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Just under two months old, the Central Oregon Creative Artists Relief Effort is over halfway to its first-round donation goal of $40,000.

Led by The Bulletin and Scalehouse Collaborative for the Arts, CO CAREs is a grant program providing financial relief to musicians, visual artists and other Central Oregon creative workers hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Each Thursday, local artists, some of them grant applicants, are featured in videos and profiles in GO! Magazine and at bendbulletin.com/talent, where one can donate or apply for a grant.

New partner

With the recent onboarding of Central Oregon Daily News, whose programming is seen by thousands on KOHD-ABC and KBNZ-CBS, as well as COTV via cable, CO CAREs has the potential to reach even more artists, performers and donors.

Each Thursday starting April 29, Central Oregon Daily News will also broadcast the featured artist videos posted at bendbulletin.com/talent.

“We’re very pleased to have formed a partnership with our friends at Central Oregon Daily, to expand the CO CAREs message to their viewership and help showcase some of the exceptional talent here in Central Oregon,” said Bulletin Publisher Heidi Wright.

After The Bulletin approached Central Oregon Daily News about partnering, “We started talking about it internally, and we said this fits that (ongoing) conversation … of ‘What is our community responsibility to try to support local efforts?’” said Matt McDonald, news director at Central Oregon Daily News.

That mission includes supporting the efforts of artists and musicians, whose events and performances Central Oregon Daily News had been, in pre-pandemic times, featured in a segment called “On the Scene.”

“Frankly, all of that stuff just hit the brakes when the pandemic started,” McDonald said. Partnering on CO CAREs “was an opportunity to make more of a longer-term commitment, to try to bring a light, do what we can to shine that light on it, and try to rally some support for those folks.”

‘I have to sell’

Grant applicant John “Jay” Wells, who will be featured in GO! Magazine in May, said his income as a visual artist all but dried up at the beginning of the pandemic. A mostly self-taught artist, Wells usually sells his work, which includes wearable art, at festivals such as the Oregon Country Fair, canceled in 2020.

Though he also sells via his Etsy page, Wells’ colorfast, hand-painted hats moved well at festivals.

“It’s been a little more difficult for me to move them elsewhere,” he said. “Festivals were a pretty important source of income for me. Unfortunately, that’s all off the table now due to COVID-19.”

And without more money coming in, it’s difficult to produce more pieces to sell.

“I can only produce as much art as I can sell,” Wells said. “In order to keep going, I have to sell things, which is a kind of sad and frustrating aspect of my life as an artist.”

The first round of applications has closed, and checks to applicants will soon be mailed, according to Sandy Anderson, a board member at Scalehouse and chair of its CO CAREs committee.

The start date and deadline for the next round of applications will be announced soon.

“The applications, which are really quite simple, and they’re in English and Spanish and can be done over the phone, (are) sent in, and then a committee outside of Central Oregon will make the assessments regarding the grants and the awards,” Anderson said.

So far, there’s enough money to go around to applicants, Anderson said, adding that grants are awarded according to need, not aesthetics or personal preferences.

“It is not (based) on judging the artists’ work. If you’re an artist and apply, and the application shows there’s need, then they’ll review it and award the grant,” Anderson said. “(It’s) not just, ‘You’re the A+ artist, or I like watercolors better than oils, so I’m taking the watercolor person.’ It doesn’t have anything to do with that.”

CO CAREs grants are also available to a wider array of creative disciplines than some might realize, she added.

“It’s visual arts, performing arts. It’s creative workers — and that means maybe behind the scenes literally building sets — it’s also literary,” she said. “So it’s broadly reaching.”

As a visual artist herself, Anderson well understands the current need.

“The art community is strong in Bend. We have many successful artists, but it’s very hard to make your living as an artist,” she said. “When the venues are shut down and you have no avenue to go share your creativity, your excitement and your product — you can’t perform, you can’t gather people for a sale, you can’t show a film — it makes it very hard for these people to keep a revenue flow.”

Donors, too, see the positives of the CO CAREs program.

“We’ve had many local folks step up and have even had donations come in from as far away as Chicago,” Wright said. “That particular donor sent a nice note along saying ‘I was able to go to the website and listen to a lot of the music. I am a huge fan of live music and the arts in general. What you’re doing is so very important to the community for now and for the future.’”

To make a donation or apply for a grant, visit bendbulletin.com/talent