RACC Blog

RACC’s 2022 Legislative Priorities

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Regional Arts & Culture Council 2022 Legislative Priorities

2022 State Legislative Priorities – Adapted from the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon

The Regional Arts & Culture Council’s (RACC) mission is to enrich our communities through arts and Culture. We envision a thriving region, powered by creativity, with arts and culture in every neighborhood. To do this, RACC promotes equity, diversity, inclusion and access and uses a racial equity lens to advocate for the equitable distribution of resources and the creation of public policies that will provide support for the arts ecosystem now and into the future.

This year, we are reminded that the history that we are looking to make is not for us, it is for the leaders who come after us. How we work together during our time here—both with our Team and our community, will determine how our region responds to crises in the future.

The opportunity to continue supporting our creatives and artists is paramount. RACC is leaning deeply into this space to ensure that they are supported and held during this unprecedented moment in history. We are here to ensure that they are here today, and tomorrow, enriching their communities through art and culture.

2021 was  a crucial legislative year for Oregon’s vital cultural sector. We urged our state policymakers to prioritize arts, culture, heritage, and the humanities in order to encourage creativity, contribute to Oregon’s economic recovery and rebuild community. As we look to this season’s short legislative session, we continue to urge policymakers to Invest in Oregon’s creative and cultural life, supporting Oregonians’ values, promoting whole person health, strengthening communities, and attracting and retaining workers in an innovative and yet thriving economy.

This is an historic year for arts and cultural funding across the nation. We are proud that Oregon is joining in these efforts to provide advocacy and relief, and to elevate our creative economy. Here are legislative initiatives that RACC supports and is keeping on eye on during this season. Let’s shape an arts and culture environment that serves for the common good of all.

– Carol Tatch (Chief of External Operations) and Della Rae (Chief of Internal Operations)

ADVANCE EQUITABLE ACCESS TO A WELL-ROUNDED ARTS EDUCATION FOR ALL

The Arts Education for All Act-HB 5581 – will support and encourage arts education and programming for our young children, K-12 students, and youth and adults impacted by the justice system.

RACC supports and will continue to monitor the Arts Education for All Act for funding impacts in the arts in our local school districts and incarcerated youth and adults. A one-page summary of the Arts Education for All Act can be found here. The text of the legislation can be found here. To endorse, click here.


PUT CREATIVE WORKERS TO WORK IN OUR COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE COUNTY TO RECOVER THROUGH CREATIVE JOBS.

Introduced on August 13th in the House of Representatives by U.S. Reps Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM) and Jay Obernolte (R-CA), the Creative Economy Revitalization Act (CERA)-HR 5019, and endorsed by Oregon Congresswoman Bonamici, will help communities recover through creative jobs.

The Creative Economy Revitalization Act (CERA) is a $300 million dollar program that will mitigate creative worker displacement, stimulate local creative workforce growth, strengthen connections for local creative small businesses and networks, create a pipeline for new creative jobs, enrich communities, increase access to culture, and invest in creative workers and local economies harmed by COVID-19.  To read more and endorse CERA, click here.

SETTING $50 MILLION ASIDE THROUGH GRANTS THAT WILL PROVIDE IMMEDIATE RELIEF TO OUR ARTS AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS

Oregon HB 4040 – Effective July 1, would appropriate money to the Oregon Business Development Department to develop and implement a program to award grants to Oregon cultural organizations in response to the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on organizations’ earned revenue. The text of legislation can be found here.

 

RACC’S 2022 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

Ensuring American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding allocated in 2021 is distributed quickly to the arts and culture sector 

  • The Oregon legislature allocated $50M in APRA funding to be distributed: 
    • $5M for movie theaters (anticipated Jan. 2022) 
    • $30M for “live venues” (anticipated Feb./March 2022) 
    • $15M for live venue support (anticipated in March/April 2022) 
  • RACC will continue to monitor and support Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon’s (CACO) work with Business Oregon and legislative leaders to support progress and distribution of funds through these programs. 

Advocating for additional funding support to the sector 

  • According to data from Americans for the Arts, Oregon’s art sector has lost an estimated $66M, with over 70% of entities expecting a “severe financial impact.” 
  • RACC supports CACO request of an additional $50M in funds to support the long-term recovery of the sector, including recruitment of staff, reopening, additional costs to put on productions, etc. 

