RACC Blog

“It’s About Enduring”: Intisar Abioto Discusses the Lasting Impact of In—Between

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Article by Bruce Poinsette (update March 30, 2021)

Images by Intisar Abioto

For many, it might feel as if an eternity has passed since the announcement and installation of the In—Between project. RACC’s press release for the collaboration between Intisar Abioto and Hank Willis Thomas was published on Dec. 16, 2019. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has decimated the US and much of the world and Black Lives Matter protests have gained new life, exploding in size and frequency throughout the globe. The protests in particular have created a phenomenon where many now look at works of Black art and wonder, “What does this mean post George Floyd? Post Breonna Taylor?” For Abioto, the names might change, but the situation is, and has long been, the same.

“We’re always pre and post Black death while living it,” she says. “It’s not pre and post for us. It’s about enduring.”

In many respects, In—Between was emblematic of this mission. The installation itself, ten 10-foot-tall banners featuring Abioto and Thomas’s words and images, represents a conversation between not just the two artists, but also legendary photographer Ernest Withers and his photos from the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike. Inspired by the iconic “I Am a Man” signs, In—Between connects the artists’ different voices and geographies, as well as struggles, to form a celebration of Black existence.

This is especially important for Memphis native Abioto, who, along with many of her peers, has experienced an increased demand for Black art about Black people, but only in the context of educating white audiences. As opposed to showing off “pretty pictures,” Abioto wants to make art that serves the Black community.

It’s not about us doing something new,” she says. “It’s like, ‘Say something brilliant. Do something brilliant.’ Even in regard to Black artists, it’s like, ‘Say and do brilliant things.’ Yet we’re saying and doing brilliant things whether or not it’s engaging with the history of white supremacy.

In regards to In—Between, the composition and location of the project were key to helping Abioto and Thomas reach a Black Portland audience that is far too often an afterthought in public arts planning. The banners combined the words from Brooklyn-based Thomas’s project that plays with different orientations of “I Am a Man” (A Man I Am, I Be a Man, I Am Many, I Am The Man, etc.) and Abioto’s portraits of Black people in Portland, Pendleton, Berlin, Chicago, New Orleans, Florence, Memphis, Johannesburg and New York.

RACC began the planning process in 2017 by bringing a wide range of stakeholders to the table, including artists and advocates from the Northeast Portland community and representatives from landscape design firm Mayer/Reed, Inc., the Portland Art Museum, and Prosper Portland.

“We tend not to do what I affectionately call ‘plunk art,’” says Teresa Chenney, a senior design associate at Mayer/Reed who was heavily involved in the planning process. “Just (placing) an object for the sake of having an object. (Instead) there’s thought behind it. For the In—Between project, our first committee meeting was the end of 2017. And it just went in this last December (2019).”

Chenney notes that a recurring comment during the planning meetings was, “Who are we, where did we come from, and where are we going?”

For Abioto, the artistic process naturally took her back to her Memphis roots. She looked through Withers and others’ photos from the ‘68 Sanitation Workers’ Strike and decided to track down the man who printed the I AM A MAN signs, Rev. Malcolm Blackburn. The search was ultimately unsuccessful, but led her down a research rabbit hole that included speaking with a representative from the Allied Printing Union over the phone.

Abioto, however, successfully connected with Andrew Withers, Ernest Withers’ son, to discuss their experience during the protests. Andrew, who was 12 at the time, told her about how the arrival of the police turned the event violent and how he and his father ran to their studio on Beale Street to process the photos. 

While speaking with Andrew, Abioto was particularly struck by a photo of a beaten Withers from another protest. It was a reminder of the threats Abioto feels to her own safety as a photographer documenting this current moment in time. 

Specifically, the generational, shared trauma emphasized the need to create art that not just circulates joy, but creates shared memories around it.

“Some of these people will pass. Some have passed. I too will pass,” says Abioto. “Having a shared memory of life is powerful.

The spirit of collaboration was very much a key element in the In—Between planning process. Most notably, participants were excited to facilitate a collaboration between Thomas, an established artist on the national scene, and Abioto, whose work is steadily gaining recognition throughout the country.

