RACC Blog

Executive Director Madison Cario on change and growth at RACC

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Madison Cario (second from left), with Jennifer Arnold, Charlene Zidell, and Cheryl Green.

Feb. 18, 2020 update:

In the three weeks since announcing our reorganization, we have had a wide range of conversations about the changes and I appreciate the opportunity to reflect on the feedback received to date – please, keep it coming! Reach out anytime at ed@racc.org.

Many stakeholders were consulted over the past year as we considered potential options for RACC. They candidly shared their thoughts with me, with staff, and with board members. Their input helped shape decisions and came from many perspectives, including:

  • Leaders of arts organizations in Portland – including many of the small and mid-sized organizations benefiting from changes to RACC’s grantmaking criteria;
  • The Portland City Council and other city officials that raised concerns following the release of the Auditor’s 2018 report and initial steps to implement the auditor’s recommendations;
  • Funders and leaders of Portland’s philanthropic community;
  • Leaders of community-based organizations;
  • Peers from other cities with Arts and Culture Council’s – and data recently released by American’s for the Arts on funding for arts organizations around the country.

A number of people have expressed concerns about the RACC staffers laid off as a result of the restructure. I appreciate that concern and I share it. While we can never give details about any individual, I do want you to know that affected staff have been invited to apply – and given preference in the hiring process – for new positions that better support the organization’s new direction and vision. More updates on RACC staffing in the weeks to come.

Posted Jan. 29, 2020

When I first arrived at RACC last January 2019, I was inspired by the people, the diversity of the community, the field and the art forms. A year later, I am still inspired. For a full year I’ve asked people – if you could list the top 3 things that you’d like to have an arts council do to support you and your work, what would that be? Over and over again I was told we need you (RACC) to convene, connect, and bring us together we need you to advocate on our behalf, and we need you to get us more resources! With this in mind we began to imagine how RACC could best fill these gaps.

My charge, as given to me by the board since before my first day in Portland, has been to evaluate RACC’s challenges and opportunities. To develop a strategic plan for RACC to fulfill its responsibility and realize its full potential to advance a thriving, equitable and inclusive arts and culture environment throughout greater Portland.

For the past year I have been listening to artists, nonprofit leaders, and many other folks with big ideas. In meeting rooms from Oregon City to Hillsboro, at gatherings hosted by RACC and at arts events across the region, through “office hours” at local cafes and happy hours at neighborhood hotspots, I’ve been amazed and inspired by the abundance of passion and creativity here. I have heard a strong desire for us all to collectively “do more”.

I also heard, quite frankly, common themes of dissatisfaction with how RACC has been functioning. There are many myths and misunderstandings about what RACC is, what we do, how we do it (spoiler alert: this is the magic) and for whom we are doing things. This confusion contributes to unintended consequences that play out in missed opportunities, inequitable practices, a sense of mistrust and squabbling over resources – both internally and externally. Without clarity and alignment, our brand and our impact are diminished, negatively affecting our staff, our board, our partners and the communities we serve.

A detailed analysis of RACC’s finances this winter, coupled with conversations with staff and board, revealed that we have been supporting programs and projects that are unsustainable. A 2018 audit by the City of Portland, by far our largest funder, revealed a lack of alignment in our goals, and led some to voice uncertainties about the value we provide to the community. The audit paved the way for new levels of city oversight, and as RACC begins to negotiate a new three-year city contract, we have new expectations for stronger accountability, clearer outcomes and greater efficiency going forward. Surely ALL of our community partners want these things, too.

In response to all of these forces, but also looking ahead to achieving our greatest potential, we are charting a new course for RACC and I’m asking for your partnership moving forward.

As you’ll see in our press release, RACC is letting go of some programs and reinvesting resources in other initiatives with stronger impacts. We will continue all of our current grantmaking programs and public art projects, while sunsetting our workplace giving program and eliminating our community engagement program as a separate function of RACC – focusing on collective impact partnerships rather than having a stand-alone program in order to better support communities that have historically been marginalized and underserved.

