A remarkable thing happened when more than 100 of Oregon’s arts, culture, heritage, and humanities leaders gathered in Beaverton recently to discuss the future of their fields. None of the dozens of speakers mentioned President Trump, Elon Musk, DOGE or MAGA Republicans, despite those people’s efforts to cut federal funding and restrict what can be shown and taught by museums and historical societies.

Instead, everyone focused on what can be done in Oregon to make things better. That is because the Nov. 4 gathering at the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts was organized by the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon, which was created in large part to lobby the Oregon Legislature on behalf of the arts, culture, heritage and humanities. Everyone at the Beaverton gathering focused on helping decide what to request from state lawmakers.

Not that the problems being created in Washington, D.C., didn’t come up. Many of the speakers said state lawmakers should support the work that they and their colleagues are doing because it overcomes division, brings people together, and creates community — the opposite of polarizing and tearing people apart, which everyone in attendance appeared to recognize is happening today.

“We are facing so many challenges in the arts today. This is the group that’s going to make things happen,” Portland Opera Executive Director Sue Dixon said in in her opening remarks.

The project is called The Big Re/Think. It is a statewide effort that had already held five similar gatherings this year, in Eugene, Ashland, Baker City, Bend and Newport. A statewide survey and an online session on Dec. 2 will follow. The day-to-day work is being undertaken by the affiliated Cultural Advocacy Coalition Foundation, a nonprofit 501 C3 organization.

The project is a followup to a similar effort in 2014. The original Big Think conducted by the coalition produced a list of 75 proposals grouped under 10 subject areas for the Legislature. That is now considered too ambitious, meaning the new goal is to produce a shorter but still essential list of priorities that can more reasonably be achieved.

“Oregon has the most nonprofit organizations per capita in the country and there is not enough money to go around. We have to identify a compelling need and the way to solve that need if we want the Legislature to listen to us,” said facilitator Rob Fenty, a business strategist with the 1961 Consulting firm.

Sponsor

Those in attendance at the Beaverton gathering represented a wide range of large and small organizations, including: Arts for Learning NW; Chamber Music Northwest; Hillsboro Parks & Recreation; the Miller Foundation; the Oregon Arts Commission; Oregon Ballet Theatre; the Oregon Cultural Trust; the PGE Foundation; the Regional Arts and Culture Council; World Oregon; and many more. They gathered around tables in the spacious ground floor of the center for three hours, with only one short break.

The work was divided into two parts. After opening statements, the first hour was spent brainstorming a compelling story about filling a critical need that can be presented to legislators from across the state. That is when the theme of bringing people together emerged. Discussions at each table resulted in the widespread agreement that too many people are isolated by modern society and being pitted against each other for political purposes. The solution is finding shared humanity to unite communities, most tables spontaneously included in their recommendations.

After the break, the table discussions turned to the bigger challenge of how to achieve such a solution. Everyone agreed the answer is more funding than state government is currently providing. Specific proposals included:

• significantly increasing the tax credit for donating to the Oregon Cultural Trust, which currently stands at $500 per person and $1,000 per couple;
• approving a statewide tax dedicated to the arts, culture, heritage and humanities;
• helping smaller organizations increase their fundraising capabilities;
• increasing support for regional “anchor” institutions such as the Oregon Shakespearean Festival in Ashland and High Desert Museum in Bend that are popular destinations;
• fulfilling the broken promise made when the Oregon Cultural Trust was created by the Legislature in 2001 to fund a $200 million endowment by selling surplus state property.

As Fenty explained, these are not the only or final proposals to be considered. The Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon has appointed a Steering Committee that will consider all of the proposals made at the six gatherings, along with those generated by the upcoming survey and online meeting, and finalize them into a doable list that will be reported back to its members and the attendees by the end of the year.

The list is being prepared for the 2027 session of the Oregon Legislature. Although state lawmakers will convene in Salem in 2026, that session is limited to just 35 days, as are all sessions in even-numbered years.

That does not mean the coalition will not be active at the State Capitol next year, however. Ryan Fisher, the coalition’s lobbyist, said word has already gone out that because of declining revenues, the Legislature needs to cut at least 1% from the biennial budget approved earlier this year to rebalance it.

“We will be playing defense to not lose the gain we made earlier this year,” Ryan said.

Sponsor

To end the meeting, Fenty read the following unattributed quote found on the second floor of the center: “Since the beginning of time, artists have helped us make sense of our world, and of ourselves.”

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• More information on The Big Re/Think and comment opportunities are available at oregonculture.org/about-us/bigrethink.
• A previous Oregon ArtsWatch story on The Big Re/Think, The Big Re/Think seeks to advocate for the arts, culture, and humanities, can be found here.