Southern Oregon Artists Resource
SOAR: a network and directory of the Southern Oregon Arts Community for the convenience of its members, for artists and art lovers planning to move to and visitors planning to travel to the Rogue Valley Ashland Medford Jacksonville Grants Pass area
A comprehensive directory of Southern Oregon's arts community and guide to events for its members, local arts enthusiasts, and those planning to visit or move to our region.
Support the Arts!
With the current economic climate putting pressure on the arts and artists everywhere, art advocacy groups, grantmaking institutions and local art programs need your help to remain the benefactors of the arts and humanities they've become. In Oregon and our own region in the southern part of the state, we have non-profits of different kinds which actively promote the arts and art education, advocate for the arts and use the healing power of the arts to benefit some of the most vulnerable members of our community. The Southern Oregon Artists Resource does not receive funding from any of the agencies listed below and provides this information solely to help you identify arts organizations so you can learn more about them and offer your support. Please consider a donation to one of these important art agencies and programs.
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Rogue Valley Non-Profit Art Organizations & Granting Agencies
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Arts Council of Southern OregonPhone 541·779·2820Address 33 North Central, Suite 421, Medford, OR 97501Website Email
Founded 1975
The Arts Council is a charitable, non-profit organization founded in 1975 to promote and support the arts community in Southern Oregon. We are non-competitive, enlisting artists, arts organizations, patrons, and grantors as our partners in promoting the value and accessibility of all the arts. We provide vital information for artists, residents and tourists, alike. All our activities focus on collaboration to ensure a vibrant and diverse arts community is always available.
We now are focusing beyond basic arts enrichment programs in the schools to once again become a true "Arts Council" - identifying and meeting the needs of all our local arts and culture providers, both individuals and organizations, in a non-competitive way, enabling them to prosper.
We now have a long-term Strategic Plan and redefined priorities, better suited to our position as a non-competitive promoter and supporter of all the arts. Look for the launch of our new interactive website, designed to provide vital and comprehensive information to artists, members, residents, and tourists alike. Our extremely popular Arts Summits will continue as well, facilitating collaboration, networking and partnerships throughout the community.
We sponsor and co-sponsor such art events as the Medford Third Friday Art Walk.
Update, 9/4/2012: Our location has changed! We recently moved our offices from Medford to Jacksonville, upstairs in the Art Presence Art Center at 206 North Fifth Street.
You can help support the Arts Council of Southern Oregon by donating to the Art Presence Art Center.
Jackson County Cultural Coalition- Support participation in and access to cultural activities for all Jackson County residents.
- Support and promote cultural educational opportunities, especially for youth in Jackson County.
- Support and promote awareness of the Oregon Cultural Trust
Rogue Gallery & Art Center
Southern Oregon Society of Artists-
Local Non-Profits Utilizing Art Therapy:
The Studio at Living Opportunities
Children's Advocacy Center of Jackson County-
Website 
Healing Art Blog Founded 1986Our Vision: Communities where children are safe, families are strong, and our child victims become children again.
Our Mission: To meet the needs of children and families by providing a community-based, child-focused center that facilitates a compassionate, multidisciplinary approach to the prevention, treatment, identification, investigation, and prosecution of child abuse.
Three Basic Beliefs
1. The intervention system must be sensitive to the needs of abused children and their families and meet their needs by respecting the uniqueness of each child and family
2. Child abuse is a community problem. No single agency, individual, or discipline alone has the necessary skills, knowledge or resources to provide the assistance needed by children and families that have been affected by abuse.
3. The combined wisdom and professional knowledge of multidisciplinary team members from child protective services, law enforcement, prosecution, adult and juvenile probation, medicine, public and mental health, schools and victim advocacy will result in a more complete understanding of case issues and help facilitate the most effective response possible.
The Task Force
• Provides a forum for interagency coordination
• Enhances public and professional education relating to child advocacy and the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect
• Advocates for the rights and needs of children
• Develops and administers funding for child abuse programsHow you can help support the Children's Advocacy Center of Jackson County:
Make a donation at their website
Purchase products designed with the children's art in the CAC's Zazzle store.
