Bob Hicks

Bob Hicks, Executive Editor of Oregon ArtsWatch, has been covering arts and culture in the Pacific Northwest since 1978, including 25 years at The Oregonian. Among his art books are Kazuyuki Ohtsu; James B. Thompson: Fragments in Time; and Beth Van Hoesen: Fauna and Flora. His work has appeared in American Theatre, Biblio, Professional Artist, Northwest Passage, Art Scatter, and elsewhere. He also writes the daily art-history series "Today I Am."

A farewell to Christopher Durang

April 9, 2024Bob Hicks

The brilliantly brittle comic author of "Beyond Therapy" and "The Marriage of Bette and Boo," who has died at 75, left a lasting mark on Oregon's theater scene beginning in the 1980s.

News & Notes: Reshaping the arts plan

April 7, 2024Bob Hicks

Our Creative Future, which is shaping the Portland metro area's public approach to arts policies, will have a Virtual Town Meeting April 9. And the City of Portland shifts its cultural lineup.

DramaWatch: Springtime in Ashland, a musical ‘Beetlejuice’ and more

April 4, 2024Bob Hicks

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival kicks off its '24 season. Plus: new onstage in Portland, from "Perfect Arrangement" to "Sh-Boom!" to "Frog and Toad" and "Ashland" (the play, not the town).

Jordan Schnitzer gives $10 million to PSU’s school of art

April 2, 2024Bob Hicks

The gift, which continues the Schnitzer family's longtime support of Portland State University, will help fund a new home for the School of Art, support PSU's Schnitzer Art Museum, and provide outdoor art and other enhancements on campus.

DramaWatch: Send in the Clowns Without Borders

March 28, 2024Bob Hicks

A host of clowns and colorful performers prepare a pair of shows to support the international aid group. Plus: Shakespeare north & south, "Yohen," "Nassim," Laurie Anderson, "Resurrection," and more.

Thanks a million: Portland Center Stage gets a big national grant

March 27, 2024Bob Hicks

News & Notes: Portland's biggest theater company is one of three nationally to win $1 million grants from the Mellon Foundation. Plus: Center Stage's new season; new faces at the Oregon Arts Commission and Oregon Cultural Trust.

DramaWatch: Springtime & Shakespeare

March 22, 2024Bob Hicks

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival shifts into its '24 season with "Macbeth" and three other shows. Plus: Openings, last chances, a Steep & Thorny party, a pre-peek at Fertile Ground.

Oregon cultural groups get a $51.8 million ‘love letter’

March 20, 2024Bob Hicks

The Oregon Community Foundation and James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation invest $20 million each to boost cultural groups, adding to $11.8 million pledged by the state Legislature.

News & Notes: Seattle’s new art museum

March 16, 2024Bob Hicks

A $300 million gift of more than 200 artworks jump-starts the Seattle University Museum of Art. Plus: Maryhill Museum season begins, Asian American writers, Andrew Proctor returns, jazz at Milagro, Billie Holiday tribute night.

Wins and losses for the arts in the Oregon Legislature

March 12, 2024Bob Hicks

The 2024 session improves on a dismal '23 session for the arts, with allocations for several large organizations, less for smaller ones, and an unwelcome surprise for the High Desert Museum.

DramaWatch: Quixote on the Texas border, ‘Port Authority,’ ‘Kinky Boots’

March 7, 2024Bob Hicks

A busy week onstage also brings "The How and the Why," a youth devised show from Hand2Mouth, Eleanor Roosevelt, holdovers including "Sanctuary City," plus "Spear" and other last chances.

News & Notes: Libraries turn the page

February 25, 2024Bob Hicks

As Central Library reopens in downtown Portland, The Library Foundation takes on new leadership. Plus: A new leader for the Parks Foundation; talking Nevelson and Neel at PNCA.

