The city of Portland’s Office of Arts and Culture announced on Thursday, June 26, that it will award an additional $170,000 in grant funding to 25 arts and culture nonprofits in the city whose budgets have been disproportionately affected by the proposed elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
Called “hardship grants,” the one-time funds were awarded to arts organizations that already had received grant funding from the Office of Arts and Culture’s General Operating Support program for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, or had grant funding withdrawn from the NEA.
Out of the 80 organizations that had already received city funding, 50 were eligible to apply for the grants and 46 did apply, requesting a total of $378,000.
The General Operating Support program provides unrestricted grants to nonprofit arts organizations to help pay basic operating costs. The grants also provide a rental subsidy for grantees that frequently use space in the Portland’5 Centers for the Arts.
The grant program is based on a similar one that the Regional Arts and Culture Council operated when the city contracted with RACC between 1995 and 2024. In 2024, the partnership between RACC and the city ceased, although it has since worked with RACC on a much more limited basis. The city created the Office of Arts and Culture, which created its own operating support program.
The money for the additional grants came from underspent General Fund dollars from the city. The city is facing a budget deficit of $65 million, generating proposals from Mayor Keith Wilson and others to shutter community centers, slash parks funding, lay off city employees, and introduce new program fees.
Arts and cultural organizations in Portland face a double whammy: in addition to cuts in the city’s budget, the proposed elimination of the NEA, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has left organizations scrambling to fundraise the withdrawn dollars. Some are also left in limbo as federal court cases challenging the agency eliminations wind their way through the courts, injunctions are announced that reinstitute the grant funding, or funds are abruptly withdrawn and not available.
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“Our arts and culture organizations are navigating a difficult funding landscape, with uncertainty at the local and federal levels,” Chariti Montez, director of the Arts and Culture Office, said in a press release. “We hope that this grant opportunity helps lift some of that burden in Portland.”
The recipients of the hardship grants are listed below:
Alberta Abbey Foundation: $10,000.
Boom Arts: $8,000.
Caldera: $6,400.
Cappella Romana: $600.
CoHo Productions: $10,000.
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Cymaspace: $4,000.
En Taiko: $3,200.
My Voice Music: $10,000.
New Expressive Works: $4,200.
Oregon Contemporary: $8,000.
PassinArt: A Theatre Company: $10,000.
PlayWrite: $6,000.
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Polaris Dance Theatre: $8,000.
Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble: $8,000.
Portland Institute for Contemporary Art: $8,000.
Portland Jazz Festival: $2,112.
Portland Playhouse: $10,000.
Portland Street Art Alliance: $10,000.
Profile Theatre: $8,000.
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Shaking the Tree Theate: $6,000.
Street Books: $6,000.
Theatre Diaspora: $2,400.
Third Angle New Music: $6,000.
Third Rail Repertory Theatre: $5,400.
Write Around Portland: $10,000.
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It’s troubling that the City’s hardship grants only went to organizations already included in the GOS program—meaning those left out of the original cycle have now been excluded twice.
Many smaller, community-based arts groups never even received notice of the initial funding opportunity. Some submitted the interest form after discovering the program existed, yet have still heard nothing. There’s been no open application process, no path for appeal, and no meaningful entry point for new or historically underfunded organizations.
If the City’s new arts office is committed to equity, then it needs to address how these funding structures continue to reinforce existing hierarchies. I hope ArtsWatch will keep digging—there’s a bigger story here about access, transparency, and who’s being left behind.