09/14/2026
NORTHEAST OREGON RECEIVES OVER $80K IN CULTURAL TRUST AWARD GRANTS
NORTHEAST OREGON – The Oregon Cultural Trust recently announced that over 450 artistic, cultural, heritage, and humanities organizations across the state are set to receive a record $4.5 million dollars in grants. The funds are thanks to the Cultural Tax Credit, which allows Oregonians to donate to qualifying cultural nonprofit organizations and claim a 100% matching tax credit by providing an equal amount to the trust.
Among the organizations to receive funding this year, four were specifically from Northeast Oregon, three in Wallowa County and one from Baker County, for a total of $80,919 dollars allocated to local cultural projects. The full list of Northeast Oregon grant awardees, as posted by the trust, is as follows:
Crossroads Creative and Performing Arts Center, Inc., Baker City: $15,000
To support the establishment of a part-time Grants & Development Specialist position that will build Crossroads Carnegie Art Center’s long-term funding capacity and organizational sustainability. This project represents a strategic investment in operational infrastructure at a critical point in Crossroads’ growth. The Grants & Development Specialist will assume primary responsibility for grant research, writing, submission, reporting and funder stewardship while building systems to track, plan and sustain a diverse portfolio of funding sources.
Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center, Joseph: $6,106
To support the design, creation and installation of three permanent interpretive exhibits for contextual and educational programming and an interpretive UV window film at the Interpretive Center. This includes two interactive wall displays with imagery and content for multiple Maxville themes; interpreting resources collected and catalogued during the archeological dig conducted at the historic Maxville Townsite and the historical and contemporary themes including flora/fauna, medicinal plants and first foods of the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) people, land and water stewardship, forestry industry/railroad logging, dark skies, bat echolocation and other topics.
Wallowa Band Nez Perce Trail Interpretive Center dba Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland, Wallowa: $30,000
To support the development and presentation of Rhythms of a Homeland, a collaborative cultural project blending orchestral music with Indigenous drumming, dance and visual storytelling created in partnership with Native composer Jerod Tate and the Oregon East Symphony. The project will feature a new orchestral arrangement of selections from Tate’s work, including excerpts from the opera Loksi’ Shaali’ integrated with Indigenous performance elements. It will include a Native youth composition workshop held in the days leading up to the performance, where participants will work with Tate and guest artists to explore composition and storytelling through music.
Wallowa Land Trust, Enterprise: $29,813
To support the expansion of Wallowa Land Trust’s Indigenous Community Liaison position from part-time to full-time, enabling deeper, more sustained cultural engagement with the Nez Perce, Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla peoples whose ancestral homeland is Wallowa County, Oregon. Wallowa Land Trust’s Indigenous Community Liaison bridges traditional ecological knowledge and conservation practice, fostering relationships that are culturally grounded and community led.