One change that I am particularly excited about involves transferring all management of The Right Brain Initiative over to Young Audiences of Oregon and SW Washington, RACC’s implementation partner since the Initiative began. This expansion of Young Audiences’ role plays to the strengths of each organization, sustains our long-standing partnership, and ensures continuity for the students, teachers, artists, and schools that we serve.

Combined, these changes will help RACC simplify its operations and focus on what RACC is uniquely positioned to do – be a better advocate and bring more resources into greater Portland’s arts and culture ecosystem. Working on fewer projects means that our staff and board will be better able to support the communities we serve, with a stronger focus on access, customer service, equity, and collective impact.

These changes are not made lightly. We have had to let talented people go – and I am grateful to them for bringing their extraordinary passion and skills to work every day. I am also grateful to our staff, community and board members – past and present – who have all been truthful thought partners and advisors in making some very difficult decisions.

I welcome your feedback and questions as we move in this new direction together. Please reach out anytime at ed@racc.org.

Regional Arts & Culture Council and Young Audiences announce exciting partnership changes

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We are excited to announce that management of The Right Brain Initiative is moving from The Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) to Young Audiences of Oregon & SW Washington (Young Audiences). This expansion of Young Audiences’ role will play to the strengths and expertise of each organization, sustain our long-standing and successful partnership, and ensure the continuity of the program for the students, teachers and schools that we serve. Both boards of directors support the changes.

Over many months we’ve worked together to review our partnership and get a clearer picture of each organization’s strengths, challenges and vision for the future. We both see this as a way of aligning mission with action. Young Audiences will focus on what they do best – providing the programs and services needed to bring together our community’s students and artists. RACC will continue its core grantmaking programs and public art projects, while expanding its advocacy and fundraising programs with a deeper focus on reaching underserved communities. These changes will help both organizations going forward into a new decade and we anticipate a smooth transition.

We are enormously proud of what we have accomplished together through the Right Brain Initiative since its launch over a decade ago and believe that the program’s next decade is just as bright. Young Audiences has been a key part of The Right Brain Initiative since its inception, and has been serving our region for more than 60 years, guided by the mission “to inspire young people and expand their learning through the arts.” The Right Brain Initiative aligns perfectly with that mission and Young Audiences looks forward to collaborating with students, educators, artists, families, advocates and supporters to ensure that the program continues to evolve to be responsive to our communities’ needs and to secure its sustainability.

The announcement comes after a year of planning led by RACC’s executive director, Madison Cario. Find out more about changes presented by Cario this week to community partners, city officials, board members and staff that will make the organization more fiscally sustainable and achieve RACC’s vision.

We are both looking forward to another great decade for The Right Brain Initiative!

Madison Cairo, Executive Director                 Cary Clarke, Executive Director
Regional Arts & Culture Council                     Young Audiences of Oregon & SW Washington

 

Upcoming Right Brain residencies scheduled at schools will proceed as planned. For questions about in-school programming or upcoming residencies scheduled in your school – contact Kim Strelchun (kstrelchun@therightbraininitiative.org) at Young Audiences. For questions and to learn more about the changes visit Young Audiences here.

but you already knew that

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by Maya Vivas

As an artist, community member, and co-director of a small non-profit arts organization (Ori Gallery),  I’ve not only experienced what it’s like to navigate the Portland arts scene as a person holding multiple marginalized identities, but I am also a witness to what is prioritized, what is celebrated, and what is neglected. 

For nearly two years I’ve worked as an arts organizer at Ori Gallery, a collaborative project between myself, Leila Haile, and the Portland Community. We aim to uplift the voices of Trans and Queer Creatives of Color via art exhibitions, community organizing, and mobilization through the arts. Located in the heart of a gentrified neighborhood that was previously a Redlined area of town Ori Gallery is first and foremost about the reclamation of space and prioritizing the leadership of those most impacted by white supremacy, transphobia, and ableism. Our location here is significant because Mississippi/Albina area is historically black neighborhood and was once teeming with culture of black and brown Portlanders. As it stands right now, out of the 80+ that dwell on Mississippi Ave. the only black-owned spaces are Ori Gallery and the St Joseph Grand Lodge (founded in 1940). Ori Gallery has become an act of radical reclamation and a landmark in a city where working-class creatives of color struggle to make space for themselves.

