The Oregon Cultural Trust is allocating an all-time high of $3.85 million in grant awards for 2025, thanks to a nearly $1 million increase in donations during the previous fiscal year. Funds will be awarded to 148 Oregon cultural organizations, six of which are located in Central Oregon, according to a press release.

Central Oregon Center for the Arts, a nonprofit group working to build an appropriate venue for the performing and visual arts, was awarded $25,000, according to the press release. The grant is earmarked to support research and planning for the construction of the future performing arts center. The grant will additionally support a fundraising feasibility study, site assessments and conceptual design, aiding in right-sizing the facility’s scope, identifying funding potential and operating sustainability, according to the release.

Bend’s Ellipse Theatre Community received $32,426 for the production of “Voiceless: A Musical,” a theater piece developed in partnership with composer and lyricist Deena Kamm, playwright Anne Fenn and Silent Echo Theatre Co. The show uses music and humor to challenge traditional norms within the entertainment industry, according to the theater community’s website.

Sister’s Friends of Santiam Pass Ski Lodge received $33,830 for repairs to make the lodge’s ground floor functional for the winter season.

Tananáwit, a community of Warm Springs artists, is a first-time Cultural Trust grant recipient. It received $16,858 for 10 artists to complete business classes and a boot camp program supporting Tananáwit members in promoting and selling their artwork.

The High Desert Museum received $17,809 to support collaborations for its exhibition, Frank S. Matsura: Portraits from the Borderland. The exhibit will include native artwork and photographs of native communities by Matsura, a Japanese photographer in the early 1900s.

The Museum at Warm Springs was granted $25,899 for its exhibit, “Tł’aawxmamiyai — For Everyone — The Knowledge from Long Ago,” with funds supporting Indigenous master artists, emerging Warm Spring artists and non-Tribal visitors of the museum.

The Oregon Cultural Trust was established by the Oregon Legislature in 2001 to fund arts, heritage and humanities across the state. Funding comes from the Cultural Tax Credit, which allows Oregonians to direct more of the taxes they pay to supporting cultural opportunities, according to the trust.