RACC Blog

Executive Director Search Update for September 24, 2018

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From September 10-21, three finalists for RACC’s Executive Director position (all from out of town) visited Portland. Each candidate spent two days meeting with the search committee, RACC staff, board members, and elected officials. In addition, each finalist participated in two 90-min community salons, allowing for in-depth conversations and discussions with approximately 20 community representatives. All three candidates requested confidentiality unless and until they are offered the position, so all community members who participated in the process were asked to sign confidentiality agreements. Commissioner Eudaly and Commissioner Fish met with each candidate individually as well.

Everyone who participated in the process was asked to complete a confidential survey assessing the strengths of each candidate, and participants who met all three candidates will also be given an opportunity to rank the candidates this week. All of this feedback will be factored into the search committee’s deliberations when they meet the week of October 1-5, and the search committee will present its recommendation to the RACC board shortly thereafter.

Throughout this process, we have been grateful for the many hours contributed by our search committee members; for the community’s strong interest in the position; for their participation in our extended process; and for the exciting conversations we’ve been having with our community and our candidates themselves.

We look forward to updating Portland City Council and the community when RACC presents its State of the Arts report on October 11 at Portland City Hall. In the meantime, we continue to welcome your comments and questions regarding the search. Please contact EDsearch@racc.org.

Essex Park Gets New ‘Mindfulness’ Mural

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If you’re around the Foster Powell Neighborhood in Portland, you may have caught a new mural going up at Essex Park on SE 76th and Center St. during the weekend of September 22 and 23. Artist team Rather Severe (Travis Czekalski and Jon Stommel) is heading the mural painting, with design and painting help provided by the Foster Powell Neighborhood Association and Marysville School students.

After some public safety issues in the past, neighbors of Essex Park came together to find ways to “re-establish positive and uplifting energy and encourage more positive and healthy interactions between community members who use the park space”. They started a GoFundMe campaign earlier this year, reaching their original goal, and later received matching funds from RACC to support the project.

Rather Severe artist standing in front of the side of the public restroom building. The wall has been primed and shapes are laid out for painting.

Mural in progress. Photo courtesy of Essex Park Mindful Mural Project

While the original plan was for the mural to be painted on one wall of the public restroom building, the financial success of the campaign meant enough funds were available to paint all four walls. The design consists of a vibrant Sun on the front facing wall, Moon on the back wall, and imaginative landscapes with characters in between. The landscape design elements move consistently in a clockwise, upward spiraling motion, symbolizing growth, movement, and uplifting energy. The characters in the mural aim to communicate and encourage the idea of mindfulness, the practice of meditative drawing, feelings of interconnection, and the concept of an ever present and infinite ‘now’.

For those interested in the progress and status of the mural, you can follow the project Facebook page. You can see the mural-in-progress or the finished design by next week at Essex Park (7730 SE Center St, Portland, OR 97206)

Learn about other public art projects happening around town or RACC’s Public Art program here

2018-19 RACC Project Grants (Cycle 1)

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RACC’s Project Grant Program provides financial support to individual artists and not-for-profit organizations in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas Counties, for project based arts programming. Grants are awarded up to $7,000 and are available in three categories: Artistic Focus, Arts Equity & Access, and Arts Services.  The following 52 Project Grants were approved on September 17, 2018 and total $295,030.

For more detailed descriptions of each project, please see this PDF listing.

 

2018-19 Project Grant awards (Cycle 1):

