Nov. 08, 2010

PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland General Electric (NYSE: POR), Oregon’s largest utility, has earned one of the highest honors a company can achieve in the arts community — being named to THE BCA TEN: Best Companies Supporting the Arts in America by The Business Committee for the Arts (BCA), a division of Americans for the Arts, America’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts.

Every year, The BCA recognizes 10 companies for their exceptional commitment to the arts in the United States. These companies have exhibited exemplary support for the arts through grants, local partnerships, volunteer programs, matching gifts, sponsorships and board membership.

PGE, the only West Coast company included in this year’s top 10, was nominated locally by the Business for Culture & the Arts, the Oregon affiliate of the national BCA.

“We are proud to nominate one of Oregon’s most remarkable and supportive companies of arts and arts education,” said Virginia Willard, Business for Culture & the Art’s executive director. “PGE believes the arts have the power to educate, heal and create a vibrant economy and has long demonstrated a dedication to incorporating the arts in its corporate culture while also encouraging other businesses to follow suit.”

Since 1999, PGE and the PGE Foundation have contributed nearly $5 million to arts and culture. PGE is consistently recognized by the Business for Culture & the Arts as one of the top five business donors in the state.

 “To navigate today’s complex energy business, our workforce of engineers, scientists, skilled tradespeople and others must go beyond the basic tools of their trades and use imagination, collaboration and problem-solving skills,” said Jim Piro, president and CEO, PGE. “Integrating the arts into the educational system helps develop these industry-required skills and PGE is proud to invest in the arts and arts education, and ultimately, our future workforce.”

Examples of how PGE has integrated the arts into its business strategy include:

• Creating school plays with an arts nonprofit that teach children about electrical safety, energy efficiency and renewable energy.  These free plays are performed to 20,000 students each year.

• PGE’s arts funding has brought playwriting to at-risk youth; writing workshops to the homeless, mentally ill and elderly; visual arts and music to sick children in hospitals, and African drumming to developmentally disabled children.

• “Arts Contemplates Industry” brings local artists into historic PGE hydroelectric plants to make art which is then exhibited at PGE’s headquarters. 

• PGE helped the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) develop the Work for Art workplace giving campaign in 2004.  Work for Art has grown annually at PGE, with the most recent campaign yielding a 203 percent increase over the year before. 

• The PGE Foundation also was the first private funder to support The Right Brain Initiative, a program of Young Audiences and RACC that is returning integrated arts education to the region’s public schools.

The BCA TEN awards were presented by Americans for the Arts on Nov. 4, 2010, at a black-tie gala at the Central Park Boathouse in New York City. Business and arts leaders from throughout the country attended the ceremony.

PGE will be recognized locally at the Business for Culture & the Arts’ Arts Breakfast of Champions November 17 at the Portland Art Museum.