Summer’s end and the beginning of fall not only mark the start of the performance season, it’s also the time of year when many public funding agencies announce their grant awards to eager arts companies. Portland Center Stage is off to an encouraging start in reaching our 2009/10 fundraising goals, thanks to the following recently received grants:

• An operating grant of $87,366 from the The Regional Arts & Culture Council, which includes a $6,680 community outreach grant for our Visions & Voices student playwriting program and a $14,505 allocation from Work for Art.  RACC is funded in part by local, regional, state and federal governments to provide grants to artists and operating support to art organizations in the tri-county region.

• A $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts through funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Recognizing that the non-profit arts industry is an important sector of the economy, the Recovery Grant program focuses on preserving jobs in the arts.

• A $17,000 grant for operating support from the Oregon Arts Commission. Established in 1967, the Oregon Arts Commission, now a division of the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department, aims to foster the arts in Oregon and ensure their excellence.

We want to express our appreciation to each of these agencies, especially to the volunteers who participate in grants panels and represent the community in the decision-making process.

We’re delighted that the Oregon Cultural Trust will again be a partner in producing JAW 2010.  The Trust recently awarded a $10,000 Cultural Development grant to Portland Center Stage, making the playwrights festival one of 48 projects throughout the state to receive funding.

The Oregon Cultural Trust is an innovative, statewide private-public program that raises money to support and protect Oregon’s arts, humanities, and heritage. In addition to creating a long-term, protected endowment, the Trust distributes funds annually through three wide-ranging grants programs. Donors to the Trust are eligible for a 100% Oregon income tax credit for contributions of up to $500 for individuals, $1,000 for couples filing jointly, and $2,500 for corporations. Since Oregon’s cultural tax credit began in December 2002, 13,500 donors have contributed more than $17 million to the Trust.  For more information on how you can support Portland Center Stage and the Oregon Cultural Trust, visit www.culturaltrust.org or call 503-986-0088.

Thanks, OCT!! See you at next year’s JAW!

Chris Murray, Shelly Lipkin and Antoinette LaVecchia bring rabbits to life in Colin Denby Swanson’s A Brief Narrative of an Incredible Birth of Rabbits at Portland Center Stage’s 2008 JAW: A Playwrights Festival.

As the Chronicle of Philanthropy and others have reported, arts organizations across the country have been especially hard hit by the recession. So, we’re happy to announce that Portland Center Stage was recently awarded two grants from programs specifically designed to help ameliorate the economic downturn’s negative impact on nonprofit arts groups.

The National Endowment for the Arts awarded a $50,000 grant to PCS through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The goal of the Recovery Act program is to “support the preservation of jobs that are threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn.” Portland Center Stage also received a $30,000 Oregon Arts Gap Grant from the Oregon Arts Commission aimed at helping to sustain the theater’s operations in the coming six to eight months.

Along with recognizing the NEA and OAC for this needed support, we want to thank our many contributors – businesses, foundations, public agencies and, especially, individual donors – who maintained, and even increased, their giving to Portland Center Stage during 2008/09. Despite the year’s challenges, contributed income actually reached the highest level in PCS’s history, with more than $3.4 million raised. As we embark on an exciting new season, we at PCS share a deep appreciation for the support of our many community partners and a hope that the coming months will bring a brighter economic picture for us all.

Yes, I know – we’re just barely into fall, and we have yet to get through the finale of the longest election campaign in the history of the world. Still, it’s not too soon – no, really! – to be thinking about your year-end giving, and how you can double the impact of your contributions to arts and culture institutions by also making a gift to the Oregon Cultural Trust. Here’s how it works:

1) If you haven’t already, make a donation to one or more of your favorite Oregon cultural non-profits (like Portland Center Stage, natch!). A list of qualifying organizations is available at www.culturaltrust.org.

2) Add up all your gifts to cultural organizations from the calendar year and make a matching gift to the Oregon Cultural Trust by December 31st. You can even donate online at www.culturaltrust.org.

3) Claim your 100%, dollar-for-dollar tax credit for your gift to the Trust when your file your Oregon state income tax (up to $500 for individuals, $1,000 for couples filing jointly and $2,500 for Oregon Corporations).

In addition to working toward its goal of creating a protected endowment of over $200 million to provide long-term support for culture in Oregon, the Oregon Cultural Trust awards grants to arts and culture organizations throughout the state – like Portland Center Stage. At PCS, we’re grateful for the Trust’s partnership, which has helped us grow our new play development programs, including the annual JAW festival, the PlayGroup writers lab, and the monthly Now Hear This reading series.

Your donations – to PCS and to the Oregon Cultural Trust – are critical to sustaining these programs, and much more. So, once you get through the next exciting few weeks, and before the big holiday rush, please remember to make those gifts and claim your tax credit for 2008!

I’m totally dating myself here, but one of my favorite films as a young thing was 1972’s Silent Running, which starred a then-young and shaggy Bruce Dern and featured a Bucky-inspired spaceship with several geodesic domes that held the last remnants of earth’s forests. Not to give away too much of the plot for those who might be interested in seeing the movie (which is available at Movie Madness on SE Belmont and on Netflix), but an order comes in from the powers that be (probably Dick Cheney) for the crew to not just abandon the ship, but destroy it.

Here’s a clip of one of the final scenes with views of the “Bucky ship” and a lovely song, “Rejoice in the Sun” (written by Peter Schikele and performed by Joan Baez), that still makes me cry.

(BTW, George Lucas totally ripped off R2D2 from the adorable little robots, especially heroic Dewey, in this film.)