Applicant Project Type Discipline Award
Algoso, Luann Artistic Focus Media Arts $6,640
Anuntarungsun, May Artistic Focus Media Arts $3,750
Barrera, Claire Artistic Focus Dance/Movement $6,510
Clark, Merideth Artistic Focus Theatre $5,780
Clarren, Rebecca Artistic Focus Literature $5,410
Collins, Max Arts Equity & Access Multi-Discipline $4,300
Dahl, Dicky Artistic Focus Media Arts $5,880
de Bastion, Myles Artistic Focus Multi-Discipline $5,950
Desautels, Jeffrey Artistic Focus Theatre $2,080
Doran, Sean Artistic Focus Theatre $5,610
Egan, Catherine Artistic Focus Dance/Movement $2,490
Ewell, Derek Artistic Focus Media Arts $6,640
Gooden, Justus Tyrone Arts Equity & Access Multi-Discipline $6,650
Hamilton, Jo Artistic Focus Visual Arts $6,520
Hankins, Allie Artistic Focus Multi-Discipline $5,470
Hearn, Dot Arts Services Theatre $7,000
Hough, Kurtis Artistic Focus Media Arts $5,870
Jones Redstone, Dawn Artistic Focus Media Arts $6,990
Koff, David Arts Equity & Access Multi-Discipline $2,780
Kolosowsky, Natalya Artistic Focus Multi-Discipline $6,780
Kuttab, Amy Artistic Focus Visual Arts $5,410
Miles, Rhen Artistic Focus Dance/Movement $5,360
Moulton, Suzanne Artistic Focus Media Arts $6,300
Nakano, Ryan Artistic Focus Literature $6,300
Ng, Xi Jie Arts Equity & Access Social Practice $4,420
Ngo, Aja Arts Equity & Access Multi-Discipline $5,370
Shambry, Vin Artistic Focus Theatre $5,850
Tran, Minh Artistic Focus Dance/Movement $7,000
Vazquez Gomez, Patricia Artistic Focus Visual Arts $6,500
Vigeant, Leslie Artistic Focus Visual Arts $2,210
Vo, Anna Artistic Focus Literature $6,650
Yamamoto, Takahiro Artistic Focus Visual Arts $5,850
45th Parallel Artistic Focus Music $5,000
Bienestar Artistic Focus Multi-Discipline $5,950
Corrib Theatre Artistic Focus Theatre $7,000
Couch Film Collective Arts Equity & Access Media Arts $3,390
Edwards Center, Inc. Arts Equity & Access Visual Arts $5,950
Experience Theatre Project Artistic Focus Theatre $3,400
Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre/Northwest Artistic Focus Multi-Discipline $5,910
JANE a theater company Artistic Focus Theatre $5,950
Live On Stage Artistic Focus Theatre $6,950
New Expressive Works Artistic Focus Dance/Movement $6,300
Opera Theater of Oregon Artistic Focus Music $5,950
Outside the Frame Arts Equity & Access Media Arts $7,000
PCC Sylvania Artistic Focus Social Practice $6,900
Performance Works NorthWest Artistic Focus Dance/Movement $5,840
PETE (Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble) Artistic Focus Theatre $5,950
Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives, Inc. (PCRI) Arts Equity & Access Multi-Discipline $5,950
Public Annex Arts Equity & Access Visual Arts $6,500
Resonance Ensemble Artistic Focus Music $6,350
Street Roots Arts Equity & Access Multi-Discipline $6,650
World Stage Theatre Arts Equity & Access Multi-Discipline $5,820

 

Meet the artists showcasing their work for 2018-19 Night Lights!

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Night Lights, RACC’s outdoor public art event series, is back for five months with local artists/collectives projecting their digital media works onto RACC’s building for several hours starting at dusk. Now in its fourth year, Night Lights is a unique event series that celebrates and highlights the intersections of digital technology, art, and place.

Laura Medina, the first artist to kick off Night Lights on October 4th this year, will be presenting work that bodies the exact intersections Night Lights aims to celebrate. Medina’s projected work, titled Flying, will use different animation methods to convey movement and change of setting to discuss migration as a human right. The location of the projection, as Medina notes, is across the street from Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA), formerly a US Citizenship and Immigration Services and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. For Medina, we cannot ignore the proximity of the projection to what used to be a distinctly hostile environment, and re-contextualizing this space into an environment that fosters and nourishes acts of solidarity is key.

Following Medina, Roesing Ape and Beth Whelan will show their work on November 1st. Titled Windows 11, their work involves a minimalist dance piece inside an architectural projection of the building itself. This interactive piece will use both prerecorded and live dance.