Purchase a beautiful calendar for 2012
Attend a fundraising event or train to become a volunteer! Check the CAC's event calendar.
Be sure to visit their website and sign up for the newsletter. They have great art events to raise funds for the program and build confidence in the children. Here's more about the program from their Zazzle store:
Meta~morph~osis: a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism, as from the caterpillar to the pupa and from the pupa to the adult butterfly.
Join a community working together for a safe and healthy world for children. Invest in a vision of new life.Transform . . . .
Metamorphosis is a store all about transformation. The art available here – on calendars and coffee mugs, t-shirts and tote bags – has all been created by children and teens who have learned something of change and transformation. What they all have in common is that they have experienced abuse in one form or another, and they have all been through a journey of healing at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Jackson County, Oregon. What they bring to their art is their own unique images of the world around them, of themselves, and of their hopes and dreams. Each one is different, unique, and each offers a glimpse into their world through the art presented here.
The Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) is the place children and teens come when they have been abused to tell their story, to receive medical and therapy services, and – for some – to participate in a year-long mentoring program. Through this, they deepen their journeys of change within a community of peers supported by adults who are trained in the processes of transformation. Each summer they take professional art classes and create works of beauty they may not have imagined possible. Those of us who work with them are all changed through the cycles each year of this program, and now we offer that possibility to you.
Read the "On the Veranda" edition of the CAC's newsletter (pdf download).
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State Non-Profits & Art Advocates:
Oregon Arts Commission
Oregon Cultural Trust
| Address | 33 North Central, Suite 421, Medford, OR 97501 |
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Jackson County offers a rich array of cultural activities ranging from its music, theater and art communities to its galleries, museums and historical sites to dance, storytelling, folklore and literature. The Jackson County Cultural Coalition recognizes the importance of all aspects of the arts, heritage and humanities, and seeks to promote public and private support for each. The Coalition is part of the Oregon Cultural Trust, an innovative funding mechanism meant to strengthen every aspect of Oregon's culture through a permanent endowment that will grow to more than $200 million. The Coalition invests in grants to local programs designed to preserve and strengthen Jackson County's arts, heritage and humanities and guarantee that every resident benefits from our region's cultural assets. The Jackson County Cultural Coalition is comprised of community members involved in all aspects of Jackson County’s cultural and economic life. The major goals of the Coalition are: You can help support the Jackson County Cultural Coalition by donating to the Oregon Cultural Trust. |
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| Founded | 1960 |
Rogue Gallery & Art Center is a non-profit community art center located in Medford, OR. We offer ART CLASSES for kids & adults, rotating art EXHIBITS, and a BOUTIQUE with artwork from hundreds of local artists. And we host fun art EVENTS monthly! The mission of the Rogue Gallery & Art Center (RGAC) is to promote and provide for the study, development, exhibition, and appreciation of visual art in the Rogue Valley. Founded in 1960 by artists, educators, and local leaders, the Rogue Gallery & Art Center was the first non-profit visual art organization in the Rogue Valley. Since that beginning, we’ve served as an artistic catalyst for Southern Oregon through innovative exhibition, art education and community leadership. RGAC moved to its current location at the corner of 8th and Bartlett Street in 1970. In the 1980s we outgrew the small rental space and with the support and labor of volunteers we purchased and renovated the building. Today the Rogue Gallery & Art Center is at the center of downtown Medford’s revitalization that includes an elegant theater, luminous library and community college. Over the years RGAC’s reach has expanded past the walls of its building. A number Southern Oregon’s most popular community events began at the Rogue Gallery & Art Center – including the Festival of Trees, Artists in the Schools, Art in Bloom, and the Best of the Best High School Art Show. Beginning in the 1990s, introducing children to the wonders of art became a primary mission for RGAC and is now part of our enduring legacy. Today RGAC’s art education program offers diverse classes and workshops year round for both children and adults. Rogue Gallery & Art Center is now viewed