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS ON THE ARTS AND CULTURE SECTOR – OREGON

“Americans for the Arts surveyed arts organizations and agencies of all types, genres, sices, and tax statuses for nearly a year to capture the human and financial impact of the coronavirus on America’s art sector.”

  • 905 organizations participated in the survey
    • $66,029,425 in financial loss
    • $21,00 was the median loss
    • 13% are not confident of their survival
    • 71% expect sever financial impact
  • 369 organizations were included in the Financial Data (Outliers and nul responses were removed prior to reporting)
    • The median loss was $22,000

Supporting the renewal of special assessments for historic preservation 

  • History can be found in our people, museums, art, and even our buildings. RACC supports local and state initiatives ensuring the access and interest for all Oregonians in preserving the humanities through a variety of programs.

Regional Arts & Culture Council’s What’s Next Survey Summary

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What’s Next: Connecting artists and creatives to opportunity and access

What's Next Respondents

What’s Next Respondents

Over a year and half ago, the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) reached out early on during the COVID-19 shutdown to our community and stakeholders to ask what their needs were during this extremely challenging time. Administered in 2020, the What’s Next survey sought to understand the types of support that the arts community most needed to survive and thrive during the pandemic and what it would need to recover. A total of 392 people responded to our survey, 63% of respondents identifying as artists. (Read the What’s Next Survey Summary for a visual breakdown summary of respondents and findings. Note: the report was published in May of 2021 and contains opinions, language, and information that has since been addressed by RACC. Clarification is indicated by brackets.)

You can read full results and report here.

 

Key Findings and Highlights

The following are key highlights and some findings, along with a summary of the initiatives RACC implemented to address these answers and continue to inform our future plans. Full results from the 2020 What’s Next survey can be found here

The What’s Next survey centered around themes of support, service, engagement, and connection during the early period of the shutdown, a time when the creative sector was hit hard by the impact of the global pandemic and successive shutdowns. RACC was interested in understanding how we could support and build resilience for the challenges, changes, and opportunities that would, and still do, lay ahead of us. With a commitment to equity and access, we intentionally sought to gather information on how best to support artists of color and others marginalized by traditional and mainstream support systems. 

The survey results revealed that the most critical needs across all respondents were as follows (language pulled from the original survey and answers given by respondents, listed here in order of importance determined by the frequency of each response):

  • Funding
    There remains an overwhelming need for arts funding in the region as organizations and individual artists face extreme challenges resulting from the Covid pandemic and struggle to remain financially viable.
  • Professional Development
    Training, professional development, collaboration, and mentorship opportunities remain essential, especially with the need to reinvent and reimagine the ways in which art is presented during and while recovering from a pandemic with limited in-person gatherings.
  • Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion [and Advocacy]
    More than ever before support is needed for inclusion of local artists from underrepresented groups and those who work in unconventional art genres. Outreach efforts are essential to attract and retain more diverse audiences.
  • Space [both physical and time/ability to work]
    A shortage of spaces, both physical and mental, was highlighted by respondents as a challenge to surviving and thriving in the past and still current environment. Physical spaces have been lost due to rising rents and limitations on in-person capacity. Reductions in mental space for creativity and networking opportunities have been difficult.
  • Connection
    Community-building is essential in the arts and respondents found it lacking here in Portland. It was indicated that collaboration is needed now more than ever. New ways to engage communities need consideration and are required.
  • Marketing Support
    Artists and arts organizations need assistance with advertising, marketing, and promotion in order to help recover from the ongoing pandemic losses. Reaching and engaging an audience is complicated with the ebb and flow of restrictions more than ever.

Responses from a combination of participants indicated an overwhelming need for funding to ensure viability as well as a sustainable future. Artists needed income and arts organizations needed patrons to survive the pandemic restrictions.

“Without audiences or with limited ones, operational funds are the highest priority, to avoid cultural organizations totally going under and disappearing.”

Apart from asking respondents about the most helpful financial support needs, the What’s Next survey also asked respondents to identify their top future professional development priorities to help RACC focus its resources to best meet the needs of the arts community.

Artists Identified:
Survey participants were given a list of possible professional development, technical support, or other related services and asked to identify which ones would be most helpful in the next 6-18 months.

