RACC Blog

This Time in Portland

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ELOISE BLOG:

A week ago it seemed completely appropriate for me to write a sincere last Arts Notes post prior to my June 30th retirement. The idea was to talk about all the wonderful experiences I have had over 30 years with MAC/RACC and to thank the thousands of wonderful people I have had the privilege to know.

Then the tragedy struck on the MAX Friday and completely changed my focus. Since November Portland and communities across the country have clearly experienced a distressing increase in verbal assaults focused on people of  color going about their peaceful everyday lives. That is wrong and not what our city is about. Yet it happens and swells into violent protests and becomes what a fringe element of our population is very much about.

Last Friday three incredibly brave people stepped up to defend two young women being barraged with hate and threats by an individual known for incendiary racist behavior. Their own outrage and selflessness saved the women. In doing so two perished and one was saved though gravely wounded. I cannot imagine the horror of that scene though it has haunted me since that day.

In trying to think about how to move on all I can think to suggest is proving to hateful people that they will not prevail. I think we need to pull together as concerned, committed, peaceful and loving citizens to raise our voices against hatred, write and sing our music, paint our fears and feelings, act out our responses and hopes for the future, teach our children by example and conversations, gather in places we gather to explore the ways out, support our leaders who are caught in an impossible bind, face this current reality with passion to protect everyone. It has to stop.

And I will get back with my grateful letter to all of you in a few weeks, because I will not let this tragedy get in the way of thanking you and celebrating the wealth of creativity, excellence and positive human interaction, which to me is what my time here has been most about.

RACC board taps Jeff Hawthorne to serve as Interim Executive Director

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PORTLAND, ORE – The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) has announced that Jeff Hawthorne will fill the position of Executive Director on an interim basis, effective July 1 until the new Executive Director is hired. RACC’s current Executive Director, Eloise Damrosch, retires on June 30.

“We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Jeff as the Interim Executive of RACC,” said Mike Golub, chair of the RACC board. “Jeff is extremely talented, experienced and respected in the arts community and is the perfect person to steward RACC during our transition.”

As a 15 year veteran of the organization and RACC’s director of community engagement, Hawthorne is responsible for securing a large majority of the organization’s public and private revenue each year. He supervises RACC’s advocacy efforts, research activities, communications strategies and fundraising campaigns. Among his accomplishments at RACC, Jeff designed and implemented the state’s first United Arts Fund campaign (Work for Art), and secured funding for RACC to launch a new arts integration program in classrooms in 2007 (The Right Brain Initiative). He co-authored the region’s 2009 cultural action plan, Act for Art, which laid the groundwork for the city’s arts tax. In 2015 Jeff received the Michael Newton Award from Americans for the Arts, recognizing his innovative work in developing private sector partnerships and funding for the arts.

Hawthorne is expected to serve in this role for at least three months; he is not a candidate for the position permanently. The search for the new Executive Director is being managed by the RACC-appointed search committee. A formal posting of the position is expected in June. For regular updates, visit www.racc.org/executive-director-search-update. The search committee can be reached anytime by emailing EDSearch@racc.org.


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The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) 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; 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. For more information visit racc.org.

RACC awards Arts Equity Grants to 24 organizations

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PORTLAND, ORE — The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) has awarded $126,540 in Arts Equity Grants to 24 organizations that are advancing RACC’s goals for equity and inclusion. These grants are funded by City of Portland’s Arts Education & Access Fund, or arts tax, along with support from Multnomah County.

Arts Equity Grants provide financial support to organizations that are conducting arts and culture projects and programming for communities of color, immigrants, refugees, underserved neighborhoods, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ communities, people experiencing homelessness and houselessness, and other communities that have historically been marginalized.

A total of 75 nonprofit organizations submitted eligible Letters of Interest in this cycle and 31 organizations were invited to submit full applications. A panel of RACC Board Members and community representatives reviewed the 29 submitted applications and recommended full or partial funding for 24 applicants, totaling $126,540. The RACC Board of Directors approved the final grant awards on May 24, 2017.