Within the context of Oregon and Portland specifically, I see an extreme lack of representation by artists who depict the racial, gender and sexual diversity that exists here. Divestment, gentrification, and disenfranchisement have crippled our communities and within that, the cultural production that comes from that very struggle is often co-opted without due credit or compensation. This manifests in the continued struggle for studio space, the closing of smaller artist-run galleries, lack of opportunities and financial support. Most efforts to rectify the need for space feel as though it’s a little too late. The inertia of gentrification has already taken hold and the result is the continued prioritization of business over people. People who create culture. This leads to closures of DIY spaces that deserve just as much attention as any museum. If we seek to view Portland as a cultural hub there must be support for artist-run spaces that lend a platform to those most marginalized. I fear that if we continue down this path, we fail to support the next generation of creatives.

Support for artists means more than commissioning a mural in a gentrified area. Support means giving much-needed resources for the most marginalized artists to explore and develop their own practice. Those in positions of power must be careful to not repeat paternalistic practices and trust that artists know what they need and that they will, by nature, be the creators of culture. When speaking to my community I hear cries for more accessible ways to apply for and receive grants and other means of financial support. When support is given, often times this comes along with a deluge of bureaucracy. Which, for smaller organizations whose members often work multiple jobs to sustain themselves, gets in the way of doing the work or deters one from asking for help altogether. I hear calls for institutions to take the time to talk to people on an individual level and get to know the work up close and personal. For the organizations that do grant financial awards, there is much opportunity to strengthen community via serving as a bridge between grantees. Connecting them to create a cohort that can collaborate and mutually support one another. And to offer more assistance in navigating things such as taxes, accounting, and city bureaucracy. 

But we know this already. 

When asked to assess something so nebulous as the state of the arts in Portland it is really difficult for me to not come from a place of cynicism. It feels as though our repetitive, calls for resources and support, from the very institutions that claim to be civil servants, are being ignored. So we, as we have done since time and memorial, create our own spaces. Spaces where there is no need for an explanatory comma. I want to be hopeful. I want to live in a reality where my community feels celebrated and valued. This is why we do the work.

 

 

As part of RACC’s 2018 State of the Arts report to Portland City Council, three local creatives shared their experiences as artists and arts administrators in Portland. (You can watch their 2018 testimonies here.) This article was written as a current reflection to the “state of the arts” in Portland. What is their experience now? What makes them anxious? What makes them hopeful? What issues do they and/or their communities face as the city continues to change? What is their vision for the future? 

Other essays from this report can be read here 

Maya Vivas is a ceramic sculptor and performance artist based in Portland Oregon and co-founder of Ori Gallery. Whose mission is to redefine “the white cube” through amplifying the voices of Queer and Trans Artists of color, community organizing and mobilization through the arts.

The Unity Project: Unlocking Exploration in Our Foster Youth

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by Taryn Sauer

When we invest in the creativity of our youth, we open doors to fundamental facets of learning and self-discovery. This is exactly what Color Outside the Lines has been involved in for almost a decade: harnessing creative expression in foster children and opportunity youth* as a way of connecting with themselves and their community. For Color Outside the Lines’ latest RACC-funded program, the Unity Project, they paired 24 youths with 24 Portland artists to create original works of art that will adorn the Burnside Rocket Building at 1111 E Burnside St.

Youth in artist’s studio for the Unity Project.

Sitting five stories high, this structure will be refreshed with hand-painted 4×6 panels showcasing unique images and stories from each collaborative pair’s creation. From a shared love of dragons and psychedelic colors to an iconic bison representing a foster youth’s Native American heritage, this large scale mural is as diverse as the partnerships who composed them. All of this was by design.  Color Outside the Lines Founder and Creative Director Anna Barlow, alongside Development Director Crystal Ramberg, interviewed dozens of local artists. They sought to connect each foster youth with an artist whose style matched their interests. As Barlow explained:

“When we found out a little boy was into heavy metal and skateboarding or a young girl who loved everything whimsical, we knew who to pair them with. We wanted these relationships to go beyond a teaching experience and see these partnerships grow.”

