RACC Blog

What Kind of Public Art Do We Want Now?

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A conversation with PSU Professor and York historian Darrell Millner, the York artist, and Kristin Calhoun, Director of Public Art, Regional Arts & Culture Council

Three photos of the granit pedestal; one with people touching and reading the plaque, one without the artwork and one with the bronze head of Yorkrtwork atop a granite pedestal surrounded by tall fir trees.

Photo Credits: Mark Graves,
Dave Killen of The Oregonian

Listen to this pre-recorded conversation with the unidentified artist who created York and PSU Professor of History and Black Studies, Darrell Millner. York, a piece of artwork depicting an enslaved man and significant member of Lewis and Clark’s “Corps of Discovery,” was mysteriously installed at Mt. Tabor Park in February. RACC’s Public Art Director, Kristin Calhoun, moderates the conversation. The artist has chosen to remain anonymous.

The podcast runs about 50 minutes and the participants answer many of the questions we’ve been hearing including:  What would it cost to make York permanent? What inspired the artist to make this artwork? Why didn’t we know about York? They consider the benefits and risks of a “permanent” York sculpture and fears that York could continue to be a target of harmful and racist acts.

Public response to York demonstrates the power of art to raise new and hidden narratives, deepen our understanding of issues, and for community healing. 

Listen here:

Join the Conversation!

Learn more about York: link to the article by Professor Darrell Millner https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/black_studies_fac/61/

Transcript: PDF download 

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Community grant review uplifts artists in RACC decision-making process

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Our grantmaking continues to change as we strive to align our values of access and equity in our services and investments. Feedback from an online survey in summer 2020, and a series of focus groups with Black, brown, and Indigenous artists who shared their perspectives and needs with us last fall, fueled the creation of our 2021 Make|Learn|Build grants.

By offering more flexible awards, we are supporting a greater number of artists and arts-based businesses, responding to what we heard the arts community in greater Portland needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Artists, creatives, organizations, and businesses were awarded either $1,500 or $3,000 to make work, gain skills, or build up their art business and creative practice during a time of rapid change and creative innovation.

Filmmaker Melina Kiyomi Coumas photographed with green leaves in the background.

Community reviewer and filmmaker Melina Kiyomi Coumas

We also adapted how the community participated in our decision-making processes. Through our survey and focus groups, we heard that artists and arts administrators wanted to know more about what happens behind the scenes in our grantmaking processes and needed more opportunities to get to know each other and their community. We embraced the call for more transparency and for engaging people more deeply in our processes.

As a pilot program alongside the Make|Learn|Build grants, RACC hired a cohort of contract grant reviewers called community reviewers to read and make recommendations about which grant applications to fund. The opportunity to review grants was shared through our networks with past grant recipients, arts and cultural organizations, organizations that have arts programming, and practicing individual artists. Between March and June 2021, we paid the community reviewers for two rounds of review of Make|Learn|Build grants.

Filmmaker and community reviewer Melina Kiyomi Coumas shared what she felt made some applications stronger than others. “The ones that stood out to me, that got the most positive response, had the most community impact to them. In these times it’s nice to see applicants think about the community – how they can inspire, and make change, and help people out right now.”

All of the community review cohort are practicing artists, with experience managing or designing arts programming or running an arts-based business. We prioritized artists without regular employment, or whose work was disrupted by COVID-19, and who were living in Multnomah, Washington, or Clackamas counties. Additionally, we looked for diversity on our panels, including consideration of artistic genre, age, race, gender, ability, and geography. The contractors read, scored, and discussed the Make|Learn|Build grant applications from artists, arts organizations, and arts-based businesses and recommended a slate of awards to the RACC board and grant program team members.

Bathed in rose-colored light, actor Claire Rigsby tousles her long, dark curly hair.

Community reviewer and actor Claire Rigsby. Photo credit Phil Johnson

Claire Rigsby, an actor who served as one of the 14 community reviewers, described what the experience meant to her. “I have only so many resources to share. To be given the chance to support artists by giving funds felt good. Uplifting artists in a way that I can’t in my day-to-day life.” She added, “this really opened my eyes to what a massive community there is in Portland. To see the larger community gives me hope for Portland generally and in the future of art in Portland.”

See who was awarded the first rounds of Make|Learn|Build grants. Rounds 3 & 4 open Monday, August 9, 2021.

