The Oregon state legislature recently made a huge investment in the Oregon arts community—$50 Million dollars from the federal CARES act will be designated to keep arts businesses and organizations afloat through December 2020 as public health restrictions keep venues and organizations shuttered. Arts advocate and consultant Jeff Hawthorne talks about how this monumental investment came to be, and how arts advocacy works, and his view of how Portland responded to the presence of federal agents at racial justice protests here.

Jeff Hawthorne

Links mentioned in this episode.

Jeff Hawthorne’s website.

Americans for the Arts Action Fund.

Oregon’s Cultural Advocacy Coalition.

Portland’s Regional Arts & Culture Council.

“Oregon lawmakers approve $50 million lifeline for struggling arts and culture organizations” from the Oregonian, July 14, 2020.

Black Resilience Fund – an emergency fund dedicated to healing and resilience by providing immediate resources to Black Portlanders.

Episode Transcript

Douglas Detrick: Welcome to More Devotedly. This is Volume IV, episode 1.

Someone else is focused on Portland as well, the President of the United States. Just a few days ago, a caravan of trucks full of Pro-Trump demonstrators drove through downtown Portland, firing paintball guns and spraying mace on BLM protesters. By the end of the night, one of them was killed.

This was just a few days after a 17 year-old shot and killed two people in Kenosha, WI who were protesting for justice for Jacob Blake, a black man who was shot seven times in the back by Kenosha police just days before that.

I want to be absolutely clear that the violence we are seeing in Kenosha and Portland is not acceptable. I condemn these killings absolutely. This is a time when we need calm, steady leadership focused on de-escalating tensions, but the President is actually encouraging his supporters in this behavior along with a chorus of voices from right-wing media because he thinks it will help him win reelection.

For all of you that are concerned about the situation here in Portland—and you’re right to be concerned—please don’t be fooled. This situation is not a result of the largely peaceful protests that have been going on for more than three months here. Rather, it is the result of a small minority of extremists who are trying to push the situation out of control. Portlanders want peace, of course, but we also want an end to police brutality, we want to make life better for our Black and Brown residents, and we want our city to be a place where peaceful demonstrations can take place without fear of being physically attacked.

As I launch Volume IV with this episode, here’s what I’m trying to achieve. 

As the president tries to push a false narrative about Portland and then some of his followers storm the city and try to make that narrative into reality, I want to talk with as many artists here to show what this city is really like. We have a beautiful, diverse, and thriving arts scene here that makes our city a great place to be. I want you to meet some of the artists and organizers that make that possible.

My guest is Jeff Hawthorne, a freelance arts advocate and consultant. We talked about how the Oregon state legislature recently made a huge investment in the Oregon arts community—$50 Million dollars from the federal CARES act will be designated to keep arts businesses and organizations afloat during this time of struggle. Jeff told me about how this monumental investment came to be, and how advocacy works in a crisis situation like this one, and in more normal times as well. He also weighs in what’s happening in Portland right now, though this interview was recorded about two weeks ago. 

At a moment when government at the local and federal level is struggling to meet the challenges of this moment, or depending on who you ask, isn’t even trying to do the right