RACC Blog

RACC Focus Groups

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RACC is seeking participants for three focus groups conducted this spring in partnership with Resolutions NW. The goal is to help RACC learn how we can be as approachable and welcoming as possible.

Two of the groups will be made up of past applicants, from underrepresented populations* and communities of color. RACC is specifically interested in hearing from applicants that have applied for opportunities through RACC’s Grants, Public Art and Right Brain Initiative programs and have not received the opportunity they sought.

The third group will be comprised of community members from organizations working with immigrants, refugees and English language learners that have had little to no interaction with RACC’s services.

If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, please respond to Tonisha Toler at ttoler@racc.org or 503-823-5866.

*Underrepresented communities include LGBTQ, persons with disabilities and residents of East Portland and East County.

 

RACC launches new website

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PORTLAND, ORE — The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) has launched a new website at www.racc.org.  With an average of 452 unique visits per day, RACC’s website has been redesigned and reprogrammed to help constituents access RACC’s abundant resources more easily. The new website is also fully responsive for tablets and mobile devices, which now account for 30% of all visits.

Among the services available on racc.org:

  • Artists can apply for RACC grants, discover public art opportunities, find workshops and networking events, and tap into a wide variety of other online resources.
  • Arts organizations can learn more about RACC funding opportunities, find technical assistance programs and download research to help them be strong advocates.
  • Arts educators can learn more about The Right Brain Initiative and other opportunities for teaching artists in our community.
  • The public at large can browse the public art collection, find arts-related jobs, connect with organizations who offer $5 tickets through the Arts for All program, and learn more about how the Arts Education & Access fund, or arts tax, is making a difference in our community.

RACC’s online resource database is one of the most comprehensive in the region, and web visitors can now search and sort a myriad of opportunities including calls for artists, residency opportunities, arts-related jobs, live-work space, workshops, lectures and more. The new racc.org allows community members to submit additional opportunities online for RACC to share with its constituents.

The Regional Arts & Culture Council provides grants for artists, nonprofit organizations and schools in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties; manages an internationally acclaimed public art program; raises money and awareness for the arts through Work for Art, a workplace giving program; convenes forums, networking events and other community gatherings; provides workshops and other forms of technical assistance for artists; and oversees a program to integrate arts and culture into the standard curriculum in public schools through “The Right Brain Initiative.” RACC values a diversity of artistic and cultural experiences and is working to build a community in which everyone can participate in culture, creativity and the arts.

Night Lights presents: “You Must Work in the Garden of Eden” by Jackie Davis

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Night Lights returns this month on Thursday, March 3, as a part of Feminist March programming with a live, avant-garde dance/Super-8 film performance presented by Portland-based artist Jackie Davis. You Must Work in the Garden of Eden displays the beauty of everyday routine and the necessity of interpersonal support as two foundations for building the lives we dream of living. 

A visual and auditory pattern of stylized actions, the film investigates daily habits and the profound effects these often subconscious choices have on shaping individual and community cultures. With this site-specific performance, Davis explores conversations and questions pertaining to our collective work and existence – With life as art, how can people look at their habits as repeatedly chosen and reaffirming acts? Who are we, as individuals, standing, breathing and moving around day-to-day? And what upkeep supports our communities/who is doing it? 

About the Artist

Jackie Davis loves to explore performance dynamics and destroy the myth that artists and audiences are distinct. She believes that art production is a deeply collaborative and reciprocal act. A fighter of the cult of the autonomous/exceptional individual, her work highlights regularity, the beauty of the ordinary and the necessity of cooperation. Additionally (and importantly), she views media construction as an act of self-creation.

Night Lights Presents: You Must Work in the Garden of Eden by Jackie Davis
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Dusk (6:30) -8:30
North side of RACC offices, 411 NW Park Avenue

About Night Lights
Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) and The Hollywood Theatre have collaborated to present Night Lights, a series of public art projections displayed monthly in Portland, OR. Join us each First Thursday in the Pearl District for a different projection on the North Wall of the RACC offices (411 NW Park Ave.).

Artwork by Northwest Artist Mary Henry donated to the City collection

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Known for her geometric abstract paintings, American artist Mary Henry (1913-2009) was one of the movement’s steadfast champions. Henry studied under Bauhaus instructor Laszlo Moholy-Nagy in Chicago at the Institute of Design in the 1940s. She worked many years as an interior designer and muralist—while raising a family—before moving to Seattle in the 1970s and producing her largest body of work. Although Henry’s work received critical praise and has been collected in a number of museums, she has largely remained a regional cult figure the art world is still learning about. Remarking on the goal of her art, Henry said “I’ve always wanted to create that feeling in my work, of getting down to the nitty-gritty and getting rid of all the things that aren’t important, to get to the essence of life. What do I hope people get from my work? Honesty. Simplicity. I wanted it to be uncomplicated and direct.”

Baba’s Birthday (Diptych) acrylic on canvas (2 panels), 48” H x 72” W x 2.5” (overall), 1993 (pictured) is true to her style, the diptych is comprised of two panels of geometric shapes of black, blue, white, red and her signature yellow. RACC has also acquired a study drawing for this painting. Baba’s Birthday is a gift Suzanne and John Rahn, Henry’s daughter and her husband. Gifts such as this are reviewed by RACC’s Public Art Advisory Committee for their appropriateness to the public collection.