2021 Make Learn Build Community Reviewers

  • Yathzi Turcot Azpeitia
  • Melina Kiyomi Coumas
  • Brendan Deiz
  • Monet Ezra
  • Sarah Farahat
  • Brisa Gonzalez
  • John Akira Harrold
  • Vaughn Kimmons
  • Machado Mijia
  • Kelly Moe
  • Claire Rigsby
  • Devin Tau
  • Erin Yanke
  • Xavier “Decimus” Yarbrough

Capturing the Moment artist Luvjonez

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Outraged by the senseless killing of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police, instrumental hip hop producer LuvJonez waged a 50-day Instagram campaign starting on July 19, 2020, to “shine a light” on an all-too-common story. Originally from Kentucky but now based in Portland, Luvjonez wanted to do something to bring more attention to Breonna Taylor’s case and keep her name in the public conversation.

Black and white photo of hiphop artist Luvjonez standing with arms folded.

Hiphop artist and producer Luvjonez

He collected all 50 tracks into this album, a collaboration with Devine Carama and others who contributed beats, shout-outs, voice memos, and more. “At first we were going to do it all on social media,” Luvjonez explained. “Just an Instagram campaign we would share, tagging folks – activists and others in Louisville to keep her visibility. We were going to do it every day until they read the verdict. But it was unsatisfactory so we just kept going.” One year later, this compilation still resonates as the wheels of justice slowly turn in the case of Breonna Taylor, and another unarmed black man was killed by police in June in Louisville.

When he saw RACC’s call for submissions “Capturing the Moment” was a perfect opportunity to create a time capsule of what had happened and what they had done as artists. “If people had missed the news of the world, they could put on a headphone and hear this,” he said.

Looking back on what’s happened since the project started nearly one year ago, Luvjonez reflected, “Sadly whether Portland or Kentucky it’s still relevant.” Today he sees the album as “a launching point for how we entered into the conversation” as he looks for new ways to address the ongoing instances where the killing of Black and brown people by police happens across the nation.

Front cover of album Squad. Image of rainbow-colored line drawings of a group of people..

Compilation album, Squad, released in July 2021

Luvjonez’s new album, Squad, is the result of the call he put out on social media in March 2020 when he was laid off from his job at Portland Center Stage due to the Coronavirus global pandemic shutdown. He reached out directly to friends to see if they wanted to collaborate while in quarantine and continued to stay active with other artists. “We kept each other company via Discord, Zoom, and Instagram, trading ideas and samples back and forth as often as possible,” he explained.

“I gathered enough material from friends and homies to make an entire compilation of these collaborations.” This compilation album gathers all of those elements into a single project and celebrates his coast-to-coast community of artists and creatives in the aftermath of 2020. “This entire project is a celebration of the people around me and a document of a time when the world shut us down but couldn’t shut us up.”

Regional Arts & Culture Council adds four new board members, elects officers

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Four new members were approved to the Regional Arts & Culture Council Board of Directors and Nathan Rix became RACC’s new board chair on June 29, 2021. Rix succeeds Parker Lee who will serve as Chair Emeritus until June 30, 2022.

The Board also approved a new slate of officers to steward the organization including Vice-Chair Leslie Heilbrunn, and Treasurer David Wynde. Frances Portillo continues serving as Secretary.

Departing board members include past Chair Linda McGeady, Angela Hult, Alejandro Queral, and Raymond Cheung.

Full board and staff profiles are available online at racc.org/about/staff-board.

 

Debby Garman headshotDebby Garman

Debby Garman has years of proven success leading and growing nonprofit organizations and creating successful marketing strategies for businesses and nonprofit organizations. Now retired and keeping busy as a volunteer, Debby enjoyed a diverse career in bookselling, publishing, and nonprofit leadership. Her career includes multiple previous and current board and officer positions, as well as serving as Executive Director for Portland Revels, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, Classic Greek Theatre of Oregon, and the Siletz Bay Music Festival. She is past Chair of the Hillsboro Arts and Culture Council and has done grant writing for Seeding Justice (previously MRG Foundation) and Portland Festival Symphony.

