NEWBERG, Ore. — Painting galleries, mosaic classes, ceramics workshops, and theater shows — Newberg’s Chehalem Cultural Center offers all this and more for hundreds of community members who come to make or view art in a variety of mediums.
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The Chehalem Cultural Center delivered its annual presentation to the Chehalem Park & Recreation District board of directors on Thursday, Oct. 23, outlining its programs, community events, and economic impact.
“At the Chehalem Cultural Center, our mission is to inspire and enrich lives by connecting community and culture,” said Sean Andries, executive director. “We do that in a number of ways: We teach classes and camps for kids and adults of all ages. We rent spaces to members of our community to help them have the events that they think are important. We put on free community events.”
The center now has the La Joie Theatre for a variety of productions, as well as several gallery spaces featuring rotating exhibits from local, regional and national artists.
“We work really hard to make sure that this community has arts and culture to engage with and has the ability to express their culture in a way that’s meaningful to them,” Andries said. “The million dollars or so a year the Chehalem Cultural Center is putting into this community directly by funding programs there spurs another $2.8 million in economic activity in our community because people don’t just come to the theater — they go out to dinner first, they grab drinks afterward, and maybe they stop at a shop and buy something along the way. That’s $3.8 million of activity in this community every year centered around the Cultural Center.”
According to Andries, 85 cents of every dollar the center receives goes directly into its programs.
“If you look at other nonprofits around the state, around the country, that is a tremendously high number that we’re really proud of,” he said. “It’s a number we are largely able to do because of our amazing partnership and support with CPRD. We were your idea, and I think it was a darn good one.”
Andries said 11,500 people attended performances at the LaJoie Theatre throughout the year, from plays and dance to concerts and the resident Chehalem Valley Vaudeville company.
“We’ve had children’s performances. We’ve had wonderful chamber and classical music performances,” he said. “And we really feel like we’re a bit of a Swiss Army knife for this community — we like to offer a little bit of everything, hopefully a little bit of something that everyone’s looking forward to.”
In 2024, the theater had 81 annual series subscribers, 11 music concerts, and 23 other performances.
“Building that theater was his dream, the apple of his eye,” Andries said. “He didn’t get to see it finished, but every time we’re on that stage, we feel like Jim gets to be there right with us, and that’s really special for us.”
Classes, Workshops, and Camps
In 2024, 319 children and 864 adults participated in classes at the center. The center also awarded 154 scholarships totaling $15,000.
“It’s a little bit of an undercount, and I know this year we’re well ahead of that pace,” Andries said. “We feel very strongly that the only prerequisite for participating in things at the Cultural Center is that you want to be there. And if financial decisions are going to keep you from being there, we’re going to do anything we can to remove those barriers so that you can come and participate just like everybody else — because everyone has a better time when everyone is there.”
Classes offered include ceramics, painting, embroidery, and creative writing, along with science and art clubs.
The center hosts shorter-term workshops throughout the year on ceramics, mosaic glass, botanical body butters, wine and craft nights, and painting. The ceramics studio recorded 5,000 hours of pottery studio use.
“Next time you’re over at the Cultural Center, peek into the ceramic studio,” Andries said. “I guarantee you if you are there, someone is in that room throwing pots because it is the most active part of our community.”
The center also runs eight weeks of summer camps for kids ages 3 to 12, with 337 participants in 2024.
Art Galleries
In 2024, the center sold more than $21,000 in art in three days during the Lavender Festival & Plein Air Art Show.
“That’s a lot of art; 60% of that total goes right to the artists,” Andries said. “That’s a lot of artists who get to make a sale because they participate in that event.”
The center’s upstairs loft gallery adds 2,200 square feet of gallery space, bringing the total to 5,500 square feet.
“That makes the Chehalem Cultural Center right here in Newberg one of the largest public art galleries in the state,” Andries said. “I think that’s pretty darn awesome. We of course sell work in our galleries all year long … and I think that’s a really important part of our mission: Artists can’t devote their time and energy to art if they can’t make a living doing it.”
A large part of the center’s mission, he added, is making space available for the community. The center rents its ballroom and other spaces for weddings, quinceañeras, retirements, birthdays, nonprofit fundraisers, and school booster events.
“Just like we do with our scholarships, we do everything we can to make sure those spaces are accessible and easy to access for our community,” Andries said. “We have a wonderful event sponsorship program where people who want to have an event in our ballroom or any of our spaces, if they can’t afford that, there’s a way for them to talk to us about that.”
The center provided nearly $25,000 in event sponsorships and support throughout 2024.
Upcoming Events
In January, the center is planning the 15th annual Yamhill County Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.
In July, it hosts a community chalk art party on the bricks to kick off the Newberg Old Fashioned Festival.
Also in July, the center celebrates the Willamette Valley Lavender Festival & Plein Air Art Show, which marked its 20th year last summer.
“We think [the center] is an amazing place to be. We love taking care of that building,” Andries said. “We love getting to be there and put on programs for this amazing community.”
Learn more about the Chehalem Cultural Center at the organization’s website.
Disclosure: the Chehalem Cultural Center advertises with Newsberg. This story was reported independently and deemed newsworth as the Cultural Center is a nonprofit and the recipient of local, state, and federal funds. For more on Newsberg’s ethics policy, visit the ethics policy page.
