Label: News article

View full size image of Takohachi on stage with multiple sizes of drums and a nod to Portland projected behind them.

Arts and culture help make Portland more vibrant, connected and creative. Through taxpayer-funded investments, the Office of Arts & Culture works to ensure that Portlanders can experience a wide variety of performances, exhibitions, arts education experiences and cultural events throughout the city.

In fiscal year 2025-26, the Office of Arts & Culture awarded a total of $5,871,196 in grants to 178 arts organizations and 227 individual artists. A combination of funding sources made these community investments possible:

• The Arts Education & Access Fund provides vital funding to help arts organizations make their programs more accessible.
• The City's General Fund provides critical funding for both nonprofit organizations and individual artists.
• A grant from the Mellon Foundation supports the Portland Monuments Project.

Sources of funding, FY2025-26

General Operating Support: $4,367,500 awarded to 79 organizations

The Glass Menagerie at Shaking the Tree; photo by Rick Liu

General Operating Support provides flexible funding to help established arts organizations advance their mission and provide a wide range of arts programs for residents and visitors.

General Operating Support grants are funded in part by the City's General Fund ($979,125) and by the Arts Access Fund ($3,388,375, including a special allocation of $1.6 million in April, 2026). The Arts Access Fund helps ensure that arts experiences are accessible to K-12 students and people in underserved communities.

Together, the City's 79 General Operating Support organizations contribute to the region's economic, civic, and educational fabric - creating jobs, connecting communities, and improving our quality of life.

Economic and Workforce Benefits

General Operating Support organizations spent a combined $154.75M last year, supporting Portland residents and businesses. They directly employed 6,581 positions (full time employees, part time employees, and independent contractors).

Attendance and Participation

Total attendance and participation grew by 22% last year.

• 2025 total attendance figures include:
  • 143,525 Portland K-12 students
  • 21,064 tickets sold at $5 through the Arts for All program
  • 744,795 (39%) participated free of charge
• An additional 22 million individuals were reached globally through broadcast and digital channels.
• More than 28,136 community members volunteered for these organizations, including 792 serving as board members.

Financial and Operational Health

The Office of Arts & Culture collaborated with SMU Data Arts to analyze financial and operational trends among General Operating Support grantees, benchmarked against national data. Among the findings, the study shows that attendance trends in Portland from 2019-2025 were consistent with national trends; Portland organizations remain smaller than their national peers; and state and local government support, and corporate philanthropy, remain below national averages.

Learn more about General Operating Support

Small Grants: $1,400,000 awarded to 95 arts organizations and 227 individual artists

VOID Center LLC received a grant from the Regional Arts & Culture Council to support VOID Tattoo Fest 2026.

The Office of Arts & Culture partners with three local arts-focused nonprofits - Friends of IFCC, MusicOregon, and the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) - to provide small grants ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 for individual artists and arts organizations.

MusicOregon

In November 2025, MusicOregon awarded $118,000 to 27 local musicians, including $100,000 from the Office of Arts & Culture. These "Echo Fund" grants help artists push creative boundaries, advance their careers, and strengthen Portland's music community.

Friends of IFCC

In December 2025, Friends of IFCC awarded a total of $240,000 to 31 artists, including $100,000 from the Office of Arts & Culture that supported 21 artists. These grants help local artists enliven and activate the historic Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (IFCC) - including a 99-seat theater, dance studio, gallery, and office - through various art forms.

Regional Arts & Culture Council

In January 2026, RACC awarded $1,220,000 in project grants to 179 artists and 95 arts and culture organizations. These 274 innovative, publicly engaged artistic projects contribute to Portland's cultural vitality and strengthen connections across neighborhoods. Included in this total, $350,000 from the Arts Access Fund went to nonprofit organizations that provide arts experiences specifically for K-12 students and people in underserved communities.

Recap: $1.4M awarded by Office of Arts & Culture's Small Grant Program partners for 2025-26

Learn more about the Small Grants Program

Portland Monuments Project: $103,696 awarded to 4 organizations

Participants at Literary Arts' Monuments We Need: A Creative Zine-Making Workshop explored that question through collaborative zine-making, using art and storytelling to imagine monuments for the Portland of today and tomorrow.

In 2023, the City of Portland accepted a three-year, $350,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation to support public engagement, data collection, and community-centered programming for the Portland Monuments Project. In FY 2025-26, the Office of Arts & Culture re-granted $103,696 from the Mellon Foundation to support partner-led projects that expand public dialogue about Portland's monuments, memory, and shared civic spaces.

Together, partner-led projects use festivals, workshops, storytelling, temporary monuments, podcasts, zines, and public art to invite Portlanders into a broader conversation about memory, representation, and public space, while advancing a more transparent, inclusive, and community-informed approach to monuments.

FY 2025-26 awards

• Oregon Black Pioneers, $15,000 for York Fest, a nine-day festival
• Literary Arts, $30,000 for Youth zine, archival podcast, and community storytelling
• Portland Parks Foundation, $15,000 for Green Dreams: Monuments + Parks Edition
• Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, $43,696 for Creative Afternoons: public art workshops, community gatherings, and a community-led mural and street painting

Learn more about the Portland Monuments Project

The first image on this page is from Takohachi, which was among 79 organizations receiving General Operating Support in FY2026-27.