Gender Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

 

 

 

Headshot of smiling Swan PaikSwan Paik
Swan Paik is Nike’s Vice President of Women’s Innovation, driving Nike’s new products and experiences designed to empower women to realize their human potential through sport. Prior to this role, Swan led Nike’s Universal Ease initiative to serve athletes of all abilities with inclusive and universally designed FlyEase Innovations. She served on the Zappos Adaptive Advisory Council from 2018-2019 and is currently a Board Director for The Challenged Athletes Foundation.

During her 19-year tenure with Nike, Swan has held a variety of positions. She started in Nike’s Global Strategic Planning group working with Nike’s C-Suite of executives in setting the company’s long-term growth objectives and strategy.  She then headed up Strategic Planning for Asia Pacific, working with 11 country teams to bring Nike’s mission to life for the over 1 billion youth in that region.  She then went on to become the GM for Women’s Training in Asia Pacific, combining her passion for the region with her love of empowering girls and women to play sport.  And before her current position, she led the “Girl Effect”  social innovation portfolio for the Nike Foundation. The programs Swan and her team designed and funded impacted over 5 million girls and their families throughout the world and fueled a global movement to unleash the full potential of all girls living in poverty.

Before joining Nike, Swan worked at the National Football League, NBC Television, and Miramax Films.  She holds a BS in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from Columbia University.

Gender Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

 

Elizabeth Stock headshotElizabeth Stock

Elizabeth is a committed nonprofit leader serving as Executive Director of PDXWIT (PDX Women in Tech). Her work is centered on disrupting problematic systems in the technology industry to shape an equitable future for humanity. Through advocacy, mentorship, and scholarships, PDXWIT is advancing the careers of BIPOC, women, non-binary folks, and those traditionally underrepresented in tech.

Prior to her work at PDXWIT, Elizabeth produced and managed several large-scale art installations with Diversa Edu, a company that uses digital and physical art to tell stories of individuals and communities often left out of history books. Elizabeth also worked for nearly a decade in child welfare at Boys & Girls Aid across many departments including direct service, advancement, and community outreach. She continues to have a strong passion for supporting children in the foster care system, a population too often overlooked.

She has a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Oregon and a Master’s degree in Conflict Resolution from Portland State University. She is passionate about Restorative Justice and applies restorative principles to all of her work. She lives in Portland, Oregon, and is a mom to two young boys.

Gender Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

 

Matt Watson
Creative Director and founder of Watson Creative, Matt Watson’s portfolio features some of the world’s top-tier firms, organizations, athletic teams, and cultural icons. He got started as a designer at Lippincott, an NYC-based global leader in brand design before moving back to Oregon and a 10-year run at Nike. Today, Matt enjoys running his own studio and participating as an active advisory board member for the School of Design at alma mater Oregon State University. He also teaches business and design courses at local Portland-area colleges and guest lectures at universities around the country.

A husband and father of a growing family, Matt can be found cheering and/or yelling at the Oregon State Beavers, hiking Northwest trails, restoring his 1923 home, or improving upon his well-established sneaker collection. Ask him about his favorite (for the moment).

Gender Pronouns: He/Him/His

 

Fresh Paint Opportunity Re-Opens to First Time Muralists

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Artist standing on a ladder painting image of a person on a wall mural

Artist Eric Mbungu Mpwo works on his Fresh Paint mural

Open Signal had a wall. We had experience creating murals. Salvador Mayoral, who facilitates our Public Art Murals Program, recalls how Fresh Paint, the partnership to provide emerging Black and brown artists a place to become muralists, got its start. “We were looking for a high visibility spot for a temporary mural pilot project,” he said. Open Signal’s Director of Strategy, Rebecca Burrell, remembers, “We were looking for a way to bring visibility to our mission and bring more art into our neighborhood.” The two organizations joined forces and their new initiative, Fresh Paint, kicked off in 2017. Since then, 10 artists have been selected to paint a temporary mural on an exterior wall of Open Signal’s building facing the highly visible Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Each mural is hosted for at least four months and then painted over in preparation for the next artist.

Installation Dates for Murals
  • October 2021 – March 2022
  • April 2022 – September 2022
The Opportunity

Fresh Paint is a professional development initiative providing emerging artists of color with a paid opportunity to paint a public mural for the first time in Portland. “We wanted artists who didn’t have experience as muralists but the desire to create murals get the support and resources they need to develop a new skill set and build their portfolio,” Mayoral explained. For several artists, the mural projects have led to other public commissions or funding opportunities. The wall currently features Limei Lai’s mural, Together.

