Category: Education

North Bend Art Walk melds indigenous culture while showcasing artists of all ages

  By , , ,

NORTH BEND — First-time events often earn an “A” for effort, but North Bend’s debut 2025 Community Art Walk proved no amateur attempt, earning state honors for its efforts to revive the city’s downtown. The award, the 2025 Oregon Excellence on Main’s Outstanding Promotional Event, is one of several given as part of the Oregon Main Street program, which works for community revitalization and includes more than 100 communities in its network.

Now, the city of just over 10,000 is ready to host round two from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, April 10, with a list of events melding art with local culture, history, and industry, and showcasing artists of all ages.

“North Bend hadn’t had a downtown association or program for many years,” said Stephanie Wilson, executive director of North Bend Main Street. The town signed up with the state Main Street program about four years ago, tapping Wilson as lead in developing the North Bend downtown as a “vibrant and inviting hub that seamlessly blends its historic charm with modern growth.”

Oregon Arts Watch – April  7, 2026

Native American students and supporters gather at UO to celebrate resiliency of Indigenous culture

  By , ,

Monday across the U.S., Native Americans observed Indigenous Peoples Day. This included an event at the University of Oregon. 

About a hundred people gathered at the EMU Amphitheater to watch Native American dancing, and hear speakers talk about Indigenous culture, history, and issues including the Land Back movement and Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP).

Jason Younker also attended. He’s the Coquille Tribe’s Chief and UO presidential advisor on sovereign government to government relations. He said this is the tenth year that there’s been a ceremony to replace the tribal flags on campus.

KLCC News – Oct. 14, 2024

Oregon governor outlines commitments to Native nations

  By , ,

This story originally appeared on Underscore Native News.

This spring, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek promised to visit all nine federally recognized Native nations across the state. So far, she has visited eight and attended the annual Tribal-State Government-to-Government Summit in July. That time marked a span of months when Kotek heard from Native leadership across the state.

In an interview on Aug. 14, Underscore Native News + ICT followed up on those conversations, asking Kotek to clarify her commitments to Native nations and Indigenous community members in Oregon.

 

The Oregon Capital Chronicle – Sept. 6, 2024

New book on power of storytelling has chapter featuring Chief of Coquille Tribe

  By , ,

A review of the new book “Stories Are Weapons” by Annalee Newitz includes a chapter that focuses on a project headed  by Chief Jason Younker. That chapter, titled “History is a Gift,” highlights “the importance of archives like the Southwest Oregon Research Project, or SWORP. Beginning in 1995, Jason Younker, Coquille tribal chief and anthropologist, and his colleagues began pulling out of national archives any and all material related to the Coquille nation and constructing an alternative archive, one that takes “the fantasy out of history,” in Newitz’s words…”

 

New Republic – June 27, 2024