RACC Blog

RACC celebrates National Arts in Education Week

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PORTLAND, ORE —The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) joins colleagues across the country to celebrate National Arts in Education Week, September 11-17, 2016. Throughout the week, RACC and The Right Brain Initiative will share stories on social media about how arts education has impacted our community, including perspectives from staff, as well as the students and educators we serve. To read these stories, follow: RACC Facebook, RACC Twitter, Right Brain Facebook, Right Brain Twitter, Right Brain Instagram.

As part of the celebration, The Right Brain Initiative has released its 2016 Progress Report detailing its unique arts education program and services in the 2015-16 school year.

In its seventh year, Right Brain served 25,641 K-8 students in the tri-county area, 51% of whom qualify for the free and reduced lunch program. Through hands-on workshops and coaching, Right Brain helped over 1,932 educators weave the arts into their daily teaching practice. Right Brain provided over 1,485 classroom teacher and artist collaborations, providing students with the opportunity to learn the arts as well as learn through the arts.

Right Brain also continues to receive local and national attention. In October of 2015, Right Brain was awarded the Game-Changing Project award at Portland Monthly’s prestigious Light a Fire Awards, recognizing some of the most dynamic nonprofits in the city. In January of 2016, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts Jane Chu and Oregon Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici visited Right Brain programming in action in the Hillsboro School District. Read more by downloading the full report: 2016 Progress Report.

Now in its eighth year, Right Brain is growing to serve 27,500 K-8 students in 67 schools in seven school districts: Corbett, Gresham-Barlow, Hillsboro, North Clackamas, Oregon Trail, Portland Public, and the newest addition, Reynolds. This fall, Right Brain is adding six partner schools between Hillsboro and Boring, including Alder Elementary, Corbett Grade, Kelso Elementary, King K-8, Poynter Middle, and Troutdale Elementary.

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The Right Brain Initiative is a sustainable partnership of public schools, local government, foundations, businesses and the cultural community working to transform learning through the arts for all K-8 students in the Portland metro area. Now in its eighth year, Right Brain serves 63 schools and approximately 25,000 students from urban, suburban and rural communities in the Portland area. In fall of 2014, Right Brain released data connecting the program to an above-average increase in student test scores, with greatest results for English Language Learners. Right Brain is an initiative of the Regional Arts & Culture Council. Young Audiences of Oregon & SW Washington serves as Implementation Partner. Read more online at TheRightBrainInitiative.org.

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.

Benz and Chang highlight the Hawthorne Bridge with an installation at the Portland Building, September 19 – October 14

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PORTLAND, ORE – Beginning September 19th the artists known as Benz and Chang will present a site-specific art installation in the Portland Building lobby. The project, titled The Bridge, 1910, is a visual homage to the work crews that built the Hawthorne Bridge, Portland’s oldest existing river crossing.

PDX_BldgBenz-image-2_Sept-Octcropped

Inspired by a historical photo (above) Benz discovered in the City of Portland Archives, the installation recreates a bridge work crew scene through a series of four large paper screens hung in the exhibition space. Each individual screen has been crafted into a hand-cut silhouette which offers a different layer of visual information. When viewed together—looking through all four at once—the silhouettes complete the scene and mythologize our idea of building of a bridge. By adjusting position in front of or alongside the silhouettes, viewers can alter their angle of view and manipulate the degree of abstraction or representation they take in.

“To dream of a bridge may signify making a connection, crossing a transition, or overcoming an obstacle. When we were contemplating the project, I came across this photo from the City of Portland Archives and was struck by the poses and faces. I wanted to bring these figures and bridge building into a more dream-like, archetypal representation. Here are the agents of change and here is their means of transport over this obstacle.”   — Benz

Benz and Chang's

Benz and Chang’s “The Bridge” installation at the Portland Building.

About the Artists: Benz and Chang live and work in Portland and have shown in both Oregon and Colorado. Benz has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Colorado in Boulder. Benz and Chang use popular subject matter from early 20th Century photography to explore the topics of spirituality, shifting identity, and transformative experiences. Chang is a fictional creative partner to Benz. You can visit their website at http://www.benzandchang.com

Viewing Hours & Location: The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in down-town Portland and is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday – Friday. The Bridge, 1910 opens September 19 and runs through October 14, 2016.

Meet the Artists: Join us for a chance to meet the artists and discuss the installation in person on Thursday, September 22 at 4 p.m..

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.

Quick — Take a summer vacation before it’s too late

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Eloise Blog:

Right when everyone is gearing up for the crush of September activity, off we go to New England for family, friends, swimming in the warm Atlantic, and lobsters! It’s only a week and I know there will be wonderful arts events aplenty when we return.