  1. Social Media and marketing support (35%) 
  2. One-on-one coaching with RACC staff or other professional (28%) 
  3. Skill development workshops (25%) 
  4. Review and feedback of draft proposals (22%) 
  5. Post-decision feedback (22%) 
Artists Professional Development

Artists Professional Development

Arts Organizations Identified:
Survey participants were given a list of possible professional development, technical support, or other related services and asked to identify which ones would be most helpful in the next 6-18 months.

  1. Skill development (34%) 
  2. Coordinated political advocacy (29%) [RACC as guide for calls to action and coordination]
  3. One-on-one or group coaching for staff, board and/or professionals (27%) 
  4. Group info sessions for opportunities (grants, public art calls) (21%) 
  5. Convening discussion around urgent topics (20%)
Arts Organizations Professional Development

Arts Organizations Professional Development

How RACC Continues to Respond

As a result of the What’s Next survey findings, RACC responded by bolstering programming and processes already in place along with stepping into new arenas. Some, of these included:

  • Make | Learn | Build Grants: To increase financial assistance to a greater number of recipients, these flexible awards supported artists, creatives, organizations, and businesses during a time of rapid change and creative innovation. Funds were provided to 317 artists and 99 businesses in FY21, with the programming continuing through the pandemic.
  • Capturing the Moment supported by PDXCARES funding: In response to current social concerns, this initiative called for submissions from Portland artists of color that captured a creative response to the global pandemic, Black Lives Matter movement, racial justice protests, climate crisis, and/or the political environment. Work was purchased from 34 Black, Indigenous, and other artists of color.
  • Capacity expansion for grant funding: By partnering with multiple governmental entities, RACC was able to support Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) funds impact in the community. Additional grants supported projects, Oregon Film, venues, and emergency operational support.

Looking Forward

The Regional Arts & Culture Council continues to be focused on making the greatest impact and aligning its investments with its commitment to community, racial equity, and access. RACC continues enhancing support for the creative community in the tri-county region through investment, centering and lifting up artists’ voices, and promoting connection and collaboration.

We will continue to reach out to engage our community by asking for their thoughts and insights to ensure we are effectively meeting their needs. We look forward to your consideration in participating in our next survey in Winter 2022.

Log4j Vulnerability: What to know

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On December 10, 2021, a serious vulnerability in the commonly used Java-based software called “Log4j” put the cybersecurity community on alert. Although our Information Technology (IT) team has not detected any indication of exploitation of the Log4j vulnerability (also known as Log4Shell) on Regional Arts & Culture Council systems, we are actively monitoring the situation and working with all our vendors to ensure systems are patched and protected. Should we become aware of any unauthorized access to our systems or data, we will the take appropriate actions to address any issues that arise. 

If there are any important updates on this issue, we will update this post and our community accordingly. 

For questions or concerns, please contact us. We appreciate your continued support of the arts and culture community – donate here today!

An Interview with Congresswoman Bonamici about the Arts Education for All Act

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Last week we were fortunate to catch up with Oregon Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) on Zoom to talk about the exciting new legislation she has introduced ensuring equitable arts education for students. Watch the video of our conversation with Rep. Bonamici, Chair of the Education and Labor Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services and Co-Chair of the STEAM Caucus, and read on to learn more about the Arts Education for All Act she introduced on Oct. 15, 2021.

Congresswoman Bonamici is a passionate advocate for the importance of a well-rounded education that includes arts integration and instruction as a part of every child’s school experience. Her mother was a painter and piano teacher and she knows first-hand the value of creative expression. As she explained on our call, “I know what a difference it makes for students to have arts education and arts in their lives, and that’s true regardless of what path they take in life. It helps students learn and grow in important ways.”

As of today, the Arts Education for All Act (H.R.5581)  is being co-sponsored by 25 Congressional Representatives and has been endorsed by more than 350 national, state, and local organizations. This includes the Regional Arts & Culture Council, Americans for the Arts, National Association of Music Merchants, Grantmakers for the Arts, and hundreds more regional and statewide arts organizations and schools. The Arts Education for All Act will support and encourage arts education and programming for young children, K-12 students, and youth and adults involved in the justice system. It will help close existing gaps in access to arts education, which has the potential to improve the lifelong health and success of both children and adults.

We hope you will join us in supporting arts education in our schools. With our focus on social justice and equity in all aspects of arts and culture, we know it is critical that this bill includes programs that benefit our at-risk youth, provide opportunities and professional development for our arts educators and arts specialists, and solidify a STEAM education in the Every Child Succeeds Act. We know that the arts create a pathway forward, provide hope, stimulate our creative economy and give us a voice. The Arts Education for All Act will only enhance these endeavors.

