RACC Blog

Montavilla wine shop bets on jazzy future

Vino Veritas, located in Portland’s Montavilla neighborhood, features live jazz music

In mid-November, the day that Governor Brown’s 4-week “freeze” in Multnomah County went into effect, Vino Veritas General Manager, Trevor Gorham called RACC. Trevor was anxious to learn when his wine shop, Vino Veritas, would receive their grant funding. In business since April 2017, Vino Veritas is a small wine bar and bottle shop located in the Montavilla neighborhood of Southeast Portland with a devoted following thanks, in part, to their live music. They started offering music when the owner’s son asked if his band could play at the shop one-night a week. Customers liked it and before long, they had a robust rotation of jazz trios and other small groups playing live sets throughout the week. Because they normally provide a performance space, Vino Veritas was eligible for a portion of the $2.5 million in PDX Cares Venues funding administered through a partnership between Prosper Portland and the Regional Arts & Culture Council.

Jazz Concert – Eunice Parsons, 1984

After the initial shut down order in March, Vino Veritas pivoted their business model. They kept their doors open by focusing on phone and on-line orders bottle sales and offering curbside pick-up or delivery. As summer approached and restrictions loosened, they resumed more of their regular operations. Continuing to innovate, they added virtual programming, including on-line wine tastings. They also brought back the music. “At first our outside area could only hold a solo musician or a duo,” Trevor explained. Their customers responded, returning to Vino Veritas to enjoy the music and regain a feeling of normalcy. They expanded the covered area to hold a trio and a larger audience. “It meant so much to the musicians – and to the customers – to have live music again,” he added.

In April, Vino Veritas received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan but decided not to take the full amount. Like many, they underestimated the impact the virus would have on their business and were unsure of all the strings attached. “We also wanted to be sure other businesses like us had access to the funds,” Trevor explained. “When we first got the news (about the PDX CARES grant) we were speechless. This additional money helps us so much. We can now see the end and see how we are going to get through this.”


“Capturing the Moment” through the lenses of Portland’s Black artists, Indigenous artists, and artists of color

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

 

34 Black artists, Indigenous artists, and artists of color have had works selected for a new public art collection titled Capturing the Moment. This collection showcases work in a wide scope of medium, created by emerging artists and creatives across the region in response to this particular moment in time. It is an effort to reflect and record our collective experiences of change, uncertainty, loss, and hope.

A community curatorial team composed of four Black artists and creatives reviewed the submissions and made selections. The curatorial team includes: Christine Miller, visual artist; Bobby Fouther, visual & performing artist; Ambush, Creative Consultant/DJ;  and Stacey Drake Edwards, textile artist.

Selected artists will receive up to $1,500 per individual.

Abby Castillo

Alvaro Tarrago

Anthony Hudson

Anthony Wylen

Ashley Mellinger

Belise Nishimwe

Charlie Brown III

Donna Hayes

Dwayne Sackey

Ebonee Atkins

Emmanuel Henreid

hampton rodriguez

Harrison Pinsonault

janessa bautista

Jene Etheridge

Jonas Angelet

Julian Saporiti

Kiana Kinchelow

Machado Mijiga

May Anuntarungsun

Michael Cavazos

Michelle Fujii

Michelle Martinez

Montrell Goss

Niema Lightseed

Paola De La Cruz

Somya Singh

steven christian

Taylor Valdes

Terrance Scott

Terrance Burton

Valerie Yeo

Yathzi Turcot Azpeitia

This project is supported by the City of Portland and #PDXCARES funding. The collection will be made available for our community to experience; details to follow. For more information, contact: Heather Nelson Kent Communications Manager


Support Beam Artist Reflection: Patricia Vázquez

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

I have been drawing, painting and making prints for longer than I have done any other kind of artwork. I am a self taught visual artist. I have learned through taking classes here and there, and through working independently to develop a formal language. It has been a slow and private endeavor. The process of publicly becoming an artist was plagued by doubts, fears and contradicting inner messages. For most of my life, I couldn’t embrace an artistic identity. In a recent interview with students from Reynolds HS (available through the Art Talk Bus podcast), I shared that when I was young, I thought artists were people from another planet. Where I grew up, in the most populated and impoverished area of Mexico City, there were no artists, art centres, art activities, or anything art related. Art was something that people from a reality radically different than mine did. It took me decades (and tens of thousands of dollars in student debt!) to transform that belief. Even today, when I say “I am an artist”, the voice that speaks feels foreign to me, like it belongs to somebody else, or like it comes from somewhere far away.