So I am taking a blogging break – only to say Happy Labor Day and “see you in September”! Anyone else old enough to remember that song?

Bukola Koiki presents “JJC (Journey Just Come)” in the Portland Building Installation Space, August 15 – September 9

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PORTLAND, ORE – Beginning August 15th artist Bukola Koiki will present JJC (Journey Just Come) in the Portland Building Installation Space located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland. This four week long exhibition, held in lobby of the Portland Building, is free and open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday – Friday.

JJC (Journey Just Come) was conceived by Koiki to explore the immigrant experience through pidgin—the simplified form of communication that develops between groups of people that do not have a language in common. As a Nigerian-American immigrant, she is particularly interested in using Pidgin English to explore how this shorthand form of communication affects the experience of immigrants living between cultures.

In Nigeria, a country of over 500 languages, basic communication can be truly daunting at times and pidgin is used to navigate everything from markets to parking lots. To help illustrate how pidgin communication functions Koiki has created a set of brightly colored flags with printed Pidgin English sayings (extracted from the local language in Lagos, Nigeria) that will cover the walls of the Installation Space. The title of the work, JJC (Journey Just Come), is slang that refers to naive newcomers or recent arrivals. The artist’s intent is to inspire conversations about what it means to experience a new culture through an unfamiliar language and to illustrate how the process of making linguistic transitions can both build, and block, mutual understanding.

“The overall effect of this installation will be a kind of magnetic disorientation as one might feel with the visual stimulation of a new city, something that immigrants like myself can definitely understand. As a way of engaging the audience I will be creating a game card that will list translations of the unfamiliar phrases and invite the viewer to match them to the right flag. Visitors can also leave me pidgin phrases and translations of their own.”

—Bukola Koiki

About the Artist: Bukola Koiki was born in Lagos, Nigeria and now lives and works in Portland. She came to study art in the United States as a teen through a series of events involving a secondary school classmate and the American Visa Lottery Program. Koiki received her MFA in Applied Craft + Design from Oregon College of Art and Craft and Pacific Northwest College of Art in May of 2015. Her multimedia work explores cultural hybridity and dislocation through the lens of memory, language, and ritual. She has exhibited her work in Oregon, New Jersey, and Tennessee and recently completed artist residencies at c3:initaive + Pulp & Deckle and Rainmaker Artist Residency in Portland.

Viewing Hours & Location: The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in down-town Portland and is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday – Friday. JJC (Journey Just Come) opens August 15 and runs through September 9, 2016. www.bukolakoiki.com

Meet the Artist: Join us for a chance to meet the artist and discuss her installation on Thursday, August 25th at 4 p.m. in the Portland Building.

The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) manages a 13’ x 8’ installation space in the lobby of the Portland Building. For more information, including images, proposals, and statements for all projects dating back to 1994, go to www.racc.org/installationspace.

Oregon Public Broadcast Think Outloud podcast (8/24/16)

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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.

What a Time

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Eloise Blog:

I wish I could write a glowing message about the joys of long hot days and cool breezes at night and all the other delights of summer in Portland. While of course we enjoy the bounty of our myriad farmers markets, outdoor concerts, beaches, bike rides and reading on the porch, this feels like a very different summer.

How can it be that we count the number of horrendous and hate-motivated shootings of innocent citizens and dedicated  corrections officers by the week?  The racial tension and prejudice that generated the Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter movements echo back to too many decades of a dark side of our country. We celebrate two terms of our first Black president, but the violence goes on. And this is now happening across the globe driven by political, religious and other motivations that push people over the edge to do the unthinkable.

And then we have an election season like no other – ever. Enough said. We must do better and we must prove we can.

So how do we get through this time without feeling completely beaten down? For me I look to the best we have here. The artists, artisans, and creative people of all kinds reflect who we are and who we aspire to be. They comment on the dark side but also help us see through the gloom and hatred and reflect the beauty of our place and the richness of our diverse population.

Summer festivals full of music, dancing, food and friends abound.  Shady parks lure us to picnic, read, write, strum a guitar, hang out with family and friends, take a nap. Let’s get together this summer and enjoy our best selves, the delight we see in our children, neighbors, visitors enjoying all our city and state have to offer. We cannot be oblivious to our world realities nor are we protected from violence in this place, but humans have a way of figuring out ways around.

Let’s tap into the creativity in all of us and make the best of all that we have. The sun is shining and the berries are abundant.