Support the Arts Education for All Act by signing up and showing your individual and/or organizational support today!

Find a one-page summary of the Arts Education for All Act here. Full text of the legislation can be found here.

For more information please contact Chanda Evans & Mario Mesquita

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Creative Workers Back to Work with the Creative Economy Revitalization Act

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Graphic image states 91% of all arts, culture and recreation businesses are solo entrepreneurship, and millions of creative workers are independent workers.How It Works
The Creative Economy Revitalization Act (CERA) would: 

                  • Get creatives working by creating competitive workforce grants program within the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act;
                  • Administer grants to eligible government, nonprofit, and for-profit organizations, as well as state and local workforce boards through the Department of Labor, in coordination with the National Endowment for the Arts;
                  • Require that grantees create art that is accessible to the public such as free concert series, large-scale murals, photography exhibits, published stories, or dance performances. 

To rebuild and reimagine the United States post-pandemic, we must put creative workers to work.
Looking to the future, and to recovery post-pandemic, CERA proposes to leverage our creative power, putting creative workers to work rebuilding, reimagining, unifying, and healing communities in Oregon and every state, every region, and within tribal lands.

“Millions of artists and creative workers have lost jobs during the past year. In Native communities, the loss of income and work has been dramatic with shuttered arts and cultural venues, cancelled festivals and gigs, and rescheduled fairs and events. The Creative Economy Revitalization Act will provide a lifeline to artists and the creative economy unlike anything seen since the WPA of 1933. Getting artists and creatives back to work creating public art is critical, and there is no greater power than the arts to unite, heal, and empower people and communities.”

–T. Lulani Arquette, President & CEO, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation

In 1935, facing 20% unemployment, President Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration (WPA). In 1973, at a moment of similar crisis, President Nixon signed the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA). These federal policy efforts—one by a Democrat, one by a Republican—sparked national recovery at two crucial moments and can inspire action now.

Investment in the creative economy has proven essential in each previous workforce effort. Similar investment now can be a basis to foster unity, expand and improve infrastructure, address community health issues, and drive innovation, recovery, and reimagination. The next Administration must draw upon the creative energies of the country’s 5.1 million creative workers to energize our collective communities, reimagine how communities can thrive, and improve the lives of all.

Creative workers are a part of our local economy and everywhere across the United States. Like others who are unemployed and underemployed, creative workers have much to offer in healing, recovery, and beyond. Paying artists and other creative workers for their contributions to the health, equity, and well-being of our communities rebuilds our economy. These workers uniquely engage communities to contribute to well-being and connectivity, reflecting back local history, amplifying the unique character of places, and renewing the civic and social lives of community members through their work. To thrive tomorrow, we must create a jobs ecosystem for creative workers today.

“The National Alliance of Community and Economic Development Associations (NACEDA) is happy to support the Creative Economy Revitalization Act. We found most compelling that this Act would support creating local projects that tell community stories and bring forward community identity, particularly in the places, and among the people, most impacted by the pandemic.”

–Frank Woodruff, Executive Director, National Alliance of Community and Economic Development Associations

Creative workers, and the hundreds of thousands of creative businesses they drive, have been devastated by COVID-19, more than almost any other sector. One study pegs the creative worker unemployment rate at 63% and a collective income loss of more than $60 billion. Creative workers stand ready to heal, strengthen, rebuild, and reimagine our communities.

Arts and culture are crucial components of civic dialogue, and research shows that in the primary areas of concern for recovery—including racial justice, health, education, community cohesion, and public safety—the integration of creative workers improves outcomes and sets up the community for success. Through a suite of efforts coordinated via a centralized office housed in the West Wing, artists and creative workers can be put to work addressing pressing issues of the day.

Read more on 16 specific actions that the next Administration can take to activate the creative economy within a comprehensive national recovery strategy at www.creativeworkers.net 

To see more detail on the proposed actions to take to address these policies, which together would put 300,000 creative workers back to work, click here. These actions were arrived at through focus groups with the signatories to the Put Creative Workers to Work proposal.

This proposal was collaboratively developed by more than 100 partner organizations and individuals, and has been endorsed by more than 2,300 creative businesses and creative workers.