All works will take place at the north wall of the Regional Arts & Culture Council office at 411 NW Park Ave, Portland OR (on the corner of NW Glisan St and NW Park Ave). The schedule of events for Night Lights is as follows:

Still image from Laura Medina's work, Flying.

Still image from Laura Medina’s work, Flying.

October 4, 6:45pm
Laura Medina
Flying

November 1, 6pm
Roesing Ape and Beth Whelan
Windows 11

December 6, 5pm
Roland Dahwen and Stephanie Adams-Santos
Three Moons/Tres Lunas/3つの月

February 7, 5:30pm
Megan McKissack
Untitled

March 7, 6pm
Midnight Variety Hour
Night Lights Edition

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Night Lights is a monthly public art event that celebrates the intersection of digital technology, art, and place. Happening outdoors on the First Thursdays of fall and winter months, this multimedia art series presents local artists’ new works, combining large-scale video projection with other art forms such as movement and sound. Works are projected for several hours starting at dusk on the north wall of Regional Arts and Culture Council’s office at 411 NW Park Ave, Portland, OR.

Laura Camila Medina is an interdisciplinary artist born in Bogota, Colombia and raised in Orlando, Florida. She bases her practice around uprooting and migration as a response to personal, cultural, and historical research. Medina is constantly inspired by her memories of home, her mother’s arepas, and her father’s soundtracks. Her work has shown at the Center for Contemporary Art & Culture, PLANETA New York, and through the Nat Turner Project. She earned a BFA from the Pacific Northwest College of Art and is currently based in Portland, OR.

Beth Whelan is a movement based artist with training in modern, ballet, improvisation, and choreography. Her work is based upon creating shapes within the body that fluidly disperse and rearrange in synchronicity with the breath. 

Roesing Ape is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on the deconstruction of cognitive frameworks in sound, language, and sight. This results in a mostly unmarketable catalog of site specific video, improvised soundscapes, and nonlinear performance pieces.

Response: Jo Ann Hardesty

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For the spring 2018 primary election, RACC distributed a questionnaire to all candidates running for Portland City Council; Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington County Boards of Commissioners; and Metro Council. Each candidate was asked five questions on March 13 or 14, and given the opportunity to respond by March 30 when this story was first published.

Here are the responses provided by Jo Ann Hardesty, running for Portland City Council, position 3. All responses are reprinted verbatim.

 

 

RACC: In what specific ways have you supported arts and culture in Portland?

JAH: As chair of the Community Grants Committee for the East Portland Action plan I have advocated for funding support for:

  1. Portland Slavic Festival, 2015, 2016, 2017
  2. JAM Multicultural Festival, hosted by APANO Aug 2017
  3. Jim Pepper Festival 2015, 2016, 2017

Additionally, I am a 12+ year volunteer at the Waterfront Blues Festival, volunteering with KBOO on behalf of the Oregon Food Bank). This past year, as the beneficiary of the event changed I felt obliged to not participate.

On a more personal note, in a past life I was married to a local jazz musician, which exposed me to our local music scene. What struck me most during this time was how incredibly under appreciated world renowned artists were that lived here.  I’m proud that i had the pleasure to know Leroy Vinegar (Bassist), Janice Scroggins (pianist), Linda Hornbuckle (vocalist) who unfortunately have all passed. I’m a huge fan of live music and for fun make it a point to check out old friends like Nancy King, Norman Sylvester, Mel Brown and other local musicians.  In addition I have been a season seat holder at Portland Center Stage and attended the Montavilla Jazz Festival this year and was ask to provide a few words of welcome, which was an honor.

Because of these experiences, I support my friends on the PDX Jazz board who are working to make blues and jazz available to young children/students to pass on this important legacy so it doesn’t die with current musicians.  As President of the NAACP, I worked in coalition with our members and leaders to help create a Black Legacy Project event that highlighted and featured their creations for sale. We also provided awards to several artists in recognition of the challenges faced by artists in Portland such as high rent, dislocation, lack of visibility and marketing assistance.