Fond Farewells

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Eloise Blog: 

RACC staff and board are sad to say goodbye to three immensely talented staffers who have recently left for other opportunities. Each has made significant contributions to their respective positions and to the organization’s cultural fabric. We also are saying farewell to two wonderful Board members who have termed out after 6 full years of serving on RACC’s Board of Directors.

Andre Middleton was hired in the fall of 2014  as our Community Service Coordinator to support RACC’s outreach and technical services. He designed and managed the annual series of professional development workshops, which provide artists with valuable tools to improve their business skills. Andre also was in charge of ArtSpark networking events, which bring artists and arts enthusiasts together at venues around the city to meet each other and learn about activities and opportunities across Portland’s vital arts community. Andre’s commitment to furthering RACC’s equity and inclusion efforts together with his infectious love for his work and all that RACC does made him a delightful addition to our team.

Rebecca Burrell came to RACC in 2009 to be Outreach Specialist for the Right Brain Initiative, RACC’s 8 year old program that integrates the arts into the core curriculum of elementary students across the tri-county region. Rebecca oversaw the program’s outreach efforts and marketing strategies and designed a wide range of communications and special events to foster community engagement and support RACC’s fundraising for arts education. Thanks to her boundless energy, commitment to Right Brain, and her marketing savvy she has helped  establish and grow this groundbreaking program that is changing the way students learn and teachers teach and drawing attention and praise across the country. And in her spare time she is active with the young leaders cohort at Americans for the Arts and Portland Emerging Arts Leaders (PEAL). Rebecca will be greatly missed by all of us.

Kathryn Jackson was hired in 2006 as RACC’s Work for Art Manager. As such she oversaw and developed all aspects of Work for Art, RACC’s 10 year old workplace giving program that supports arts activities, arts education and the creative economy. Through a growing public/private partnership Work for Art raises money for local arts organizations and actively engages employees of private companies, non-profits and public agencies as arts donors and participants. Kathryn has been a dedicated advocate for the services that over 100 arts organizations provide and helps increase their accessibility to all who take part. She also has forged beneficial relationships between the arts community and businesses, which RACC continues to build upon going forward. Together with program leadership, Kathryn worked diligently to help Work for Art raise more than $7.1 million over the last 10 years. She has been a tireless champion for this program she truly loves and for all  RACC programs and initiatives.

Eric Hormel  joined our Board in 2010 and has been a dedicated member of the RACC community for 3 2-year terms. Eric is an Oregon native and a shareholder at Perkins and Company. He works in his company’s Legacy Planning group, specializing in working with high net worth individuals and their families. He also leads Perkins’ creative services practice group, working with Portland’s largest advertising and PR firms. During his time with us Eric very ably served on RACC’s Finance and Audit Committee, Executive Committee and served for 4 years as the Board Secretary. Not being satisfied to leave it there, Eric took an interest in RACC’s Public Art Program and audited our Public Art Advisory Committee for several months to learn more. And, as outgoing Chair Jan Robertson said in her goodbye to him, “Eric has the remarkable ability to make even Finance fun!” Thank you, Eric, for your wisdom and wit and all you brought to RACC. Please keep in touch!

Joe Krumm is the executive director of community and government relations for the North Clackamas School District, and oversees communications in many forms−community partnerships, family support, outreach to diverse communities, interpretation, translation, volunteerism and lobbying. He came to the district in 1990 after serving as editor and co-publisher with The Clackamas County Review. Joe also joined RACC in 2010 and just completed his 6th year representing Clackamas County on our board. Not only did he bring his vast knowledge and expertise in education, but also his understanding, passion and facilitation skills to our organization-wide equity and inclusion work. Joe has been a committed member of RACC”s Equity Committee and has even requested staying on after his Board service ends. That was an easy request to meet. Joe is well known and respected by the leadership at Clackamas County and is a highly effective advocate for the arts in his county and in his role on the Leadership Development Committee has helped us recruit several new Clackamas Board candidates. We will miss his good humor and sensitivity to all people. Thank you Joe.

We wish these talented and valued friends and co-workers great success in their new ventures and will miss them greatly. Thank you for all you have contributed to the RACC family, Andre, Rebecca, Kathryn, Eric and Joe.

RACC announces final round of General Operating Support grants

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PORTLAND, ORE — The Regional Arts & Culture Council has awarded its final round of General Operating Support grants for the fiscal year ending June 30. RACC distributes these funds three times per year, after organizations submit comprehensive annual reports to RACC.

