Oregon Cultural Trust gets a new manager

by Larry Bingham, The Oregonian Sunday April 26, 2009, 9:02 PM

The managing director Portland's Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center has been named manager for the Oregon Cultural Trust.

Kimberly Howard, currently performing in Artists Repertory Theatre's production of "Distracted," starts the job today. As trust manager, she will be the organization's chief fundraiser and also will manage the grant program, said spokeswoman Cynthia Kirk.

"I am most looking forward to the broadness of the mission, that it's statewide," Howard says. "And being able to connect across the state with artists and arts coalitions and tribal coalitions, to strengthen those partnerships and engage in that for a longtime source of funding for the arts."

She takes the job at a challenging time. The trust, which in August distributed $1.65 million in grants for cultural projects that touched every county in the state, last year saw the first dip in donations in its six years -- a 4 percent drop it attributes to the troubled economy.

"The bright light is, year to date, this year they are ahead of where they were last year," Howard says.

Howard, 38, has worked at the cultural center for 2 1/2 years. She was education/outreach director for Artists Repertory before that.

"She's recognized as an up-and-comer arts manager," says Christine D'Arcy, executive director of the trust. "In the time she was at Interstate, she increased communication about their work, and she was a successful recipient of a Cultural Trust grant to put on a series of hip-hop cabarets to draw new artists into that facility. In addition to being a manager, she's an actress, so she's a good communicator."

One of the interesting things about her resume is that it reflects an ability to effectively use both the creative and analytical sides of her brain.

Howard was studying economics at Wellesley College when she caught the acting bug. She later transferred to Pacific Union College, majored in business and started a student-run theater group with a friend -- a group still operating.

Later, she graduated from Columbia University with a master of fine arts in theater. She taught theater at Walla Walla University before moving to Portland 10 years ago. Her corporate experience includes work directing catering and conferences.

She is the arts representative on the board of Northwest Business for Culture & the Arts. As an actress, she is an ensemble member of Sojourn Theatre. She received a Drammy Award for her work in Sojourn's "Tartuffe: The Visitor."

"As far as the chicken or the egg question, the business side came up first," she says, "but the impulse to be a creative person has always been there."

No other state has a cultural fundraising program like the Oregon Cultural Trust, a private and public partnership where donations to 1,200 nonprofits statewide can earn a 100 percent state income tax credit.