MusicOregon assumes the nearly 4 years of MusicPortland efforts to create the BIPOC-led LEAP Council (Leadership. Equity. Advocacy Project =  LEAP). Prior to obtaining our own 501c3 as MusicOregon, there was significant advance work within the Portland Metro BIPOC, LGBTQ, and Disabled music community to assess and identify institutional impediments to inclusivity and equitable opportunity to be found in any Oregon music ecology.  From public policy, insurance redlining, unequal performance pay, lack of access to opportunity, lack of access to capital, etc. Under MusicOregon, LEAP will continue to listen, identify, document, and devise programs to mitigate problems facing LEAP included music professionals, to inform public policy and to hold the music community accountable to equity goals.

Independent contemporary music creators are disadvantaged, if not excluded all together from existing Arts and Culture grant programs. These programs are designed to support classical, world, educational and many jazz musical projects that are composed, rehearsed, and then presented for a limited time to a finite audience. it is difficult for independent artists (who create/compose, rehearse and collaborate, record, and then perform their music in perpetuity) to not be disadvantaged, or disinclined to apply for grant programs that does not fit their practice. MusicOregon is the first statewide organization to create grant programs purpose-built to support the unique needs of independent, commercial, contemporary, musical artists.

MusicOregon supports all geographies and parts of our state’s popular music ecology, but the population and music professional density are disproportionately located in and around Portland Metro. To help level the playing field and begin the public-private funding approach for our Echo Fund. By creating a festival in January to celebrate Portland’s live music scene that engages not only fans and visitors (in the darkest month), but also corporate sponsors seeking to reach them. Through event ticket up-charges, municipal funding, and sponsorships, Portland Music Month can build the Echo Fund for Portland artists before tapping any state money. Centering on equity of all kinds, Portland Music Month is a way to build local funding streams for the Portland area to assure that distribution of statewide funding is more geographically diverse.

Street fairs, park picnics, patio sets... How do you find diverse, professional talent to play your non-venue event if you're not used to booking shows? Even more challenging is to access the wealth of Black and Brown performers.

MusicOregon ConneX Brokers are here to help. With ConneX, we provide a simple way for artists and public event organizers to find and assess multiple performer options to match the perfect sound and style for each event. Subsidies may be available to help pay for great music in some cases. Submit your event today to explore what is possible.

Connecting our cultural heritage as a state with a rich music history with the state tourism development groups will support our musical culture and economy from Joseph to Ashland and Astoria to the far southwest of our state.  MusicOregon plans to emulate the work in other states and by Oregon’s own media production industry to make a cultural map of significant music places and events. 

Creating a multimedia document (in print, film, audio, and plaques in situ throughout the state) can bind our collective sense of the musical thread that has culturally defined Oregon and our residents for more than a century.  We need to document how our popular music is inspired by our place, created by our people, and how it documents and celebrates what is incredible about our state. We have already had conversations with multiple music historians and documentarians and Travel Portland, who is eager to support this idea.

The greater Portland music business community is disproportionately large for a city its size; more than 700 individual music enterprises (excluding venues). But music business and venue ownership and advancement opportunities for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and women lags significantly. Professional development, mentorship, access to capital, will create new pathways to economic mobility for aspiring minority music entrepreneurs in our area.