“Americans for the Arts, in partnership with the nation’s 4,500 local arts agencies, 56 state arts agencies, 5.2 million creative workers, and the state arts alliances that advocate for them, endorses this bill to invest in the creative economy. Supporting creative workers makes strong business sense as the arts drive economic and community transformation in American cities and towns. The Arts are a national asset, and our country thrives because artists and creative workers are a part of the collective workforce helping our citizens recover and grow from the trauma of COVID-19 and racial inequity, restart stalled local economies, and reimagine our shared way forward.”

– Nolen V. Bivens, President and CEO, Americans for the Arts  

The creative engine can power America’s economic recovery
Any investment in infrastructure, community, and workforce recovery must include the creative economy.

Additional Relief for Creative Workers and Companies Restart Funds & Hiring/Retention Incentives Federal Investment in Residencies, Commissions
To address the devastating longer-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the creative economy, and to preserve cultural infrastructure and capitalize on the economic and social rebuilding benefits of the arts, creative workers and creative businesses seek additional investment in relief efforts to support the sector. Both directly and by redistribution to local and state government, the creative sector seeks financial runways to allow cash-strapped creative businesses to restart and produce new sellable creative products and incentives for businesses and schools to accelerate rehiring and encourage retention of creative workers. Echoing previous federal works programs, the creative sector seeks artist and creative worker residencies within federal departments, direct commissioning of individual artists and cultural organizations, and the integration of creative workers into health, safety, education, and community development programs.
Improved Conditions for Independent Contractors Changes to Inequitable Federal Policies Stronger Representation within Government
91% of all arts, culture, and recreation businesses are solo entrepreneurs and millions of creative workers are independent workers. This locks them out of unemployment benefits, affordable health insurance, and access to capital–which must change to ensure a sustainable living. At no additional cost to the government, the creative sector seeks adjustments to various existing federal policies that disallow or discriminate against creative workers and other independent workers. To coordinate the policy relevant to the creative economy, with a particular focus on recovery and relief, the creative sector recommends the installation of an Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy senior advisor to maximize the impact and recognition of creative enterprise.

Adapted from the Put Creative Workers to Work platform, Oregon COVID-19 Impact Survey.

What Can You Do?
Advocates, use the E-alert on the CERA bill to quickly contact your members of Congress and request they join on to the legislation as a Co-Sponsor.

Click here to view an infographic to further explain this legislation.

Full bill text can be found here.


Read our previous posts about CERA:

Creative Work is Work

What is the Creative Economy Revitalization Act (CERA)? Why Do We Need It?

 

References
www.creativeworkers.net

https://www.wpaforthearts.com/get-involved 

 

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#CreativeWorkers
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#AFTA

Leadership Transition Update – Leaning Into Shared Leadership

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Two women, both black, stand in front of poster showing blue sky and historic Portland home. They are both smiling and looking into the camera.

RACC’s Directors-In-Charge: Carol Tatch (left) and Della Rae

Last month the Board of Directors of the Regional Arts & Culture Council announced that Executive Director Madison Cario would be leaving RACC for a new position in the Bay Area starting in December. Since that time, a Core Team of board members and senior RACC leadership team members have been mapping out a transition plan to ensure smooth operations and continuity of programs and services at RACC. The organization stands in a strong position to meet community needs. Among other measures, we’re diversifying our funding, including securing grants from national, state, and local foundations, corporations, and private donors.

We are excited to announce that Carol Tatch will serve leading External Operations and Della Rae will serve leading Internal Operations. This is a shared leadership model that provides business continuity and stability for the organization.

Our Core Team, composed of board members and the RACC Leadership Team, will continue meeting weekly to explore the benefits of shared leadership models for running arts organizations, as well as considering traditional models with an Executive Director. In the coming months, RACC will take stakeholder input and interview other nonprofit organizations that have implemented innovative leadership models here in Oregon and arts organizations across the country.

The Core Team is committed to using this transition to deepen the relationships between the Board of Directors and RACC department leads. The Core Team includes Nathan Rix, RACC Board Chair, Leslie Heilbrunn, RACC Co-Chair, Shani Harris-Bagwell, James Smith, Eve Connell, Madison Cario, Carol Tatch, Della Rae, Kristin Calhoun, Helen Daltoso, and Cindy Knapp.

