Department Budget Challenges Outlined at May Commission Meeting

Need to Preserve Department's Ability to Retain and Create Jobs 
As we begin work on Business Oregon's 2011-13 budget, both the state of Oregon, and our department, face an extremely challenging funding situation. Given an expected statewide deficit of an estimated $2.5 billion, suffice it to say, there will be no easy choices.

Last week, we outlined our department's budget situation to the Oregon Business Development Commission given the 25 percent lottery reduction options requested by the state's Budget Director. We explained to the commission that a 25 percent cut in lottery funding would result in a magnified impact upon the department's ability to help Oregon businesses create and retain jobs.

We, of course, are well aware that these are difficult times for more than just government. We know Oregon's economy and its businesses are struggling in the current environment. That is the primary reason we feel so strongly that such deep cuts in an agency that helps to create and retain thousands of jobs with its loans and grants to Oregon companies would be impractical and, in the end, actually reduce state income tax revenue. In fact, our initial calculations of the resulting cuts that would be necessary in the Governor's Strategic Reserve Fund (SRF), at the full 25 percent reduction level, show that they would jeopardize the anticipated creation and retention of 2,118 jobs in 2011-13 and reduce corresponding state income tax revenues by $5.4 million.

We have just begun the work of telling our story to the state legislature. We know it is a story of widespread success thanks to the highly effective partnership we share with all of you. We promise to continue to keep you informed as the process unfolds. I feel it is imperative that we work together as partners to tell all who will listen both what we have accomplished and what is at stake during this debate.

Oregon Officials to Visit Asia on Trade Mission

Delegation Will Visit Japan, China, Korea and Hong Kong
Oregon Business Development Commission Chairman Wally Van Valkenburg and I will join Chip Terhune, chief of staff to Governor Ted Kulongoski, on a business development trade mission to Asia, May 15-30. The mission, led by Terhune, will include other key officials from Business Oregon, the Governor's office, the Port of Portland, the Oregon Department of Agriculture, Travel Oregon and the Oregon University System. The Oregon delegation will travel to Japan, South Korea, China and Hong Kong.

The goals of the mission include:

• Business Development: Work to continue build-out of solar supply chain in Oregon and expand Oregon's global presence in electric vehicles, green building and other clean technologies.
   
• Agriculture: Continue market development for agricultural and fishery products in Asia.
   
• Tourism: Promote inbound tourism with a focus on non-stop Delta Air Service from Portland to Tokyo and feeder markets of Korea and China by marketing Oregon's diverse natural beauty and abundant opportunities for outdoor recreation, educational exchange programs, special events, corporate leisure and culinary activities.
   
• Port: Build state level relationships with existing aviation and marine customers who are responsible for creating transportation sector jobs in the state of Oregon.
   
• Higher Education: Expand student/faculty exchanges; recruit more international students to attend Oregon institutions of higher education; and expand programs for joint research and language development.
   
• Government Relations: Meet with Government Trade and Foreign Affairs officials regarding trade relationships and partnerships; conduct commercial briefings to promote Oregon awareness and understanding of economic/commercial opportunities in Asia.

The team will participate in key meetings with high-level officials regarding all six of these tracks. In addition, delegates will participate in separate events and meetings on behalf of the Governor.

This major trade mission represents a critical opportunity to promote Oregon businesses and to help expand global export markets for Oregon companies. Advancing those goals will help with Business Oregon's primary mission: helping existing Oregon companies create and retain jobs for Oregonians.

Oregon Innovation Council Seeks Proposals for New Initiatives

The Oregon Innovation Council (Oregon InC) is issuing Requests for Proposals for new and existing initiatives that will be considered for inclusion in its 2011-13 Innovation Plan. Oregon InC currently supports six initiatives that help commercialize university research; increase access that start-up companies have to public and private funding; and grow and keep jobs by making existing industries more competitive and sustainable. The RFPs can be viewed on Business Oregon's Web site. The deadline for submissions is Friday, June 4.

NEA Grants Come to 19 Oregon Communities

The National Endowment for the Arts recently announced the award of 19 grants totaling $1.365 million to non-profits in Oregon including one to the Oregon Arts Commission.

The NEA's latest round of funding for fiscal year 2010 in the categories of Access to Artistic Excellence, Learning in the Arts, Arts on Radio and Television, and Partnership Agreements (State and Regional). The Arts Endowment will distribute $97,632,100 through 1,323 grants to nonprofit national, regional, state and local organizations nationwide.

Read the full release on the NEA Web site.

Oregon Selected to Participate in National Education Leaders Institute

Six Member Team Will Look to Strengthen Arts-based Preparation of Classroom Teachers
Oregon's proposal to participate in the prestigious Education Leaders Institute (ELI), has been selected by the National Endowment for the Arts. As a result, six Oregon leaders will travel to Chicago on July 26-28, 2010, to participate in the 2010 Institute, convened by the Arts Endowment to help develop and design coordinated public education strategies with arts at the core.

"We need to imagine schools where arts go hand-in-hand with other subjects and where all the disciplines reinforce each other," said Duncan Wyse, Chair of the Oregon State Board of Education and member of Oregon's ELI team. "I look forward to helping teachers in Oregon both envision schools and make them a reality in every corner of our state."

The NEA Education Leaders Institutes convene state teams to discuss a shared arts education challenge, and create strategies to strengthen their state's arts education policies. Oregon's team brings together diverse areas of expertise to address the question of how Oregon can strengthen the arts-based preparedness of classroom teachers. Led by Christine D'Arcy, Executive Director of the Oregon Arts Commission and the Oregon Cultural Trust, the team includes: Rep. Peter Buckley, Oregon House District 5, Ashland; Duncan Wyse, Chair, Oregon State Board of Education; Dr. Tom Manley, President, Pacific Northwest College of Art; Martha Richards, Executive Director, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation; and Sue Thompson, Director of Field Services and Licensure, Western Oregon University.

Participation in the Education Leaders Institute is one element of the Arts Commission's efforts to assure that Oregon students have access to quality arts learning opportunities. The commission will hold the 3rd Annual Oregon Arts Education Congress, a gathering of arts education stakeholders, in Portland on November, 8, 2010. More information about it is available at www.oregonartseducationcongress.org.