RACC Blog

What’s Up Next?

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ELOISE BLOG:

Thirty years ago this June I moved to Portland. A week later I interviewed for a job managing the Percent for Art Program for the Oregon Convention Center. I started the next day. It was an amazing opportunity to jump right into the midst of a pivotal design and construction project, to work with a broad range of city leaders, architects, artists, the construction team, and to take a crash course in Portland’s arts community. Some of those extraordinary people remain close friends and colleagues to this day. And little did I know that this was the beginning of a dream career helping to frame, nurture and grow public art in Portland and then add to that responsibility to strengthen the broader arts and culture communities.

Looking back I am so proud of what the mighty RACC staff and board have been able to accomplish together with artists, arts leaders, elected officials, volunteers, business people, educators, donors, the creative industries and voters. 62% said YES to the Arts Tax! All Portland elementary students now have art and music every week and arts organizations receive increased general operating support. Thanks also to the Arts Tax and Multnomah County we have created and launched Arts Equity Grants to support previously underserved populations, brought new organizations into General Operating Support membership, and will soon pilot capacity building opportunities for culturally specific organizations.

The Right Brain Initiative is rapidly growing across the region preparing our youth for productive, creative futures. Public Art continues to thrive especially as our city and counties grow and build—artfully. Work for Art raises more money each year to support arts organizations, while events like Juice and the Battle of the Bands bring arts and business ever closer in creative collaborations and greater contributions.

The years have brought challenges to be sure, but our remarkably resilient arts community has pulled through by helping each other through the worst of it and holding on to that determined spirit. Now more than ever we need to tap into our inclusive values, our beliefs that everyone is welcome here, and do all we can to ensure that arts and culture opportunities are available and accessible to every person here. RACC is committed to this and I know that going forward our resolve will only grow as we learn how best to make equity and inclusion the foundation of all that we do.

What’s next for me? I have no grand plan except that I know I will spend as much of the coming summer as I can outside enjoying this beautiful place, my friends and family. I have a piano I want to befriend, a body and mind that would love to learn yoga, a husband who like me is a travel junkie, and a stunningly sweet 10 month old granddaughter two hours away who doesn’t know it yet, but surely needs a grandmother to dote on her. I also have no intention of disappearing from the arts community I truly love—period.

Thank you to everyone for these wonderful years – to the incredible RACC staff past and present, our amazing Board leadership, and everyone I have had the great fortune to know and work with over 30 years. I am so lucky to have you as colleagues, collaborators, conspirators, and, most of all, friends.

Company bands invited to Battle on May 17

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PORTLAND, ORE  – The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) is now accepting registrations for its second annual Battle of the Bands competition slated for Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at the Crystal Ballroom. Eight employee bands, sponsored by their companies, will perform in front of friends, family, co-workers and a panel of celebrity judges as they vie for the title of Best Company Band and other prizes. The event will raise more than $80,000 for RACC’s annual Work for Art campaign.

The debut of Battle of the Bands last year was an unqualified success, attracting seven employee bands, 400 music fans and $70,000 for the cause. Top honors went to Pencil Skirt Paula and The Straight Edge Rulers from ZGF Architects (Best Company Band); Members Only from Kaiser Permanente (Best Showmanship); and Smoke Before Fire from The Standard (Audience Favorite).

While those companies prepare to defend their titles in 2017, five spots remain for the 2017 Battle. Among the rules:

  • In order to perform, companies pay a sponsorship fee of $5,000 or more; sponsorships also include complimentary tickets and other benefits.
  • Spots are offered on a first-come basis. All bands must register by Monday, April 3, 2017.
  • Each band can have between 3-15 members.
  • Bands must be made up mostly of employees working for the sponsoring company; only one musician in each band may be exempted from this requirement.
  • Each band will have 10 minutes to perform, and all genres of music are welcome.

New this year, RACC is providing additional opportunities for local business participation through a lip sync video competition. For more information and application materials, visit http://workforart.org/bob/ or contact Alison Bailey at 503-823-5424.

Work for Art, now in its 11th year, is an annual campaign to raise money and awareness for local arts and culture organizations, primarily through workplace giving and other partnerships with local businesses. The 2017 campaign is led by Kregg Arntson, executive director of the PGE Foundation and director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Portland General Electric. More than 70 companies will participate in this year’s Work for Art campaign, and all proceeds from Work for Art and Battle of the Bands will be granted to approximately 100 nonprofit arts and culture organizations in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties.

