Our Journey Through the Years
OUR HISTORY
For more than 28 years, the Arts Alliance has served arts and culture organizations and creatives alike. Learn about our past and where we are today.
1994
Launched in 1994, the Clackamas County Arts Alliance has evolved from an advisory board, initially called the Arts Action Alliance. It was appointed by County Commissioners to advise and advocate for the arts.
2003 - 2005
In 2003, the Arts Action Alliance became a tax-exempt non-profit
organization under the name Arts Action Alliance Foundation. In 2005 we began working with the Clackamas County Cultural Coalition to distribute funds from the Oregon Cultural Trust to local arts, history, heritage, humanities organizations and cultural creatives.
2011 - 2016
In 2011 we changed our nonprofit name to Clackamas County Arts Alliance. Soon after we launched our Youth Arts for Change Program to help vulnerable and underserved youth develop skills for expression using the arts. By 2015, we began working with Pamplin Media Group to produce and distribute a quarterly arts, cultural heritage, and tourism guide for Clackamas County.
By 2016, the Parrott Creek Child & Family Services presented the Arts Alliance with the Heart of Service Award, which recognized the excellent and productive collaboration offered by the Youth Arts for Change Program, led by former Program Manager Lisa Smith, to the boys in residence at Parrott Creek Ranch.
2020
The Arts Alliance along with the Clackamas County Cultural Coalition distributed $2,258,665 in Coronavirus Relief Funding. The funds supported 30 organizations in Clackamas County and 32 organizations in Washington County.
A partnership between the Oregon Cultural Trust and its County and Tribal Cultural Coalitions, the funds were allocated to the Cultural Trust for Oregon cultural organizations facing losses due to the COVID-19 health crisis and were made available through a $50 million relief package for Oregon culture approved by the Emergency Board of the Oregon Legislature in July.
2022
The Arts Alliance implemented a new brand to truly represent everything we do. A new logo put the focus on arts, while a refreshed website offered a new way to explore Clackamas County’s rich arts and culture scene. Viewers could become immersed in Clackamas County opportunities, stay up to date on regional news, learn about the County’s economic impact, and consider how they could support the arts with a donation. The mission of Clackamas County Art Alliance is to keep arts and culture central to life in Clackamas County, and the new brand allowed for that to be fully expressed.
Photo captions
1994 – Clackamas County Board of Commissioners Proclamation
2003 – Writers Fair at the Willamette Writers Conference.
2011 – Former Arts Alliance Board Member & Assistant County Administrator Emmett Wheatfall speaks at our ¡Hola Arte! reception.