Lane County Cultural Coalition Announces 2026 Cultural Opportunity Grant Awards
Over $60,000 awarded with funding from the Oregon Cultural Trust

The Lane County Cultural Coalition (LCCC) is proud to announce the recipients of the 2026 LCCC Cultural Opportunity Grants. These funds provide county recognition and support to significant cultural programs and projects preserving and enhancing Lane County’s diverse arts, heritage, and humanities efforts. Projects prioritizing access, awareness, and education are eligible for funds and may be led by non-profit organizations, for-profit organizations, groups, and/or individuals.

Cultural Opportunity Grants are funded statewide each year by the Oregon Cultural Trust, with a mission to lead in building an environment in which cultural organizations are valued as a core part of Oregon’s vibrant communities and economy. The Trust disseminates funds across Oregon’s 45 county and tribal Cultural Coalitions, who create and adapt local grant programs to address community needs and priorities. The Lane County Cultural Coalition is currently made up of 7 volunteer members from throughout Lane County. Lane Arts Council serves as the fiscal agent for LCCC, providing administrative support to the Coalition and managing the funds from the Trust.

For the 2026 calendar year, LCCC was able to fund $61,916 in awards across 30 recipients. Join us in congratulating this year’s grant recipients:

#instaballet
Support for #instaballet’s On-Site, Accessible Education Workshops | $2,000
This project supports a growing education outreach program which provides free on-site accessible dance workshops where youth audiences co-create choreography with professional artists, prioritizing youth that face significant barriers to dance and partnering with nonprofits and schools.

Adventure! Children’s Museum
Fall Billboard Advertising |  $2,000
This project, Fall Billboard Advertising, will help Adventure! reach an audience of families with small children in Eugene through twelve, plus weeks of billboard advertising.

Arts & Business Alliance of Eugene
Arts Guide Marketing Expansion |  $2,000
Arts Guide including over 200 listings, is a free, comprehensive digital directory that promotes local artists and arts organizations. In 2026, these funds will help expand public awareness of the Arts Guide through strategic marketing, media partnerships, and & Launch Event.

Authentic Movement Project
Movement for All Project |  $2,000
Movement for All will expand access to Authentic Movement Project’s (AMP) inclusive dance and movement programming by providing tuition support for youth, teen, and adult participants across Lane County who face financial barriers to participation. Classes include ages 5-9, Teen, and Adult offerings.

Black Cultural Initiative
African Cultural Night: A Healing Journey Home |  $2,500
African Cultural Night: A Healing Journey Home is a bi-annual cultural celebration designed to create a healing space where African and African American community members can reconnect with ancestral traditions, celebrate cultural identity, and experience collective restoration.

Bonnie Simoa – Northwest Movement Ensemble
The Understory: a dance performance with audience participation through creative dialogue. |  $2,000
This is a dance performance and creative dialogue event presented by the Northwest
Movement Ensemble. The project explores the intersection of embodiment, presence, and social
awareness through contemporary dance and individual reflection.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Lane County (BGCWLC)
Youth Cultural Art Education Project |  $2,000
BGCWLC will host guest artists and deliver year-round visual arts education to youth ages 6-18 at our two Florence Club sites. This project will ensure that children and teens, especially those impacted by poverty, trauma, and geographic isolation can experience transformative arts education.

Cascades Raptor Center
CRC’s Youth Raptor Art Challenge |  $2,000
This is an annual statewide program that invites students in grades K–12 to explore Oregon’s raptors through artistic expression. Students will focus on Great Horned Owls and Red-tailed Hawks. The Challenge is free for Oregon residents from schools, homeschool groups, community organizations, and families.

Community Activation Network
Screamfield Monster Bash with Fright! at the Museum |  $1,600
This is a free, family-friendly Halloween activation produced by Community Activation Network (CAN) and co-presented with the Springfield Public Library & History Museum. On October 31, 2026 (4–9 PM) they will animate Downtown Springfield with a public carnival with games, music, & food.

Community Supported Shelters
Workforce Development Program in Arts Entrepreneurship |  $2,000
This project, part of their Workforce Development Program, is geared towards clients who are interested in using art as a means to gain additional income. The program is a series of eight classes, each with a different focus that teaches skills to effectively sell art. Taught through a partnership with MECCA.

Comunidad y Herencia Cultural
Noche Cultural |  $2,500
This will be a vibrant, family-friendly community event designed to celebrate Latino/Hispanic heritage, foster cultural pride, and strengthen a sense of community and belonging. The event will take place at Island Park in Springfield on Saturday, July 18, 2026 from 4:00 to 10:00 PM.

Eugene Cuban Salsa LCC/Azucar
Festivalito – Celebration of Latin Music and Dance|  $2,500
Eugene Cuban Salsa will host Cuban dance instructor Wilfredo Gubliac to lead four participatory workshops as part of the third annual Festivalito. Wilfredo holds a degree from Escuela de Artes Varietur in Havana, Cuba. He is known for his engaging, patient, and accessible teaching delivered in Spanish.

Eugene Native American Arts & Crafts Makers
NAACM – Native American Arts & Crafts Makers Market Television Advertising outreach |  $1,600
The project is for marketing the Native Arts & Crafts Makers Market through television advertising, in order to reach a wider audience. The Market has been held since 2023 on the first Sunday of every month at the Lane County Farmers Market Pavilion, from April through December.

Eugene Opera
Eugene Opera Chorus in Concert  |  $1,600
The Eugene Opera Chorus in Concert is a new community-focused initiative that offers a free public concert showcasing the talents of our long-standing local opera artists. This project seeks to re-engage their seasoned chorus members for whom a full-scale production may be physically or logistically challenging.