 

RACC: Artists and arts organizations add measurable value to our region’s economy, our education system and our quality of life. Yet there are a number of pressing needs in Portland that often compete with arts and culture for attention and investment.  How would YOU describe the importance of arts and culture in our community, and what should Portland be doing to support this sector?

JAH: Artists and arts organizations are vital to a world class city.  Currently we spend 54% of flexible funding on policing services. I believe you know a lot about a city in how they spend discretionary funding.  There is an enormous inequity in how we invest in cultural programs. For example, the Rose Festival has a building on the waterfront for $1 a year yet most arts organizations led by people of color have to put on multi-day cultural festivals on with no assistance from the City of Portland.  I look forward to working with Commissioner Eudaly to ensure we are equitably investing in artists and arts organizations that represent the mosaic of talent in Portland.

 

RACC: The region’s affordability is a serious concern for everyone in our community. What are your plans for making housing and creative spaces more affordable for artists, nonprofit arts organizations and arts-related businesses?

Arts organizations, artists, and small business owners all are facing the repercussions of gentrification.  We must ensure we maintain affordable artist space and expand access throughout the city. We also need to work to ensure that those spaces remain affordable for the long term. I will work with my colleagues to ensure we don’t miss the opportunity to address this need as a priority along with housing.

 

RACC: The city’s Arts Tax is disliked by some, while 62% of voters approved it. Thanks to the Arts Tax, every K-5 student in the City of Portland now as an art, music or dance teacher, and dozens of nonprofit arts organizations are expanding access to the arts by providing free and low-cost arts experiences for Portland residents. What changes to the Arts Tax, if any, would you want Portland City Council to consider?

JAH: I’m very concern that some retires are exempt from paying this tax while persons with income at $10,000 are forced to pay this tax.  There are many low-income community members who are experiencing this regressive tax at a time they are challenged with keeping a roof over their head.  We must change state law to allow us to tax those who can most afford it. Having said that i look forward to auditing this process to ensure that those least able to pay for arts education are in fact the true beneficiaries of the funding.

 

RACC: What are some of your other priorities for the City of Portland that would be of interest to artists, arts organizations and arts educators in our community?

I believe in intersectionality and know that the artistic community, in addition to specific concerns, are also concerns with broad issues impacting our society at large. What I hear most often talking to community members, is fear of being priced out of the neighborhoods people are currently connected to and believe our housing crisis does touch all of us. Additionally, I am very motivated to help address climate change through the Portland Clean Energy Fund as well as ensuring our democracy by bringing campaign finance reform to the city with the implementation of campaign finance reforms hopefully approved by the voters this Fall.

Lastly, I am very interested in learning more from you on how you think the City Council can assist arts organizations and artists more effectively.  I need to hear directly from you, what is working, what are the challenges of your community and what solutions to you believe would address the issues most important to you.

 

Chloe Eudaly tapped to be Portland’s new Arts Commissioner

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Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has shuffled some of the City of Portland’s bureau and liaison assignments, and on September 4 Commissioner Chloe Eudaly will become the RACC liaison and arts commissioner.

A strong advocate for culture and creativity, Commissioner Eudaly is no stranger to the arts. She has owned and operated an independent bookstore featuring dozens of emerging and established authors, zinesters, comic book creators and printmakers; and she received a RACC professional development grant in 1997 to attend the 4th annual Alternative Press Expo in San Jose. She also helped establish the Independent Publishing Resource Center and has supported numerous arts nonprofits over the years, including co-chairing RACC’s Battle of the Bands fundraiser in 2017. Earlier this year, Commissioner Eudaly worked closely with Commissioner Fish on the City’s Arts Affordability Plan, which was adopted by City Council in February.