Madison brought great vision and organizational capability to RACC, allowing us to be responsive, focus on equity, and strengthen our work with key stakeholders. The organization is well-positioned to lead and support the Portland region’s ever-evolving and growing arts community.

Meet the rest of the team.

Arts Education for All 2021 Act

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On Oct. 15, Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR, District 1), Chair of the Education and Labor Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services, Chellie Pingree (D-ME), and Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM) introduced comprehensive legislation to increase access to arts education. Bonamici hosted a virtual rollout and reception of her Arts Education for All Act (H.R.5581), that will address equity gaps in access to arts education for K-12 students and youth and adults in the justice system.

The Arts Education for All Act has been endorsed by more than 300 national, state, and local organizations, including Americans for the Arts, National Association of Music Merchants, and Grantmakers for the Arts. We’ve added our name to the list of supporters and you can, too.

As an arts and culture organization with social justice embedded in our mission, vision, and values, we support arts organizations and artists that make a difference in our community through their impactful engagement in the arts with at-risk youth. The Arts Education for All Act will only enhance these programs.

“Arts and culture education for every Oregonian is our goal because it is critical to our understanding of each other, our healing, and our progress as a country,” said Sue Hildick, Senior Advisor to the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon. We are beyond proud that our congresswoman has made this a priority.”

The bill covers various aspects of Arts Education including:

Caregiving & Early Education

  • Makes sure Child Care Development Block grant funding can be used for arts programming.

K-12 Access & Supporting Arts Educators

  • Expands Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) plan requirements to clarify how states can support and encourage arts education to improve student achievement in all subjects
  • Guarantees professional development for arts educators and for all educators on arts integration
  • Directs research activities on arts and arts education at the Institute of Education Sciences
  • Provides critical data to assess arts education disparities by reinstating the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in the Arts, which was terminated in 2019.

Afterschool & Summer Learning

  • Reinforces that the integration of the arts and arts education can be accomplished by 21st Century Community Learning Centers and other arts nonprofit organizations
  • Incorporates support for partnerships to increase the amount of arts education and creative youth development available in afterschool and summer learning programs in state plans.

Arts Education and the Justice System

  • Requires state plans under the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act to describe how the state will coordinate services and activities for juvenile justice and delinquency prevention with arts agencies and arts organizations
  • Facilitates arts education to be used for reentry efforts and to reduce recidivism by connecting adults involved in the justice system to educational opportunities and employment after reentry.

Read the press release from Oregon Representative Suzanne Bonamici here.

Locally, look no further than the Morpheus Youth Project’s mural program and the Multnomah County Court House Youth collaboration to see the importance of creativity in young people’s development. We know that it takes a village to raise, support, and elevate our youth. RACC is proud to promote and support these programs and collaboration with youth in our community.

Our artlook®oregon, a partnership with the Kennedy Center and Ingenuity-Chicago, provides a real-time arts education database platform that connects communities, schools, and families to arts-related resources in their backyard. These partnerships create the opportunity for a well-rounded arts education to be possible for all K-12 youth in our schools.

The Arts Education for All Act addresses the gap in access to arts education and has the potential to improve the lifelong  health and achievement of both children and adults. Arts education and programming can be federally funded under various existing programs, however, currently there is a lack of clarity and information available about how the funds can be used. Unfortunately, as we have witnessed in the Pacific Northwest, this results in limited and inequitable access to the arts for students and adults in underserved communities.

“The Arts Education for All Act will help bring the power of arts education to early childhood programs, low-income K-12 students and systems-involved youth on a scale we haven’t seen before,” said Eddie Torres, President and CEO of Grantmakers in the Arts. “By empowering childcare, K-12 schools, and programs serving systems-involved youth, this bill has the potential to enrich lives and expand educational opportunities for millions,” said Eddie Torres, President and CEO of Grantmakers in the Arts. “The arts community, but most importantly the children of our nation, owe a great deal of thanks to the innovative leadership of Representative Bonamici for introducing this critical legislation.”

If this becomes legislation, it will support and encourage arts education and programming for our youngest learners, K-12 students, including youth and adults involved in the criminal court and justice systems. The bill also includes provisions that support rigorous arts and arts education research to continue to inform how elementary and secondary education outcomes are affected by a well-rounded education.

The Arts Education for All Act incorporates support for partnerships to increase the amount of arts education and creative youth development available in afterschool and summer learning programs in state plans. We know art changes lives. We understand that a well-rounded arts education includes arts integration. This Act reinforces that the integration of the arts and arts education can be accomplished by 21st Century Community Learning Centers and other arts nonprofit organizations.

