Elk graze at Cascade Head; Sitka Center (upper right) surrounded by Sitka spruce.
The Sitka Center is operated as a public educational project of the Neskowin Coast Foundation, which received its federal non-profit 501(c)(3) status in 1970. The mission of the Sitka Center is “to expand the relationships between art, nature and humanity through workshops, presentations, and individual research projects; and to maintain a facility appropriate to its needs that is in harmony with the inspirational coastal environment of Cascade Head.”
Sitka Center was founded as a place to nurture creative and intellectual activity and still reside in the area. In its early years the Center offered informal hands-on art and science education for children from YWCA and OMSI programs and provided a space for community dialogue about relevant issues of the day.
By the mid-1970s, the Center had evolved and formalized its offerings to focus on adults through an annual Workshop Program. By the mid-1980s, the Center had developed a Residency Program, providing living and working space for artists, writers, and natural science scholars.
Today, the Center has grown into an epicenter of creative and intellectual activity. People come from all over the world to experience the natural and artistic beauty while learning in workshops or pursuing individual creative or intellectual projects during residencies.