A gallery in North Portland has found itself on the front lines of the Trump Administration’s war on art and history.

The National Endowment for the Arts cancelled a previously approved $30,000 grant to Oregon Contemporary in late October for its upcoming 2026 Artists’ Biennial exhibition. Scheduled during the 250^th anniversary of the founding of the country, the exhibition that opens on April 1, 2026 intentionally includes perspectives that were suppressed for centuries, including those of Indigenous and Black people.

“We know that our artists are diverse and some of them are focused on political work. I think the arts are under attack very clearly because of their political power,” Oregon Contemporary Executive Director Blake Shell told Oregon ArtsWatch.

The cancelation followed earlier efforts by the Trump Administration to dismantle the NEA, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the largest federal funder of museums and historical societies. The agencies have been temporarily saved by rulings in a federal lawsuit filed by the Attorneys General in Democrat controlled states, including Oregon, but many of their previously-approved grants are in limbo.

More recently, on Aug. 7, Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking.” It explicitly prohibits funding for initiatives promoting “gender ideology,” “racial preferences,” or “anti-American values,” which is widely thought to ban portrayals of the displacement of Native Americans, the legacy of slavery, and anything else that portrays the history of the country in a negative light.

The Oregon Contemporary grant application was submitted last June, when Joe Biden was still president. Despite Trump winning the 2024 election and taking office in January of this year, Shell said the NEA confirmed as recently as August of this year that the grant was still approved. But then it was cancelled in an Oct. 29 email.

“After careful review, the National Endowment for the Arts determined your selected artists/artist information submitted for consideration is not consistent with the original project as recommended,” the NEA said.

Sponsor

Shell said that is not true. The original application did not include the curator and artists because they had not yet been selected. Therefore, there is nothing inconsistent about the details that have subsequently been announced.

“The NEA asked for the names and biographical information of the curator and artists in late September. I thought that was unusual, but sent them the information. Then the grant was cancelled. I have to believe it was because of the names of the artists and biographical backgrounds of the curator and artists,” Shell said.

The 2026 Artists’ Biennial being curated by artist and writer TK Smith, who is currently the Curator of the Arts of Africa and the African Diaspora at Emory University’s Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta. His vision for the exhibition on Oregon Contemporary’s website acknowledges its political content, but that was not prohibited when the application was originally submitted:

“This exhibition intends to act as a response to the 250-year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776,” Smith wrote. “This pivotal document emancipated the 13 American colonies from British rule, establishing the new nation with the promise of certain ‘unalienable rights’ to all citizens. Since its signing, there have been long and violent battles to combat the restriction of rights and the denial of full citizenship, often fought by the most vulnerable of us. The long history of Oregon offers us many examples of these battles. … Highlighting the diversity of Oregon and the Pacific NW Region, this biennial will hold space for the stories of those who fight and die to call this place home.”

The artists selected by Smith are: Sahar al-Sawaf; Raphael Arar; Wayne Bund; Francesca Capone; Michael Cavazos + Hand 2 Mouth Theater; Kerr Cirilo; Deep Time Collective: Amanda Leigh Evans and Tia Kramer; Demian DinéYazhi’; James Enos; Tannaz Farsi; Marcelo Fontana; Ebony Frison; The Black Gallery & Don’t Shoot PDX: Taishona Carpenter and Teressa Raiford; Bean Gilsdorf; Stephen Hayes; Jaleesa Johnston; Joe Kye; Ambrin Ling; Katherine Longstreth; Todd McGrain; Mako Miyamoto; Anis Mojgani; Gabby Severson; Stephen Slappe; Ash Stone; and Taravat Talepasand.

Ironically, celebrations of the 250^th anniversary of the founding of the country are among the subjects that Trump has said he wants funded. Apparently not this version, however.

Artists’ Biennial fundraising drive launched

The Artists’ Biennial is still scheduled to open on April 1, 2026, but the nonprofit organization immediately launched an emergency fundraising drive to make up the lost funds and cover other costs for the exhibition, which are expected to exceed $112,000, including an additional $10,000 for enhanced security for the artists because of the federal government’s reaction.

Sponsor

In response to the fundraising drive, the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology on the Oregon Coast pledged up to $30,000 to help bridge the funding gap. Sitka has historically partnered with Oregon Contemporary through its Curator in Residence program that affirms artists and curators must have freedom and support.

“Art has always tested the boundaries of freedom,” Sitka Executive Director Alison Dennis said when the pledge was announced on Nov. 11. “The 2026 Oregon Contemporary Artists’ Biennial invites reflection on how identity, justice, and our connection to place continue to shape the American story.”

Smith, the 2026 Artists’ Biennial curator, is currently attending his artist residency at the Sitka Center on the Oregon Coast.

“Sitka’s residency program gives curators time and space to pursue new work; Oregon Contemporary gives that work a platform in the public sphere. Together we ensure that the most challenging and necessary ideas continue to find voice and visibility,” Dennis said.

Sitka had not recently lost any NEA funding, but its K-8 Create youth program lost $300,000 in grant money from Youth Development Oregon, which is a state program that is dependent on federal funds. Sitka is now fundraising to ensure that K-8 Create continues and grows uninterrupted. 

Although Oregon Contemporary did not initially lose any NEA funding in May the gallery postponed its summer 2025 program because of financial uncertainty. Ghosts in the Throat: Language, Song, Orality, and Resilience, a group show about Indigenous language revitalization, was supposed open on June 27. Oregon Contemporary moved forward with its current show continuing through Feb. 8, 2026, A Larger Reality: Ursula K. Le Guin, as well as smaller exhibitions, however.

Shell said there is not enough time to challenge the cancellation in federal court before the Artists’ Biennial will open. She welcomes Sitka’s aid, saying that arts organizations across the country need to show solidarity.

Sponsor

“In a time of scarcity and uncertainty, generosity is truly courageous,” Shell said. “We are profoundly grateful for Sitka’s remarkable support at a moment when arts and culture are under threat nationally and underfunded in Oregon. Oregon Contemporary has been steadily growing, now with over 50 partnerships each year and an increasing role in advocacy for artists and cultural nonprofits in Portland and beyond. We are often the organization donating time, space and resources — that’s who we are. I never imagined a partner would step forward with such extraordinary support; it’s truly unprecedented. Sitka is setting a powerful example of how communities can show up for one another, especially in difficult times.”

Organization histories, donation opportunities

Oregon Contemporary was originally founded as the Disjecta Contemporary Arts Center in September 2000. It has always been a space dedicated to art, community and the exponential possibilities of contemporary art. The center was first located in a former Masonic temple on North Russell Street, then moved to the R.J. Templeton Building on East Burnside in 2004, and finally relocated to its current home at 8371 North Interstate Avenue in 2007. It adopted the Portland Biennial when the Portland Art Museum, its original sponsor, changed the format; Oregon Contemporary then broadened it statewide to become the Artists’ Biennial. In spring 2022, the gallery emerged from the pandemic not only intact but thriving, and with a new name: Oregon Center for Contemporary Art, also known as Oregon Contemporary, or Ox, for short.

Now entering its 56th year, the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology champions art and nature access for all. It offers residencies to artists, writers, musicians and scientists; provides hundreds of workshops for adult learners; and hosts public events and programming. The nonprofit’s growing youth program, K-8 Create, now serves more than 5,000 students in 20 rural Oregon schools, making it the largest program of its kind in the state.

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• More information about Sitka Center for Art and Ecology is available at sitkacenter.org.
• More information on Oregon Contemporary and the Artists’ Biennial, including donation opportunities, can be found at oregoncontemporary.org.