Actively Engaging,
Educating and Preserving.

letter from the director

Dear Friends and Supporters of the Arts,
 
Salem Art Association has been carefully watching the health risks posed by COVID-19, and we are closely monitoring guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and the Oregon Health Authority. In order to protect the health and safety of our visitors, members, and employees, we regret that we have closed the Bush Barn Art Center and Annex until further notice. Staff are working remotely, but are available by appointment. Please reach out by email: All staff emails can be found here.

Salem Art Association is here to build a community through the arts, and this is something we bequeath to the future. The organization has just celebrated 100 years of service, and we expect it to be here another 100 years from now. But during this time of uncertainty and isolation, please keep in touch through email, social media, phone, and the internet. Leaning on our connections with each other is what will bring us through these unprecedented times. 
 
So stay safe, stay healthy, and especially stay connected as we navigate this increasingly complex and escalating situation.
 
Sandra Burnett
Executive Director

2020 Salem Art Fair & Festival Canceled,
due to COVID-19

As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and in the interest of public safety, it is with deep sadness that the Salem Art Association has canceled the 2020 Salem Art Fair & Festival, its major annual fundraising event that supports its year-round arts programming. The Salem Art Fair & Festival is an integral part of the region’s cultural calendar, drawing over 35,000 people from across the U.S. Under these circumstances the health of our community must be our primary concern.

Emergency Funding Appeal

The cancellation of this major fundraising event creates a severe financial strain on our organization that forces us to cut/reduce many of our programs. The Salem Art Fair & Festival provides revenue for SAA to run its core programming, including arts education to K-12 students, many attending Title I schools. As the region’s community arts organization, we are looking for alternative ways to adapt our programming to continue to meet the needs of our constituents. 

With students stuck at home under quarantine or lockdown, we are looking at ways in which we can pivot from delivering arts education in the classroom to delivering it right into the home, keeping our children safe and entertained with art activities.  Plans are underway for posting student art activities and YouTube videos on SAA’s website to provide online access to arts learning, but we need your help.

As we stand together and face the greatest health crisis of our times, we know that art in our lives is absolutely pivotal in understanding one another, in finding common ground, and in imagining creative solutions together. Art brings us together and unites us in our humanity.  It enhances our natural instinct to overcome obstacles and to care for each other – to remember what it means to be human, especially during the most challenging times. 

We need your help and are asking you to support SAA with a donation to our emergency fund. Your donation supports art as a means to human connection, and we cannot do this work without you. Please invest in art in our community today.

So stay safe, stay healthy and especially stay connected as we seek solutions in this increasingly complex and escalating situation. Leaning on our connections with each other will bring us through these unprecedented times.

Sandra Burnett
Executive Director

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