Here is a brief summary of the 24 Arts Equity Grants awarded (*First-time RACC Grant recipient):

  • Autism Society of Oregon – Art workshops for adults on the autism spectrum. $1,250
  • Cinema Project – Social justice film screenings at correctional facility in partnership with Liberation Literacy. $1,480
  • Cymaspace – Oregon Arts & Accessibility Festival to showcase the work of deaf and hard of hearing artists. $6,500
  • Fuse Theatre Ensemble – OUTwright Theatre Festival, celebrating the contributions of the LGBTQI+ community to the art of theatre. $5,000
  • Girls Inc of the Pacific Northwest* – Five week summer documentary filmmaking program that inspires girls to share the stories of Portland women. $6,500
  • Hmong American Community of Oregon* – New Year Celebration at Glenhaven Park. $6,000
  • Instituto de Cultura y Arte In Xochitl In Cuicatl – Dia de los Muertos ceremony and accompanying workshops/programming. $5,000
  • Jim Pepper Native Arts Festival* – 5th Annual Festival featuring and supporting Native American/First Nations artists, activists, and vendors. $6,000
  • Kukatonon Children’s African Dance Troupe – After-school African dance and drumming program, including partnership with The Portland Ballet. $6,500
  • Latino Network – Multi-media video art project with Latino youth in East County. $6,500
  • Morpheus Youth Project – Breakdancing workshop in partnership with Department of Community Justice, Juvenile Services.  $6,500
  • NAYA Family Center – Neerchokikoo Honoring Powwow, an annual celebration honoring Native American Cultural Arts. $5,000
  • New Expressive Works – Weekend of workshops and activities highlighting the experiences of urban South Asians. $6,500
  • Outside the Frame* – Intensive filmmaking workshop and subsequent weekly programming for youth experiencing homelessness. $6,000
  • Portland Art & Cultural Center* – Annual Chinese New Year Cultural Fair. $6,000
  • Portland Interfaith Gospel Choir* – Free community concert at St. Andre Bessette Catholic Church. $4,500
  • PreSERVE Coalition* – 12-week collaborative arts series with The Geezer Gallery for older African Americans. $6,500
  • Public Annex* – Two terms of art classes for people with disabilities and arts community. $5,000
  • Right 2 Survive – Support Ambassador Project to host writing and art workshops integrating housed and homeless people. $6,500
  • ROSE CDC* – Comprehensive music education, production, and performance program in partnership with Holla Mentors. $6,500
  • Slavic Community Center of NW* – Cultural music event for Slavic immigrants featuring local musicians performing music by Russian composers. $5,000
  • The Giving Tree – 4 session class for residents to explore their mental health diagnosis in relation to their creativity and art-making. $1,810
  • The Rosewood Initiative – Role Models Apply Positive Peer Pressure (RAPP) Music Program. $4,000
  • World Stage Theatre – Imagination Express Arts Education mobile outreach program in East County. $6,000

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The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) 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; 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. For more information visit racc.org.

Artist Crystal Schenk presents “I’m Not a Barnacle, I’m Just a Boy” at the Portland Building Installation Space, June 5 – June 30

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PORTLAND, ORE – RACC is pleased to present a new work by sculptor and installation artist Crystal Schenk in the Installation Space located adjacent to the Portland Building lobby. I’m Not a Barnacle, I’m Just a Boy, opens June 5 and features an arresting sculpture that asks the viewer to look beyond their common understanding into the complexities of the mother/child relationship.

Schenk’s project is an expansive ceramic piece recently completed during her artist residency at Leland Iron Works in Oregon City. The work consists of a field of rocks—each handmade with black clay—which are smooth and satiny, as if tumbled by the sea. Over these rocks large white porcelain barnacles appear to have fastened themselves. The center of the field reveals a sculpture of her three-year-old son, also made in black clay with barnacles growing on his body.

“I like to let one material mimic and charade as another—as the process of discovery lends to an unfolding of understanding.” Schenk says. “Although some species of barnacle are parasitic, most are so harmless their hosts may not even notice them growing to cover their bodies. My relationship to my son has been similar. Starting as an almost unnoticeable seed in my body, he soon grew to take it over—and once on the outside he has been continuously attached to me, even now at three years old. This work was inspired by a moment while we were beachcombing, when he randomly told me, ‘Momma, I’m not a barnacle. I’m just a boy.’ The sculpture exposes my mixed emotions to being a parent, and my bond with this tiny being who is both autonomous and vaguely parasitic.”