as the premier space for exhibiting regional artists and providing art classes and workshops. We’re thrilled that RGAC’s exhibitions not only reflect artistic expression but provide our community with ongoing access to quality visual art experiences. The Rogue Gallery & Art Center is one of the only non-commercial exhibition venues in the area that offers varied high-quality art programs. Each year’s exhibition series features established regional artists as well as those just emerging in their careers. In the interest of diversity, exhibitions of both cultural and social relevance as well as those spotlighting a specific medium or artistic process are regularly featured. RGAC supports local artists by offering opportunities to exhibit and sell, meet the public and build their resume. Public programs accompany the exhibitions in various forms: docent tours, lectures, and demonstrations offer informative and educational components to help the public appreciate art techniques, styles, and the importance of art in our society. The Rogue Gallery & Art Center serves a broad audience within our local community. While our primary population resides in Jackson County, we also have visitors coming from all over Southern Oregon and Northern California to see our galleries and participate in our programs. Our influence and leadership in the arts is felt throughout the local community. With the help of our dedicated staff and hard-working volunteers we serve over 500 valued members, accommodate over 10,000 visitors to our galleries and educate over 600 students in our diverse art education programs every year. The Rogue Gallery & Art Center collaborates with many local organizations and agencies to strengthen our programming and advocate for the arts. RGAC has played a key role in launching art programs that continue under the leadership of other organizations, including the Artists in the Schools program, the Best of the Best High School Art Show, Third Friday Art Walk, and the Art in Bloom Festival. RGAC sponsors exhibitions at satellite venues in the downtown district, including the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater and the Medford Public Library. We’ve also worked with the Medford Arts Commission in the commissioning of many pieces of public art for our community. We’re happy to make our studio available to the adjacent Rogue Community College for art classes and the Southern Oregon Sogetsu Society for an ongoing Ikebana class. |
Meetings |
January through October Fourth Monday of each month at 7 pm Medford Central Library, 205 S Central, Medford, OR |
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| Founded | 1951 |
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Open Invitation to Artists: Come experience the excitement of viewing guest artists instruct, as they demonstrate the techniques they use to produce award winning art, on non-critique meeting nights. Enjoy meeting with other artists who share their love of art and are always ready to answer questions or give helpful tips. Keep up to date on current art events in our area. You are welcome to attend juried critiques that are held quarterly at the January, April, July and October meetings. Critiques are a great way to improve your art in a fun and informative manner. Only paid members may enter art work into the critiques, but everyone is welcome to attend. This is a fun evening complete with refreshments. Admission is free. |
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We provide workshops, instruction and events to promote independence, individuality, creativity and an income for artists with a wide range of disabilities. We strive to share our artists' unique talents through the belief that art is a common thread that joins us all. How you can help to support the Studio and it artists: Make an online donation to Living Opportunities Make a purchase at the Studio's online store. (The Studio is offering a beautiful calendar for 2012) Attend a fundraising event: Check Living Opportunities' event calendar. |
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The Oregon Arts Commission was established in 1967 to foster the arts in Oregon and ensure their excellence. Nine Commissioners, appointed by the Governor, determine policies, establish long-range plans, and review applications to grants programs to determine funding levels. SOAR is very grateful to have received encouragement and praise on more than one occasion from the OAC's Community Arts development Director, Brian Wagner. We respect and admire the work this organization does to keep arts & culture funding flowing throughout our beautiful, creative state. You can help support the Oregon Arts Commission by donating to the Oregon Cultural Trust. |
Address Phone Website Hours Mon - Fri: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm The Oregon Cultural Trust is a statewide funding agency fueled by individual donations for which donors receive a 100% Oregon tax credit. Donations to the Cultural Trust return to the community in the form of grants benefiting every county in Oregon.