“Promoting local artists in a way that allows them to do what they do in a public way and support them in their voice and expression, I think has tremendous value, not only as representation for local people, but as representation of our local community,” says Chenney. “We’re not in a silo. We’re on the West Coast. We have a lot of influence from everywhere, being in the West, versus say, middle America. I think it’s really healthy having that voice that takes you beyond your boundaries but also highlights your own.”

In addition to emphasizing the message that the collaboration sends to the audience, Chenney also notes that it was essential to be sensitive and respectful to the needs of the artists themselves. Combining historical content from both their lives and their art was not a process to be taken lightly. It also required plenty of deliberation on what might best speak to the location of the installation and the needs of the artistic economy.

“It’s really working with a sensitive understanding and respect for these artists and it’s also finding the right note for this place,” says Chenney. “It’s like supporting our farmers and supporting our small businesses who are trying to make a living here. If you’re only looking for big names to be a draw, then inherently you’re going to lose sight of the value of your own community’s contribution.”

With the In—Between project, Chenney believes the planning team found the sweet spot.

John Goodwin, who serves as the Major Gifts Officer for the Portland Art Museum, and also participated in the planning process, agrees. As someone who is incredibly passionate about engaging underrepresented communities with the arts, he was thrilled with the idea of exposing Abioto’s work with the broad, diverse audience traveling the Orange MAX line and giving a West Coast audience in general the opportunity to interact with Thomas’ art.

“We like to talk about bringing the world to Portland and bringing Portland to the world,” says Goodwin. “And when we say the world, we don’t just mean London, Paris, Milan. We mean Gresham, Hillsboro, Beaverton, Vancouver. The world also includes those places that the world doesn’t really think about.”

For Goodwin, the mission of engaging underrepresented communities with the arts is very personal. It began when he moved to Portland over 20 years ago and worked as a docent with the University Club. During that time, he couldn’t help but notice and be concerned by the phenomenon that Black and Latinx students seemed noticeably less comfortable than their white counterparts.

From that point on, he made bridging that gap an integral part of his work.

“Because we don’t have the largest population of African or Latinx residents coming to the museum, we have to come to them,” says Goodwin. “We go where you are. Even if we don’t do banners, we try to do other exhibitions.”

After spending years facilitating community arts partnerships with the University Club and the Portland Trailblazers, he recently joined the Portland Art Museum as a staff member. In his current role, he helps connect major art projects with the funding resources they need.

Chenney believes measures like this provide an opportunity for public art projects that the city wouldn’t have otherwise.

“RACC provides a lending hand,” she says. “Most people on the train might not know anything about the artists, but it might pique their curiosity, or at least bring them a little joy.”

However, for Abioto, it’s not just about how her art makes people feel, it’s about what it catalyzes them to do.

“We’re asked to bring our experiences, but it’s not free,” she says. “If white people find joy in my work, that’s not enough. You need to be giving up things. Stuff that’s not yours, that’s never been yours.”

While discussing the implications of In—Between, Abioto can’t help but reflect on another recent installation she presented at Governor Kate Brown’s office. During her time at the Oregon Capitol Building, she was particularly struck by the murals adorning the walls.

A lot of these institutions are not salvageable. Should I put my mind space towards murals in the capital? Those murals are racist. That’s the white settler colonial state. Those are white men and women and settlers. And people who killed the Indigenous people here.

The combination of the pervasiveness of these kinds of murals and monuments and the lack of public art celebrating Oregon’s communities of color highlights the urgency for more projects like In—Between and, seemingly, plenty of future opportunities for Abioto personally.

However, as a result of these experiences and long before the idea of a “post George Floyd” world, Abioto made the decision to become more careful with her work. She has been taking photos just as prolifically, but not publishing them. She has also been collecting work by local Black artists.

In addition to producing, collecting is also important to her because so much of her work has centered on how Portland’s Black artists have lived and, in many ways, not lived. Abioto specifically name checks Charlotte Lewis, a revered community artist who no longer has any murals standing in the city. 

“I’m aware I can be easily erased,” says Abioto. “She died in 1999 and I got here in 2010, and I didn’t hear about her for years. I want something different and my goals are different.

“I’m going to keep making art around our history. I’m going to keep making art around how our life force shifts and changes and chooses in these time periods. In these dreams we’re passing through. In these memories. That’s going to keep happening no matter who’s seeing it. No matter whether I’m in the paper or winning awards. I’m still doing the work.”

