Since opening a little more than two years ago in Beaverton, The Reser has become a busy cultural magnet on the West Side of the Portland metropolitan area, drawing a steady stream of regional and national performers to its theater space, plus visual arts shows and multiple activities for childen and adults.
Now it’s time to celebrate and throw the doors open to all comers for free. On Saturday, June 1, The Reser (full name the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts) will host its annual “Shine the Light” community celebration, inviting everyone in for a series of performances, art, and activities from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Check the “Shine the Light” link for the full lineup of performances, which begins with Warm Springs hip-hop artist Blue Flamez and wraps up with the salsa band Barrio Mestizo. Hands-on stations range from wood block printing to origami.
The center’s gallery spaces are still shut down, awaiting repairs after a burst sprinkler pipe during January’s cold weather caused water damage. Gallery events will be held in the lobby for Saturday’s open house, and the center’s current exhibit, Kanani Miyamoto’s “printstallation” Across Oceans, will wrap the east and south windows of The Reser and connect to the Beaverton Building at City Hall.
Grants make the world go ’round
In nonprofit arts and culture (which includes most museums, performance groups, and media outlets such as Oregon ArtsWatch and All Classical radio) grants make the world go ’round. Coming from government, corporate, foundation, and other sources, they combine with individual donations and a few other sources to provide the financial foundation to keep things running. Grants can be big, medium, or small, for specific or general purposes.
The Three Rivers Foundation, established by the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians as the charitable arm of the Three Rivers Casino Resort in Florence, has announced a round of 95 grants to Oregon nonprofits, totaling more than $720,000 and ranging individually from $5,000 to $40,000.
The grants cover a broad range of social, cultural, and artistic causes, from education and health to environmental issues, historic preservation, and the arts. Among the artistic/cultural recipients: the Dolphin Players theater in Coos Bay, for a dolphin mural on their building; the Coos Bay Public Library, to support material on the cultural traditions of Latin American people; and the Singing Creek Educational Center, in Cottage Grove, to expand its Acorn Circle Program, which works with Native culture-bearers to bring Indigenous culture and children’s education to libraries in Lane County.
Legislative arts leaders
Rep. Rob Nosse (D-Portland, left) and Sen. Dick Anderson (R-Lincoln City, right) share leadership of the Oregon Legislature’s Arts and Culture Caucus.
Sponsor
A big player in the health of Oregon’s arts & culture world is the Oregon Legislature, which passes laws and assigns budgets for all sorts of governmental priorities, including programs thar support artists and the arts.
To help push cultural measures through a Legislature that has many things on its mind, in 2023 a small group of legislators established for the first time an Arts and Culture Caucus. Rep. Rob Nosse (D-Portland) was coordinator, and now he’s being joined by Sen. Dick Anderson (R-Lincoln City), one of the original caucus members, as a co-leader.
“Senator Dick Anderson has been a wonderful partner in showing that arts funding truly is a bipartisan, bicameral priority,” Nosse said in a prepared statement. “We look forward to growing our coalition together in the 2025 long session, as the Arts and Culture Caucus seeks to further advocate for arts and cultural venues of all parts of Oregon.”
Anderson provides bipartisan leadership to the 23-member caucus, which is heavily Democratic, with just three Republican members. The caucus hopes to alter that. “Inside the Legislature, we can find strong bipartisan bonds across the aisle with the Arts and Culture Caucus,” Anderson said in the statement. “I have witnessed the value of having a thriving arts and cultural community within the cities I represent. Recognizing this value and assisting its growth throughout all of Oregon is needed; it is an endeavor I am excited to be part of.”
In addition to Anderson and Nosse, the caucus includes:
Rep. Ben Bowman (D-Tigard/Metzger/South Beaverton); Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Clackamas); Sen. Michael Dembrow (D-Portland); Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Portland); Sen. Lew Frederick (D-North/Northeast Portland); Rep. David Gomberg (D-Otis); Rep. Dacia Grayber (D-Southwest Portland/East Beaverton); Sen. Bill Hansell (R-Athena); Rep. Annessa Hartman (D-Gladstone); Rep. Emerson Levy (D-Bend/South Redmond/Tumalo/Sisters); Rep. John Lively (D-Springfield); Sen. James Manning Jr.(D-North Eugene/West Eugene/Veneta); Rep. Kevin Mannix (R-Keizer/North Salem); Rep. Pam Marsh (D-Ashland); Sen. Mark Meek (D-Clackamas County); Rep. Daniel Nguyen (D-Lake Oswego/ Southwest Portland); Rep. Hoa Nguyen (D-East Portland/Damascus); Sen. Deb Patterson (D-Salem); Rep. Lisa Reynolds (D-Northeast Washington County); Rep. Ricki Ruiz, (D-Gresham); and Rep. Thuy Tran (D-Northeast Portland).
