About Artstra
We are a nonprofit arts advocacy group in southwest Washington. Our mission is to elevate the arts, build greater arts awareness, reward creative excellence, and expand arts accessibility.
Since our founding and through our two Arts and Culture Summit events, we have consistently seen a growing need for an art center — a center that can offer studio facilities and classrooms with specialized equipment for a variety of art disciplines together with exhibit space and affordable live/work artist lofts.
With the right public/private partnerships, such an art center is economically feasible and can be the catalyst that moves our community toward becoming a vibrant arts hub. But powerful community support and persuasive arts advocacy from organizations like ours will be essential.
Artstra’s programs include our annual Clark County Open Studios tour and Poetry Moves, a collaborative effort that features the words of local poets on C-Tran buses. Another of our programs, Creative Relief Clark County, offers art supplies to communities with limited access to the tools of creativity. All of these programs are demonstrating the power of art in our lives — to heal us, connect us, transform us, and to fuel the economy.
What’s new | Read our latest newsletter!
2021 Open Studios Tour is on for this fall!
A hybrid approach — with COVID safety in mind The Clark County Open Studios Tour [...]
Armin Tolentino, Poet Laureate
Vancouver poet Armin Tolentino has been selected as Clark County Poet Laureate, 2021-2023. Armin is [...]
Help shape a future arts center
The City of Vancouver and Historic Trust, with support from Artstra, are working on a [...]
Poetry Moves Invitational
Poetry Moves Season 10 poems are now on C-Tran buses. This latest group of poems [...]
Artstra (formerly Arts of Clark County) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) arts advocacy group in Clark County and southwest Washington.
Art nourishes our souls, connects our community, and transforms the world.
Our vision is of a vibrant arts economy in our region, north of the Columbia River, with public/private investments and facilities that sustain artists and enrich community.
Our mission is to elevate the arts, build greater arts awareness, reward creative excellence, and expand arts accessibility.
Board of Directors meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at the Columbia Bank Community Room, 101 E 6th St., Vancouver, WA 98660. If you are interested in attending, please contact Karen Madsen.