Editor’s Notes:

It is the Regional Arts & Culture Council’s responsibility to commission, care for, and maintain public art. As part of RACC’s role working with the City of Portland, we manage Percent for Art projects,  used to bring public art to locations throughout Portland. RACC assembled an artist selection panel composed of community members, artists, representatives from Prosper Portland, the Oregon Convention Center, and project designers Mayer-Reed Landscape Architecture. The panel agreed that goals for the project should include bold artwork that connects to the area’s communities and reflects the general concepts of movement, change, adaptation – addressing a general statement of “where are we going.” This will be the first of a series of temporary installations. Future installations of In—Between will evolve in focus, but will continue to reflect the overall theme of “where are we going.” To learn about opportunities to apply for future installations, artists can follow racc.org on Facebook or Instagram, or sign up to receive public art opportunities in their inbox. Funding comes from the City’s Percent-for-Art ordinance, which set aside 2% of the construction cost for a new parking garage adjacent to the Hyatt at the Oregon Convention Center to create public art. The project was funded through the Oregon Convention Center Urban Renewal Area (OCC URA) managed by Prosper Portland. The URA funds are required to be spent within in the URA boundaries.

 

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Photo by Intisar Abioto

Bruce Poinsette is a writer, educator, and community organizer based in the Portland Metro Area. A former reporter for the Skanner News Group, his work has also appeared in the Oregonian, Street Roots, Oregon Humanities, and We Out Here Magazine, as well as projects such as the Mercatus Collective and the Urban League of Portland’s State of Black Oregon 2015. Poinsette also contracts with the University of Oregon Equity and Inclusion Office and numerous Oregon nonprofits, as well as teaching journalism and creative nonfiction with Literary Arts’ Writers in the Schools (WITS) program. He hosts the YouTube series “The Blacktastic Adventure: A Virtual Exploration of Oregon’s Black Diaspora.” In addition to his professional writing work, Poinsette also volunteers with Respond to Racism LO, a grassroots anti-racism organization in his hometown of Lake Oswego, Oregon.

“Aspirations for Justice”: public mural created by Multnomah County youth

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This summer, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and with swift momentum behind the Black Lives Matter movement, many rallied together to protest racial injustice across the nation and here in our own city. Throughout the resistance in Portland, the recently completed Multnomah County Central Courthouse on Southwest First Avenue in downtown Portland became a frequent gathering place for protestors. In response, temporary walls were constructed around the glass courthouse building, intended to protect the new structure from damage. But to Multnomah County Circuit Judge Melvin Oden-Orr, those imposing plywood walls represented an opportunity to break down an entirely different set of barriers by amplifying the voices of young artists.

Inspired by art popping up around the city in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, Judge Oden-Orr called for a mural centered on racial justice to fill some of the space on the temporary walls outside the courthouse. Judge Oden-Orr said he feels strongly that, in all moments but particularly this one, it is the responsibility of the court to educate youth on their civil rights and to encourage engagement and activism. So, in fall of 2020 he began hosting conversations with youth from organizations across the Portland metro area. 

Judge Oden-Orr discussed with the youth the judicial system, racism and injustice, citizens’ roles in democracy, and how to actively engage in resisting and dismantling systems of oppression. As part of these conversations, Judge Oden-Orr invited the youth to create art reflecting their feelings, experiences, and hopes for the future. Multnomah County and the Summer Works program provided stipends to the youth as compensation for their work and time. The goal, Judge Oden-Orr said, was “to engage the youth of Multnomah County, celebrate the opening of the new Central Courthouse, and create a visual representation of the aspirations for the court system, from the perspective of our young people.”

In a unique partnership, Multnomah County Circuit Court, Judge Oden-Orr, Multnomah County, and the Regional Arts & Culture Council commissioned muralist Jose Solís to create the final piece of art for the exterior courthouse space. Considering all of the work created by the youth, Solís wove each idea and image into a comprehensive, dynamic work of art. The commission was supported by Multnomah County Percent for Art funds.

Because of the temporary nature of the barrier walls, the mural was painted by Solís in his studio and then photographed and digitally produced to be printed onto aluminum panels. The panels are fixed to the wall with screws, allowing the mural to be moved and repurposed whenever the barrier comes down.

