News Release on Behalf of the Hellenic-American Cultural Center of Oregon and SW Washington
$151,000 Awarded to Portland, Oregon Hellenic Museum
The Hellenic-American Cultural Center & Museum of Oregon and SW Washington Receives Major Grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust
The Hellenic-American Cultural Center & Museum (HACCM) announced the award of a $151,000 grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. The three-year grant will fund the new full-time position of executive director to facilitate growth and raise the profile of the organization locally and nationally.
The cultural center and museum was founded in 2006 by Portland, Oregon’s and SW Washington’s Greek-American community with the mission to educate, preserve and celebrate a rich cultural heritage. Since its inception HACCM has collected, conserved, documented and displayed artifacts of Hellenic history. The museum mounted eighteen major exhibitions including The Textiles of Greece, The Joy of Living Greek (food, music and traditions), The Year in Byzantium (icons, tapestries, jewelry), Footprints in Time (art and artifacts), and currently Vases and Verses (pottery and theatre of ancient Greece). Featured programs paid tribute to Hellenic-American and contemporary Greek culture. The center’s calendar of events slated symposia, classical Greek theater productions, dance performances, craft demonstrations, film screenings and visiting authors and musicians. HACCM’s considerable achievements to date have been managed by a volunteer Board of Directors. In addition, the work of dedicated volunteers pays tribute to a quote from Sophocles displayed in the museum’s foyer: “For these things live not today or yesterday but for all times.”
The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust was created in 1975 to enrich the quality of life in the Pacific Northwest. Its mission is to serve individuals, families and communities by providing grants and enrichment programs to organizations that strengthen the region’s educational, social, spiritual and cultural base in creative and sustainable ways.
One of the largest private foundations in the Pacific Northwest and one of the top 100 in the country, the Murdock Trust was established by the estate of Melvin Jack Murdock, co-founder of Tektronix, Inc. The endowment has grown to over $1.2 billion and has given more than $1 billion through more than 6,700 grants since its inception.
The Trust supports scientific research innovation, organizations that advance culture and the arts and elevate human services and health care in the region including community and faith-based organizations.
The Hellenic-American Cultural Center & Museum is honored to join the recipients of the prestigious M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. We thank the Murdock Trust for this validation and belief in our past accomplishments and our future goals.
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