CAVE JUNCTION, OR: RiverStars Performing Arts is pleased to announce a $10,000 grant award from the Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation. This year, the foundation awarded a total of $556,850 to 83 non-profit organizations located in Coos, Deschutes, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, Lane Counties as well as philanthropies that serve multiple counties.
Arts Educator, Lindsey B Jones explains, “the grant will provide support to our free, after school dance and theatre program.” RiverStars will begin it’s 6th year of programming this fall, serving public, private, and homeschool youth ages 6-18. This year kicks off a multi-year effort to explore our own backyard, or the natural wonders of the Illinois Valley, that make our region so extraordinary. Through a series of “Art in the Field Trips,” students will explore dance improvisation, theatre games, and reflective journal writing in order to create an all original, place-based, dance theatre performance this April. These field trips will take place in and around the Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve.
“We are grateful to the Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation for seeing value in this programming,” notes Lead Educator Gina Angelique. “We seek to grow respect and pride for the place we live.”
Foundation Executive Director Carma Mornarich said, “The work of the Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation strengthens the fiber of southwestern Oregon. One grant at a time provides that more children are educated, families are helped, and more hungry people are fed…These grants are a hand up for so many in our communities.”
The CCUIF was founded in 1997 and began its philanthropic efforts in 1998. To date, the Foundation has awarded $18,505,374 million to the seven southwestern Oregon counties from which it accepts grant requests. The mission of the Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation is to offer assistance in youth education, strengthen youth and family, provide for positive youth development, and add to the quality of life for people in southwestern Oregon.
RiverStars is a program of the Illinois Valley Community Development Organization and has enjoyed the support and partnership of the Three Rivers School District, Scott Polen and Lorna Byrne, Dave Regal at Evergreen Elementary, and dancefarm. We receive generous funding and support from the Oregon Community Foundation, the Ford Family Foundation, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Oregon Humanities, Josephine County Cultural Coalition, and the businesses, clubs and citizens of the Illinois Valley.
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