RACC Blog

Portlandia turns 30 on October 8; community celebration scheduled

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PORTLAND, ORE — The public is invited to attend a free party in celebration of Portlandia’s 30th birthday onThursday, October 8th from noon-1:30pm at The Standard Insurance Plaza across from the Portland Building, 1120 SW 5th Avenue.

Portlandia, designed and constructed by Raymond Kaskey, is made of hammered copper sheeting about the thickness of a dime formed around a steel armature. She took three years to complete and is one-third the size of the Statue of Liberty, the only larger statue of this kind in the nation. The sculpture was funded through the city’s percent-for-art requirement related to the construction of The Portland Building. The building’s architect, Michael Graves, had suggested a statue of Lady Commerce (from Portland’s City Seal) as part of his design for the building; Kaskey won the $198,000 commission and named the sculpture “Portlandia.”  

Upon her completion in 1985, Portlandia was shipped across the country by rail, from Maryland to Oregon, in eight pieces. After being reassembled in a local shipyard, she rode by river barge and truck to her final destination, welcomed by 10,000 Portland residents along the riverbank, streets, and bridges. 

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales, Arts Commissioner Nick Fish, and former mayor Bud Clark will be on hand to help RACC celebrate. Rose High Bear from Wisdom of the Elders will provide a Native blessing, and Storm Large will sing “Happy Birthday” to the copper goddess with students from Chapman Elementary School. Other festivities include games, photo opportunities and ‘80s music. Refreshments will be served. 

“Thirty years ago, Mayor Bud Clark paddled down the Willamette to welcome Portlandia to the City of Roses,” said Commissioner Nick Fish. “I’m proud to join Bud, the great Storm Large, my Council colleagues, the Regional Arts & Culture Council family, and the community to wish our copper goddess happy birthday.”

Portlandia’s 30th birthday party is presented by the Regional Arts & Culture Council, which maintains the city’s public art collection, and is sponsored in part by The Standard and Cupcake Jones.

RACC accepting applications for “Art of Leadership,” a professional development program, through October 26

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Portland, Ore. – The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) is now accepting applications for Art of Leadership, a training program that prepares business professionals to serve on the boards of arts and culture organizations. The Art of Leadership was first established by Business for Culture & the Arts in 2003, and was transferred to RACC in 2015.

Led by internationally acclaimed arts consultant George Thorn, the Art of Leadership series includes six half-day workshop sessions featuring expert speakers, interactive sessions with arts and business leaders and topical information about the challenges facing arts organizations of all sizes. The program also provides opportunities for internships to observe an arts board in session, and a “speed dating” event to meet with organizations that are seeking new board members.

Over the past 12 years, more than 450 people have graduated from the program. Recent graduates serve on the boards of Young Audiences of Oregon & Southwest Washington, Post5 Theatre, Independent Publishing Resource Center and Blue Sky Gallery. Art of Leadership graduates have chaired the boards of Literary Arts, Oregon Children’s Theatre, Write Around Portland, Portland Youth Philharmonic and others.

Tuition is $800 per person, with a $100 discount for companies that participate in Work for Art, RACC’s workplace giving program. A limited number of partial scholarships are also available. The application deadline is October 26 and up to 40 participants will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. The series begins on November 18th and continues through April. For a complete schedule and curriculum guide, and to register online, visit www.racc.org/artofleadership. 

Deanna Pindell’s “Apothecary for the Anthropocene” at the Portland Building Installation Space

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PORTLAND, ORE – The Anthropocene: a term increasingly used to describe a new epoch in which human activity exerts significant influence on global environmental conditions.

This allegorical apothecary installation by artist Deanna Pindell presents a summons to reconsider our heretofore casual relationship with our mortal existence on the planet. Can the looming climate and environmental crisis we appear to be headed for be cured by self-reflection, personal responsibility, and widespread cultural change? To help explore where we stand as a species with the environment that sustains us, Pindell will present viewers with a set of riddles written on the walls of the Portland Building Installation Space. Clues for these riddles come in the form of over 100 mason jars mounted on shelves. Each jar contains a relic, or some form of physical artifact that references a single environmental choice our society has decided to make, consciously or unconsciously—a jar full of genetically modified corn seeds, a tiny bird skull, coupons from Walmart. The riddles and their enigmatic clues are crafted to provoke us into directly considering these decisions, and whether or not, taken together, they accumulate into environmental disaster.

