For information about The Sitka Center, go here.
For more information about Oregon Contemporary, go here.
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MICHAEL DUNNE: I'm Michael Dunne. Almost every area of society has been impacted by cuts to funding from the federal government, Health, National Forests, university research, heck, even weather forecasts. It's gotten to the point where almost every entity which relies on federal funding lives each day, expecting the worst. Here in Oregon, that drama played out recently in the form of a promised check that suddenly and inexplicably was yanked back from a local arts organization. Today on the show, you'll hear from the Oregon contemporary, which lost 1000s of dollars in promised federal funding with no explanation. And you'll hear from the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, who graciously made up the difference. It's a story about organizations helping each other in the face of federal austerity. Blake Shell, the executive director for the Oregon Contemporary and Alison Dennis, the executive director of the Sitka Center for Art and ecology. Thank you both for coming on and talking with us.
BOTH: Thank you for having us. I'm very excited to be here and get to talk to you about this. Thank you, Michael. We really appreciate you covering this story.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Let's start with the very basics, which is an overview of your organization's Blake. I'm going to start with you. Give us the highlights of Oregon Contemporary.
BLAKE SHELL: Oregon contemporary has been around for 25 years. This is our 25th year, and we have been in our current location, a very large building in North Portland, since 2008 we have large scale exhibitions and do art and performances for our programs, but we also partner with other organizations. We provide tenant space for other nonprofits in the building, and we work with about 50 partners on giving discounted space, co-producing events, and doing other things around the building every year.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Okay, great. And then Alison, tell us about the Sitka Center.
ALISON DENNIS: Yes, so the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology is celebrating its 55th year. We're located at Cascade head on the Oregon coast, in one of the most just beautiful and protected parts of our coastline, our mission is art and nature Access for All, and we do that through a number of programs, including residencies for professional artists and scientists, workshops for adult learners, a big art show that we host, actually, at Oregon contemporary each fall In Portland, and then our k8 create youth program reaches 20 public schools in the most rural parts of the Oregon coast with free arts education, all through Clatsop, Tillamook and Lincoln Counties.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Okay, Blake, why don't you tell us what happened recently with regard, with regard to funding that you were supposed to be getting from the National Endowment of the Arts.
BLAKE SHELL: Yes, thank you. Our Biennial is a program that's been with us since 2011 it was prior to that at the Portland Art Museum, and it had started as Portland artists, but it's now open to artists from all over Oregon, presenting every other year in this major exhibition, and starting in the spring, we knew that other NEA grants had been canceled, and so we were concerned, because We were we had not heard yet about our funding, but by August, it was confirmed that we were to receive $30,000 and then we sent them a list of the bios of the artists and their names in September, because they requested it, and by the end of October, we received a notice that said that they were revoking the funding based on the artists list. And so that was really shocking, because we've never had the NEA have any question of which artist or. What curators were working with. So, yeah, it was, it was a big surprise and really crucial funding, like almost a third of the funding of this biennial was yanked away.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Did they give any justification as to why? Because of these particular artists that they were revoking funding?
BLAKE SHELL: They did not. They said that there was no appeal process and that the inbox that was sending the letter to us would not receive replies. So it was, it was just not these artists and end of story, and we're still the only ones that I've heard of around the country that's happened in in this way, in this round, but I would not be surprised if it did happen to other organizations we haven't heard about, but yeah, no justification, no explanation, just based on your artist list.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Well, Allison, why don't you pick up the story from there and explain where your organization, the Sitka Center for Arts and Ecology, stepped in.
ALISON DENNIS: So, when the NEA withdrew funding for the Biennial, we really saw that it wasn't just Oregon Contemporary’s loss. It was a loss for our organization, but really for artistic freedom itself. Sitka exists to support artists and champion the creative process, the thinking, the reflection, risk taking, and especially the freedom that comes with dedicated time and space to pursue new work without outside pressure. TK Smith, the biennial curator, and I'm sure Blake can share more about his work. The curator is at Sitka right now completing his residency through our new curator in residence partnership with Blake and Oregon contemporary. So, when the grant was revoked, it didn't feel like someone else's problem. It felt like our own setback too. So, the Sitka center reached out, and we are pledging a minimum of $20,000 from our own emergency program reserves up to as much as $30,000 the full NEA grant value that was revoked to just bring immediate support and make sure that the show can go on.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Blake. I mean, obviously, as you expressed very well, this, this comes at a shock. I'm wondering, you know, as an organization that relies on this kind of funding, I mean, what does this sort of confusion, confusing, almost muddled picture of available funding at the national level. You know, what's it possibly going to do for what you need to do with regard to budgeting or securing artists? I mean, how does it fit in with how you try and run an organization? Or, how does it confuse you trying to run an organization?
BLAKE SHELL: Well, it's a crazy time right now. I feel like we're in good company with a lot of different people in a lot of different industries and sectors, trying to figure things out on the fly. We already had to postpone an exhibition this summer, because we weren't sure if we were receiving NEA at that point, and we had lost some city funding. It was just a reduction of funding that was across the board. But I think that, you know this kind of thing where core, general operating support grants from the city where, you know, one of our larger grants in support of the biennial are up in the air. It causes an organization to have to shrink back, and we postponed our exhibition from the summer, so hopefully we're having it right after the Biennial. But that kind of loss means that we weren't able to bring that art to the public, and we are a free art space in North Portland with a large attendance by our own community and by people traveling through so it's a it's a loss for really everyone when something like that happens, and then on the back end, it is, yeah, chaotic and worrisome, and we're always trying to, like, reconfigure how we can make things work and yeah, this most recent loss of NEA was definitely a scare for the. The program and what that could mean.
