Jan. 25—The Oregon Film Museum in Astoria has been recommended for a $1 million grant from the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon.

The film museum is among 17 arts and culture organizations in the state that were endorsed in a slate of funding for capital construction projects that total over $11.9 million. The Oregon Film Museum was the only organization on the North Coast recommended for grant funding.

While the grant has yet to be received, the Cultural Advocacy Coalition and the organizations recommended for grants will travel to Salem to speak about their projects. The Legislature will then vote on approval of the funding. Grant funding comes from the Cultural Resources Economic Fund.

For McAndrew Burns, the executive director of the Clatsop County Historical Society, the recommendation brings new potential for the film museum.

With the $1 million, the film museum plans to expand operations into the former Morris Glass building on Duane Street, located directly behind the Flavel House Museum and across the intersection from the old Clatsop County Jail, where the film museum is housed.

The film museum acquired the Morris Glass building several years ago with the idea the museum would expand at some point.

According to Burns, the film museum's current space is approximately 800 square feet, and the expansion allows the organization to accomplish more in line with its educational goals. In the past year, 45,000 people visited the film museum from all 50 states and over 30 countries.

In the expansion, Burns said the film museum anticipates putting in a 50-seat theater, which would allow for viewings of films from independent filmmakers, or to have the ability to show an orientation film for the museum.

The expansion would provide more space for the filmmaker experience, which would include opportunities for learning about special effects, animation and the technology of filmmaking. Burns added that the museum plans on exhibiting more props from movies and TV, and would use the space to offer workshops and lectures with professionals in the industry.

"This is an opportunity to offer some very real vocational experiences to students," Burns said in an email. "There are many facets to film and media production — carpenters, painters, costume designers, hair stylists ... that all play a part in filmmaking."

Burns anticipates that the expansion would have a groundbreaking, ribbon-cutting or soft-opening on June 7, 2025 — the 40th anniversary of the 1985 movie "The Goonies," which was filmed on the North Coast.

"It's going to allow us to do so much more, and probably allow a lot more visitors," he said.