As a result of acquiring an MFA in Social Practice, most of the artwork I make available publicly, and get paid for, is interdisciplinary and process based. This kind of work is a good fit for me, because it allows me to explore issues, situations and people I am deeply interested in, to use methodologies I learned while working as an organizer and educator, and to test the impact of socially embedded art making processes. However, producing images is also an essential aspect of my artistic thinking. I have intensely missed creating images, the quietness of a studio and the dialogue with the paper and the canvas. Compared to my interdisciplinary artwork, my visual work is not as immediately recognizable as socially or politically invested, but the fact that I am doing it feels incredibly political to me. The fact that it exists, that it is created by this person that wasn’t meant to be an artist, has a political significance.

The drawings I have created over the last few months originate in countless studies, sketches and doodles of the natural world. Some of them maintain a direct resemblance to landscapes, plants, logs, stones and other natural elements. But others, while done in the same style, are less recognizable landscapes, “impossible architectures” as I have started to call them. In these drawings I combine semi-architectural structures with an organic style of drawing. These works are manifestations of ecological anxiety and visions for a future where the natural reclaims the artificial; a future where the announced ecological catastrophe is reversed and nature trumps the threat of human domination.

The monoprints are a combination of these drawings and an experimental use of screen printing. This is a new way of working for me. Until recently I have used screen printing in a more traditional way, creating multiples of posters, t-shirts or other materials with a functional use. I have developed an interest in the pictorial qualities of screen printing and its potential for creating textures and color surfaces that are not controlled and that are unique to each print. I am still developing a language in this new medium, and I look forward to continuing this body of work.

-Patricia Vázquez


Patricia Vázquez Gómez works and lives between the ancient Tenochtitlán and the unceded, occupied, stolen and colonized lands of the Chinook, Clackamas, Multnomah and other Indigenous peoples. Her art practice investigates the social functions of art, the intersections between aesthetics, ethics and politics and the expansion of community based art practices. She uses a variety of media to carry out her research: painting, printmaking, video, exhibitions, music and socially engaged art projects. The purpose and methodologies of her work are deeply informed by her experiences working in the immigrant rights and other social justice movements. Her work has been shown at the Portland Art Museum, the Reece Museum, the Paragon Gallery, and the Houston Art League, but also in other spaces as apartments complexes, community based organizations and schools. She is the recipient of the 2013 Arlene Schnitzer Visual Arts Prize and has received support from the Ford Foundation, Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC), the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA), Portland’s Jade and Midway Districts and the Oregon Community Foundation. Patricia’s work can be explored at http://cargocollective.com/patriciavg

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


Support Beam Round Two Funded through PDXCARES Announced

We are excited to announce 17  additional artists selected to receive financial support through our Support Beam initiative.

Support Beam is designed to support emerging artists’ long-term creative practice and livelihood during an unprecedented time. This new opportunity prioritizes Black artists, Indigenous artists, and artists of color to acknowledge the disproportionate historical and ongoing systemic inequities, and the impact this pandemic is having on BIPOC communities.

Inspired by the depression-era Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), this program utilizes City of Portland PDXCARES (#PDXCARES) funding to commission a piece of public art without restriction to media or themes, and aspires to sustain as many artists as possible during a precarious economic and political time.

Through intentional efforts like these, our public art begins to more accurately represent the many distinct communities who enliven our region. Learn more about the artists selected for initial round of Support Beam.