Portland City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly and ZGF Principal Sharron van der Meulen are co-chairing the 2017 Battle. Tickets are on sale now for $12 each at The Crystal Ballroom box office, 1332 West Burnside Street in Portland; by phone at 1-855-CAS-TIXX; or online at https://tinyurl.com/jy6pjyg. A limited number of VIP tickets are available for $100 each, including complimentary food and beverage plus reserved seating.

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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 www.racc.org.

Kalimah Abioto, Artist-in-Residence with Open Signal and RACC, to debut film on First Thursday

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PORTLAND, ORE – Open Signal and the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) have partnered to support an artist-in-residence, Kalimah Abioto. The residency is part of Night Lights, a monthly digital media event in which artists project their work onto the north exterior wall of RACC’s downtown offices on First Thursdays. Abioto will produce a new work for the next edition of Night Lights on Thursday, March 2.

A graduate of the film program at Hollins College, Abioto’s work includes experimentally edited short documentaries and narrative films, with a focus on the Portland and Memphis African-American communities.

Through Night Lights, Abioto was granted a stipend of $5,000 from RACC and use of Open Signal media equipment, facilities and training. In November, she used these resources to travel to Mali, West Africa, where she collected video footage in Dogon Country, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Since returning to Portland, Abioto has collaborated with local dancers, musicians, filmmakers and prop-makers to create her Night Lights film entitled Sight. The film tells the story of three young girls with the ability to travel to different dimensions, who help an adult woman to rediscover her own power.

“It’s a film about spirituality—going inside to retrieve your gifts and share them with the world,” Abioto said. “Embracing your shadow, in a way.”

Through her residency, Abioto had access to Open Signal’s equipment and production studios, which she used to create one of the dimensions in Sight. Dancers Uriah Boyd, Akela Jaffi and Mia O’Connor staged a dance alongside the three young leads in Open Signal’s Cyclorama green screen studio, to music written and performed by Abioto’s sister, Amenta Abioto.

“The green screen studio is phenomenal,” Abioto said. “So is having the office space to meet with the team and the talent, as well as access to the equipment—it’s like having a support team.”

Abioto will debut her film at Night Lights on Thursday, March 2, starting at dusk, at the Regional Arts & Culture Council’s north exterior wall, 411 NW Park Avenue in Portland.

Abioto will also share her work in progress during Open Signal’s first Open House on Saturday, February 25 from 4-8 p.m. at 2766 NE MLK Jr. Blvd. in Portland.

On Wednesday, March 22, she will deliver an artist talk in conjunction with her collaborators at Open Signal at 7:00 p.m., screening her film again, discussing her filmmaking process and taking questions from the audience about its inspiration and production.

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About Night Lights
Night Lights is a monthly public art event that promotes digital media, urban intervention, and technological innovation. On the First Thursdays of October through April, select artists are able to showcase their work on the north wall of the Regional Arts & Culture Council. Night Lights is a collaboration between Open Signal and RACC.

About Open Signal
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.

NEA and NEH Letters to the President

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ELOISE BLOG: As we know there has been considerable angst and very little reliable information circulating regarding the President’s position on arts and humanities.

As a first step in advocating for these vital organizations Americans for the Arts (AFTA), the national organization focused on arts advocacy, research, and support to the field, has shared a recent letter to the President from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Sen Tom Udall (D-NM) in support of continued funding to the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The twenty-two other Senators that signed include our own Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and two GOP members, Senators Capito (R-WV) and Collins (R-ME).

There will be many opportunities going forward for advocacy, but I wanted you to see this letter and encourage the signers to press on.

Read the letter here.

Stephanie Simek presents “Table of Elements (and Minerals)” at the Portland Building, February 21 – March 17

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PORTLAND, ORE – Drawing on her previous work exploring materials with unusual and interesting physical properties, Stephanie Simek will install her deftly crafted, hand-built “table of holograms” in the Portland Building Installation Space beginning February 21st.

Simek’s project, titled Table of Elements (and Minerals), was designed with the architecture of the Installation Space in mind. Her installation not only serves as a way to engage visitors with a set of optical illusions (illusions that depend on the clever use of optical principles rather than complicated electronics) but it also functions as a conceptual container or vitrine for the artist’s personal table of elements—silicon, quartz, calcite, iron, copper, and bismuth. “It’s a table within a table, a reliquary for various elemental materials with remarkable inherent potential.” Simek says, “Each possesses unusual magnetic, electrical, or optical capabilities, and all have the ability to do work, such as carrying a signal or storing information.”