“Why do this?” A society that promotes opportunity for all people to experience their culture and its roots (the arts, the humanities and their heritage) is a society that develops increased civility and an increased sense of community. Yet some still live with the myth that arts and culture are frosting on the cake.
In fact, they are among the basic ingredients that make the cake the way we want it, the way we enjoy it. Widespread accessibility to and involvement with the arts, humanities and heritage helps mold the Oregon society in which we live. Investment here can provide a positive quality of living dividend.
The Task Force is saying, simply but clearly, the time has come to take a bold step toward molding the future we want for our state, to make culture a partner in the process, and to orchestrate the thinking, human ingenuity and creativity to enhance and expand cultural opportunity and understanding for all.
Charles Walker
Chair, Joint Interim Task Force on Cultural DevelopmentThe Oregon Cultural Trust has an innovative donation program where you can receive a tax credit for 100% of your donation if you donate any amount to an Oregon nonprofit arts organization and a matching donation to the Cultural Trust.
Step 1: Make a donation to any of Oregon's 1,300 arts, heritage and humanities nonprofits.
Step 2: Make a matching gift to the Cultural Trust. Technical difficulties donating online?
Step 3: Claim your entire contribution to the Trust as a tax credit, reducing your Oregon tax bill.
Donate to this important top-level art advocacy and grantmaking agency today! Visit Oregon Cultural Trust's Secure Donation Page or Call 503-986-0088, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm, weekdays.
You can also buy a Cultural Trust License Plate and Drive Culture! Income from sales of the cultural license plate benefits the Trust program. The cultural plate is available in any DMV office or by mail. The Trust receives 100% of $30 surcharge for the plate and revenue from the culture plates averages about $30,000 month.
The plate features a painting by northwest artist Kelly Kievit, selected in open competition. The abstract color field was chosen to represent the diversity and vibrancy of Oregon culture.
Support Oregon culture. Brand the Cultural Trust. Declare your cultural affinity. Buy one!
Help promote the OCT - visit their website for more...
Celebrate culture! At any gathering where beverages are served. Coasters featuring the culture license plate are packaged in sleeves of 125 but can be provided in any quantity. They’re free; just email a request.
- Mercy Corps Northwest
John Haines, Executive Director
2069 NE Hoyt St.
Portland, OR 97232
Phone: 503.236.1580
Email: - Though the Mercy Corps is not strictly an arts-based organization, they do offer small business loans, grants and other services for small businesses and entry-level entrepreneurs. Artists definitely come under these classifications! Their Kickstarter program offers funding specifically for creative projects, and The Women’s Business Center at Mercy Corps NW is the only Women’s Business Center (WBc) in Oregon. The Women’s Business Center is partially funded by the US Small Business Administration.
- Loans
Mercy Corps NW is a nationally recognized microfinance organization that has been delivering small business loans since 2001. The MCNW loan program provides needed capital to qualified individuals who cannot obtain traditional bank loans in Washington and Oregon. We move beyond banks in our funding and support services. MCNW loans range from $500 to $50,000. The average loan is around $10,000. Terms average three years but are up to five years and at commercial rates. Find out if a MCNW loan is right for you.
Earn a Matching Grant for Your Business Savings with an IDA
Individual Development Accounts, or IDAs, are matched savings accounts that enable low-income American families to save, build assets, and enter the financial mainstream. IDAs reward the monthly savings of working families who are building towards purchasing an asset - most commonly buying their first home, paying for post-secondary education, or starting a small business. Mercy Corps Northwest offers small business IDAs. Learn more about this special savings program. "
Learn more about the Mercy Corps HERE. Donate to support their programs HERE.
Oregon Non-Profits Utilizing Art Therapy
Children's Healing Art Project-
Address Phone Website Email Founded 2006Children's Healing Art Project (CHAP) brings the healing power of art to children in crisis through a mobile team of teaching artists working in Portland's children's hospitals. www.chap.name
CHAP creates art opportunities that engage, encourage and inspire, where each child can be seen for their talents rather than their disease, diagnosis, or disability.