Over the coming months, Support Beam artists are giving us a peek into their art practices, studios, works in progress, and creative lives. Follow along with their posts and stories on Instagram at #raccsupportbeam.

 

Del

www.delfineartist.com

 

Iván Carmona

www.pdxcontemporaryart.com/iván-carmona

 

Jodie Cavalier

www.jodiecavalier.com

 

Daniela del Mar

www.danieladelmar.com

 

Sade DuBoise

www.sadeduboisestudio.com

 

Sarah Farahat

www.sarahfarahat.com/

 

Marcelo Fontana

www.marcelofontana.com

 

Tiana Garoogian

tianagaroogian.com

 

Laura Camila Medina

www.instagram.com/lil___lau/

 

Lucia Monge

www.luciamonge.com

 

Dana Paresa

www.danaparesa.com

 

Diego Morales-Portillo

www.moralesportillo.com

 

Ameera Saahir

www.ameerasaahirethnicart.com

 

Orquidia Velasquez

www.orquidiavioleta.com/

 

Mike Vos

www.deadcitiesphoto.com

 

Tazha Williams

www.tazhaworld.com

 

Tammy Jo Wilson

www.tammyjowilson.com


Capturing the Moment – Call to Portland Artists and Creatives

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

Application window closed Monday, Oct. 26.

Artists are essential. In times of crisis, artists express what they see and feel, helping us process what we are going through, activating, and uplifting the community.

Capturing the Moment is a new call for Black artists, Indigenous artists, and all artists of color to submit works in all media created in this moment. ANY work that captures a creative response to the COVID-19 global pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement, racial justice protests, and/or the political environment of the moment. Submissions of all media will be considered – murals, paintings, photos, films, essays, poetry, performances captured on film or video, posters, stickers, t-shirt art, etc.

This new call aims to reflect and record this time of change, uncertainty, loss, and hope. It will continue to serve and showcase some of the work emerging from artists and creatives at this moment in our history. Artist submissions selected for Capturing the Moment will be shared via RACC and the City of Portland communication channels including digital formats and social media accounts.

Supported with City of Portland #PDXCARES funding dedicated to Black artists, Indigenous artists, and all artists of color who reside in the City of Portland.

Hampton Rodriguez, Bike, 2019, newspaper on canvas, 12 x7. Recent addition to Visual Chronicle of Portland

WHAT ARE WE “CAPTURING”?

  • RACC will purchase actual physical artworks/memorabilia of all media. (Framing will be provided by RACC, as appropriate.)
  • RACC will also purchase written works, digital images of works, digital recordings of performances, etc. to show/use through RACC & the City of Portland’s communication channels.

Only works created since March 2020 will be considered. Selected artists will receive up to $1,500 per individual. The overall budget for this initiative is $38,000.

A panel of RACC staff and BIPOC curators selected by RACC will review and curate artist submissions. RACC reserves the right to select works from artists and creatives who do not directly apply to this call, if appropriate.

ELIGIBILITY

This opportunity serves artists who reside in the City of Portland only. Funds may only be awarded for submissions from Black artists, Indigenous artists, and artists of color who meet the eligibility criteria.

Additionally, priority will be given to artists who have not received RACC Support Beam 2020 commissions or a 2020 Project Grant or are not already well represented in Portland’s Portable Works Public Art Collection.

Elijah Hasan, See It Through, 2019, Inkjet print, 11×14. Recent addition to Portland Visual Chronicle.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

All artwork for consideration must be submitted through RACC’s Opportunity Portal: racc.org/apply.

Artists must create an account, or log into their existing account. Instructions in the opportunity portal will guide you through the process. Incomplete submission forms cannot be considered.

Once you have started your Capturing the Moment submission form, you can save after each step and sign out. Your proposal will be saved as a draft you can continue to work on as needed. Complete all the tasks and hit “Submit.” Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions during the process.