RACC and Open Signal, announce a new call for Fresh Paint muralists. Interested artists have until July 14th, 2021 to apply. To qualify for the opportunity, artists must live in the greater Portland metropolitan area, defined as Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties in Oregon and Clark County in Washington. The selected artists receive a commission for their participation and are offered the opportunity to engage with a range of resources at Open Signal, including the use of equipment.

To be considered, artists can submit information about their background and interest through RACC’s online application portal. No proposals are required. Because the program is designed to support artists in establishing their careers, applicants may not have received any public art commission through RACC nor created an official exterior mural in the City of Portland. Regional Arts & Culture Council’s Public Art Murals Program will run the selection process, relying on past Fresh Paint muralists to review submissions and recommend which new artists should be selected.

Get Help with your Application

Questions regarding the application platform and materials and project’s process/timeline?

CONTACT: Salvador Mayoral IV at 503.823.5865, smayoral@racc.org

Artist Information Sessions
  • Monday, June 14 at noon on Instagram Live. Follow @regionalarts on Instagram to stay informed of this and other upcoming opportunities.
  • Tuesday, June 22 at 6 p.m. on Zoom. RSVP here.

Questions about the Zoom info session or need special accommodations to attend?

CONTACT: Daniela Serna at 503.288.1515 ext. 931 daniela@opensignalpdx.org.

 

About Open Signal

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

About the Regional Arts & Culture Council

An independent non-profit organization, the Regional Arts & Culture Council supports greater Portland’s creative economy by equitably providing funding and services to artists and art organizations; managing and growing our diverse, nationally acclaimed, public art program; and developing long-lasting public and private partnerships. RACC connects artists and creatives to opportunity and access. Learn more at racc.org.

 

 

Artists and youth strengthen community connections within East Portland

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Mario De León is a local artist whose playful, detailed murals and paintings can be found throughout East Portland and Gresham. Passionate about his art and sharing it with the community, De León is bringing his talent to a new project engaging youth from the nonprofit Play Grow Learn. In May, these young artists brightened the intersection of 148th Avenue and East Burnside by transforming this traffic signal box into a larger-than-life vintage boombox. Coming up next, they plan to transform the TriMet service building across the street with a large new mural featuring human rights leader Malcolm X. The public art project seeks to connect the City of Portland to the City of Gresham in an area where predominantly Black communities reside and where public resources remain under-invested and under-prioritized.

Muralist Mario De León and youth from Play, Grow, Learn turned this signal box into a work of art.

The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) has teamed up with Portland’s Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) supporting local Black-led art projects around the city with financial and technical support and a streamlined permitting process. Locations vary but are focused in North and Northeast Portland’s Historic Albina Area and East Portland, neighborhoods with strong community and cultural connections.

Six community-based organizations are leading or partnering in this initiative including:

  • Play Grow Learn
  • Somali Council of Oregon
  • African Youth Community Organization
  • Albina Vision Trust
  • Self Enhancement Inc.
  • Soul District Business Association

The nonprofit City Repair Project is providing technical assistance and partnership facilitation.

Project Partners
Play Grow Learn strives to help community members feel a sense of positivity, pride, and belonging in public space and to uplift Black and East Portland community spiritually, mentally, and physically during the converging crises of the pandemic, systemic racism, and climate chaos.  Find out more.

The Regional Arts & Culture Council is an independent nonprofit 501(c)3 organization supporting greater Portland’s creative economy by providing equitable funding and services to artists and art organizations; managing and growing our diverse, nationally acclaimed public art program; and developing long-lasting public and private partnerships. For more information visit racc.org. 

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is a community partner in shaping a livable city. PBOT plans, builds, manages, and maintains an effective and safe transportation system that provides people and businesses access and mobility. Find out more.

City Repair facilitates artistic and ecologically-oriented placemaking through projects that honor the interconnection of human communities and the natural world. City Repair has accomplished many projects through a mostly volunteer staff and thousands of volunteer citizen activists. They provide support, resources, and opportunities to help diverse communities reclaim their culture, power, and joy. Find out more.

Capturing the Moment artist – Terrance Burton

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Writer, poet, multi-media artist, and educator, Terrance Burton, breaks it down like this, “If I can inspire someone – another artist – not to give up, that would be it. My art is what inspired me as a survivor.”