Commissioner Eudaly’s policy advisor for arts and culture issues is Pollyanne Faith Birge, known to many in the arts community because of role with former Portland Mayor Sam Adams. In that role, Pollyanne conceived and launched Art Spark as a networking opportunity for local artists (since adopted by RACC), and was instrumental in the development of Act for Art, a creative action plan for the Portland metro region published in 2009. While in Commissioner Eudaly’s office, Pollyanne has supported a number of RACC initiatives including the RACC executive director search committee.  She can be reached at 503.823.3056 or by email at pollyanne.birge@portlandoregon.gov.

RACC is very much looking forward to working with Commissioner Eudaly and her talented staff. We are grateful for the past and continued support of Commissioner Nick Fish, who will take on a new assignment with Portland Parks and Recreation, opening up new opportunities to explore the powerful and unique intersection of arts and parks. Asena Lawrence remains Commissioner Fish’s policy advisor on arts and culture issues.

 

Photo of Chloe Eudaly at Battle of the Bands, by Erica Ann Photography.

RACC board elects new members and officers

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On July 1, Linda McGeady became RACC’s new board chair, succeeding Mike Golub who will serve as Chair Emeritus until June 30, 2019. McGeady is originally from Belfast, Ireland, and became a US Citizen 18 years ago; being involved in Portland’s arts community has been an important part of her life here.  She serves on the Art Committee of the Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel, and is active in The International School alumni community. She also serves on the board of The Circus Project.

“I am honored to be RACC’s new board chair. I consider RACC to be – among many other things – an engine of civic engagement and an outstanding resource for the community. I look forward to working even more closely with the talented staff, including – soon – a new Executive Director, and with all of our dedicated board members who give their time and expertise to ensure that the arts not only thrive but help every sector in the region be more creative and more successful.”

Joining McGeady and Golub on the Executive Committee in FY2018-19 are Vice Chair Osvaldo “Ozzie” Gonzalez, Treasurer Eileen L. Day, Secretary Angela Hult, Eve Connell, Katherine Durham,  Parker Lee and Frances Portillo.

The RACC board also elected Amy Kutzkey to the board. Kutzkey is a certified public accountant and shareholder at Perkins & Co.  

All board and staff profiles are available online at racc.org/about/staff-board.

 

Linda McGeady Photo credit: Dodge and Burn Studios

Executive Director Search Update for August 22, 2018

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The search for RACC’s next executive director is progressing nicely. (Committee members include Helen Daltoso, Ozzie Gonzalez, Jeff Hawthorne, Angela Hult, Salvador Mayoral IV, Linda McGeady, Alejandro Queral and Steve Rosenbaum.) Here’s the latest:

Implicit Bias Training:

The search committee participated in a four-hour implicit bias training led by RACC board member and professional facilitator. This is an important part of the process because most people experience some degree of unconscious bias that influences our behavior and our decisions. The effects of that bias can be countered by acknowledging its existence and utilizing response strategies. The board member works with groups and organizations throughout the world and we were fortunate to benefit from the gift of her time and expertise.

Interviews:

The search committee interviewed seven individuals over two days (July 17 and August 6) via video conference at the RACC office. The group spent one hour with each individual, followed by debriefs with our search firm, Koya Leadership Partners.

Four candidates were advanced to a second round of video interviews on August 13 at the RACC office. All four candidates were from out of state. Each person was interviewed for one hour, followed by a one hour debrief with Koya.

The committee has chosen three finalists to bring to Portland for a final round of conversations. The search committee is working with the candidates to finalize the timeframe, with a target of mid- to late September. The Portland visits will include meetings with the board, staff, representatives from Portland’s arts community and elected officials.

Next Steps:

The search committee is working to finalize the dates and structure for the Portland interviews.

The team is evaluating tools for efficiently gathering feedback about the candidates from those who have an opportunity to meet with each individual.

Many thanks to search committee members for spending a tremendous amount of time on this process. We are excited about this next stage in the process and look forward to sharing additional details with you.

We are grateful to community members who have reached out with advice and encouragement in this effort; your collective support is greatly appreciated. We will continue to keep you updated on the process, and in the meantime, please let us know if you have any questions. The search committee can be reached at EDsearch@racc.org