  • Who was number 316? (clue – a jar that contains an ear tag for a “factory cow.”)
  • How to kill an albatross?  (a jar with spent shotgun cartridge wads consumed by sea birds.)
  • Several slender hopes for the future? (a jar containing organic heritage squash seeds.)

The project will include an intimate journal visitors can examine and add their own comments to while seated in a comfortable vintage chair. Attentive journal readers will also discover a set of answers to the riddles, short poetic essays, and technical information on the jar specimens.

About the Artist: Deanna Pindell practices permaculture with a plethora of critters and conifers in Port Hadlock, Washington. A graduate of the Interdisciplinary Art M.F.A. program at Goddard College, she is the veteran of numerous public art projects and exhibitions throughout the US. She currently teaches at Olympic College in Bremerton, and was the Environmental Artist-in-Residence at the McColl Center for Visual Art in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2012.

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.  Apothecary for the Anthropocene opens September 28th and runs through October 23rd, 2015.

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.

David Eckard and Ellen Lesperance receive RACC fellowship awards for excellence in visual arts

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PORTLAND, ORE — Two Portland-based visual artists have received RACC’s 2015 Fellowship Awards. In addition to being recognized for their artistic excellence and achievements in the visual arts, David Eckard and Ellen Lesperance will each receive a cash grant of $20,000.

David Eckard was selected for a RACC Fellowship on the strength of his personal studio work, public performances and his dedication to the arts community both at PNCA and in his activism on behalf of artists. Many of his elegantly and well-crafted sculptures are choreographed into his performances. His work is layered, complex, and simultaneously intriguing and accessible. He will use fellowship funds (and take a sabbatical from PNCA) to research, design and begin implementing plans for a “creative compound” on his property, which will be populated with exhibitions, screenings, conferences, neighborhood events, workshops, residencies and mentoring opportunities.

Ellen Lesperance creates art in various media but often employs the visual language of knitting, having once worked for Vogue Knitting as a pattern knitter. Her work is socially responsible and poignant yet inclusive – for example, she has created memorial paintings (“death shrouds”) for young women activists who have died while fighting for “causes greater than themselves.”  The RACC Fellowship will help Lesperance take a semester off from teaching to commit solely to a full-time studio practice. She will also attend two residency programs: the MacDowell Colony, and the American Academy in Rome’s Visiting Artist Program. She will also use some of the funds for materials for upcoming shows.  

“We congratulate David and Ellen on receiving these fellowship awards, which honor two of our community’s most extraordinary visual artists this year,” said Eloise Damrosch, RACC’s executive director.  “RACC is committed to supporting artists at every stage in their careers, and these fellowships are designed to help artists take major steps forward in their artistic development.”

Established in 1999, RACC’s Artists Fellowship Award remains one of the largest and most prestigious grants to individual artists in the Pacific Northwest, supporting exceptional artists who exemplify RACC’s mission of enriching the local community through arts and culture. RACC rotates the disciplines it honors each year—performing arts, visual arts, literature and media arts. 

To be eligible for consideration, professional artists must have worked in their field for 10 years and have lived in the Portland tri-county area for five years. Applications, which include three narrative questions, artist resumes, two letters of recommendation, and examples of the artist’s work, are reviewed through a panel process of community representatives from the discipline being honored. This year’s panelists included Yaelle Amir, Ben Buswell, Gabe Flores, Lisa Jarrett, Joanna Priestly, Blake Shell and Eric Stotik.