ALISON DENNIS: Yeah, and Michael, if I could just dovetail with Blake, I know exactly what it feels like when major support disappears for reasons beyond your control. Sitka is experiencing its own federal funding challenge. This year, we learned that a two-year $300,000 grant for our k8 create youth program will not be renewed due to federal education funding cutbacks, and so just like Blake, instead of focusing on expanding the program, I'm fundraising to close a sudden federal gap so that essential work in Oregon can continue. It's why partnerships matter so deeply. Right now, none of us can weather these shifts alone.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I'm going to ask you both the same question, but obviously lots of different sectors are seeing cuts at the federal level. It's a confusing and scary time across multiple industries, across multiple organizations, across multiple sectors, but I wanted to talk specifically about the importance of art and in your own words, you know, talk about the importance, like I just said, the importance of your organizations and, yes, I mean there, there are lots of worthy causes, feeding those who are hungry, and clothing those who don't have any clothes, and sheltering people who don't have shelter. But, you know, talk about what art means to a community, and Blake, I'm going to have you go first.
BLAKE SHELL: Yes, thank you for that question. I mean, I think everyone knows that basic needs have to be taken care of. That is just, you know, top of everyone's mind. And as we were doing some initial emergency fundraising our opening night for our current exhibition, we split the proceeds with the Oregon Food Bank that night, because we knew that SNAP was running out that day. And so, I think that that is definitely the case. And then I think when you think about the arts, it's really interesting how much it's being targeted by the Federal Administration right now. I think arts and culture are a place for people to think about what our worlds can be and what our country can be. This Biennial is a reflection of the Oregon artist, and Tak Smith is curating it around a response to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. And so, artists are responding about what that declaration meant, what it didn't mean, who's included in it, who isn't? It's really something where the artists are sharing a lot of different perspectives on being a citizen of this country. And I think that while that show description didn't go, the bios of the artists reflect that these artists are change makers and are deeply engaged. And I think there's fear from the federal government about artists expressing these ideas of unity, coming together at this time. So, I think they're incredibly powerful and important, maybe more than I've seen in my lifetime.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Allison, same question to you.
ALISON DENNIS: You know, I think I find it curious that we tend to frame needs against each other. It happens sector against sector, basic needs versus arts, and it happens within the arts itself too often. Funding models pit organizations and causes against one another, fighting over the same shrinking funding streams. So, I'm hoping this partnership we're demonstrating is maybe showing a path to another way. I think, fundamentally for me, when we underfund the arts, we're undercutting free speech. It's a basic element of our democracy. When we defund arts education, we are stunting the growth of the next generation of creative Oregonians, art isn't a nice to have. It's essential to who we are.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Tell us what the local community can do to help your organizations during this challenging time. Again, Blake, I'll start with you.
BLAKE SHELL: Well, we do have a fundraiser on our website, and we are tracking all gifts, including the pledge from Sitka there. So, we're in the middle of end of year fundraising right now, and so the 30,000 is not enough. We normally would be raising an additional 45 plus we are. Raising another 10,000 for security for artists and communities, because we know that we have alerted the government to the possibility that they don't like us, we're maybe on a list. So, we want to make sure that any event is really safe and welcoming. And so, I think that going on to the website and donating there, also donating to Sitka, who's also doing end of year fundraising. Because I think that the thing that I want to say just separate from these questions, I just have to say what an extraordinary move by Sitka to reach out and offer this. This is unheard of. Nonprofits are having all sorts of struggles, and clearly Sitka has had losses as well. And so, I think that supporting both organizations is amazing. I think that for me, this whole thing, it's giving me hope around how we see ourselves out of this over the next several years, it's really through community and through support. And so, I've appreciated every, you know, $10 donation that somebody has given, because I know that they are behind us and behind what we're doing. And I also feel like this story and what Sitka is offering, it's very courageous to be generous and work together at a time of scarcity, and so I feel like people should take that, internalize that, as much as they can, as they're dealing with their own day to day lives and what they see out there, like working together. This is an example of that that really warms my heart and I hope everyone's as well.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Allison, last word to you.
ALISON DENNIS: Thanks for that, Blake. I think in addition to for those who can support both organizations, I hope to see as many people from the public as possible at the Biennial, when it opens this April, I also hope that this partnership models a better way for faster trust-based values forward collaboration among arts organizations and especially foundations and major funders. I hope policy makers who are listening take notice. Oregon needs arts funding that is responsive, relational, reliable, year over year and rooted in trust. And finally, I hope that this moment sparks a new level of support for both of our organizations, so that neither is bearing the cost of protecting the arts and free self-expression alone.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Well said, well said, We've been speaking with the executive director of Oregon Contemporary Blake Shell, and you just heard the executive director of the Sitka Center for Arts and ecology, Alison Dennis, really appreciate both of you coming on, and I'm glad we were able to chat.
BOTH: Thank you for having us. Thank you for the collaboration, Blake and the conversation Michael.
MICHAEL DUNNE: That's the show for today. All episodes of Oregon On The Record are available as a podcast at KLCC.org. As most of you know, Congress removed funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and many stations nationwide are facing the possibility of closing for good. Tomorrow on the show, which just so happens to be Giving Tuesday, we're going to highlight several Oregon entities now struggling due to the Congressional decision. You'll hear about the impacts they're facing and what they're doing to survive. I'm Michael Dunne, host of Oregon On The Record, thanks for listening.