Watercolor painting of people holding signs protesting the killing of George Floyd, systemic racism and supporting the movement for Black Lives.

Terrance Burton, Black Lives Matter, watercolor, 2020

Terrance Burton credits being an artist to his parents, the ways that they expressed themselves in dance, music, and clothing design. “Who I am starts from my parents,” he says. “My mother made clothing. She would draw her dress patterns freehand. I got the bug about 8 years old.” He cofounded Bum-Rush Productions while still a teen living in LA, for years playing house parties, MCing, working with friends in rap or hip hop groups. Like so many artists, Terrance Burton adapts to thrive, survive, and make a living. “I lost my father at a young age,” he explains. “Writing poetry, making music, drawing, dance – especially dance – was how I got through.”

Black and white photo of artist Terrance Burton

Writer, poet, multi-media artist, and educator Terrance Burton

Today, he works his pop-up in the Lents neighborhood in Southeast Portland. An independently owned cannabis dispensary, The Dime Store, has given him the space to sustain himself as an artist. He first set up in their parking lot at Southeast 82nd and Holgate, until being adopted last year as their “resident artist”. “Like a lot of folks, I took a hit with this pandemic,” he said. “The Lents community has supported me through the tough times we’ve all been through this past year. It’s changed my life. I don’t know where I’d be without that community support. It makes me want to keep fighting.” Much of the art Terrance produces he makes with an eye for what sells. The pieces he shared for Capturing the Moment were different. “This was actually art that I created for me.”

At 35, Terrance decided he needed to pursue a college degree because he continued to hit “the glass ceiling” in his professional career. Am I Next, came from his experience of being assaulted on the MAX on the way home by TriMet’s Transit Police. On his way home to East Portland from class at PCC’s Sylvania Campus, another black man with an open container got on the train and rode in his car for a bit. The man left the train and, a few stops later, a TriMet officer boarded and ordered Terrance to get off. On the platform, he was met by four police cars – and pulled guns. “I was distraught. They proceeded to go through my bag. All they found were my school papers,” he said. “The worst thing of all, it (an open container) wasn’t worth the threat on my life. Going to college was a stress. Just trying to get home.”

 

Black and white watercolor painting of a teen-aged black youth standing behind a sign that says

Terrance Burton, Am I Next, 2020

The artworks Terrance submitted for Capturing the Moment were inspired by movements of the past that he saw in person today.  “When I think back to those pieces….same imagery, still the same thing. We fought for civil rights but we’re still a commodity. Our humanity is still on the line. I wanted to capture what so many are facing at the time, including now.” This moment, he says, makes him hopeful. “What’s happening, the movement, has changed my life. This is finally time that people, not just African Americans, are saying ‘we’re with you, we support,’” he says.

Watercolor painting of people holding protest signs saying

Terrance Burton, Untitled, Watercolor, Acrylic, 2020

Capturing the Moment artist – Michelle Fujii

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Fourth-generation Japanese-American Michelle Fujii creates contemporary work centered in the Japanese art forms of taiko (drums) and folk dance. “The work I create is rooted in my cultural identity and lived experiences,” she explains. “It responds to current events, community conversations and societal issues. Being personal and authentic is the foundation of my work, investigating notions of identity, otherness, and home against an American landscape.”

Her submission, Sayonara Mata Ashita, debuted May 16, 2020. She explains, “Fifty-two people sang along that are a significant and inspirational part of our taiko lives – our mentors, our Unit Souzou taiko family, our Women & Taiko community connections, our Warabi-za family, our organizational partners. It was such a beautiful and overwhelming journey. As our communities face duress, self-isolation, social distancing, this song was written with the hope that the narrative of this time is not of more othering, but of more togetherness.”

Credits: Conceived and directed by Michelle Fujii in collaboration with Unit Souzou Ensemble – Ian Berve, Toru Watanabe, David Wells, Vicky Zhang. Special Thanks to: Amy Naylor – Video Editing, David Wells – Sound Editing, Michelle Fujii – Video Project Manager, Koto-Izumi Kuroki, Shakuhachi-Tsuyoshi Ozawa.

 

#PDXCARES Supported Capturing the Moment

Funding for Capturing the Moment came from the City of Portland’s federal allocation of CARES funding (#PDXCARES). It was specifically dedicated to Asian, Black, Indigenous artists, and all artists of color who reside in the City of Portland.