The Deschutes Cultural Coalition presented the 2025 Ben Westlund Memorial Award to Redmond’s Dry Canyon Arts Association (DCAA) on May 1 at the new Redmond Library. The Deschutes Cultural Coalition, the Central Oregon arm of the Oregon Cultural Trust, is recognizing the DCAA for its ongoing efforts to bring art access to the entire Redmond area community, including its newly announced plans to build an art center in downtown Redmond.
The DCAA board has announced that work will begin on the Dry Canyon Community Art Center in August. An anonymous “angel investor” has closed on the purchase of the historical Rogers and Lynch Building at 6th Street and Deschutes Avenue, which has most recently been the home of the Central Oregon Regional Housing Authority under the business name Housing Works. The investor has pledged the rental of the building to DCAA to build and operate the new Dry Canyon Community Arts Center. The arts center will begin with 3500 square feet of space while sharing some of the remaining 1,500 square feet with Housing Works tenants. If all goes to plan, grand opening festivities will be scheduled for November 2025. Long range plans for the remaining Housing Works space will make room for even more classrooms and studios.
One of Dry Canyon Arts Association’s (DCAA’s) founding goals has been creating a space in the community for the making and sharing of art. Its mission, which has been on constant display on the front page of its website proclaims, “It is our vision to see a Community Arts Center built and developed, offering art classes, cultural events, and members’ studio space.” This goal dates back to 2004 with a previous incarnation of DCAA named High Desert Society of the Arts, when artists frustrated with the lack of galleries in Redmond decided to take matters into their own hands.
The Dry Canyon Arts Association began to find its footing in Central Oregon in 2019, growing from 19 members to over 200 today. Membership growth was spurred by DCAA activities such as the annual Spring and Fall Art Shows, Downtown Redmond First Friday Art Walks and the Lend Me Your Walls program, which helped local artists find exhibition and sales opportunities where there previously had been none.
DCAA members will soon be able to find even more opportunities to improve and share their art by taking and giving classes and showing their work in the galleries and gift shop of the new Art Center. Opportunities for non-members, students, veterans and emerging artists to improve their skills or show artwork will also be offered as the Art Center becomes established in the community. DCAA plans to have enough gallery and classroom space to be able to hold community events and classes.
The Central Oregon Arts Center will be funded through a combination of public grants, private foundations, individual donations and corporate sponsorships. Membership fees, program fees and commission on art sales will contribute to the revenue stream to support the new arts center.
This summer while the plans are finalized and this fall while construction is underway, DCAA artists will continue to find opportunities to showcase their work through First Friday Art Walks and the Lend Me Your Walls program, which currently furnishes artists with gallery walls at Redmond Senior Center, Pangaea Guild Hall, Bend Dermatology (Redmond Clinic), Feast Food Company, Birdie’s Brows and Spa, St. Charles Hospital Redmond, and High Desert Vision Source.