Actively Engaging,
Educating and Preserving

The Salem Art Association is a 501c3 non-profit organization serving the mid-Willamette Valley since 1919.

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ART UNITES US IN ACTION

Due to the impacts of the pandemic, Salem Art Association is closed until further notice. However this organization remains committed to building community through the arts and this is something we bequeath to the future.

We stand together and 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.


MESSAGE FROM THE SAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

As Salem Art Association celebrates the end of our first ever Virtual Art Fair, the Board of Directors wishes to take a moment to express our gratitude to our staff and leadership. In addition to the financial and programmatic challenges caused by the pandemic, we have also experienced turnover in a number of staff positions. While these changes can be difficult, we want to laud our Executive Director for her leadership, her ongoing consultation with members of the board, and her commitment to following all appropriate policies and procedures. The success of our Virtual Art Fair is a tribute to our organizational strength and our commitment to support art and artists in our community.

71st Annual Salem Art Fair & Festival gone virtual. July 18 – 19, 2020. Missing Art Fair? Click here to visit the archived event.

Community Arts Education (CAE)

Virtual Arts Programming for Students and Adults:

SAA’s Community Arts Education is continuing to look for alternative ways to adapt our school programs that include arts education to K-5 students in Marion, Polk and Yamhill counties, especially to those attending Title I schools. Offering a virtual learning component is another way that the Salem Art Association is striving to ensure that kids stay connected to the arts.

  • Out of the Box: Art Activities for Kids via social media and on our website
  • Art for Kids YouTube videos
  • Art Boxes with lessons and material lists available online
  • Teaching Artist YouTube videos for more in depth art making
  • Teaching Artist Anecdotes that are fun, yet share with all of us the value of making art

Learn more About CAE

 


ART IN THE EVERYDAY: Quarantine Creations

Welcome to ART IN THE EVERYDAY: A Virtual Experience that Connects and Inspires. We invite you to JOIN US in CREATIVE COMMUNITY and IGNITE ” Art in YOUR every day”.

Learn more and Join Us today!


EMERGENCY FUNDING APPEAL

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. The cancellation of this major fundraising event due to the COVID-19 pandemic creates a severe financial strain on our organization and will result in unprecedented losses. 

As the region’s community arts organization, we are looking for alternative ways to adapt our programming so that we can continue to best meet the needs of our constituents. Offering a virtual learning component is one of the ways that the Salem Art Association is striving to ensure that kids stay connected to the arts.

To ensure that arts learning can continue for students, the Artists in the Schools program has developed the following virtual art resources:

  • Out of the Box: Art Activities for Kids via social media and on our website
  • Art Boxes with lessons and material lists available online
  • Teaching Artist YouTube videos for more in depth art making
  • Teaching Artist Anecdotes that are fun, yet share with all of us the value of making art

The Arts & History Immersion Program that offers 4th-grade students attending Title I schools free field trips to the Bush House Museum and the Bush Barn Art Center has also developed a virtual learning component. A guided virtual tour of the Bush House Museum and YouTube videos of art activities are currently available on the BHM website so that all students can engage in their community’s cultural resources. 

We are actively working to ensure that our community continues to have quality arts experiences during these challenging times. We know that art has the power to elicit the best in all of us and that art has the power to unite us in action.

We need your help in moving forward and pivoting to the new ‘normal’ as we stand together to bring about the most equitable and safest future for all of us. We 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


Upcoming Events & Workshops

Full Calendar of Events

Call for Artists

Call for Artists opportunities for the Bush Barn Art Center take place throughout the year. Click the link for a current list of ways to get your art out into the world through the Salem Art Association

Apply Now

Supporters

Thank you to the following supporters whose generous contributions support the Salem Art Association in making art experiences possible for everyone in our community.

Compton Family Foundation

Michele J. Patterson

Janet Neuburg

Braemar Charitable Trust

Harvest Foundation

Bob & Marypat Hill Family Foundation

Autzen Foundation

Larry & Jeanette Epping Family Foundation

William S. Walton Charitable Trust

Sponsors

Special thanks to our generous sponsors

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