Portland Center Stage Poised to Receive $1.5 Million of State Funds

Christmas is coming early, perhaps, for Portland Center Stage this year.

House Bill 5006, the so-called Christmas tree bill, contains a $1.5 million line item for the Pearl District theater company. While the bill still is in committee and awaits final passage, the windfall would be huge for the struggling theater amid its “Save PCS” campaign.

This “long session” of the Oregon Legislature will end June 29. State Rep. Rob Nosse (D-Portland) helped get the appropriation for the theater.

“People recognized the value of Portland Center Stage and the blow it would be to downtown Portland if it didn’t make it,” Nosse says.

He also notes the $1.5 million appropriation was even larger than he was expecting and hopes that it helps the PCS team make its $2.5 million “Save PCS” fundraising goal.

Katie Watkins, a PCS spokeswoman, declined to comment on the legislation until it is finalized, but noted that she is aware of it and PCS is “extremely grateful.”

Portland’s largest theater company launched its “Save PCS” campaign in May, saying that it needed to raise $2.5 million by Aug. 31 to keep the lights on. Since then, the theater has raised $1.36 toward that goal. Bigger picture, PCS says it needs to raise $9 million by June 2026.

The Christmas tree bill (named for many appropriations, similar to ornaments hung on a Christmas tree) also contains appropriations for a variety of arts organizations statewide, including $2 million for Bend’s High Desert Museum, $2.5 million for Ashland’s Oregon Shakespeare Festival and $1 million for a campus upgrade for the World Forestry Center in Portland’s Washington Park. An even heftier appropriation of $10.1 million is aimed for the James Beard Public Market in Portland.