Caldera begins working with sixth graders and stays with them throughout middle school, high school, and all the way to adulthood. Caldera’s arts and nature–focused programming and supportive mentoring transforms Oregon youth into creative agents for change in their families and communities. We want them to develop belonging and attachment to a welcoming creative community and strive to live a self-caring and productive life.
Mentorship
Our mentorship with students starts in middle school and continues into adulthood. Through creativity, we tap into a young person’s innermost self and nurture their growth and curiosity.
We partner with schools in Central Oregon and Portland to ensure that we can meet with Caldera students once a week during school hours. Our creative mentors get to know the students’ backgrounds and personalities. And together they find creative ways to explore their thoughts and the world around them.
When students transition to high school, they continue to meet with mentors at weekend workshops and hangouts. This way, mentors are always helping them build their skills, develop their voices, and maintain meaningful relationships with the Caldera family.
After graduation, we make sure to stay in touch with our youth and offer assistance in the form of scholarships, college-application advice, and a supportive creative community.
Summer Learning
Camp Caldera takes place from July through August at our Arts Center on the shore of Blue Lake! It’s in the middle of more than 100 acres of forest in the Cascade Mountain Range. More than 150 young people from Portland and Central Oregon come to experience a life-changing arts and nature camp. Here they develop their creative voices and build relationships with the natural world.
Each day at camp, young people work with experienced artists, naturalists, and mentors. Courses vary and may include music/audio production, visual arts, photography, dance, theater, filmmaking, comics, drumming, and creative writing.
“Caldera showed me what it is like to be an artist.
Caldera showed me that art is so much deeper.
Art is a feeling expressed through creativity.”
–Lil Miss Hollywood, 2020
“From Caldera I learned how to be more
accepting and open minded of others and how
diversity can make a community thrive.”
–Bug, 2020
RESIDENCIES
Through our Residency Program, Caldera Arts supports artists, creatives, and cultural workers to work on projects and to build skills and relationships that inspire growth, abolish oppression, and activate change. Residents draw inspiration from the other artists and the natural world surrounding them.
Caldera offers four residencies: Artists in Residence (AiR), Golden Spot, Community Residency, and now Educators in Residence. These run throughout the year, mostly in Fall, Winter, and Spring out at our Arts Center.
Portland - Jorts (Courtney)
Email: courtney.hicks@calderaarts.org
Central Oregon - Ohm (Elo)
Email: eloe.gill-williams@calderaarts.org
Portland - B*Radd (Bryan)
Email: bryan.ortega@CalderaArts.org Call/Text: 503-937-3065
Central Oregon - Smallz (Meg)
Email: meg.ball@CalderaArts.org Call/text: 541-904-4306