Currently: Mary Henry: The Fabric of Space at Jeffery Thomas Fine Art from March 9-April 30, 2016.

Ray Trayle Print Prize exhibit and opening, March 31 at RACC

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As part of the SGCI Flux Print Conference, RACC is hosting an exhibition of the Ray Trayle Print Prize winners with a reception on Thursday, March 31 from 6 –8 pm. The 2016 prize will be awarded at 6:30. RACC offices are at 411 NW Park Avenue, #Suite 101.

The Ray Trayle Print Prize is an annual award given to a remarkable Northwest printmaker in appreciation of Ray Trayle’s contribution to the art of printmaking. Because of his generosity in the design and fabrication of their hand-tailored printing presses, press owners and regional printmakers came together to create THE RAY TRAYLE PRINT PRIZE. Each year, an outstanding regional printmaker will receive recognition of merit and a cash award in Ray Trayle’s name. Initiated with contributions from grateful printmakers who own Ray Trayle presses, this endowed fund is established under the auspices of the Regional Arts and Culture Council. This is the fifteenth year of the prize. The exhibit will run through May 13, 2016.

 

A GREAT DAY

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Eloise’s Blog:

Wednesday, February 24th began early for me, but what a great day it turned out to be! We started at 7:30 a.m. with The Arts Breakfast of Champions – the first for RACC after “adopting” the event when NWBCA closed late last summer. Our goal was to make the breakfast feel familiar for long time fans of which there are hundreds and yet to give it our own flavor. We wanted to celebrate not only the generosity of businesses who support the arts but also the vital role arts and artists play in making Portland a wonderful place to do business, visit, give voice to our diversity, educate our young people and live in a thriving creative environment.

At the risk of sounding like an Oscar winner by thanking the entire world, I will extend a broad and profound thank you to everyone who supported the event with planning, sponsorships, table hosting, ticket purchases, testimonials, emceeing, brilliant performances, creation of the awards themselves, organizational wizardry, volunteering and anything I missed, which contributed to what appears to have been a well received Breakfast of Champions. There was also a great deal of social media chatter using the hashtag #artcreates, and some great photos from Andie Petkus are available on our Facebook page. Thank you all!

My next stop was the Schntizer concert hall where I joined thousands of Portland school children and their teachers and chaperones for a concert by Black Violin. The entire hall was filled with cheering, clapping, singing, texting, and dancing kids inspired and energized by the music and the magnetism of the performers. Black Violin was founded by two black men who met in a Miami high school where they studied classical violin and viola. After perfecting their classical offerings they transitioned to infusing that music with hip hop rhythms wanting to debunk stereotypes and inspire people – especially young people – to  try whatever they are passionate about and do it in ways all their own. And those kids were definitely into them – loudly and enthusiastically.

Kudos are due to Portland’5 and Robyn Williams who presented the  concert, provided all the buses, paid the bills and made sure that the hall was filled with kids from Title 1 schools. And praise also goes to Carole Smith and all the participating schools who arranged to make this experience happen for so many kids. I expect many will be changed and encouraged and will not forget that magical day in that fancy place and of course the music that made them feel so good.

Portland Building Installation Space: Jenna Reineking’s Installation March 21 – April 15

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Artist Jenna Reineking’s upcoming installation in the lobby of the Portland Building is designed to transform the architecture immediately surrounding it into an “activated” environment; her choice of materials to accomplish this—the humble brown paper lunch bag. “I recently have become interested in creating systems using forms repeated in incremental units that can range from finite to infinite based on the constraints of the space. The choice to use inexpensive, readily accessible materials allows me to create environments that ask the viewer to revalue the mundane. The bags will each be carefully sculpted and adhered one by one in a format that best fits the space. They will “grow” from the corners and utilize the walls, ceiling, and floor.”

Viewing Hours & Location: The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland and is open 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday. Jenna Reineking’s Installation runs from March 21 – April 15.

For more information on the Portland Building Installation Space, including images, proposals, and statements for all projects dating back to 1994, go to https://racc.org/public-art/installationspace.

RACC launches new website

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Welcome to our new website! With an average of 452 unique visits per day, we have redesigned and reprogrammed racc.org to help constituents access RACC’s abundant resources more easily. The new website is also fully responsive for tablets and mobile devices, which now account for 30% of all visits.

In addition to the new navigation menus on our homepage, a new superfooter at the bottom of every page helps constituents access the most popular content on racc.org with one click. For example:

  • Artists can apply for RACC grants, discover public art opportunities, find workshops and networking events, and tap into a wide variety of other online resources.
  • Arts organizations can learn more about RACC funding opportunities, find technical assistance programs and download research to help them be strong advocates.
  • Arts educators can learn more about The Right Brain Initiative and other opportunities for teaching artists in our community.
  • The public at large can browse the public art collection, find arts-related jobs, connect with organizations who offer $5 tickets through the Arts for All program, and learn more about how the Arts Education & Access fund, or arts tax, is making a difference in our community.

The new racc.org allows visitors to customize many of RACC’s resource lists by searching and sorting the results. For example, check out RACC’s list of residency opportunities, arts-related jobs, live-work spaces, workshops, and lectures. We have also created a new form where you can submit additional opportunities for RACC to share with others online.

We invite you to explore the new website and send your feedback to Mary Bauer, mbauer@racc.org. We are eager to hear what you think of the new site – good, bad or indifferent – and we will be happy to assist you if you’re having trouble finding something in particular.