 

Artists must include the following in their proposal:

  • Up to eight (8) works that “Capture the Moment,” including images, writing, or video. File size should be no larger than 5 megabytes. The .jpg format, PDF format, or links to video work online is preferred. Provide no more than two (2) images per artwork/item. For each submission, provide title, media, dimensions/length, date produced, and (if applicable) background or conceptual information.
  • Artist bio: A short paragraph that briefly describes your artistic practice (150-200 words).
  • Applicant demographics
  • Applicant W-9 form


QUESTIONS?  
Contact hnkent@racc.org

We’re Here to Help! Talk with the Program Staff. Ask questions and seek help early; last minute help can be in short supply.

If you have questions about the RACC application portal or if using the application portal presents a barrier to applying, contact Ingrid Carlson: icarlson@racc.org.

 

Application closes 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, 2020.

Use RACC’s Opportunity Portal to apply racc.org/apply

 


Give Because There Is A Need

by Carol Tatch, Director of Philanthropic Innovation

What a pleasure to join the staff of RACC in August 2020. Already I have had a whirlwind of opportunities, learning more about our creative community, connect with folx, and work with my colleagues to envision our “next”!  In this new role, Director of Philanthropic Innovation, I am thrilled to be charged with helping to imagine new and renewed ways to harness resources for this region’s incredible arts communities. As RACC repositions itself to increase support for artists, the creative economy, and arts organizations, we also look to steward and expand community investments by working with local partners across sectors as an advocate for this work. I am grateful for those who worked diligently over RACC’s 47 years, 25 years as a 501(c)(3), to make this moment possible for me.

Dana Paresa, Under Quarantine II, 2020, new acquisition to the Visual Chronicle of Portland

I look forward to each conversation and engagement that helps this happen. I encourage your participation and your challenge to RACC to serve our community – and our partners – in thoughtful, forward-thinking, and life-affirming ways. Without our creativity, we are not whole. Let’s embrace the change we want to see and make it happen for our creative community and for each of us. Supporting Arts and Culture supports us all.

As some funding opportunities are receding, we are seeking to new opportunities to gather partners to invest in the artistic and cultural expressions that bind us all together and help to shape the better world we want to live in. From every level of our communities, artists are using their powers of self-expression to radically change the prevailing narrative. They are creating new stories and imagining new frameworks for how we continue the work of social justice, social change, and racial equity reform that starts at the community-level and reaches high into political spaces where deep conversations make real change.

When (RACC) pivoted its grantmaking focus this spring to support artists and creative impacted by COVID-19, we knew it was the right thing to do. As a part of that effort, our Emergency Fund for Artists and Creative Workers was launched in an effort to support the most vulnerable amongst of creative community during this time. The over 800 applications we received from creatives in our community let us know it was the correct action.

Thanks to our wonderful donors and community partners we are able to report that we have met the need of over 50% of these requests. Our sincerest appreciation and gratitude to every person who saw or heard our request and responded to help anchor our artists so strongly. Each award is $500 and the application process is simple—let us know that you have need.

“What absolutely extraordinary news!! I am so grateful for this critical assistance. It feels so good to be held-up a bit by my community. Thank you again.” – Emergency Fund grant recipient

We would like to keep this outlaying of direct community funding going, so please consider a gift to our Emergency Fund for Artists and Creative Workers. Every penny goes to support the incredible artistic and cultural expression we love to embrace and share.

We accept gifts via credit card, direct debit (sign up to become a sustainer!), and stock. Click this link to support your creative community today! You can also send your support via U.S. Postal Service to our office: RACC, 411 NW Park Ave., Suite 101, Portland OR 97209-3356.


PDXCARES NEW FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Millions in new state and local funding is coming available for arts non-profits and artists, performing arts spaces, music venues, and small businesses. Timelines are short. Read below to see where you or your organization can tap into these new resources.

Watch our COVID-19 resources page for details on new grants and relief opportunities as we know them.

