Arts Education

Creativity is a critical component in helping young people learn and think and yet arts education is often squeezed by tight budgets. This series spotlights programs that are filling that gap. How are they working? How are they sustainable? How are they adapting to a diverse population? What can we learn from them and how can they be replicated?

This series is supported in part by a generous grant from the Fred W. Fields Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation.

Ashland youths experience theater as a creative act

In the heart of Oregon Shakespeare country, Empowered Arts Ensemble participants study before the performance how to connect on stage — and collaborate on their own play.

Art Center East in La Grande: Bringing art opportunities and access to Eastern Oregon

The nonprofit center serves a 10-county swath of the state with exhibitions, classes, and annual events, often engaging with the past in ways that speak to the present.

The Actors Conservatory: Hale and hearty and going on 40

The Portland professional training school, which began life in 1985 in a former dental office, now draws students from across the nation seeking careers in the theater world.

The Buetti effect – Nicole Buetti creates children’s videos that are as entertaining as they are educational

The Portland composer, bassoonist, puppeteer, and voiceover artist’s award-winning ‘Meet the Planets’ series is an ingenious blend of music and science.

Portland’s Bridgetown Conservatory of Musical Theatre expands acting, dance, and vocal classes to second location in Salem

The company’s first show to be staged in both cities, “G.I. Holiday Jukebox,” opens Dec. 5.

Ever popular ballet classes provide young students with an introduction to a timeless art form that continues to adapt and grow today

Teachers at Portland’s five ballet academies bring their distinctive styles and approaches to both technical training and artistic expression, resulting in an array of offerings for budding dancers.

Kids Make Theatre: In Astoria, teaching the performing arts, igniting a passion

Since April 2023, the Liberty Theatre’s low-cost program has brought theater, dance – and self-confidence – to North Coast kids.

No one is done with their education: Alan Jones Academy of Music

The niche jazz training program with a charismatic leader and a big impact.

Caitlin Lynch doesn’t give up, she gives back – with Project Chamber Music Willamette Valley

The violist and Portland Youth Philharmonic alum returns to Oregon to work with high school and college students.

Jordan Schnitzer turns his attention to K-12 arts education

The developer, philanthropist, and art collector, already an investor in the arts at Northwest public universities, discusses the need to support arts education in Oregon’s primary and secondary public schools.

The Beating Heart of a School: Metropolitan Learning Center’s Art Room

A look behind the scenes at how visual arts are taught at Portland’s alternative public school for K–12 students.

Portland Opera To Go’s ‘Shizue’ brings a stirring Oregon story to stages and schools around Oregon

Dmae Lo Roberts and Kenji Oh’s new youth chamber opera is the latest in Portland Opera’s series devoted to historical leaders from diverse Oregon communities.

OrpheusPDX’s Pathways Program gives young professionals an onramp into opera

Young stagescraft specialists get intensive on-the-job training through the mentorship program, which helps fill a need for a skilled workforce and guarantee a future for performing arts.

TBA:24 and Linda K. Johnson on the importance of embodied experience and map-making

PICA’s TBA:24 festival, spreading across the city Sept. 5-22, boasts a busy lineup including Linda K. Johnson’s "PASTfuture," presented in part by her ongoing "Mycelium Dreams" project.

An Oasis of Peace: Finding pandemic solace in learning a new instrument

A Portland writer turns to the harp to ease her fears and endure "the gloom of a life put on pause."

Young Musicians & Artists concludes another successful year with gusto

The two-week residential summer camps offer a unique opportunity for young creatives to advance their artistic interests while connecting with other talented youth.

It’s very full circle: Looking back on the career of retired Pacific University choral director Scott Tuomi

Tuomi’s impact as a singer, conductor, educator, and advocate has been felt by generations of students from all over the world.

Sitka Center for Art and Ecology will expand youth art program this fall to serve nine Oregon Coast school districts

Sitka's success has inspired a new dance program in the Knappa School District to be taught by Astoria Arts and Movement Center instructors.

Chamber Music Northwest’s Young Artist Institute offers a personal, but intense, experience for young musicians 

The intensive education program for talented string players from around the world includes performances throughout the community, including free showcases, pop-ups around town, and a new mobile concert stage.

Reaching for the stars at the St. Clare Art Fair

As tight school budgets threaten to slash arts classes across Oregon, Rose Lifschutz and her students at the Portland school reveal the creative rewards of a healthy arts program.

That spark of inspiration: Social Justice & the Arts at Portland State University

A new degree program at PSU by Darrell Grant and Suzanne Savaria will be the only one of its kind in the country.

A mindset of possibility: Resonance Ensemble and the student composers of Linfield University

The choral ensemble workshopped and performed five student compositions in a semester-long mentorship residency culminating in this month’s showcase concert on May 8.

Dance Review: Jefferson Dancers Annual Spring Concert

The acclaimed high school dance company surprises and delights with a packed program of original choreography performed with energy, versatility, and joy.

Young Musicians & Artists: A fun and supportive experience for young creative students

For nearly 60 years, the non-profit program has been offering residential music and arts summer camps where youth can further their artistic interests while forging lifelong friendships.

Dance Preview: Jefferson Dancers 2024 Spring Concert

Portland’s longest running dance company celebrates their 48th season at their annual performance, as artistic director Steve Gonzales marks his 25th year leading the nationally recognized high school dance program.

Learning about the world through music: Camas High School’s choral students and director Ethan Chessin work with Alicia Jo Rabins on the composer’s “Songs of the Matriarchs”

The Oregon singer-violinist-composer-poet-scholar-storyteller worked with the Camas choirs in cultural and musical workshops, a preview concert and Portland premiere. The entire local artistic team will debut the full work in New York City this May.

Bobby Bermea: Devising the future at Hand2Mouth

The Portland theater company's Youth Devising Residency program teaches young people stage skills and more. The show they created, "What Brings You Here?," is at PSU March 7-9.

All Rise: A new playwright steps onstage

Bobby Bermea: Promising writer and recent high school grad Evan McCreary gets a weekend of readings at IFCC with talent and a little help from his older friends.

Sharon ‘Shay’ Knorr: ‘Storytelling can change the world’

In upcoming workshops in Cannon Beach and Astoria, the self-described "story doula" will help participants hone personal tales of their hero's journey.

Singing before she could talk: The awesome journey of Coty Raven Morris and her quest to share music-making

The Louisiana-born, Texas-raised singer and educator, recently named Hinckley Assistant Professor of Music Education and Social Justice at Portland State University, is one of ten finalists for this year’s Grammy Music Educator Award.