Eugene Weekly
Eugene Weekly Amplifies Area’s Arts and Culture |  $2,000
Eugene Weekly will partner with at least 10 arts, heritage, and cultural organizations across Lane County to provide a cost-effective advertising and marketing platform that expands public awareness and engagement.

Fermata Ballet Collective
After-School Dance Program at Bethel Preschool Promise |  $1,616
Fermata Ballet Collective will provide free accessible movement classes for children & families at Bethel Preschool Promise, culminating in a children’s showcase and a free FBC performance. FBC and BPP are working together to offer free movement workshops and live dance performance experiences for low-income children and families in Northwest Eugene.

Free Shakespeare in the Park Theatre Company
Free Shakespeare in the Park Theatre Company presents The Winter’s Tale|  $2,000
Free Shakespeare in the Park, in partnership with Amazon Community Center, will produce and present eight fully staged, costumed public performances, including an ASL interpreted show of William Shakespeare’s romance, The Winter’s Tale. The play will show for four weekends beginning on August 1.

Fuse Jewelry Collective
Fuse Teen Camp: An intro to the art of metalsmithing, just for teens |  $2,500
One-week Summer Teen Metalsmithing Camp specifically for low-income and/or underrepresented teens in downtown Eugene, Oregon, hosted at the Fuse Jewelry Collective’s classroom jewelry studio. Targeting youth ages 14-17, the camp will immerse students in hands-on foundational metalsmithing.

Jefferson Westside Neighbors
Story mapping Historic Jefferson Westside |  $2,000
Jefferson Westside Neighbors will build an online story map and interactive narrative that traces the history of the neighborhood. The project will be focused on the neighborhood’s familial roots as well as the role the neighborhood has played in Eugene’s social and cultural development.

Kesey Farm Project
Opening the Archives: Increasing Public Access to the Historic Kesey Farm |  $2,500
The Project supports preserving and expanding public access to the historic Kesey Farm archives—an important cultural and literary resource in Lane County that documents the creative legacy of Ken Kesey and a half-century of Oregon’s countercultural history.

Lizi Anderson-Cleary and Aidyn Dervaes
Threads Through Time: A Dialogue |  $2,000
“Threads Through Time: A Dialogue” is an exhibition at the Shelton McMurphey Johnson House (SMJH) to be held during the summer and fall of 2026. It will present historic and contemporary textiles in conversation with each other to celebrate both the heritage and evolution of women’s craft.

Materials Exchange Center for Community Arts
Community Art Studio Accessibility Project |  $2,000
MECCA will transform its long-standing community studio into a more formal community makerspace and creative hub, expanding access to artistic tools, workstations, and mediums that are otherwise financially out of reach for many residents.

Nancy Bray / Eugene Friends of the Farm Workers
A Night in Solidarity with Farm Worker Rights |  $2,000
“A Night in Solidarity with Farm Worker Rights” will be a celebration of their “Farm Workers’ Rights Movement and Eugene Friends of the Farm Workers, 1972-76” exhibit which will be at Springfield History Museum from July-Dec., 2026. The event venue would be Wildish Theater in Springfield, which is close to the museum.

Orchestra Next
Prokofiev’s Cinderella with the Eugene Ballet |  $2,000
In February 2026, Orchestra Next will join the Eugene Ballet for a three-show run of Prokofiev’s ballet rendition of Cinderella at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts. Their rehearsals will take place in the Hult Center Studio practicing with orchestra-only and with dancers on stage.

Oregon Contemporary Theatre
Breaking Barriers to Arts Participation via Radical Hospitality |  $2,000
Radical Hospitality provides free access to professional theatre. OCT removes the economic barrier to arts access with “name your own price” performances, two for each of our six productions. Local theatre students at LCC, UO, and regional high schools will be able to attend previews at no cost.

Radiant Community Arts
Scholarship Program |  $2,500
At their Eugene studio, Radiant Community Arts runs a robust schedule of creative programming: 4-5 quarterly classes, monthly workshops, and individualized mentorships. Recent class offerings have included Creature Building, Intro to Hand Sewing, Automata, and Mosaic Musings, with subjects varying.

Singing Creek Educational Center
Living History Field Trips for all teachers |  $2,000
SCEC is now renting the Dorris Ranch Living History Village in Springfield and taking over their history programming. They are transferring their living history field trips business to us – about 100 additional field trips. This ranch helps expand into the next level of teaching culturally-relevant history.

Spencer Outfitters | McKenzie River Fishing Guides and Rafting Tours
Traditions of the McKenzie: A Fly-Fishing Heritage Workshop Series |  $2,500
This project is a three-part educational program that preserves and shares the cultural and ecological heritage of the McKenzie River while teaching responsible angling practices. Participants will learn the historical and cultural history, receive hands-on instructions on the art of fishing and on-river practicum.

TransPonder
TransPonder Library |  $2,000
TransPonder plans to transform the Fireside Room at Maxwell Community Hub (their headquarters) into a trans and queer-centered Library space that will house their collection of books and films, host classes and author talks, and offer a free place for folks to connect with LGBTQ+ stories and each other.

Will Yurman
West of the Tunnel :: Stories from Lane County’s Coast |  $2,000
This project expands access to the humanities, arts, and culture for residents of western Lane County through the stories published on Westofthetunnel.org. The site is home to stories of people who live west of the tunnel, along the Oregon coast. The project’s hope is to create compelling and engaging stories.