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Today is the last day of our mini-fundraiser. Our goal is to raise $25,000 to expand our arts and culture coverage. We anticipate falling short of reaching our goal. But maybe today’s message from our editor and publisher will give you the gentle nudge that you’ve been seeking. Exciting things are happening out there and we want to keep you informed. Help us reach our goal by making a contribution today.
From the entire WW staff, we thank you for your support.
Help us expand our Arts & Culture coverage; become a Friend of Willamette Week.
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By Mark Zusman, WW’s Editor & Publisher
If you’ve been reading this letter over the past four days, you know that our focus this week is not on the need for a fully functioning city hall, county government, police force or mental health system. It is instead to draw attention to the deeply important and too often overlooked role that the artists and creators and institutions that share their work play in the health of our city.
As Paulo Coehlo wrote, “Culture makes people understand each other better.” And if there has ever been a need to understand each other better, it is right now.
Because of the pandemic, many of our artists and creators have had to hibernate, and the entire arts and cultural ecosystem in Portland is still on its heels.
But as they reemerge, Willamette Week hopes to significantly expand its coverage of our playwrights, our musicians, our authors, our painters, our poets, our actors. With your help, we hope to raise enough funds to add a full-time arts reviewer-reporter to our staff who will discover, celebrate, engage and bring to our hundreds of thousands of readers coverage of the very fabric that, together, helps define this city.