A comprehensive directory of Southern Oregon's arts community and guide to events for its members, local arts enthusiasts, and those planning to visit or move to our region.


About the Southern Oregon Artists Resource

SOAR: for visitors and local supporters of the arts


How many times have you learned about an event that just happened and wondered "How did I not know about that?" Our observation was that many events would have greater attendance if locals only knew they were happening. As we conceptualized the site, we learned about many intriguing yearly festivals in Southern Oregon that many have never heard about but would have loved to include in their leisure activities. If we who live here only know of a few of these events, then it's safe to assume travelers are in the same position. In fact, at Thanksgiving in 2009 the line of conversation we overheard most was "I wonder where you find out what's going on here?" The answer is the Southern Oregon Artists Resource Art Event Calendar at www.soartists.com, readily accessible by visiting SOAR, subscribing to it in your Google or iCal calendars or with an RSS feed to your browser or feed reader. We have more features coming which will help visitors include our arts and culture events as they make their travel plans.

SOAR: a network and resource for Southern Oregon's arts community


We have also found that, though well conceived and organized, the presentations of many events might have benefitted from greater inclusion of the vast array of local talent in countless specialties which Southern Oregon boasts. The directory is designed to give individual artists greater visibility to galleries, event designers and buyers, and to establish a network which will assist all members of the arts community in the course of doing business. Artists with existing websites will benefit from links to their sites, social networks and online gallery shops which increase search engine rankings and relevance and traffic. Those without their own sites would gain an online presence and visibility that connects them to the whole of our vibrant arts community. Basic listings in the directory are priced modestly and are individually shareable to bookmarking and networking services such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Enhanced listings with added features and other benefits will be available soon. Our blog, Art Matters! also provides the opportunity for artists to share posts from their own blogs as part of the community stream via syndication

SOAR: help us promote Southern Oregon by supporting its artists and events


In a recent interview, Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts, said the importance of the arts is that they define our identity as a society. Our intent is to promote a greater awareness of Southern Oregon's cultural identity by providing informative online visibility of our incredibly diverse arts community to our residents and to those who come here to visit. To accomplish this goal effectively we must become a comprehensive reference; and for SOAR to fulfill this vision, we need everyone's participation. The site is maturing, and features are planned which will make it increasingly compelling both for creators and supporters of the arts as it continues to unfold4 Whoever you are and whatever your interest in Southern Oregon's arts may be, please use www.soartists.com to look up artist contact information and take note of additions to the categories we've established, subscribe to our mailing list, forward links to artists and art enthusiasts you know and to people who come here to visit you, make suggestions and, if you're a member of the art community, list with us. Together we can elevate Southern Oregon as a cultural travel destination and support our arts community by encouraging visitors to include the full spectrum of our arts and cultural festivals and events in their plans, enjoying them by participating ourselves, and promoting our whole arts community for residents and visitors alike.

This site was created and maintained by Hannah West of Hannah West Design, LLC in Jacksonville, Oregon, and launched on January 1, 2010. Born of my concern for the ability of artists in our area to continue creating under the pressures that have arisen in the last few years, the total of the modest fees we ask for listings in our directories (so artists can afford them!) falls far short of the time, research and love that goes into the site and its companion blog, Art Matters!, every day. Below are a few ways you can support this endeavor.

Download and print our flyers and post in a prominent place to help spread the word! One is designed to promote the website to artists and the other invites art enthusiassts to discover the artists and other members of theSouthern Oregon art community represented on the site:
Promo Flyer - Artists
Promo Flyer - Art Enthusiasts

Southern Oregon businesses who share demographics with the arts and culture community are welcome to inquire about advertising on the main site and/or the Art Matters! blog. .

Art Matters! content is brought to you by syndicating the blogs written by listed members and aggregating news and announcements from state and national arts advocacy groups and news sources, as well as custom posts written by the editor. Some of these posts involve research and travel in addition to the time it takes to write and assemble them. We want to dispel the myth that "Art is a Luxury" by informing residents and visitors of the many ways art makes our community the wonderful place it is, write artist profiles and interviews and cover art events live, but this can be a challenge with a limited budget. If you would like to sponsor a post, please to learn more. We're sure there's a topic you'd be happy to throw your weight behind, and we'll give you or your business a prominent presence in the post. SOAR and Art Matters! are visited regularly by 1500+ people from the Rogue Valley and around the world with another 1000 discovering us for the first time each month - it's a great strategy for advertising internationally while supporting the arts locally!

SOAR's Privacy Policy: We respect our visitors and subscribers. Our site and blog do set cookies on your computer. This is so we can track our site's visitor statistics and sharing activity. These stats do not reveal any personal information about you, nor do they collect your email address. If you sign up for one of our email lists or register for our blog, we will only use the information you provide in order to deliver the content you have requested or to communicate with you concerning your listing. Any and all information collected when you subscribe to one of our mailing lists, or register for a listing on the site, will be kept strictly confidential and will not be sold, reused, rented, disclosed, or loaned. We will not share your information with anyone.

Any information you provide to SOAR or Art Matters! will be held with the utmost care and will not be used without your consent. We will only send emails regarding the Southern Oregon Artists Resource which we believe to be of interest to you based on the list or service to which you have subscribed.

In our effort to provide a safe browsing experience for our visitors, we use security services from SiteLock and CloudFlare. There are links to each service on every page if you would like to investigate further. These services may record anonymous information about your computer. This information will only be used to resolve a security problem should the need arise.