Although they succeeded in raising more than $750,000
to save their organizational bacon, a lack of corporate sponsors means
Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT) has cancelled its popular annual OBT
Exposed series on the South Park Blocks next month, a staple of late
summer Portland arts events that ran uninterrupted for 14 years. Until
now.
What does this mean? It means that thousands of aspiring little
ballerinas (and maybe one or two little boys somewhere in there, too),
as well as throngs of curious teens and adults from all backgrounds,
will be deprived of an opportunity to get up close and personal with
the city’s top professional dancers in what had become a cherished
annual event.
The news emerged quietly last week, as the company announced some
new plans in the wake of shuttling the Exposed event: They’re now
organizing a new citywide arts festival, to be held August 29 at OBT’s
Southeast Portland studios. The festival—the first of its kind in
recent Portland memory—is called “Fall.ART.Live,” and according
to company spokesperson Erik Jones, will include performances from the
likes of Portland Opera, Northwest Professional Dance Project, and,
yes, even Oregon Ballet Theatre.
As excited as I am by the prospect of a new citywide fall arts
fest—we’re way behind other big towns on this point—the
thought of losing OBT Exposed depresses me in a manner severe. It also
makes me worry for the company: What does it say about the local
corporate philanthropic landscape (or even, cough cough, about OBT)
that they can raise north of three quarters of a million dollars in
three weeks, but can’t get a corporate sponsor to pony up $30,000 for
what is arguably their most prominent annual outreach event? It’s
another jolting reminder of the crunch even our most valuable arts
groups are feeling in this economy, and a sad reminder that when the
going gets tough, the first programs to get cut are some of the
organization’s most valuable efforts.