These familiar, but perhaps under-recognized, minerals have been used by the artist in her past installations to great effect. Those projects include the design and construction of a room-sized crystal radio, an invisibility cloak, a levitating sculpture, and an 8 byte data storage device.

About the Artist: Portland artist Stephanie Simek produces a wide array of work in multiple mediums. She received her BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and has shown and performed her work in the Pacific Northwest, New York, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Simek has received two Oregon Arts Commission Career Development Awards and was awarded a Regional Arts & Culture Council Project Grant in 2014. Her work will be included in a two-person show at Oregon State University in 2018.

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 to Friday. Table of Elements (and Minerals) opens Tuesday, February 21 and runs through Friday, March 17.

The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) manages the 13’ x 8’ installation space in the lobby of the Portland Building and presents installation based art there year round. For more information, including images, proposals, and statements for projects dating back to 1994, 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.

Eloise Damrosch announces retirement

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PORTLAND, ORE – Eloise Damrosch, the executive director of the Regional Arts & Culture Council in Portland, has announced her plans to retire on June 30, 2017. From 1987 to 2004, Eloise served as the public art director of RACC and its predecessor organization, The Metropolitan Arts Commission. She was appointed executive director in 2004.

“Eloise’s accomplishments are too many to list,” said RACC board chair Mike Golub. “Inarguably RACC has become a much stronger organization during her tenure. The number of artists, arts organizations and students that we serve has grown exponentially under Eloise’s watch. Our programs and impact on arts and culture in the region have grown dramatically under her stewardship. In short, her impact and imprimatur on the arts community in our region is an indelible one.”

“My time at RACC has been an amazing experience,” said Damrosch. “I have been so fortunate to have worked with smart, talented and creative people internally with our board and staff and externally in the arts and culture, business, government and non-profit communities. Together we have faced challenges and opportunities; celebrated wins; broadened our reach to be ever more inclusive; and pushed ourselves to meet our mission. Happily I will leave RACC with confidence in its future, faith in its staff and board, and a knowledge that our arts and culture community is vibrant and resilient.”

Damrosch has earned a local and national reputation as a respected arts administrator while helping create one of the best-known public art collections in the country. During her tenure of Executive Director, the organization developed an annual workplace giving campaign for the arts, Work for Art; established a comprehensive arts integration program, The Right Brain Initiative; increased the City of Portland and Multnomah County percent-for-art ordinances to 2%; and helped secure the passage of Portland’s voter-approved Arts Tax. Damrosch has also worked closely with RACC’s board of directors to develop a comprehensive agenda for equity and inclusion, transforming the way the organization allocates resources to help ensure that everyone in the region has access to culture and the arts. She is a member of the United States Urban Arts Federation, and recently termed off the Board of the Non-profit Association of Oregon.

The Regional Arts & Culture Council will undergo a national search for a new Executive Director. Details on the search are forthcoming.

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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 www.racc.org.

Some responses to the current state of our country

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ELOISE BLOG: This past Friday and Saturday I participated in meetings with 40 people who lead local arts agencies in large cities across the country. Top in everyone’s minds, of course, is the tornado roaring through national government. The participating leaders represent blue cities in blue states, blue cities in red states, and red cities in red states, so responses and actions vary accordingly. Adding to this political variety the opaque nature of the new administration’s decision making, the constant shifting of communications, and the day to day policy vacillations – charting a sensible set of responses and actions seems next to impossible.  But we cannot wait.

The meetings were organized by Americans for the Arts, the leading arts advocacy organization based in DC, with participation also by our liaison to the National Endowment for the Arts.  Since there has been so much focus on a recent article from The Hill, which reported that Trump plans to shut down the NEA and NEH and privatize NPR, I will start with comments from the NEA. The article is not ”news.” It mimics a position espoused by the Heritage Foundation in the 1970’s and which has popped up often. Obviously since these venerable institutions still exist the proposal has failed every time. Even staunch conservatives value what they are about. I don’t mean to suggest that Trump won’t try to cut costs this way, but reasonable experts are not yet convinced he would get his way with Congress on this one. Also troubling, though, is that the arts are funded through a number of other federal agencies beyond and richer than the NEA and those programs will also be under intense scrutiny.

