General Information
Who We Are
Columbia Center for the Arts is an art organization that nurtures creative life in the Gorge. We are dedicated to bringing you visual, performing, and literary art events that will thrill your heart, make you think, give you a laugh, and touch your soul.
Our art center features an impressive art gallery, an intimate and versatile "black box" theater, a classroom dedicated to arts education, and a broad array of great artistic events — including theatrical performances, visual arts, dance performances, concerts, lectures, films, and a whole lot more.
We're a non profit organization, and we're proud of the community support we enjoy.
Mission
Our mission is to promote an arts-rich environment in the Columbia Gorge, where novices as well as established artists and performers, can discover and develop their full creative potential.
Artistic Vision
Columbia Center for the Arts is dedicated to challenging the community, artists and audiences alike, with theatre, visual and literary art that not only explores our strengths, but examines our frailties and our diversity.
Telling our stories, painting our pictures or teaching our classes, will often bring into play experiences that test us and make us question our preconceived notions. This is where we feel the creative process begins.
Who's Who
Columbia Center for the Arts consists of many individuals working to increase access to the arts and provide unique educational opportunities. Members of the Board of Directors, the CAST Committee, the Columbia Art Gallery Committee and the Education and Outreach Committee are all playing a key role in helping to make the Center what it is. For a complete list of names of who's who, click here.
Our History
Columbia Center for the Arts traces its history back more than twenty years, when art lovers in the community decided to create an art gallery, and when theatre lovers decided to develop a theatrical group. In January 2003, both of these groups were in search of new locations, so they joined together to find a common solution.
Click to learn more about our recent history, and how the CAST theater group and Columbia Art Gallery, merged their interests into a common solution.
Our Partners and Friends
We affiliate ourselves with a number of other fine organizations, and work collaboratively with them to bring more and better art experiences to the Gorge than we could do on our own. Some of our partners and friends are listed here.