About the Artist: Crystal Schenk has a labor-intensive and detail-oriented way of working, in which craftsmanship and material choices play a large role. Her mediums vary as she relies on a combination of material meaning and personal/cultural iconography to build concept. Her work incorporates a wide range of skills, including welding, stained glass, woodworking, crochet, beading, and casting to name a few. Woven through what may initially appear as visually disparate works are common themes of class structure, heritage, and the fluctuating perceptions of memory.

Schenk received an MFA from Portland State University in 2007, and a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1999. She lives and works in Portland, Oregon and is an adjunct professor at Pacific Northwest College of Art and Portland State University. She was awarded the International Sculpture Center’s Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award for 2006, and was selected as the recipient of ISC’s residency program at Art-st-urban in Switzerland. In 2009 Art-st-urban awarded Schenk with the institution’s first Emerging Sculptor Award, and represented her at Art Basel in 2013 and Open 18 in Venice Italy in 2015. Locally, Schenk’s work was represented at the Oregon biennial, Portland 2010, and has been exhibited at Bullseye and Linfield galleries. This All Happened More or Less, a public art commission Schenk completed with Shelby Davis in SE Portland was recently recognized by Americans for the Arts one of 2014’s top public projects nationwide. www.crystalschenk.com

Meet the Artist: Join us for an opportunity to discuss I’m Not a Barnacle, I’m Just a Boy with Crystal Schenk in person at the Portland Building Installation Space on Thursday, June 8th at 4 PM.

Viewing Hours & Location The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue and is open 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday. I’m Not a Barnacle, I’m Just a Boy opens Monday, June 5 and runs through Friday, June 30. For more information on the Installation Space series go to www.racc.org/installationspace.


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The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) 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; 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. For more information visit racc.org.

Hampton Lumber, ZGF Architects and Stoel Rives win top prizes at RACC’s second annual Battle of the Bands

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PORTLAND, ORE – Six employee bands competed in RACC’s Battle of the Bands competition on Wednesday night, a benefit for Work for Art. More than 600 people attended the second annual event, held at the Crystal Ballroom. Celebrity judges Valerie Day, Rindy Ross and Edna Vazquez awarded the top prize – Best Company Band – to The Bears, from Stoel Rives. The Best Showmanship prize went to the ZGF Architects band, Pencil Skirt Paula and the Straight Edge Rulers.

Joey Meador, lead singer for the Best Company Band, The Bears, from Stoel Rives. (Photo by Erica Ann Photography)

The Audience Favorite award, as determined by cash votes from the audience and online, went to Hampton Lumber’s Petty Crimes, a Tom Petty cover band. Audience voting raised over $11,000 for the cause, and while the overall fundraising totals from sponsorships and other donations are still being tabulated, all proceeds will benefit the 2017 Work for Art campaign and will be shared with more than 100 arts organizations that are funded by RACC and Work for Art.

The event was held at the Crystal Ballroom and co-chaired by Portland City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly and ZGF Architects principal Sharron van der Meulen. Sarah G. from WE 96.3 FM emceed, and Alpha Media will provide the winning Bears an opportunity for an encore performance at the Skype Live Studio in downtown Portland (performance date to be announced).

The Audience Favorite from Hampton Lumber, Petty Crimes. (Photo by Erica Ann Photograph)

Portland jazz musician Christopher Brown mentored the competing bands, which also included Copper Goddess (Portland City Hall), Members Only (Kaiser Permanente), and Hair Nation (KeyBank). The Last Regiment of Syncopated Drummers kicked off the event, and The Standard presented a special performance by Strawberry Jam from the Rock N Roll Camp for Girls. The Brothers Jam, led by BodyVox artistic director Jamey Hampton, and a Timbers Army band, Greenhorn, also performed.

RACC’s second annual Battle of the Bands was sponsored in part by Hampton Lumber, KeyBank, The Standard and Alpha Media/KINK 101.9 FM. Additional sponsors included Kaiser Permanente, The Portland Business Journal, Stoel Rives, The Portland Timbers, ZGF Architects, Erica Ann Photography, Ben & Jerry’s/New Avenues for Youth, Performance Promotions and Poster Garden.

Companies interested in competing in next year’s Battle are encouraged to contact Alison Bailey, RACC’s business partnership manager, at abailey@racc.org, 503-823-5424.

