Our Cultural Trust

This month, the Lane County Cultural Coalition will proudly award $38,473 in grants supporting 37 local arts and heritage projects taking place in 2020. From a Springfield Latinx mural project to a Black culture curriculum in rural schools to boosts for LGBTQIA+ music organizations, each endeavor directly benefits Lane County, contributing significantly to our community’s vibrant and diverse cultural life.

And this year’s funding follows on the heels of more than $1.8 million granted to Lane County artists, educators and culture workers since the coalition’s inception in 2002.

This is all possible because the coalition is supported by the Oregon Cultural Trust — that uniquely Oregon institution that empowers people like you and me to double the impact of our cultural giving at no additional cost to us.

Here’s how it works: Make a donation to one or more of Oregon’s 1,400-plus cultural nonprofits, then make a matching gift to the trust by Dec. 31. You get 100 percent of the match back at tax time, and the state invests that same amount in Oregon culture. Learn more at culturaltrust.org.

In 2018, there were 1,140 donors to the trust from Lane County. Let’s show our love for local culture by breaking that record in 2019.

Kristin Strommer

Lane County Cultural Coalition