Eckard and Lesperance join a prestigious group of local artists who have been named RACC Fellows in the past, including Mary Oslund, Obo Addy, Christine Bourdette, Terry Toedtemeier, Jim Blashfield, Michele Glazer, Tomas Svoboda, Keith Scales, Judy Cooke, Michael Brophy, Chel White, Craig Lesley, Thara Memory, Henk Pander, Joanna Priestley, Kim Stafford, Robin Lane, Eric Stotik, Lawrence Johnson, Sallie Tisdale, Linda Austin and Anita Menon. All RACC fellows are listed at  www.racc.org/grants/individual-artist-fellowships. 

Work for Art launches million dollar campaign

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PORTLAND, ORE — The Regional Arts & Culture Council has announced plans to raise $1 million during Work for Art’s 10th anniversary campaign benefitting local arts and culture organizations. Mike Golub, President of Business Operations for the Portland Timbers, announced the goal on Thursday evening in front of 100 business and arts leaders at the Gerding Theater at the Armory.

“I am gratified that Work for Art has raised more than $6.2 million over the past nine years, and we are excited to be raising the bar for our tenth anniversary,” said Golub, who will co-chair the 2015-16 campaign along with Dave Lofland, President of KeyBank Oregon and SW Washington. 

“We thank and congratulate the companies that helped Work for Art raise $750,369 last year,” Lofland said. “Our past supporters are stepping up with extraordinary commitments for this year’s million-dollar campaign, which will help local arts organizations provide even more exceptional programs and services in the future.”

Nearly 2,000 employees at 76 companies currently participate in Work for Art. The Standard, NW Natural, state employees, ZGF Architects, OHSU, KeyBank, the City of Portland, and Stoel Rives were among the largest workplace giving campaigns for the arts in 2014-15, and Golub and Lofland extended special recognition on Thursday night to the following:

  • Portland General Electric was the #1 campaign, raising a total of $98,730 from employees and the company’s matching gift program.   
  • Burgerville had the most employees participate in the campaign – 403.
  • The Oregon Cultural Trust was named outstanding community partner for providing several grants that have funded critical program expenses since 2007.

The 2014-15 campaign raised a total of $750,396, and all proceeds will be awarded to arts organizations in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties through RACC’s established grants process. For the 10thanniversary milestone, Golub and Lofland reiterated the importance of renewing last year’s donors while developing new strategies and revenue streams for 2015-16:

  • $342,500 has been secured thus far for a Matching Challenge Fund that will double all individuals’ gifts up to $5,000. Participating donors to date include the City of Portland; Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties; KeyBank, Portland General Electric, the Portland Timbers and The Standard; and several individual donors.
  • Securing new participating companies will continue to be a priority. Century Link, Daimler Trucks North America, Providence Health & Services, The Commerce Bank of Oregon and Washington Trust Bank are examples of companies that have recently joined the ranks of Work for Art.
  • A new special event, a “Battle of the Bands,” will debut in May, 2016. Employees from eight local companies will compete in front of a live audience and panel of celebrity judges to win the title of Best Company Band in Portland, with all proceeds benefiting the 10th anniversary campaign. Sponsors (and competing companies) include KeyBank, Portland General Electric, Portland Timbers and The Standard.

Although Work for Art is primarily a workplace giving program, anyone can participate by making a donation online at workforart.org. Donors who pledge $60 or more receive an Arts Card, which provides a full year of two-for-one tickets at hundreds of local arts events.

Company leaders who would like to establish an employee giving campaign for the arts, or provide Arts Cards for their employees, or contribute to the 10th Anniversary campaign in other ways, are invited to contact Kathryn Jackson, Work for Art Manager at 503-823-5424 or kjackson@racc.org.

Andy Behrle presents his homage to the Bull Run Watershed at the Portland Building Installation Space

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PORTLAND, ORE – Andy Behrle’s installation, from there to here, is an arresting visual exploration of Portland’s water system. The artist has gathered and combined into a single composition, digital video footage from the origins of Portland’s drinking water in the Bull Run Watershed and the open storage reservoirs at Mount Tabor Park. In its simplest form this project celebrates the purity of the watershed and the ingenuity of the delivery system for this amazing natural resource. 

