Baker County Library District brings Black arts program to Baker City

Baker County Library District will bring Sketch and Release to Churchill School Arts Center in Baker City on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026, at 6:30 p.m., offering a free 60-minute program centered on Black artistry in rural Oregon. The event will be held at 3451 Broadway St.

Created and led by multidisciplinary artist Jason McNeal Graham, who performs as MOsley WOtta, the program blends short documentary film, live performance, music, painting and guided conversation. For the Baker City stop, the district says the program will include new docu-series material, a live performance and a locally tailored community dialogue.

Sketch and Release is described as a mobile short-form documentary series that uses Oregon’s rural landscapes in place of a traditional studio. The project team says it drove more than 5,000 miles and spent 120 hours across five Oregon counties while developing the work, a regional sweep that reaches well beyond Baker County before arriving in Baker City.

The library district says the program is funded by a State Library of Oregon grant and is intended to bring high-quality contemporary art and facilitated dialogue to rural communities. That comes as the district prepares for a larger financial shift: its local option levy renewal passed with just over 70% of the vote, will begin funding the district in July 2027 and will last five years. The district’s proposed FY2026-2027 budget totals $3,794,898 across all funds.

Churchill School Arts Center, 3451 Broadway St., is already part of Baker City’s active cultural calendar, with concerts, a film screening and comedy performances on the 2026 schedule. The library district’s move places one of the county’s public institutions into that same civic space, using a free event to reach residents who might not otherwise buy a ticket for a touring arts program.

The demographic context gives the presentation added weight. Baker City’s population was estimated at 10,071 on July 1, 2025, and Census Bureau QuickFacts lists 88.1% of residents as White alone and 1.8% as Black alone. The Oregon Encyclopedia says Black life is central to understanding Oregon’s history, and its account of exclusion laws says early state policies helped make Oregon overwhelmingly white.