For now, the mural rises up along the sidewalk on Southwest First Avenue as an incredibly powerful demonstration of unity, justice, and hope for the future. The youth artists expressed excitement and pride in having their art represented publicly downtown. In February, Judge Oden-Orr invited the youth who contributed designs and ideas to join him, along with muralist Jose Solís and Chief Justice Cheryl A. Albrecht, to view the finished piece outside the courthouse—a poignant meeting of multi-generational artists, leaders, and change-makers honoring our collective aspirations for justice.

“Aspirations for Justice: Youth Mural Project” Youth Artists and community connections

Court Team: Grace Marcelle, Cate Marshall, Erykah Campbell, Alonzo Campbell, Jr., Jeremiah Campbell, Fatima Brotherson-Erriche

Contractor Team: Amaya Aldridge, D’andrew Jackson, Mia Jordan, Sydnee Jordan, Tamia Thirdgill, Kehinde Timothy, Tye Timothy, Jordan Wallace, Mikaela Woodard, Yasmin Woodard

Native American Youth & Family Center: Forrest Clark, Leya Descombes, Xochitl Nuño

Multnomah Youth Commission: Meron Semere, Naviya Venkitesh

Classroom Law Project: Aggie Roelofs, Maha Ballerstedt

Northwest Family Services: Trinity N., Moises N.

Arts Education and Access Fund 2021 Logo Design Winner

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Rose City Park Elementary third-grader selected

Vincente, Rose Waterfall, logo design 2021

We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2021 Arts Education and Access Fund (AEAF) Logo Competition. The competition challenged students to reimagine the original logo to illustrate how the fund supports the community and showcase students who benefit from arts education in school.

Arts education helps children develop the skills they need in order to communicate effectively, expand their analytical thinking, and engage with their community. In traumatic, turbulent times like these, art can be a literal lifeline for social, emotional, and mental health.

Arts Education and Access Fund 2021 Logo Design Competition

Winner

Vincente, a third-grader at Rose City Park Elementary School

Finalists

Edison, a fifth-grader at Rose City Park

Cate, a seventh-grader at Sunnyside Environmental School

All students attend Portland Public Schools.

The design competition was open to all students from kindergarten to eighth grade who receive arts education in Portland’s six school districts: Portland Public, Parkrose, Reynolds, David Douglas, Centennial and Riverdale. The design challenge was to for students create a new AEAF logo over Winter Break 2020. The competition was a collaboration between RACC and the City of Portland’s Arts Oversight Committee.

A panel of judges including professors and officials from Reed College, University of Portland, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland State University, Portland Art Museum, Echo Theater Company, Office of Commissioner Dan Ryan and the City of Portland Department of Revenue reviewed the submissions and selected the winner.

Read Vincente’s interview with RACC’s Arts Education Access Fund Specialist, Chanda Evans.

Vincente, AEAF Logo Design Competition 2021 Winner

Vincente, why did you decide to submit your art for the AEAF Competition?
Because I wanted to see how good at art I am. I tried my best.

What inspires you about art?
Happiness. I have a sign in my room “Build Yourself Up and Never Give Up” I want people to become happy when they see my art.

Did you have fun doing the drawing? What is the title of your piece?
Yeah – the name is The Rose Waterfall. Because there is a waterfall behind the rose.

How do you feel about your logo design used by different School Districts and Arts Organizations across the Portland Metro region?
Excited! I thought I would never win!

Your Art Teacher is Ms. Vang, what is your favorite part of having art at Rose City Park Elementary?
She helped me in first grade making faces – so she helped me learn art. She is nice.

If you could give advice to a budding artist, someone who is just starting to draw or paint, what would you tell them?
Become yourself. Draw any art in the future – what you do is art. All art. Just be true.

 

Learn more about Portland’s Arts Education and Access Fund.

The Arts Education & Access Fund Oversight Committee seeks new members. Commitments include quarterly meetings, with a variety of projects in between.

Current Chair Laura Streib explains the committee’s purpose, “The committee engages with City of Portland officials, the Regional Arts & Culture Council and school districts to make sure the AEAF is doing what the charter set out for it to do – ensure funding for K-5 Arts Education teachers and support for accessibility and access to the arts and arts organizations.” Find out more.