The Bull Run Watershed, which provides 85% of Portland’s drinking water, is 26 miles east of downtown, but it can be considered as much a part of the city as any park, street, river, or building. With the system’s inception over 120 years ago, waterborne illnesses and disease were almost completely eradicated, and today the water continues to flow freely to quench the thirst of nearly one million Portland Water Bureau customers.

Beyond trumpeting the wonders of the water system,  from there to here is an investigation into what a place is, how location plays a part in that determination, and how two places can be so interconnected physically as to be indistinguishable when separated. In essence, the watershed is captured and displaced into thousands of miles of pipes and tubes before filling bathtubs, bottles, toilets, and everything at the end of a pipe throughout the city.

At the Installation Space, two digital projectors will shine images of water captured from the open reservoirs in Mount Tabor Park and from the Bull Run Watershed. The projected light, ultimately bound to intersect and illuminate the gallery wall in the back of the space, passes through sheer fabric scrims on its way, causing images to float in space just off of the gallery floor. A map of the watershed and the city’s water delivery infrastructure also intercepts light and overlays a shadow of the system on the moving images dancing and intersecting on the back wall.

On this journey, light has been captured, displaced, filtered, and reflected. Locations trade places,  here is illuminated with light from there, what originates from the right moves to left, while left moves to the right. The images shot on location in the watershed are transposed onto the city and the footage collected in the city is transposed onto the watershed. They are separate, but become one. They were there and are now here.

About the Artist: Andy Behrle lives and works in Zillah, Washington and has shown and lectured on his work widely in the Northwest and greater U.S.  He received his MFA in sculpture from Arizona State University, Tempe, and holds a BA in Philosophy and Religion and Studio Art from Elmira College in Elmira, New York. Behrle was the Artist-in Residence at Tulane University’s A Studio in the Woods program in 2012, and this fall will commence a residency at the Jack Straw Cultural Center in Seattle; he has also been selected to serve as the Visiting Artist for Pacific University’s Art Experiment Workshop in 2016. 

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.  from there to here opens August 24th  and runs through September 18th, 2015.

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.

RACC to take ownership of key BCA programs

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PORTLAND, ORE – The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) and Business for Culture & the Arts (BCA) announced today that some of BCA’s signature programs are being transferred to RACC while BCA winds down its operations as an independent 501(c)(3) organization.

Under the terms of the agreement, RACC will receive all intellectual property and other materials related to theArt of Leadership program, which helps train business leaders to become effective board members for local arts organizations. RACC will also assume ownership of the Arts Breakfast of Champions, an annual event recognizing the community’s top business donors to the arts. RACC intends to continue the Art of Leadership program on schedule this fall, and is developing plans to host the Breakfast of Champions or similar event this November, potentially in collaboration with other partners.

“We are thrilled that RACC will acquire two of BCA’s hallmark programs, ensuring this important part of connecting Portland’s business and arts and culture communities,” said Parker Lee, BCA President.  “We’ve considered many potential partners for acquiring BCA’s valuable programs and assets – but none is more appropriate than the RACC. RACC’s commitment to develop and evolve these programs will be a shining example of how the collaboration of arts, culture and business can build a better and vibrant city.”

Jan Robertson is chair of the RACC board and CEO of Norris Beggs Simpson, a company that helped establish BCA in 1985. She said, “We congratulate BCA on their accomplishments over the last 30 years. Our arts community is stronger because of their efforts, and I believe RACC is the right organization to adopt these programs and forge new connections between arts and businesses in the future.”  

RACC will also establish a new advisory committee, a Business Committee for the Arts, composed of former BCA board members and other business leaders that can help fundraise for these programs and promote arts partnerships with local businesses. This new Committee will also advise the RACC board of directors on important issues involving the intersection between arts and business, and assist in the further development of Work for Art, RACC’s workplace giving campaign for arts and culture organizations.

RACC executive director Eloise Damrosch said, “We appreciate the willingness of former BCA board members to help RACC continue these valuable programs. With their support, we are committed to helping more businesses use arts and culture to inspire employees, stimulate innovation and foster creative collaborations in the workplace.”