Our Art Factory is located at:
1703 NW 16th Avenue (at NW Savier)
Portland, OR 97209
We are open to the public Friday through Tuesday from 10am until 6pm, closing at 5pm on Sundays. It's $5 an hour per child. We take cash, check, VISA and Mastercard.
Children's Healing Art Project (CHAP) brings the healing power of art to children in crisis and their families with a mobile team of teaching artists working in Portland's children's hospitals. CHAP has created art classes tailored to the needs of the children we serve in our partner facilities: Doernbecher Children's Hospital, and Shriners Hospital for Children. In 2010, CHAP will work with over 8,500 children and their families. We also serve children in other communities throughout Oregon, including Medford.
Drawing, painting, mask making, sculpture, jewelry and anything that young creative minds dream up! We create interactive projects in the common language found in the simple joy of making art.
You can help support this important program by donating here.
- The Well Arts Institute
2710 NE 14th Ave
Portland, OR 97212
503.459.4500
- The Well Arts Institute is an Arts-in-Healthcare, non-profit company that seeks to enhance wellness using the creative arts in the severely and chronically ill and people living with traumatic life events.Their mission is to explore, develop and practice creativity as a means of wellness. The Well Arts Institute provides a common ground for the development, implementation and documentation of the benefits of creativity as a catalyst in the healing process. With guided writing workshops using music, fine arts, dance and professional actors, we bring personal stories to the stage, clinical and community settings. Though based in Portland, it's an important art therapy program in Oregon, and provides a great list of additional art therapy resources HERE.
Native American support organizations
ONABEN - A Native American Business Network
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A nonprofit devoted to Native entrepreneurship
When four Oregon tribes formed the Oregon Native American Business and Entrepreneurial Network more than two decades ago, leaders wanted to fill the void for business training. Now the Tigard nonprofit is affecting business growth across the country.
The group created its own business curriculum and trains tribal leaders looking for a Native-specific resource for entrepreneurs.
"There's a ton of business training curriculum, but none really spoke to our particular audience of Native entrepreneurs," Deputy Director Eric Jordan said. "In a sense, we've translated our materials to be embraced by our audience."
Indianpreneurship launched in 2005, targeting Oregon and Washington tribes. Students work through the course in a classroom environment, and finish several months later with a business plan in hand. As the recession worsened, more people turned to entrepreneurship, said Tom Hampson, the nonprofit's director.
Word started spreading. By 2008, 16 tribal organizations and colleges had turned to the nonprofit for entrepreneurship training. The nonprofit sold 366 student copies of the course that year. In 2010, 36 organizations enrolled in training courses and sales had grown by 113 percent.
The organization shortened its name to ONABEN and realized there was a market for its curriculum. It now accounts for a quarter of the group's funding. Only one-third of Indianpreneurship students will actually start a business in the next three to five years, Hampson said, but those who do will have the skills to succeed.
Economic growth depends on the next generation of Native entrepreneurs, Johnson said. He's hoping to build a foundation course for high school students, to show them that business ownership is a viable path.
"Entrepreneurship is a pathway of empowerment and ownership," he said.Visit ONABEN's site to browse their Native business directory, which includes artist, traditional artist, jewelry and native-owned art gallery listings.
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National Art Advocacy, Policy & Grantmaking Agencies:
Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2010, Americans for the Arts is the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in America. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. From offices in Washington, DC, and New York City, it serves more than 150,000 organizational and individual members and stakeholders.
Americans for the Arts is focused on four primary goals:
- Lead and serve individuals and organizations to help build environments in which the arts and arts education thrive and contribute to more vibrant and creative communities.
- Generate meaningful public and private sector policies and more leaders and resources for the arts and arts education.
- Build individual awareness and appreciation of the value of the arts and arts education.
- Ensure the operational stability of the organization and its ability to creatively respond to opportunities and challenges.