To make a contribution to this year’s Work for Art campaign, visit workforart.org. Donors who give $60 or more receive a special benefit – The Arts Card, which provides 2-for-1 tickets to hundreds of arts and culture events in the Portland area.

Pencil Skirt Paula and the Straight Edge Rulers, from ZGF, won the Best Showmanship prize. (Photo by Erica Ann Photography)

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The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) was established in 1995 and is funded by public and private partners to serve artists, arts organizations, schools and residents throughout Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties. RACC provides grants for artists, nonprofit organizations and schools; manages an internationally acclaimed public art program; raises money and awareness for the arts through workplace giving and other programs; convenes forums, networking events and other community gatherings; provides workshops and other forms of technical assistance for artists; and integrates the arts into K-8 curriculum through The Right Brain Initiative. Online at racc.org.

Temporary mural wall pilot program Fresh Paint, a partnership between RACC and Open Signal, to launch in May

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Local artists will paint temporary murals at Open Signal over the next year

PORTLAND, ORE – Fresh Paint, a temporary mural wall project, begins in mid-May as part of a new professional development initiative of RACC’s Public Art Murals programming. Three artists have been selected to paint a temporary mural on an area of the exterior west-wall of Open Signal facing the highly-visible Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. Each mural will be up for a period of four months and then painted over in preparation for the next mural.

The pilot program for Fresh Paint is a partnership between RACC’s Public Art Murals program and Open Signal, a community-driven media arts center. Artist participation required living in the Portland metropolitan area, having a consistent studio or mural practice, and not having received any public art commission through RACC nor having created an exterior mural in the City of Portland. The selected artists will receive a stipend for their participation and are offered the opportunity to engage with the myriad of resources at Open Signal.

Public Art Manager Peggy Kendellen elaborates: “This program offers emerging artists the opportunity to work in the public realm—and, in many cases, on a larger scale —with the support of both RACC and Open Signal. The partnership provides artists additional resources that they would not typically have access to as they explore working in the public sector and incorporating new approaches and skills in their artistic practice and experience.”

Open Signal is a 13,000-square foot media arts center that provides the public with easy access to media tools, training, broadcast and opportunities for experimentation. According to Open Signal Executive Director Justen Harn, “We have been working hard this year to reimagine our physical space and connect with the community in new ways through that space. We are thrilled to work with RACC to explore new forms of public engagement.”

Illustrator Molly Mendoza will be the first artist to paint. Her mural is a nod to Open Signal’s youth programs with a vibrant image of Portland youth engaging with the community through broadcasting and video media. It will be painted in mid-late May and remain up through September. The second artist will be Alex Chiu painting in the early October. The third artist will be featured in early 2018.

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About Fresh Paint
Fresh Paint is a temporary mural wall project that furthers mural painting skills and promotes digital media engagement. From May 2017 – May 2018, selected artists are able to showcase their work on an area of the west wall of Open Signal. The program is a partnership between Open Signal and RACC.

About Open Signal, Portland Community Media Center
Open Signal is a media arts center making media production possible for anyone and everyone in Portland, Oregon. Launched in 2017, the center builds upon the 35-year legacy of Portland Community Media to create a resource totally unique in the Pacific Northwest. Open Signal offers media workshops, an equipment library, artist residencies and programs five cable channels with locally produced content. Open Signal delivers media programming with a commitment to creativity, technology and social change. Learn more at opensignalpdx.org.

About RACC
The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) was established in 1995 and is funded by public and private partners to serve artists, arts organizations, schools and residents throughout Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties. RACC provides grants for artists, nonprofit organizations and schools; manages an internationally acclaimed public art program; raises money and awareness for the arts through workplace giving and other programs; convenes forums, networking events and other community gatherings; provides workshops and other forms of technical assistance for artists; and integrates the arts into K-8 curriculum through The Right Brain Initiative. Online at racc.org.

State of the Arts

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I spoke with a colleague the other day who works at the National Endowment for the Arts where people are soldiering on every day not knowing whether or not they have a future there. I am reminded of how lucky we are here in the Portland region that support for RACC,  and all the artists, arts organizations and arts lovers who count on us, is strong and committed. We would, of course, love for it to be greater, but we rarely worry about its very existence.