In collaboration with Trauma Informed Oregon, this spring we kicked off a series of trauma-informed workshops for our K-12 arts educators in six school districts in Multnomah County running through the 2021-2022 school year. These workshops are free, virtual, and provide much-needed resources to ensure our arts educators have the tools they need to address the trauma that we have all experienced. We know that the arts enable students to express themselves and navigate through stress and anxiety. The Arts Education for All Act guarantees professional development for our arts educators and arts integration specialists. We are proud to recognize the importance of social-emotional healing and recovery through the arts and provide these valuable workshops in our community.

Support the Arts Education for All Act by signing up and showing your individual and/or organizational support today!

A one-page summary of the Arts Education for All Act can be found here. The text of the legislation can be found here.

For more information please contact Chanda Evans & Mario Mesquita

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#ArtsEducation
#ArtsAdvocacy
#ArtsCreateHope

Next steps for toppled and removed monuments – Updated FAQ

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Updated following RACC Board Action 10/13/2021

What is the status of statues that were removed or toppled in 2020 protests?
The statues from the City of Portland’s public art collection are secured in a temporary storage facility. This includes: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt: Rough Rider, Harvey Scott, Promised Land, and Elk.

Will these statues be returned to their former locations?
RACC’s Public Art Committee (PAC) oversees and guides Public Art Program policies for the selection, placement, and maintenance of works of art acquired through the Percent for Art Program and other public/private programs RACC manages. When necessary, RACC also oversees the review, re-contextualizing, relocation and removal of artworks from these public collections. On Sept. 29 the RACC Board endorsed the Public Art Committee’s recommendation not to automatically return five of the toppled or removed statues to their previous locations (excluding the Elk).

What about the Elk statue?
City officials and RACC have determined separately that the Elk will return to downtown Portland. The project details, budget and timeline are being developed.

What happens next?
On Oct. 13, the RACC Board approved Monument Review Guidelines for City of Portland outlining the criteria and process for determining the next steps for these five statues. If accepted by Commissioner Rubio (City liaison to RACC) and the City Arts Program, it sets in motion a process of determining next steps for each individual monument. Should the monuments be assigned a new home? Should all of them remain in the public collection? According to the Monument Review Guidelines, consideration of these questions requires meaningful community engagement that centers the voices of community members whose culture and histories have not been represented in public spaces. Each of these statues has its own unique story and engagement may vary depending on the stakeholders.

How can the community get involved?
Community engagement and stakeholder input is required as part of the process. Please contact the City Arts Program in Portland  for the most up to date information or the office of Commissioner Rubio.

Why is RACC recommending these monuments for review?
In our role as the steward of the City of Portland and Multnomah County’s public art collections, the Regional Arts & Culture Council works intentionally with artists, community organizations, and public partners to ensure that the public’s art collection represents our diverse cultural histories and identities. As we consider the disposition of monuments toppled or removed in 2020, our mission and values guide our recommendations and consideration of next steps. Similarly, we look to the City’s adopted policies for guidance and find this recommendation to be consistent with recent action by the Portland City Council recommending new public art representing more diverse cultural identities and histories for the South Park Blocks. The George Washington statue cannot be returned to its former site as that site is privately owned and the owners do not wish to have it in that location anymore.

RACC’s Public Art Committee revised policies regarding the donation and removal (deaccession) of art from the public collection. What were the major changes?
The committee, in consultation with city leadership, reviewed the Public Art Program policies and criteria as they relate to donation and deaccession (removal) of memorials, monuments, and statues. The PAC updated those policies to align with RACC’s mission, vision, and values and the City’s value of antiracism. The updated policy states that public artworks can be removed if the “subject or impact of an artwork is significantly at odds with values of antiracism, equity, inclusion.” They also expanded circumstances that can lead to the removal of a piece of artwork, if it becomes a rallying place for “gatherings centered on racist or bigoted ideology.” RACC’s board endorsed these changes in May 2021. The Monument Review Guidelines approved by the RACC Board are consistent with these policies.

What happens to a statue if a determination is made to remove it from the public art collection?
If a decision is made to “deaccession” an artwork (remove it from the collection), it could be traded or sold, returned to the donors, recycled or destroyed.