Cooper Whitman, regional business manager for Pacific Power, delivers a $4,000 check to Talent Historical Society President Willow McCloud after the organization was selected to receive a grant from the Pacific Power Foundation.

From supporting historical reenactments in Talent, to funding the process of digitizing more than 6,000 glass plate negatives of famed photographer Peter Britt, the Pacific Power Foundation has offered six grants worth $19,000 in total to bolster the arts and culture of Southern Oregon.

The philanthropic arm of the power company has donated more than $110,000 in grant funding across the three states — Oregon, Washington and California — that it serves.

The six grant money recipients in Southern Oregon include: Rogue Gallery & Art Center, Southern Oregon Historical Society, Talent Historical Society, Grants Pass High School Band Boosters, Grants Pass Museum of Art and RG Rotary Foundation.

“Pacific Power is proud to support the work and efforts of local organizations doing impactful work to lift our communities and truly make a difference,” a Pacific Power Foundation representative said in an email to the Rogue Valley Times. “We continue to collaborate and seek out opportunities to work together to strengthen the communities, making them more vibrant and resilient.”

For the Rogue Gallery & Art Center, the grant money will be used to fund its annual “Best of the Best” student art show, which features the creative work of students from 13 high schools across Jackson and Josephine counties.

“It’s really nice to have to have Pacific Power to help with the cost of hosting the show,” said Kristen O’Niell, executive director of the gallery and art center.

“It helps us maintain the ability to reach out to the wider community base while not having to prioritize sales, and it helps us build up the future artists of the Rogue Valley and promote Southern Oregon arts throughout,” O’Niell added.

The Rogue Gallery & Art Center received $5,000 in grant funding.

“It tends to take about roughly $20,000 per month to run the gallery, and when we host the ‘Best of the Best’ exhibit, it takes over the whole gallery space,” O’Niell said.

The “Best of the Best” exhibit is scheduled to be held from April 19 to May 2 at the gallery — located at 40 S. Bartlett St., Medford — and presents more than 100 pieces from art students across Southern Oregon.

For more information on the Rogue Gallery & Art Center, visit roguegallery.org.

The Southern Oregon Historical Society received $4,000 from the Pacific Power Foundation to boost the organization’s project involving digitizing glass plate negative images captured by Peter Britt.

“We own 6,000 glass plate negatives done by Peter Britt,” SOHS executive director Ron Kramer said. “We are going to begin digitization in a couple months depending on the complexity of it; it takes 12 to 24 months to digitize.”

Britt played a prominent role in the Rogue Valley during the 19th century as a photographer, shooting photos of many of Southern Oregon’s natural landmarks such as Crater Lake, the Siskiyou Mountains and the Rogue River.

The negatives that the Historical Society aims to uncover and digitize could aid efforts to better understand the people, cultures and communities of Southern Oregon during the 19th century.

“The images range from the 1850s to early 1900s … There are many stories that these plates could tell,” Kramer said.

The act of digitizing and printing the negatives can be a costly and tedious process, with SOHS staff making inventory of each of the thousands of negatives, identifying what or who was captured in the photo among other tasks.

To fully complete the project, it will cost the historical society approximately $35,000 to complete, with the grant funding aiding that, Kramer said.

“Given the number of them and the fact that they’re fragile, you don’t go rummaging through them willy-nilly; we were waiting to have grant support to do it in a thorough and comprehensive way,” Kramer added.

To learn more about SOHS, visit sohs.org.

The Talent Historical Society was also a grant recipient, getting $4,000 to help with the organization’s monthly “Night at the Museum” programs, shedding light on Talent’s history through historic reenactments, music and other arts.

“They have given us other grants before that have really helped us; they’re really supportive,” said Debra Moon, outreach coordinator and grant administrator for the historical society, regarding the Pacific Power Foundation.

The organization’s upcoming “Night at the Museum” program is called “The History of the Industrial Workers of the World (the Wobblies) in Southern Oregon.”

The program, set from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. April 14, will feature a historic reenactment of the Industrial Workers of the World presented by elementary school students on the group’s role in Talent during the early 1900s.

Musician George Mann will perform labor movement songs as well at the free event.

“We want to involve the public of all ages with our knowledge and commemoration of our local history … We want to connect with them and help them appreciate our history and what all made us the community that we are today,” Moon said.

To learn more, visit talenthistory.org.

For more on the Pacific Power Foundation, visit pacificpower.net/community/foundation.html.