What began as a summer apprenticeship between local artists and foster youths blossomed into a mentorship between two creatives. Studio time became bonding time. As each pair’s paintings grew, so did their shared vision and strong sense of camaraderie. This could not be more true for nine-year-old D and her artist partner, Jennifer Gillia Cutshall whose joint mural panel is emblematic of the bonds formed through their creative expression. It was said their connection was instant. “D’s artistic spirit matched mine and we worked together well, allowing inspiration to flow freely between us,” Cutshall remembers. “We made decisions together and altered the initial design to mirror the symbolism that matched us as a team.”

Entitled “Lady Justice is the High Rise of Unity,” their painting combines Cutshall’s fascination of powerful empresses with D’s love of nature and animals. Peaceful doves became city pigeons, those often overlooked yet resilient birds. And as D danced around the studio and sang her favorite song, “Blackbirds” by the Beatles, she and Cutshall thought black birds should also grace their painting. “We used pigeons and blackbirds because people don’t usually notice them,” D noted. “The pigeons are the underdogs and the blackbirds symbolize freedom from oppression.”

D and artist Jennifer Gillia Cutshall painting the final touches on their piece.

All of this from nine-year-old D who entered into the project overflowing with enthusiasm. She couldn’t wait to get to the studio after school and paint alongside Cutsall. Over paint brushes and acrylics, talks about their days became conversations of inspiration and hope; discovering deeper connections in one another each session. During the process of Cutshall painting spruced up bird nests with soft grays and browns, she looked at D and realized, D is Lady Justice: “She is hope, possibility, and she possesses the triumphant spirit of a brave warrior.”

Cutshall asked D if she would be the model for their empress and D delightedly exclaimed, “Yes!” The apprentice became a muse and together they merged their creative ideas into one. Little by little, their painting revealed progressive nuances in their completed mural. Their Lady Justice, who is traditionally blindfolded, gazes out onto the city with the awareness of youth’s power to overcome and shape a future in equity and unity. The unyielding power in their message is translated in every brushstroke that grew stronger through their time together.

For Cutshall, this partnership was a win-win. When Ramberg tapped her for the Unity Project, she embraced the opportunity. To be able to possibly inspire a young person and witness their growth was all she hoped for, but what she received was far more than she expected.

“There’s a bond that happens when you create something,” Cutshall said with a smile. “It sort of fast paces the friendship or connection to the person. D probably brings that out in everyone. She’s a super great kid to just be around. I’m sure I’m not alone in connecting with her instantly and I’m just grateful to have experienced this with her.”

Once the Unity Project was complete, all artist pairs reunited on October 12th where art lovers and supporters gathered at the Red Ecotrust. The 24 murals were on display for all to enjoy as the young artists reflected upon their time spent together–a summer filled with warm days in a studio that came to feel more like their own; a season they won’t soon forget.

In early November, the Burnside Rocket will be enhanced with these mini murals for the entire city to see. As these young artists grow, memories of a summer spent in self-discovery and creativity will live on for many years to come.

As for the future, the Unity Project seeks to create more opportunities like this and the collaborative artworks are just the beginning. Through community partnerships, the next phase dives deeper into nurturing each participant’s interests by opening up more avenues of expression through dance, digital media, music, sculpture, and more. The possibilities for creativity are boundless. All they need is that first spark of connection.

 

*opportunity youth: This term seeks to reframe language around the depiction of “at-risk youths.” By developing new words to describe our young people who face unique life challenges, we can reshape the trajectory of their future.

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Taryn Sauer is an industrious writer with a copyeditor’s eye and a poet’s hand. Her work has appeared in a variety of newspapers and culinary publications, but what she’s proudest of is the small press zine, Facade, she created with her friends to raise funds for Planned Parenthood. When she’s not writing, you can find her in the kitchen recreating her grandmother’s New Mexican recipes. Check out more of Taryn’s work here.

100 Days: Executive Director Madison Cario reflecting back and looking ahead

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Reflecting Back and Looking Ahead

 

Hello. April 25 marked my first 100 days. Phew! As promised when stepping into this role, I’m pausing after this 100 day mark to share some of what I’ve learned and answer ‘What’s Next?’