Support Beam Artist Reflection: Mami Takahashi

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Mami Takahashi is an artist with SUPPORT BEAM, a new RACC grant program supporting artists’ long term creative practice and livelihood. 

These works are part of my “Seeing You/Seeing Me” project. “Seeing You/Seeing Me,” (previously titled “Hiding and Observing”) is an ongoing project in which I use mirrored domes to hide my body or face during random social interactions with strangers. The domes camouflage and obscure my physicality as an immigrant, and serve as a metaphor for the invisibility/visibility of an immigrant experience, being a foreigner struggling for US citizenship. In 2021-2022, I will be expanding this project into a participatory community project happening in multiple U.S. locations historically connected to the problematic immigration of this country, including Portland, OR; Rabun Gap, GA; North Adams, MA; Chicago, IL; Santa Fe, NM; and elsewhere.

 

During my recent artist residency at Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Science, Rabun Gap, GA, I met 8 artists from the east coast and southern U.S. It was my first time in the southern part of the U.S. I was kind of excited to meet other artists there right after the legendary GA election of 2020, while a bit nervous to be in a historically conservative state. After a few days of adjustment for me and for them with my accent, I reached out to two Atlanta-based artists to camouflage themselves inside personal domes, which I constructed at the residency. Within each mirrored dome, we were all visually obscured from the outside but still recognizable as human forms.

While in the individual domes, we talked about our thoughts on current and past immigrations including forced, unconscious immigration such as human trafficking, slavery, and Dreamers. The talk was recorded as source material for future sound art. The photographs, video, and recorded conversations from this residency will combine with other documentation from the upcoming performances in 2021-2022.

Within the country’s present political turmoil, immigrants’ subjective struggles have been quietly buried deep in the bustle of daily life, their accented voices casually brushed aside in loud public forums. This combination of audio recordings and other documentation allows for the full scope of the project to breathe – the full breadth of the complexity of immigrants in the U.S..

-Mami Takahashi

Images made during a recent residency in Camp Colton, OR. Photographer: Adian McBride. Artist support at Camp Colton funded by Stelo Art (previously known as c3:initiative).

More from the artist: mamitakahashi.art and on Instagram.

Mami Takahashi is an artist from Tokyo, currently based in Portland, Oregon. Using photography, performance, installation and urban intervention, her practice explores the complexities of being Japanese and a woman living in the US. The photographic works from the early development of the ongoing project, “Seeing you/Seeing Me”, are currently on exhibit at the Center for Contemporary Art and Culture, Portland, Oregon in an exhibition entitled The Unknown Artist, curated by Lucy Cotter. 

For more updates and ongoing stories from Support Beam artists, follow along on Instagram at #RACCSupportBeam.

ART PURCHASE OPPORTUNITY: Ecology, Wellness & Connectivity

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Interpretation services available, email info@racc.org

Servicio de interpretación disponible   |  Предоставляются услуги переводчика   |   Có dịch vụ thông dịch   |   通訳サービスあり

Art Purchase Opportunity

Hobbs Waters, 51018, mixed media on canvas, 2018. Currently installed at the Multnomah County Health Headquarters in Portland, Oregon.

Artists from Oregon & Washington can add to the vitality of Portland’s Public Art Collection by submitting portable scale two dimensional works for purchase by the Regional Arts & Culture Council. Types of artwork that qualify for this opportunity are prints, paintings, photographs, drawings, textiles, collage, Bas relief, mosaic, glass, ceramic, and metal, intended to be hung on a wall with a 4” depth maximum. Special consideration will be given to artwork that relates to key concepts that guided the development of the Vanport Building: Ecology, Wellness, and Connectivity. Learn more about these concepts in the “About the Vanport Building” section below.

Selected artworks will initially be displayed in publicly accessible spaces in the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability offices on the 7th floor of the new Vanport Building, located at Southwest Fourth Avenue and Southwest Montgomery Streets in downtown Portland. All purchased artwork will become part of the Portable Works Public Art Collection, consisting of more than 1,300 pieces exhibited in publicly accessible buildings owned and operated by the City of Portland and Multnomah County. To view the current collection, visit our online gallery.

