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Fall/Winter 2011 : Encore
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Oregon Humanities: Fall/Winter 2011
Power in Numbers
Nonprofits in Bend collaborate on a year of Conversation Project programs
When Ray Solley, executive director of the Tower Theatre Foundation in Bend, heard about Oregon Humanities’ Conversation Project, the program “A City’s Center: Rethinking Downtown” first caught his attention.
“We’re a historic theater in the middle of downtown Bend,” says Solley. “If anyone is going to have this conversation in Bend, we should be a part of it.”
To avoid overlap, Solley did a little digging and learned that the Deschutes Public Library and the City Club of Central Oregon had already partnered the previous year on a series of programs. Lisa McGean, community relations coordinator for the library, was more than willing to expand this partnership. “The more we can get behind this together, the bigger the impact,” she says.
Solley spearheaded meetings to determine how area nonprofits could best work together to offer a series of Conversation Project programs. By the time the season began in November, the partnership expanded to also include Nature of Words, the High Desert Museum, and the Nancy R. Chandler Visiting Scholar Program at Central Oregon Community College. Together, the six organizations plan to offer at least one Conversation Project program each month, starting in January 2012.
“The opportunity to create a monthly series and generate a great deal of enthusiasm about it has everyone excited,” says City Club executive director Robert Killen. “Having vibrant discussions where total agreement is not mandatory is a valuable skill that can serve [participants] and our community well, for years to come.”
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Oregon Humanities magazine examines topics of broad public interest from a variety of perspectives and approaches. Recent issues of this publication have focused on stuff, nostalgia, and civility. Through good and thoughtful writing, Oregon Humanities magazine enriches our understanding of important subjects and stimulates conversation and reflection among readers, their friends, families, colleagues, and neighbors.
Contributors
Dmae Roberts
Dmae Roberts is an award-winning independent radio producer and writer based in Portland.
Eric Gold
Eric Gold is a freelance writer in Portland and regular contributor to Oregon Humanities.
Jennifer Ruth
Jennifer Ruth is a professor of English literature at Portland State University and the author of Novel Professions, a book of literary criticism.
John Holloran
John Holloran lives in Portland and teaches at Oregon Episcopal School. His last essay for Oregon Humanities was “After the Fall” (Spring 2011).
Leigh van der Werff
After ten years in Oregon, Leigh van der Werff now lives in central California, where she runs a record store with her husband and their dog, Edgar. When she’s not at the shop, she’s writing essays and music criticism.
Rebecca Hartman
Rebecca Hartman is an associate professor of history at Eastern Oregon University. She received her PhD in history from Rutgers University in 2004. Her current research is focused on twentieth-century U.S. rural history.
Richard J. Ellis
Richard J. Ellis is the Mark O. Hatfield Professor of Politics at Willamette University. In 2008 he was named Oregon Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and in 2007 he was chosen as Oregon Scientist of the Year by
the Oregon Academy of Science. His book The Development of the American Presidency is forthcoming from Routledge in January 2012.
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