ultimately, shared values – even if one of those is respect for deeply held values that we don’t share.
Most arguments for support of the arts seem either tangential or tepid. We believe that we won’t have a functioning democracy without arts to feed and nourish us. We won’t have a vigorous economy without arts to inspire and model our creative response to the world. We won’t have healthy individuals without the insight and space for insight that the arts provide. Sure, there are direct economic benefits to art activity. And sure, we benefit inherently from living in an environment that is more “aesthetic” than less. But what’s at stake in this is more crucial than these byproducts of a healthy shared culture.
The arts remind us that we are in this together. That we aren’t alone in our particular thoughts and feelings. That things can be made right and whole, if just for a moment. They remind us that the individual can do great things, and so can individuals acting together. And somehow, they resolve the great tension of American life, that between the rightful autonomy of the individual and the responsibilities that come with belonging to a group. We can’t imagine a good outcome to our dire problems – as a community, a nation, a planet – without the complex lessons the arts teach us.
We believe that the processes of discovery, explanation and discussion of journalism have an important role to play in all of this. An “informed citizenry” extends to cultural matters, and that is the mission of Oregon ArtsWatch – to help those of us in this particular cultureshed support and create arts and culture that respond to our needs.
Barry Johnson
Executive Editor Emeritus and Founder,
Oregon ArtsWatch
