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"For decades, arts leaders and elected officials worked to increase Portland's creative capacity with the understanding that the arts shape neighborhoods, improve K-12 education, boost economic development and enhance livability. In 2008, a region-wide Creative Action Plan prioritized the need for a new dedicated funding stream for arts and arts education. The Creative Advocacy Network (CAN) was established as an independent 501(c)3 organization to develop and advocate for this proposed new public fund for the arts. And in 2012 CAN successfully established the $12.2 Million annual Arts Education and Access Fund."

"NAMAC fosters and fortifies the culture and business of independent media arts. Through dialogue, collaboration, research and advocacy, we connect, organize and develop organizations."

"WESTAF-The Western States Arts Federation-is a regional nonprofit arts service organization dedicated to the creative advancement and preservation of the arts. The organization's mission is to strengthen the financial, organizational, and policy infrastructure of the arts in the West. WESTAF encourages the creative development and preservation of the arts regionally and through a national network of clients and alliances by providing innovative programing, technology, advocacy, grantmaking and other services."

"WESTAF-The Western States Arts Federation-is a regional nonprofit arts service organization dedicated to the creative advancement and preservation of the arts. The organization's mission is to strengthen the financial, organizational, and policy infrastructure of the arts in the West. WESTAF encourages the creative development and preservation of the arts regionally and through a national network of clients and alliances by providing innovative programing, technology, advocacy, grantmaking and other services."

"Future of Music Coalition is a national nonprofit organization that works to ensure a diverse musical culture where artists flourish, are compensated fairly for their work, and where fans can find the music they want."

The Oregon Arts Commission plays an important role in fostering Oregon's famously high quality of life. In collaboration with its partners, the Arts Commission provides leadership, advocacy, resources, and capacity building programs; it organizes valuable convenings; and awards millions of dollars in grants every year to Oregon artists and arts organizations.

"Our mission is to serve, advance, and lead the network of organizations and individuals who cultivate, promote, sustain, and support the arts in America. Connecting your best ideas and leaders from the arts, communities, and business, together we can work to ensure that every American has access to the transformative power of the arts"

"Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates has developed an expanded practice that includes space development, object making, performance and critical engagement with many publics. Founder of the non-profit Rebuild Foundation, Gates is currently Director of Arts and Public Life at the University of Chicago."

"DanceAbility International's mission is to encourage the evolution of mixed-abilities dance by cultivating a common ground for creative expression for all people. The mission is accomplished through performance, educational programs, teacher training and workshops. The work of DanceAbility International helps decrease prejudice and misconceptions about diversity in the field of dance, and by extension in society. "

This organization offers those with limited mobility the opportunity to move themselves physically - and others emotionally (as well as themselves) - though powerful performances. One of my favorite organizations

"The fundamental goal of the Urban Institute's Arts and Culture Indicators Project (ACIP) is to help policymakers make better decisions for neighborhoods and cities. To this end, ACIP provides researchers, practitioners, and policymakers with information about the presence and role of arts and culture in communities-how arts and culture affect neighborhood conditions and community dynamics. Specifically, ACIP develops quantifiable measures of arts and culture and integrates them into quality of life measurement systems that can compare conditions across communities and in the same community over time. Launched in the late 1990s with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, ACIP's basic premises are (a) that a healthy place to live includes opportunities for and the presence of arts, culture, and creative expression, (b) that arts, culture, and creative expression are important determinants of how communities fare, and by extension (c) that full understanding of U.S. communities is inherently impossible without including these important perspectives."