Art of Leadership has been one of BCA’s most successful programs in both quality of program and financial sustainability since 2001. Its objective is to train diverse professionals who are ready to contribute as “doers” to serve on arts and other nonprofit boards. The program has graduated over 420 individuals, and 30-40% of the alumni currently serve on nonprofit arts & culture boards. Another 30-40% serve on other nonprofit boards. Companies that are interested in participating in the program in 2015-16 can email jhawthorne@racc.org.

The Arts Breakfast of Champions began in 1995 as a relatively small event held twice yearly. In the early 2000s, the breakfast became an annual event, and has since become a significant gathering place and celebration for 350-420 individuals in the arts community and the businesses that support them. Over the last three decades, BCA and the Breakfast of Champions recognized more than $100 million in business giving to the arts, including $5.2 million in 2014.

About RACC: The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) was established in 1995 and receives funding from 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 its workplace giving campaign, 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 throughout the region through The Right Brain Initiative. Online at www.racc.org.

About BCA: Business for Culture & the Arts (BCA) was founded in 1985 to connect business and the arts to strengthen Oregon’s culture and economy. Over the last 30 years, BCA has built strong relationships between businesses and local arts & cultural organizations. In addition to Art of Leadership and the Arts Breakfast of Champions, BCA has provided national arts leadership recognition for Portland companies and business leaders, including Portland General Electric, John Hampton, the Mark Spencer Hotel, Governor Ted Kulongoski, and US Bank. BCA also connected thousands of Portland’s business people with the arts and culture through programs including Arts Associates, Cultural Concierge, Behind the Scenes and Business Volunteers for the Arts. 

BCA will hold a Membership Meeting on August 27, 2015 to vote on its Board’s recommendation to dissolve the organization and to officially transfer Art of Leadership and Breakfast of Champions program to RACC.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Jeff Hawthorne, RACC Director of Community Engagement, 503-823-5258, jhawthorne@racc.org
Parker Lee, BCA Board President, 415-827-1752, pdx.bca@gmail.com
 

Regional Arts & Culture announces General Operating Support awards to 19 local arts organizations

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PORTLAND, ORE – The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) has awarded an additional $215,886 in public funding to sixteen Portland-based arts organizations that qualify for General Operating Support. This is RACC’s third cycle in calendar year 2015 for distributing the City’s “arts tax” proceeds; the first two cycles were in January and May.

General Operating Support grants are awarded after a rigorous review conducted by a panel of community volunteers and RACC board members. Organizations are evaluated on artistic excellence and fiscal responsibility, and must demonstrate broad community support including a stable base of audiences and donors. The review also includes an objective third-party financial analysis from the Nonprofit Finance Fund to help measure operating health.

General Operating Support grants are funded by the City of Portland general fund, Multnomah County, and the arts tax.  These organizations also receive proceeds from RACC’s workplace giving program Work for Art.

Arts organizations in Portland receiving additional General Operating Support/AEAF funds this cycle:

  • Artist Repertory Theatre, $44,740
  • Chamber Music Northwest, $14,756
  • Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, $2,040
  • Echo Theater Company, $4,833
  • Ethos Music Center, $18,979
  • Imago Theatre, $1,000
  • Independent Publishing Resource Center, $1,000
  • Live Wire! Radio, $2,705
  • NW Documentary Arts & Media, $1,000
  • Oregon Children’s Theatre, $51,160
  • Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra, $3,040
  • Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, $29,845
  • Portland Piano International, $12,064
  • Profile Theatre Project, $4,408
  • Third Rail Repertory Theatre, $21,953
  • Write Around Portland, $2,362

In addition, three organizations outside of Portland received $54,000 in General Operating Support for FY2015-16. These organizations do not benefit from the arts tax; their funding is provided by Clackamas County, Washington County, and other RACC resources. They include:

  • Lakewood Center for the Arts (Clackamas), $21,000
  • Bag & Baggage Productions (Washington), $10,000
  • Broadway Rose Theatre Company (Washington), $23,000

For more information on RACC’s grants program visit www.racc.org/grants. For a list of organizations and other nonprofits that have received arts tax funding, visit www.racc.org/AEAFgrants.