Submissions Due:  5 p.m., Wednesday, March 31, 2021

 

Selection criteria and decision-making

Selected works will strongly meet the criteria based on panel rankings, available budget, and The City of Portland and the Regional Arts & Culture Council’s commitment to supporting artists from historically underrepresented communities, as well as expanding the range of artistic and cultural expression represented in the Public Art Collection.  This opportunity prioritizes Black artists, Indigenous artists, and artists of color to acknowledge the disproportionate impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has on BIPOC communities.

A panel of artists, curators, community and City representatives will select artwork for purchase.

Find the submission information here.

Apply online in the RACC Opportunity Portal.

Funding for investments in artworks created by local Northwest artists comes from the City of Portland’s Percent for Art Program and is approximately $65,000.

 

 

Marie Watt, Part and Whole: Ripple, Hoop, Baron Mill, reclaimed wool blankets and thread, 2011. Currently installed at the Portland Building.

Learn more at two upcoming info sessions for artists

Instagram Live – 6 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 23

Follow @regionalarts on Instagram to stay informed of this and other upcoming opportunities.

On Zoom, 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 16, RSVP HERE

 

We’re Here to Help!

Questions about the overall opportunity?

Contact: Morgan Ritter at 503.823.5046, mritter@racc.org

Questions about the online portal and application materials?

Contact: Danielle Davis at ddavis@racc.org

 

 

 

 

About the Vanport Building

If you want to learn more about the history of the Vanport flood, see Vanport Mosaic, “The Time Nature And Racism Teamed Up To Wipe Out A Whole Town” on NPR’s Code Switch, and the “How Oregon’s Second Largest City Vanished in a Day” in the Smithsonian Magazine.

Portland State University, Portland Community College, Oregon Health & Sciences University and the City of Portland join together in the Vanport Building to share resources, enhance programs, and further expand their impact in our communities. This vibrant ecology of collaborators work together toward climate protection, energy efficiency, green building and sustainability. Natural light fills the building, creating comfortable environments to work and learn, whether in introspection or interaction. The building’s guiding principles center health and include wellness, universal access, and social justice and equity. Through this dynamic partnership, the building holds collaboration and connectivity at its core.

Learn more about the Vanport Building here.

Follow the artists of Support Beam

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Artists awarded Support Beam commissions are giving us small windows into their work, processes, and personal stories. In their own voices, hear more from these inspiring artists.

Support Beam funding from Multnomah County Percent For Art and PDXCARES.

Follow along at #RACCSupportBeam on Instagram.

Teressa White

“I want Native people to feel stillness; a moment where they can connect with their culture. A lot of us, especially Urban Natives, are disconnected from place and home. Disconnected from family, tribe, or our ancestral lands. I would like Indigenous people to feel inspired to find their heartbeat; to listen and seek out their own connection.

Far North stories often include frightful, grisly, often transformative elements that might be taboo in dominant culture stories. I am fascinated by them. To me, they express that we are more than just one thing; we are many things. There is personhood and spirit in everything and everything is connected.

I think we get stuck in our understanding of the world. We believe what we have been told. We limit ourselves when we get fixed this way. Art helps me ask questions and see things in a different way. I can get the feeling of what it’s like to not be so sure. Art asks that I expand my perspective, open my heart and my mind. It’s good for us humans to not feel so sure, to consider what we think we know. It’s rare that we have a full understanding of anything, I think. When I look at art that inspires me, it makes me say, ‘Oh, I see! I didn’t know that before!'”

Words from Terresa White, excerpted from a full feature in RagTag Magazine. 

More from the artist: www.terresawhite.com

Mike Vos

Portland-based artist Mike Vos shoots images with 4×5 film using in-camera double exposures. Vos’ work is presented as an interconnected series of photographic installations that revolve around a central theme: a world without humans and wildlife’s reclamation of the industrial landscape. Drawing deeply from literary themes such as magical realism, alternate history, and subtle horror, Vos has crafted complex and intriguing visual narratives. These photographic projects all exist within a shared universe; each focusing on different facets of the story. His work carries a strong environmental message about the impact humans have on the natural world, and challenges individuals to consider the lingering effects of our choices once we are gone.

