On May 21, Northwest Business for Culture & the Arts (NW/BCA) held its Spring Arts Breakfast of Champions and presented the Business Volunteers for the Arts Awards.  Volunteers provide vital support and capacity to the arts and cultural organizations in our community.  Volunteer service ranges from ripping tickets at a performance and helping with an auction at a fundraising event, to chairing a capital campaign committee and leading an organization through an executive staff transition.  NW/BCA’s awards will recognize volunteers from the business community who have made a difference not only to a nonprofit organization’s bottom line, but also to the momentum it generated and the inspiration it provided for others.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2008 Business Volunteerism in the Arts Awards:

BOORA Architects and Andersen Construction
Outstanding Commitment to Volunteerism by a Business

Eric Friedenwald-Fishman of Metropolitan Group
Exemplary Business Volunteer for the Arts

J. Clayton Hering of Norris Beggs & Simpson
The John Hampton Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Arts

BOORA Architects and Andersen Construction were nominated by the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) for their design and construction of temporary programming and exhibition space for PICA’s TBA festival for the last four years.  BOORA leads the design for the venues and assists with building and recruiting other vendors, and Andersen sends in volunteer construction teams, assists with structural design and donates materials.  BOORA and Andersen employees take pride in being involved in this unorthodox project and have become faithful attendees to the festival themselves. 

Eric Friedenwald-Fishman, Creative Director/President of Metropolitan Group, was nominated by The Library Foundation.  Eric has served on their board since 2002 and has generously contributed his professional skills in strategic planning, fundraising, marketing and communications.  With Eric as co-chair, the foundation’s Campaign for a Lifetime of Literacy has successfully raised more than $10 million to engage children and families in reading and cultural activities.  Eric has also served on the board of Portland Center Stage for over five years and on the RACC board from 1996-2002.

J. Clayton Hering, President of Norris Beggs & Simpson, was nominated by the Oregon Symphony Association, where he has served on the board for more than two decades.  He is currently Vice Chair and leads the Development Committee.  Clayton has worked tirelessly as a strategist, a leader and a volunteer fundraiser.  He has inspired many employees from his company to support our arts community, and Norris Beggs & Simpson was one of the first companies involved in Work for Art.  Clayton also serves on NW/BCA’s Leadership Council, after serving nine years and as President of NW/BCA’s board.  He passionately believes in the role the arts play in the cultural, economic and social well-being of our region and can be seen frequently at arts events around town.  For all this and more, NW/BCA will recognize Clayton with the John Hampton Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Arts.  Named for the late timber-mill owner and arts champion, this special award will be given for the first time this year to recognize excellence in leadership and service to the arts.

In addition to recognizing these distinguished honorees, NW/BCA officially launched our new Business Volunteers for the Arts® (BVA) program.   This program has a proven track record, with 26 years of ongoing success in 14 U.S. cities.   NW/BCA has received grants from the Meyer Memorial Trust, Nike and The Standard to start a BVA in Portland, which will connect skilled business professionals with arts and cultural organizations in need of high-level business assistance on specific time-based projects. The Breakfast also showcased several examples of extraordinary volunteers that were nominated for providing just this type of service. 

After launching the program on May 21, we will recruit business volunteers during the summer, and nonprofit project assignments will begin later this year.  NW/BCA will be working closely with RACC to identify and assess the needs from arts organizations and to help plan this program.  Through the increased business volunteer service of this program, arts nonprofits will learn better business skills and build new business relationship through these consultancy engagements.