On Friday, the Oregon Arts Commission announced it would award 24 Arts Learning grants to organizations statewide that partner with Oregon schools to provide arts programming for K–12 students. Each org, 12 of which are Portland-based, will receive $10K from the commission to be used for specific initiatives in 2023. Priority was given to programs that partner with Title 1 schools, those located in communities with high rates of poverty, and those operating in rural areas. 

“So many schools lack adequate funding for arts education,” said Oregon Arts Commission executive director Brian Rogers in a press release announcing the grants. “We are grateful to these arts organizations for providing creative and enriching experiences for our youth.” The OAC's grant funds come from state contributions, the Oregon Cultural Trust, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Among the Portland organizations selected are Young Audiences, whose classroom-focused Right Brain Initiative was dropped by the Regional Arts and Culture Council following a sweeping reorganization in early 2020, and the Portland Opera, which will use the money to commission and tour a new work about the life of Oregon civil rights advocate and former newspaper editor Beatrice Morrow Cannady.

Other Portland recipients include the Architectural Foundation of Oregon, which offers design residencies at schools in low-income communities around the state; en Taiko, which teaches Japanese Taiko drumming and translates the rhythms into light patterns for deaf students; Literary Arts, which hosts writer residencies in 11 Multnomah County high schools; Milagro Theatre, which holds performing arts residencies in Woodburn; Oregon Ballet Theatre, which offers 10-week in-school dance residencies; Oregon BRAVO Youth Orchestras, which offers after-school music classes; Oregon Children's Theatre, which provides classroom residencies to Portland-metro elementary schools; Portland Playhouse, which is developing its annual Social Justice Theatre Project for middle and high school students; the Portland Ballet, which hosts a dance education program in Title 1 schools; and Caldera Arts, which offers personal arts mentoring.

Farther afield, grants were awarded to a wide range of organizations, including the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture in Joseph, which will use a portion of the funds for a haunted house workshop, and Bend's High Desert Museum, which offers elementary school students curatorial experience.