#PDXCARES Venues Funding – Application Closed

Funds for performing arts spaces, music venues, independent film theaters

In July Portland City Council allocated $2.5 million in federal COVID relief funding for Portland-based businesses and non-profit organizations that program  public space for music, dance, and independent film and that are unable to open until Phase III of the state’s re-opening due to the ongoing COVID-19 public health shutdown.

Up to $2 million will be available in grants ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 for commercial entities with eligible expenses related to the coronavirus closure in accordance with federal requirements.  An additional $500,000 is dedicated to non-profit entities for the same purpose.

Priority will be placed on supporting applicant organizations that are led by or serve Black, Indigenous, and all people of color (BIPOC) community members, that have not previously received other state funds, or that present or partner with local artists and musicians.  The federal CARES Act requires that funding be used only to cover expenses that are necessary expenditures incurred due to the economic shutdown and that were incurred during the period that began on March 1, 2020, and ends on Dec. 30, 2020.

Prosper Portland and RACC will host a panel review process. Staff will screen for eligibility and priority
criteria. Panels made up of a diverse group of community representatives will review eligible
applications using the following priority and review criteria. More details in the application guidelines.

Businesses and organizations apply here www.racc.org/apply Application closes 5 p.m.,  Monday, Nov. 2.

Read the FAQ for more details.

CAPTURING THE MOMENT

With City of Portland #PDXCARES funding, RACC offers a new call for submissions from Black artists, Indigenous artists, and all artists of color living in Portland.

Capturing the Moment is a new call for artists and designers of all media to submit works created in this moment. ANY work that captures a creative response to the global pandemic, Black Lives Matter movement, racial justice protests, and/or the political environment of the moment. Submissions of all media will be considered – murals, paintings, photography, essays, poetry, performances, posters, stickers, t-shirt art, etc.

Application closed Monday, Oct. 26, 5 p.m. 

Read the full description and find out how to apply here: https://racc.smapply.org

 

New Round of Small Business Assistance Grants – application closed Sept. 24, 2020

Individual cities and counties have their own deadlines and requirements for these funds.

Resources and information here: https://www.mesopdx.org/grants/

Opened Sept. 14 in Portland: https://prosperportland.us/[portfolio-items][portland-small-business-relief-fund]

In Washington County: https://www.co.washington.or.us/CAO/business-recovery.cfm


 

 

Application Closed – Oregon Cultural Trust Coronavirus Relief Funds

Funding for Cultural Nonprofits and Community Venues

When: Application closed Aug. 24 at noon.

Cultural Coalitions in each county will help make funding decisions by September 14.

Find out more about how the City of Portland allocated $114 million in federal CARES ACT funding

Learn more about State COVID Relief funding for arts and music

 

Keep any eye out here and on our COIVD-19 resources page for more updates.


Five muralists transform vacant building in Chinatown/Japantown

Diverse local artists commissioned in Portland

Last weekend, five local artists began new murals on boarded up sections of the former House of Louis restaurant, located in Portland’s Chinatown/Japantown Historic District (NW Fourth and Davis). The murals add to the building’s colorful and distinct façade. The Old Town Community Association is managing the project with funding for the artists provided by the Regional Arts & Culture Council.

Although many businesses throughout Portland closed their doors in March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the House of Louis restaurant has sat shuttered since January 2018. It was the last Dim Sum restaurant to operate in Old Town. The buildings new murals face a section of NW Davis Street designated the Davis Festival Street, recently revitalized and restored by the Association.

“So many artists out there creating important work are not being paid. We were thrilled to be brought into this project to support individual artists financially, provide a platform for diverse voices, and give the community something inspiring and beautiful,” said the art council’s Executive Director, Madison Cario.

The five commissioned artists:

  • Amaranta Colindres*
  • Latoya Lovely
  • Rebecca Rodelo*
  • Yasmin Correa*
  • Devin Finley

*pictured above

The Regional Arts & Culture Council’s murals program is designed to deepen our communities’ sense of place, uplift diverse voices, tell stories and empower local artists.