ARTS

Willamette Week - Fifteen small arts organizations complained in a Nov. 1 open letter that the city of Portland plans to unfairly decrease their collective share from the city’s arts tax and give a greater share to the largest arts organizations, like Oregon Ballet Theatre and Portland Center Stage.

The arts groups—which include Third Angle New Music, Boom Arts, and Chamber Music Northwest—asked the city to “retain the funding small organizations are counting on based on historical giving from the city.” The groups wrote: “We are not against giving larger groups more funding, but in this case, smaller organizations’ funding was decreased significantly despite an overall increase in available funds.”

The top five largest arts organizations in the city, the 15 complainants wrote, are slated to receive 33% of the total grant money, whereas last year they collectively received 20%. Forty-five of the smaller arts organizations, the letter noted, will have their funding decreased from last year.