News & notes: Fertile Ground returns, a museum in peril, Eugene Weekly revives

February 19, 2024Bob Hicks

Portland's festival of new works is back after taking a year off; the Bellevue Arts Museum faces a "dire financial crisis"; the Eugene paper is back in print following an embezzlement.

In the Legislature, another shot at spreading the money around

February 5, 2024Bob Hicks

Shut out in the 2023 legislative session after a Senate walkout stalled action, Oregon arts advocates and legislators are pushing in '24 for some major state funding.

Portland Oscar winner Mark Gustafson dies at 63

February 3, 2024Bob Hicks

The stop-motion animation master, who won an Oscar for "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio," was revered in Portland's vibrant animation community.

Native Arts and Cultures Foundation gets a new leader

January 27, 2024Bob Hicks

The Portland-based national cultural organization chooses Shyla Spicer to carry its multiple programs forward as its new president and CEO.

Water damage shuts down gallery at The Reser; All Classical Radio gets a boost

January 25, 2024Bob Hicks

Storm damage shuts down the Beaverton arts center's galleries for repairs; The Judy reopens after its own storm damage; and All Classical's biggest-ever grant, from the Murdock Trust, helps its move to new downtown Portland headquarters.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it slow

January 13, 2024Bob Hicks

Yes, Portland's in the middle of a rare winter storm, and events are shutting down. Then again, it's a good time to slow down, take a break, reminisce and recharge.

News & Notes: Eugene Weekly and Dell’Arte school claw back; ‘Gorgeous’ extends (twice) in NYC; a bucketful of grants

January 9, 2024Bob Hicks

The Eugene paper, which had laid off its entire staff in a financial emergency, is making progress, and the Dell'Arte theater school is bouncing back. Triangle's Off-Broadway show extends; artist grants announced.

2023 in Review: In Oregon, a long and lively cultural trip around the sun

January 1, 2024Bob Hicks

It was a year of building booms, an Off-Broadway triumph, a financial flop in the Legislature, a great cultural-funding divorce, AI everywhere, and a good number of artistic happy surprises.

Eugene Weekly fighting for its life

December 28, 2023Bob Hicks

The paper, whose journalism includes vital arts and cultural coverage, is fighting a financial crisis allegedly caused by embezzlement, and is turning to the public for help.

Time is short to get your Oregon Cultural Tax Credit

December 21, 2023Bob Hicks

The state's innovative tax credit system allows you to double the impact of your donations to nonprofit cultural groups – but you must act by Dec. 31.

Giving and the Oregon Cultural Tax Credit

November 27, 2023Bob Hicks

As the giving season moves into high gear, the state's innovative tax credit system allows you to double the impact of your donations to nonprofit cultural groups.

Cranberries and the art of thanks

November 23, 2023Bob Hicks

Creating a bigger table for a more sustaining and convivial feast.

Jewish Museum hires a new leader

November 14, 2023Bob Hicks

Rebekah Sobel will join the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education in January, moving from the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

‘Scene Shifting’: The Western land in flux

November 12, 2023Bob Hicks

"The view never stays the same for long; never for a moment, actually": Dan Powell's book of photos captures moments from an ever-changing landscape in the dry stretches of the West.

Playing Clarence Darrow in Pakistan

November 11, 2023Bob Hicks

In 1997, Portland actor Tobias Andersen portrayed the famous American lawyer at a huge arts festival in the sprawling city of Lahore. In a new book, he tells the story of his adventures.

News & Notes: Art as an economic driver

November 10, 2023Bob Hicks

A national study reports that the arts rang up an $829 million impact in Oregon in 2022, boosting the economy and creating many jobs. Plus: Oregon is looking for its next poet laureate.

Clackamas County drops RACC funding

November 8, 2023Bob Hicks

The county follows the City of Portland's lead in defunding the regional arts granting group – and RACC, in turn, makes plans to continue its services.

Oregon artist Martha Banyas, 79, dies

November 6, 2023Bob Hicks

Banyas was known nationally for her visionary work in metal arts and enameling: In 2022 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the national Enamelist Society.