Support – Youth Symphony Festival

For more than two decades, the Oregon Cultural Trust has played a vital role in enriching our state’s cultural resources, supporting more than 1,600 nonprofits across Oregon. How? It’s simple. The Cultural Trust empowers Oregonians to leverage their support for arts, heritage and humanities nonprofits with the Cultural Tax Credit. When you match your cultural donation to the Oregon Coast Youth Symphony Festival with a gift to the Oregon Cultural Trust, you direct a portion of your state taxes to fund more than 1,600 cultural organizations. And come tax time, you will receive up to a 100% refund in the form of a state tax credit. By using the Cultural Tax Credit, Oregonians and the Cultural Trust have awarded close to $40 million, and counting, to the cultural nonprofits like the Oregon Coast Youth Symphony Festival that define our quality of life.

The Festival’s activities are not possible without the generous support of the Festival’s many sponsors and donors. To make donations, please use our contact form. Or donate safely online through Paypal:

The Festival has ongoing, collaborative partnerships with the Oregon Music Educators Association (OMEA) and the music department at Oregon State University (OSU). The Festival has established ongoing partnerships for in-kind support with the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Atonement Lutheran and Nazarene churches, and Lincoln County School District. Ongoing partnerships have been established with nearly 20 local businesses for annual sponsorships.

For at least the past decade, high school music programs throughout the state have fallen victim to budget cuts, leaving few organized opportunities for youths to learn how to play a musical instrument let alone participate in a full orchestral. For those who can afford it, private lessons allow skills to be learned. For middle- and low-income youths, public high school is the only opportunity to learn to play an instrument or play in an ensemble.

The Board strategically identifies high schools with high rates of poverty for participation to (a) ensure that orchestras from around the state participate and (b) ensure that students who may experience inequity based on family income have the opportunity to participate.

The orchestras pay their own bus transportation to and from Newport as they would for other school field trips. The Festival pays for all the other expenses (housing, food, clinician stipends, facility usage, etc.) during the Festival’s activities.