Every Spring we report to Portland’s City Council on how we invested general fund dollars during the past year and the impact of allocations to the field. We open our presentation with a surprise performance designed to start on a high note and then we move on to tell our stories. We ask individuals – artists, arts leaders, arts advocates – to testify and share their own accounts of how a RACC grant affected their lives and/or careers. We hear from teachers or students who have benefitted from having art and music teachers back in their schools – thank you voters for the Arts Tax! We celebrate new dollars raised through Work for Art, new public art commissions for our public spaces, new applicants for Arts Equity, Project and Professional Development Grants, informative technical assistance workshops for artists, and new schools added to the Right Brain Initiative.

We also shine a light on some of the results of our Equity and Inclusion work, our deeply held commitment to making RACC reflect the communities we serve and to ensure RACC opportunities are readily available to as many people as we can.

Every year we try to pack the house with people eager to thank City Council for support and to make the case in person that Portland REALLY cares about our arts and culture communities. They are at the heart of who we are as a city and region.

Please join us Thursday May 4th at 2 p.m. at Portland City Hall, 1221 SW 4th, Council Chambers 2nd floor. And bring your friends!

Thank you.

 

Pochas Radicales presents “Nuestrx espacio; soy otro tú” at the Portland Building Installation Space, May 2 – May 26

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Click here for a Spanish version of this press release.

PORTLAND, ORE – Pochas Radicales, a queer Latinx art collective located in Portland, will present a timely, site specific installation in the exhibition space at the Portland Building beginning May 2. The project, titled Nuestrx espacio;soy otro tú, will transform the compact gallery adjacent to the building lobby into a platform that offers an engaging narrative of a young, queer Latinx living in Portland.

Visitors will immediately recognize the layout and furnishings in the room as something familiar, comfortable, and warm. Upon entering, we are lead into the narrative of the young person that created the space. As visitors contemplate the room’s story, the narrative unfolds and we are taken into the mind of this youth, seeing the world as they do and learning the rhythm of their heart. Entonces—who’s room is this?

“We invite the public, employees of the building, and visitors to interact with the space by entering the room, having a seat and making themselves at home. On designated days, there will be café de olla and pan dulce available for participants to enjoy in communion with the artists. The intention of this installation is to personalize the stories of so many people whose lives go unnoticed because they are often reduced to a flash on the evening news with very little context. We want participants to care about this young person as though they were someone very dear to them. They are young, they are queer, they are Latinx, and their story is worth sitting down and listening to. This person could be me, and they could be you. We are highlighting the power of the self-told narrative, and the precious, often overlooked details of human beings that we share space with at work, in our neighborhoods, and throughout our lives.” –Pochas Radicales

About the Artists: Pochas Radicales works to foster community engagement and social justice through art & activism. The collective was founded by Blanca Stacey Villalobos while she was at Portland State University to build community and support for queer Latinxs. Villalobos, along with Andrea Elena Telles form the heart of Pochas Radicales today and the collective has completed an impressive number of projects in a variety of mediums. In 2016 they received a Precipice Fund grant and worked throughout the year on their project echo/hecho. The project included starting a podcast, remodeling a camper trailer and converting it into a mobile gallery, and curating a 3 day event at the end of the year in which featured numerous artists from across Portland. Pochas Radicales also focuses on creating safe spaces for queer and trans people of color throughout Portland and are constantly working to educate themselves and their communities on ways to uplift themselves and one another. Their work challenges archaic notions of gender and sexuality and embraces, validates, and champions the richness of Latin American diaspora. (The term pocha is slang for a Mexican-American person who blends American and Mexican culture; alternately it is a reclaimed term used with pride to validate place and experience in a diverse North American culture.) pochasradicales@gmail.com

Meet the Artists: Join us for a chance to meet Pochas Radicales and discuss their installation in person at the Portland Building on Tuesday, May 2nd at 4 PM.

Drop in Tuesday Mornings: As a way for community and artists to engage in conversation. all are welcome to stop in for hot drinks and sweets with Pochas every Tuesday from 8:15 am – 9:15.

Viewing Hours & Location The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue and is open 8 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday. Nuestrx espacio; soy otro tú opens Monday, May 2 and runs through Friday, May 26. For more information on the Installation Space series go to www.racc.org/installationspace.

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The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) 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; 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. For more information visit racc.org.