Americans for the Arts is not in a position to aggressively advocate against the administration for fear of major retaliation, but is reaching out to influential people within current leadership who might be allies. It’s a political dance they are well qualified to do. They also have been calling out to everyone to strongly advocate for the values and beliefs this country was founded on and the important role arts, culture and humanities play in supporting these values.  To learn more please visit http://artsactionfund.org/page/s/trump-arts-petition and sign the petition.

Our group talked at length about the many and varied ways to respond, resist, and reset. Leaders in solidly red states and cities in mixed situations have challenging opportunities for responses, but we all live and work in cities where individuals are still completely free to speak out, reach out, act out. We discussed the benefits of peaceful and positive voices and actions. Since we all stress the importance of equity and inclusion in our work, we agreed upon a core commitment to create a culture of “belonging”. We are all in this together. We need to publicly and prominently create displays of cultural unity slicing through the fear and negativity and focusing on the nation we want to be. After all our constitution opens with “we the people.”

Over the coming days, weeks and months RACC will meet with our local officials to discuss how we as a city and region will move this vital work forward. Please share with us what you as individuals want to do/are doing, how your networks, organizations and associations are responding, what questions need asking, and how together we can ensure that at least our part of this vast nation stays firmly on a positive path for all people. Thank you.

For six valuable action suggestions please see “Here’s What You Can Do To Protect National Arts and Culture Funding,” courtesy of Claire Fallon and The Huffington Post.

February Night Lights: Laura Heit presents “Hypothetical Stars II” in conjunction with the Portland Winter Light Festival on February 2

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PORTLAND, ORE – For February’s installment of Night Lights, artist Laura Heit will present Hypothetical Stars II on RACC’s north exterior wall at 411 NW Park Avenue in Portland on February 2 between 5:00 and 8:00 p.m. This month, Night Lights is an affiliate site for The Portland Winter Light Festival, which is now in its second year.

Hypothetical Stars II is a hand-drawn animated installation that employs the artist’s marks as interventions into 16mm footage taken from the NASA Apollo 12 mission. Being the first mission after the moon landing, it was notable for being the first to bring a color TV camera. And for the fact that, upon landing, the camera was pointed at the sun and inadvertently destroyed, immediately terminating the television broadcast. This piece asks us to consider a new view of that which we cannot see with the naked eye, where images sent back from the outer reaches are not seen as scientific truth but as deeply connected to our own desires and mirrors of our unconscious. Hypothetical Stars II uses thrown shadows from tabletop dioramas and reflected and refracted animated projections to create a universe of hypothetical stars, moons, and planets. Recreated on a large scale for Night Lights this piece transforms the parking lot into a 360 degree speculative star system. This installation coincides with two films completed in 2015 when NASA released its image archive into the public domain that spring.

About the Artist: Laura Heit is a multidisciplinary artist who engages experimental animation, performance, installation and writing. Disquieting and evocative, her work seamlessly crosses genres to unfold poetic visual narratives. Heit employs a strong handmade aesthetic, an irreverent sense of humor, drawing, puppetry, and animation, to bring together ideas and stories about ghosts, catastrophe, and invisibility. Screenings include; Rotterdam IFF, Annecy, Hong Kong IFF, London IFF, Ann Arbor Film Festival (1997, 2012, 2015), Black Maria, Walker Art Center, MOMA, Millennium Film, and the Guggenheim Museum, REDCAT, Aurora Picture Show, Pacific Film Archive, and others. She currently lives in Portland OR, USA.

Night Lights is a monthly public art event that promotes digital media, urban intervention, and technological innovation. On the First Thursdays of October through April, select artists are able to showcase their work on the North Wall of the Regional Arts & Culture Council. Night Lights is a collaboration between Open Signal and RACC.

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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 www.racc.org.

With a commitment to creativity, technology and social change, Open Signal makes media production possible for everyone. We provide skills, equipment, inspiration and we amplify local voices on five cable channels. www.opensignalpdx.org

The Portland Winter Light Festival, is a premier winter event hosted at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). This outdoor celebration illuminates Portland’s waterfront through contemporary light-based art installations, engaging performance, and fun activities for all ages. Free and open to the public, this nighttime community-supported event generates critical opportunities for artists, designers, creatives, makers and performers to collectively expand art, performance and technology innovations in our region. No tickets are needed for this outdoor event – simply show up and enjoy the show! Go to www.pdxwlf.com for more information and festival locations.