More from the artist: www.deadcitiesphoto.com

 

 

 

Daren Todd

“The goal was to push myself to create art on a daily or weekly basis, and to utilize all of the creative talents I practice into one big project. For the past few months I have spent each week painting each letter of the English alphabet, recording my thoughts based around a random word that starts with each corresponding letter, and compiling those recordings, time-lapse video of my painting process, and self-produced instrumental music as a score, into a series of small videos released on my website and Instagram. The purpose of this practice was to push myself to work through creative blocks, train myself to continue to make work regardless of the outcome, and to hopefully inspire the other creatives in my communities to pursue their creative passions with fearless resolve. I believe that although we live in a time where the ability to stay connected through digital or virtual platforms during the course of a global pandemic is easier than ever, it is also more important than ever for artists and creatives to use their voices to amplify the struggles we face on a day to day basis. This artwork represents that journey by conveying myself in a hopeful light, backdropped by the alphabet, which represents the idea that communication is our greatest human trait.”

View the full process video and our recorded live interview with Daren

 

 

Relief funding for arts organizations, artists, and performance spaces 2021

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RACC is reposting here the latest information we have about federal, state, and local resources to support our community. Check for updates and sign up to receive RACC’s e-newsletter for timely notifications.

updated 4/23/2021

Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program opens April 24

The long-awaited Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) application portal postponed the relaunch to Monday, April 26, 2021 @ Noon ET. Links below may be subject to change.

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s grant program for shuttered arts and culture venues allows for a grant of up to $10 million for eligible businesses, including live venue operators, promoters, theatrical producers, live performing arts organizations, museums, zoos, aquariums and theaters.

Technical Assistant-only for the Application Portal through SBA Call Center 1-800-659-2955.  For application assistance, SBA recommends contacting one of their local assistance providers.

  • Tips:
    • Register in advance and read through the FAQs for changes and clarifications. Those questions with an * asterisk before it are new additions.
    • Upload as much evidence documentation as possible and that can include explanation statements.
    • SBA will allow post-submission corrections for technical errors and omissions only.
    • Application portal server may get overwhelmed during the busiest times. SBA has created a “waiting room” system to keep your application in the queue.
    • The application now asks for both gross and earned revenue schedule. Remember, accrual method is requested for the gross revenue schedule in determining priority period, but you can use cash or accrual method for the earned income schedule.

Paycheck Protection Program Round 2:

The SBA continues to issue updated guidance and forms for next phase implementation of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Following is a collection of the latest links to new information.

SBA Paycheck Protection Program Resources:

SBA Resources on PPP First Draw and Forgiveness:

SBA Resources on PPP Second Draw

Business Oregon Commercial Rent Relief Grants

Oregon small business owners who have struggled to pay their rent during the coronavirus pandemic can apply for help from the state through Monday, March 22. Business Oregon, the state’s economic development agency, is administering the program. Grants up to $100,000 per business tenant and a maximum of $3 million for each landlord may be awarded.

Landlords must complete the initial application, but both the businesses and property owners need to participate in the application process and sign the grant agreement in order to qualify for funding.

More information here.

Check for updates and sign up to receive RACC’s e-newsletter for timely notifications.

Catalyst Grants support local artists

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Every year, RACC invests hundreds of thousands of dollars through Project Grants to support the creation or presentation of performances, exhibits, and other publicly accessible creative endeavors.

RACC Catalyst Grantee and Filmmaker Kanani Koster

In 2019, RACC created a special category of Project Grants specifically designed for applicants who have never before received a RACC grant. The new Catalyst Grant features a shorter and simpler application, with awards fixed at $3,000 each. These grants also come with enhanced RACC staff support to help recipients with grant administration.

Last fiscal year Catalyst Grants provided 75 first-time awardees with $225,000 in funding. We’ve received feedback from Catalyst grantees that this first experience with RACC has helped them successfully apply for other RACC grants and build their grant writing skills. Additional flexibility and support during this pandemic has also been invaluable.

In their own words, learn more about three of last year’s amazing Catalyst Grantees: filmmaker Kanani Koster, painter Ameera Saahir, and DJ and speaker designer Michael Davis-Yates.

