February brings an update on our positive impact in the Silver Falls School District, a new team heading up our spring Student Art Show, and exciting progress on our hunt for an Executive Director!

As you may know, we send art teachers into the local school district to teach art classes in eight K-8 schools. Thanks to a growing roster of quality art teachers (hello, Angela, John, and Christine!) we’re on track to serve a greater amount of students than ever. Last year by June our teachers taught about 90 classes. This year, they’ve already taught almost 80! It’s a huge impact for kids whose program budgets have been drastically cut since 2023-2024. Given the additional classes (which are deeply subsidized through a trust managed by Oregon Community Foundation), we’re actively seeking funding to expand this vital program.

Angela McGraw (one of our school art teachers) is joined by Christine Eubanks this year to coordinate our spring Student Art shows! Both have extensive experience working with the school district, and are interfacing with last year’s excellent showrunner, Hollie Newton, to make these events something that we, the students, and our community can look on with pride. Lunaria Gallery will again partner with us by selecting pieces from the upper grades to exhibit in their space following the Art Center shows.

Finally, we’ve been very pleased with the strong response generated by the Executive Director job listing. We’ve received dozens of applications, and have begun the process of selecting our best candidates for interviews. As our community here at Silverton Arts, we want you to know that hiring the right person for this position is something we don’t take lightly. Our board members and hiring committee have invested a lot of time over the last year towards identifying qualities for ideal candidates and establishing new admin systems and team members to effectively support a future ED. We will only hire someone who we feel is absolutely right for the role and the culture we’ve built with you here are Silverton Arts: A culture that prizes hospitality, collaboration, and generosity. We believe these are essential values in our mission to nurture the arts in Silverton, and we want an ED who embodies those values. All that said, we have a number of very strong candidates already! We’re excited to share more as we progress.

YOUR MEMBERSHIP

Have you signed up for membership yet? Silverton Arts thrives in part from dedicated members who build connections through art at our open studios and classes. Members also receive discounts on Art Center programming. And — it’s incredibly affordable! Individual memberships are just $35 annually. If you sign up for more than one or two art classes in a year, your membership will likely pay for itself thanks to those class discounts.

For more information, head to our Membership page!

But always remember, you don’t have to be a member to hang at the Silverton Art Center! That’s why we created the Community Arts Space — a place where you can bring the kids, have a coffee or tea on us, and dig into some art supplies. Check our site for current hours!

Want to just chip in on the work we do to advance the arts in Silverton? We’d love that, too!

EXCITING NEWS!

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!