Attendees of the 2016 Portland Creative Conference only know part of the story…
They know about the unique experience and true value of the event itself, including inspirational speakers talking about their creative process and valuable creative industries networking.
However, the rest of the story is that a high percentage of their registration fees are put to good use after the event to provide financial support to K-12 arts education programs that inspire and encourage students throughout the state of Oregon, enabling life-altering experiences and fostering the next generation of creative industries professionals.
So far five such programs have received funds from Keeping the Arts (KTA) using proceeds from last year’s Conference.
If you attended last year, here are just a few examples of the impact your participation had on kids:
- A student at the Children’s Repertory of Oregon Workshops (C.R.OW.) in Florence who, in her words, “was bullied a lot for being different” had fallen into depression. When she heard about C.R.O.W. she decided to audition despite her lack of confidence. When she was accepted into the program she was conflicted by self-doubt, wondering why the Director would put her in the play (which KTA helped to fund). However, in her words “Over time it was going great! I was smiling, making new friends, looking forward to every day. Since then, my depression has mostly gone away.”
- The Madras High School Band is making a comeback after losing funding several years ago. As part of re-building the program, the new Band Director set an ambitious goal of raising money so the band students could participate in a major music festival in San Diego. The Band Director sold the vision of this trip to students as a way to increase the number of kids in the band program. A grant from KTA helped to push the fundraising effort over the finish line. As a result, the band not only went to the Festival, but also performed way beyond expectations. They received:
- A Gold Rating (highest possible)
- First Place in their division
- The Adjudicator Award (chosen at the discretion of judges)
- Outstanding Band Award (highest scoring instrumental group at the festival)
- Maestro Award for outstanding individual performance
- A student in the Open School North artist-in-residence program in Portland comes from a home with very limited resources and her access to enrichment activities are little to none. The program that Keeping the Arts helped to fund provided a window into a new world for this student and she was clearly impacted by the experience of being exposed to a powerful female role model during the program.
For a complete list of the programs that received funding from 2016 proceeds, including testimonials from grant recipients, visit the 2016 grants post on the Keeping the Arts website.
Here are photos from some of the grant recipients: