Over 500 Oregon arts leaders descended on the Oregon Convention Center October 12 for the Sixth Annual State Arts Summit, hosted by Cultural Trust partner Oregon Arts Commission.  

Speakers and presenters who tackled the theme of leadership read like a “who’s who” list of Oregon movers.  U.S. Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici; Oregon Senator Ginny Burdick; actor, author, entrepreneur and motivational speaker Eric Booth; Reed College Dean and new Arts Commissioner Crystal Williams; Weiden & Kennedy Founder Dan Weiden, Oregon Community Foundation President/CEO Max Williams, and new Chief Education Officer for the State of Oregon, Dr. Rudy Crew. Presenters all spoke to the summit. Exercises varied, from paired interviews to group sculpture projects, to moderated Q&A, to musical performances to petcha-kutcha formatted break-outs. 

Because so many attendees came from outside the Metro Area and Willamette Valley, the Portland Emerging Arts Leaders (PEAL), a rising group of young and young-at-heart artists and arts administrators, organized a Dine-Around Thursday night. 

Dine-around options were put on the table (pun intended) and groups of up to eight chose from several neighborhood restaurants and topics. Restaurants included Jake’s and Higgins and topics included Marketing & PR, Arts Building Communities, Development, and Work/Life Balance. Over 100 people dined around on October 11, after an organized happy hour at the Art Bar in downtown Portland. PEAL also held a post-summit happy hour in east Portland for those staying in town Friday night.

Cate O’Hagen, the executive director of Arts Central in Bend, who came in for the event, said she had a “stellar” summit. “I am pondering how to apply much of the leadership messaging…” said O’Hagen, “mainly to inspire every staff member to lead. Thank you,” she said, “for making the opportunity to convene the entire state and for making it all so accessible.”

Photo: Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici, Natalie Sept, Kendall Clawson and Madalaine Coffman (back) at the Oregon Arts Summit 2012, taken by Andie Petkus.