To qualify for General Operating Support, nonprofit arts organizations must demonstrate artistic excellence and fiscal responsibility, have an annual budget of at least $75,000, and be based in Clackamas, Multnomah or Washington Counties. Additional eligibility criteria are described at https://racc.org/grants/general-operating-support-grants.

A total of $2,933,855 has been distributed this fiscal year as unrestricted support to 48 different arts organizations, including 22 organizations receiving $546,046 this cycle. The arts organizations receiving general operating support in 2015-16 are:

Artist Repertory Theatre, $81,785

Bag & Baggage Productions, $10,000

Blue Sky Gallery, $12,367

*Bodyvox, $33,247

Broadway Rose Theatre Company, $23,000

Cappella Romana, Inc., $14,558

*Chamber Music Northwest, $46,619

*Children’s Healing Art Project, $14,135

*Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, $14,615

*Echo Theater Company, $16,148

*Ethos Music Center, $31,101

Friends of Chamber Music, $19,996

*Hand2Mouth, $8,000

Hollywood Theatre, $45,056

*Imago Theatre, $16,305

*Independent Publishing Resource Center, $11,118

Lakewood Center for the Arts, $21,000

Literary Arts, Inc., $52,929

*Live Wire! Radio, $16,033

Metropolitan Youth Symphony, $20,762

Miracle Theatre Group, $22,125

Northwest Children’s Theatre, $61,495

Northwest Dance Project, $40,216

*NW Documentary Arts & Media, $8,000

Oregon Ballet Theatre, $163,663

*Oregon Children’s Theatre, $83,292

Oregon Symphony Association, $502,394

*PDX Jazz, $18,093

Pendulum Aerial Arts, $8,256

PHAME, $14,383

Playwrite, Inc., $10,581

Portland Art Museum/Northwest Film Center, $608,805

Portland Baroque Orchestra, $30,237

Portland Center Stage, $281,149

*Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra, $13,857

*Portland Gay Men’s Chorus, $15,460

*Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, $49,320

Portland Opera, $267,092

*Portland Piano International, $20,065

Portland Youth Philharmonic, $25,030

*Profile Theatre Project, $18,041

The Portland Ballet, $25,376

The Third Angle New Music, $8,000

*Third Rail Repertory Theatre, $30,684

*triangle productions, $13,654

White Bird, $49,585

*Write Around Portland, $14,074

*Young Audiences of Oregon, $54,185

(*) denotes organizations awarded RACC support on June 22. All other organizations received their grant awards earlier this year.

RACC General Operating Support Grants are funded by the City of Portland general fund ($1,054,869) and Arts Education & Access Fund (or “arts tax”) ($1,828,686), plus Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties ($104,300 combined). In addition, RACC will allocate proceeds from its 2015-16 Work for Art campaign to these General Operating Support organizations in the fall.

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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.

Yelena Roslaya brings “Visual Sound” to the Portland Building, July 5 – August 5

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PORTLAND, ORE – Multimedia artist Yelena Roslaya works to represent sound visually. “The idea of visually displaying sound is inspired by my experience with hearing-motion synesthesia, which occurs when one sense triggers another…personally it happens whenever I see implied motion or energy. I want to share this experience with viewers through my installation at the Portland Building and hear their response.”

Roslaya’s first step in this process was the recording of everyday sounds that occur in the Portland Building—people opening doors, conversing with each other, or simply walking down a hallway. Using FL Studio software, those recordings were then translated into graphic wave images which will be displayed in front of a set of three-dimensional forms, or “sound wave sculptures,” inspired by the wave shapes. These large scale ceramic sculptures draw on the Udu drum forms Roslaya has explored in previous work. Even the colors of the glazes on the sculptures will be determined by the corresponding sound’s “color noise” spectrum—violet noise, white noise, red noise, etc. To complete the full experience for the visitor, each of the sculptures will also include a mp3 device that will playback its original source material.

About the artist: Yelena Roslaya is a graduate student at Oregon College of Arts Craft in Portland where she is the Studio Assistant for both the Ceramics and Drawing/Painting Departments. Her work is inspired by the way humans perceive and process sound. Roslaya lives in Battle Ground, Washington, and has shown at multiple venues in both Oregon and Washington.

About the Installation Space:  Each year the Portland Building Installation Space series reserves several exhibition opportunities for students engaged in creative study at the university level. The format and presentation requirements for the “student” installations are identical to those for established professional artists. The Regional Arts & Culture Council created this separate eligibility category to help introduce emerging talents to the world of public art.

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. Visual Sound opens July 5 and runs through August 5, 2016.

For more information on the Portland Building Installation Space, including images, proposals, and statements for all 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.