Salem cultural organizations plan to put on sign language classes for theater students, add a multimedia display about local history and host free movies for disabled adults with the help of recent grants.
The Marion Cultural Development Corporation is distributing about $45,000 to 15 art, dance, theater and historical organizations in Marion County for 2024, the organization announced recently. Most organizations are receiving $3,000.
The money comes from Oregon’s Cultural Trust, a state program that allows Oregonians to claim a tax credit for donating to support cultural nonprofits. The program collected $5.2 million statewide from over 10,800 in donations in 2022.
A portion of that money is distributed to county and tribal cultural commissions to make grants to local organizations.
Here’s a look at the projects and events the money will support.
Children’s Educational Theatre brings back ASL classes
Every summer, Children’s Educational Theatre puts on a theater education program for local students, culminating in a series of shows.
The performances are interpreted into American Sign Language.
Prior to the Covid pandemic, the program also included a class for students where they could learn about how to create ASL interpretation for performances, said Robert Salberg, executive director. The class was taught by a qualified ASL interpreter.
“With this grant we will be able to bring that class back and hopefully expand it to two classes,” he said in an email.
Classroom remodel at Willamette Heritage Center
Students on field trips, volunteer docents and community groups all make use of the classroom space at the Willamette Heritage Center.
The grant will allow the historical organization to remodel the room, creating an “immersive multimedia experience” with a new audio system and more educational displays showing the history of the mid-Willamette Valley, said Kathryn Fox, education manager.
“These improvements will help us to share more stories of the Mid-Willamette Valley peoples and reduce educational disparities of our visitors by providing equitable learning opportunities for students of all abilities,” she said in an email.
She expects the project to be completed around July 2024.
Art, dance and drumming at Englewood Forest Festival
Every August, the Englewood Forest Festival brings music, dance and a celebration of trees and nature to the northeast Salem park of the same name.
The grant will allow the festival to continue and expand its offering of free dance, drumming and visual arts classes at the event. The focus is to mentor “farmworker, homeless, and minority youth in traditional dancing and music celebrating Mexican heritage,” the grant application said.
The festival’s goal is to make cultural experiences more accessible for people who can’t afford paid classes, said Lynn Takata, festival co-chair. Classes are taught by Amador Aguilar, who leads the ENLACE Cross-Cultural Development Corp.
Dance and cultural celebrations
-The 2024 World Beat Festival, a weekend-long multicultural extravaganza in Riverfront Park, with a focus this year on Ukraine
-Casa de la Cultura Tlanese’s annual Dia de Muertos celebration in Salem
-Paradise of Samoa, a Salem-based Polynesian dance troupe, to support over 50 performances in Marion and Polk counties
-Performances by Woodburn-based Mexican folkloric dance group Cosecha Mestiza
Music performances
-Willamette Master Chorus’ “Music for Our Children” winter concert, held in March 2024, featuring “Mass of the Children” by John Rutter
-The 2024 Oregon Symphony Young People’s Concert in Salem, which brings 2,400 local students and educators to experience classical music
-Salem Symphonic Winds’ premiere of a band arrangement of “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam,” a composition by Alan Hovhaness based on the classic work of Persian poetry
-A mini concert series at the Bush House Museum in the historic music room, highlighting “performers from historically underrepresented communities,” according to the grant award
-The Salem Pops Orchestra’s 2024 concert series “to give the community an opportunity to experience quality, live orchestral music, as a performer or audience member,” according to the grant award
-Salem’s annual Make Music Day, held on the summer solstice, where musicians spanning genres perform for free in public spaces
Other projects
-A monthly free movie series at the Elsinore Theatre for adults with disabilities and a companion, held on the third Tuesday
-A renovation of the Keizer Heritage Museum
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