Our goals are achieved in partnership with local, state, and national arts organizations; government agencies; business leaders; individual philanthropists; educators; and funders throughout the country. Americans for the Arts provides extensive arts-industry research and professional development opportunities for community arts leaders via specialized programs and services, including a content-rich website and an annual national convention. Local arts agencies throughout the United States comprise Americans for the Arts' core constituency. A variety of unique partner networks with particular interests such as public art, united arts fundraising, arts education, and emerging arts leaders are also supported.
Through national visibility campaigns and local outreach, Americans for the Arts strives to motivate and mobilize opinion leaders and decision-makers who can ensure the arts thrive in America. Americans for the Arts produces annual events to heighten visibility for the arts, including the National Arts Awards and BCA TEN honoring private-sector leadership and the Public Leadership in the Arts Awards (in cooperation with The United States Conference of Mayors) honoring elected officials in local, state, and federal government.
As host of the national Arts Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill, Americans for the Arts annually convenes arts advocates from across the country to advance federal support of the arts, humanities, and arts education. The Americans for the Arts Action Fund seeks to take our grassroots advocacy work to a broader audience by engaging the public to become part of the movement to ensure healthy arts funding and arts education in America.
SOAR syndicates posts from the Americans for the Arts blogs at Art Matters! in order to share current events for the organization and developments in arts policy as well as compelling posts proving the many ways art matters by their member art advocates. Donate to support this very important national arts advocacy group HERE.
National Endowment for the Arts
SOAR syndicates Art Works, the blog of the National Endowment for the Arts, at Art Matters! in order to share the latest from this national grantmaking and pro-arts policy advocation organization. Visit their website and take some time to explore their broad range of national initiatives, programs, grants and resources. Donate to support this very important national arts advocacy group HERE.
President's Committee on the Arts & Humanities
| Address | 11825 SW. Greenburg Road, Suite B3, Tigard, OR 97223 |
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| Contact | Kedma Ough, Program Director |
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"The arts and humanities define who we are as a people. That is their power -- to remind us of what we each have to offer, and what we all have in common. To help us understand our history and imagine our future. To give us hope in the moments of struggle and to bring us together when nothing else will."
—Honorary Chairman, First Lady Michelle ObamaSouthern Oregon Artists Resource
This site was created and maintained by Hannah West of Hannah West Design, LLC in Jacksonville, Oregon, and launched on January 1, 2010. Born of my concern for the ability of artists in our area to continue creating under the pressures that have arisen in the last few years, the total of the modest fees we ask for listings in our directories (so artists can afford them!) falls far short of the time, research and love that goes into the site and its companion blog, Art Matters!, every day. Though we are not a non-profit organization, we do need your help to provide the best resource possible. Below are a few ways you can support our endeavor.
Download and print our flyers and post in a prominent place to help spread the word! One is designed to promote the website to artists and the other invites art enthusiassts to discover the artists and other members of theSouthern Oregon art community represented on the site:
Promo Flyer - Artists
Promo Flyer - Art Enthusiasts
Southern Oregon businesses who share demographics with the arts and culture community are welcome to inquire about advertising on the main site and/or the Art Matters! blog. .
Art Matters! content is brought to you by syndicating the blogs written by listed members and aggregating news and announcements from state and national arts advocacy groups and news sources, as well as custom posts written by the editor. Some of these posts involve research and travel in addition to the time it takes to write and assemble them. We want to dispel the myth that "Art is a Luxury" by informing residents and visitors of the many ways art makes our community the wonderful place it is, write artist profiles and interviews and cover art events live, but this can be a challenge with a limited budget. If you would like to sponsor a post, please to learn more. We're sure there's a topic you'd be happy to throw your weight behind, and we'll give you or your business a prominent presence in the post. SOAR and Art Matters! are visited regularly by 1500+ people from the Rogue Valley and around the world with another 1000 discovering us for the first time each month - it's a great strategy for advertising internationally while supporting the arts locally!
Copyright ©
All images on this site © their respective creators, and are used here with the artist's permission.
website by Hannah West Design LLC
