I am honored to represent the Oregon coast on the statewide board of the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon (CACO) for the last five years and ongoing. We advocate for policies and funding that will create a thriving environment for arts, culture, history, heritage, and humanities across Oregon.
CACO is a 501(c)4 non-partisan advocacy group formed to lobby policymakers in Salem to ensure that all Oregonians have the opportunity to access arts and culture in their communities.
The primary mission of CACO is to increase ongoing public investment in arts, culture, heritage, history and humanities.
“CACO is working hard this winter with legislators in the short session of the Oregon Legislature to cover our Capital Construction projects and to fund arts resiliency. See our Capital Projects below that still need funding. If you can help advocate in any way with an Oregon legislator it would be much appreciated.
There are many reasons to support the arts which are fundamental to our humanity. They include:
1. Arts unify communities
2. Arts improve individual well-being
3. Arts strengthen the economy
4. Arts drive tourism and revenue to local businesses
5. Arts improve academic performance
6. Arts spark creativity and innovation
7. Arts have social impact
8. Arts improve healthcare
9. Arts for the health and well-being of our military
10. Arts strengthen mental health.
I encourage you to read below the full one-page report from the American for the Arts.
For over eight years I’ve been involved, first as the Executive Director of the Oregon Coast Council for the Arts (OCCA), and now as a participant, with the Americans for the Arts and their nationwide “Arts & Economic Prosperity” studies – AEP5 and now AEP6 just released fall of 2023.
These studies measure nonprofit arts and culture organizations’ economic impact of spending, and their audiences’ spending. Below is the current AEP6 report for the State of Oregon and a presentation highlighting main points.