 

Award-winning filmmaker Kanani Koster

“I’m a Hapa director, filmmaker, AD, and producer here in Portland. My pronouns are she, her. Hapa is Pigeon or Hawaiian for half. I’m Japanese-Hawaiian and white. That is a big part of the work that I make in a lot of different ways. I have been living in Portland for the last year and a half. Moving to Portland was the main thing that’s driven my career forward! I lived in Seattle beforehand and felt stunted and didn’t feel connected to the community. The second my partner and I landed in Portland, I started getting jobs. I started meeting the coolest people here who were supportive and excited to work on my projects and excited to have me on to help with theirs. That’s meant a lot to me. I find it essential to bring BIPOC people onto my projects and working with women-identifying people because the set is different when you have a nice mix of everyone coming together. When I was younger and middle and high school, I took a lot of film production classes. I remember I enjoyed the classes at first but eventually got frustrated. Many girls were doing those types of courses because many of the dudes would do all my work for me. They said, ‘Oh, I’m going to help you out here — you can be in front of the camera. Well, honestly, I hate being in front of a lens! I’ve always loved period pieces, mostly old westerns, but I loathe watching them because John Wayne and all these old white cowboys are unappealing to me. But I love the imagery. I love the aesthetic of it. I love the idea of what the Old West was because it was such a diverse time. You know, we had many people of color who were building our nation up. I’m filming my own stories now. ” — filmmaker Kanani Koster.

Her Catalyst Grant supported her work reclaiming nostalgic film tropes and aesthetics for diverse audience members who’ve historically been left off-screen. She is the director of the award winning short, The New Frontier, and the docu-short, Any Oregon Sunday.

 

Painter and business owner Ameera Saahir

“My name is Ameera Saahir. I recently turned 74. I’m an African American woman, highly educated, I grew up in southwest Portland and was gentrified to southeast Portland; been here 16 years. I’m an artist and business owner. I was looking into my ancestry. That’s where the idea came up for the show that the Regional Arts and Culture Council funded. I’ve always captured stories and ideas. I found out from talking to family members that we have a narrative that has been circulating within our family at the family reunion. I took that information, the story, and I modeled my art exhibit after the milestones that the narrator had left for us. I took our family and I put it into historical references. Then I started looking into the story of the African migration. I’m from a large family. I saw family members becoming homeless, and I was like…oh, no. My own sister was living in terrible transitional housing; it became personal. I went backward instead of going forwards, and I traced through that story, and I looked at the housing. It started in Africa. I made some paintings of housing. There’s a slave ship called Minerva in my family history story. The woman who was captured and enslaved and brought here from Africa, well, her name was Minerva Jane. In my research, I learned—and I went, it took me months, but I traced it back—that was the name of the slave ship. That’s where our story begins. I have the narrative. I found records of the ship that carried my ancestors.” — Painter Ameera Saahir

Her Catalyst Grant supported the creation of a series of paintings called “Uninhabitable Living Conditions”. The pieces connect historical images of slave ships and sharecropping with transitional housing for African Americans.

 

DJ and speaker designer Michael Davis-Yates

“As a kid, I was kind of an oddball nerd, and I spent a lot of time alone as an only child, even though I had pretty hardcore group of friends in my neighborhood. I always found time for myself to find things out by breaking electronics by accident and then taking them apart with a screwdriver to see what was inside. Junior High was a big one; I blew up my first speaker with too much power from an amplifier. The smell of the electronic smoking and the impact of the driver blowing out was pretty cool. I wanted to know more, and I kept with it. Yeah, I’m a huge nerd. I still keep a day job, which was heavily brought to me due to Cstm Math and my speaker building. It all turned into a portfolio. Now I’m working for a company that I’ve been with for about four years that’s in Portland. We build studio monitor speakers for professional recording studios. That takes up a lot of my time. I’ve been DJing at night and on weekends (until COVID hit). Now I’ve gotten a lot more time to focus back into things and realizing that there is no rush. The ideas are there and working on them and making them better has been a great asset to me. I’m making speakers and boomboxes. A lot of my boombox work now has been based around vector recreations of retro boomboxes, or imagination stuff that pops out. I work with plywood mostly. Laminated plywood is my favorite thing to work with, stacking the layers of Baltic birch to get a really cool edge effect. My biggest dream would be chilling somewhere, in a small manufacturing shop, making stuff.” — DJ and speaker designer Michael Davis-Yates.

His Catalyst Grant was for “Custom Mathematics”, a series of speakers he designed and hand-built from the ground up, inspired by teachings from the Nation of Islam as well as the spirit of classic vintage boomboxes.

 

Check out more stories about local artists, and see these ones, on RACC’s Instagram and Facebook pages.