Clockwise from right to left: RACC PDX City Hall in support of Trans Day of Visibility; City of Portland Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, Madison Cario and Multnomah County’ Commissioner Susheela Jayapal; White Bird Dance and Phó Van Fresh; and Art + Coffee meet up.

I’ve so enjoyed that most days were spent outside of my RACC office as I explored the city to meet with people in person (and yes, thanks to the community invitations and coordination of my team, I managed to meet well over 100 creatives in person as pledged when I arrived). Folks gathered at RACC’s Monday morning Art+Coffee meet ups, working lunches hosted by board members, and meetings with elected officials and community partners. I’ve witnessed moving performances, exhibits, forums, celebrations, and fundraisers. I invited you to suggest restaurants, urban trails, public art, and galleries, to tell me about your experiences in the Portland arts and creative community, and to invite me to events. And you did just that. This Google map shows some of where your invitations led me. There’s still more exploring to be done, including visits to Clackamas and Washington Counties, where I am headed in May.

Throughout these interactions with you, I’ve gained valuable insight into what can be better celebrated within our region as well as aspects of our community that are concerning. I am incredibly grateful for everyone who entrusted me with time, perspective, and emotional labor. So… here we go. After 100 days into my role here is what I’m prioritizing as next.

 

What is Next for RACC?

I. COMMIT TO CENTERING EQUITY
While we have taken action externally to center equity in funding and programs, I’m publicly prioritizing RACC’s internal work. Some details. Even before I arrived in Portland—for more than a decade, in fact— RACC staff and board have been advocating and creating pathways to improve equity in all our services and programs including grantmaking, public art, and arts education. Soon after I arrived, RACC announced substantial changes to our grantmaking; an effort to address historical and systematic inequities. While we will continue focusing on equity externally, concerns have been expressed within RACC which illustrate the fact that we also have some important internal equity work that needs our attention.We have been promoting equity work externally without digging deep enough into it ourselves. I am committed to this work and to communicating our learnings and progress with the community at large.

Foundational actions towards this include:

Create a unifying equity vision and plan. This spring and summer, RACC will create and implement an organization-wide equity plan. It will be a living document built to both measure our progress and to set clear goals for the future.

Add the A to DEI.  (Access, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) We are ready to partner with the City and the disability community to ensure that Access is a key part of all future Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion work within the arts community. It’s time to celebrate the generative power of disability and ensure that all residents across the region have access to culture, creativity and the arts.its Disabled citizens make up 25% of the U.S. population, and yet this group remains invisible or shut out throughout many communities. 

 

II. CREATE A SUSTAINABLE AND RELEVANT ORGANIZATION
For decades, RACC has been fortunate enough to receive the majority of its funding through the City of Portland. Over this period of time, the city and the arts and culture communities have changed and expanded, and we need to find new resources and new ways to support this growth.

Foundational action towards this include:

Futures Planning. This spring, we will embark upon a comprehensive strategic planning process, using a futures planning framework. Driven by the questions: What does the future of Portland and its citizenry look like, and how might RACC serve this future? What are the needs, trends and personas of the future of people? Futures Planning will help us examine what is possible. We are approaching this work with a refined equity lens and will be soliciting community input throughout the process. Please let me know it you’d like to join us in these important conversations.

 

What is Next for You?

I. JOIN US
Across the region I continually heard the need for people to be connected to resources beyond financial support. In the future, I imagine that you will come to RACC to learn about and be connected to resources. In my mind, I see RACC as a modern-day switchboard and resource center where people can gather together to share and learn from each other.

 

II. CONTRIBUTE TO Portland Stories
Show up and Share. There is a critical need for visionary cultural planning in Portland. The city is changing rapidly, artists and arts organizations are being displaced, and historically underserved communities are often overlooked by traditional systems of support. The first step towards developing a comprehensive culture plan is to take an inventory of our current arts, culture, and creative assets. To connect and thrive, we need to be able to see each other —literally—and get a better sense of what we already have within the region (otherwise referred to as a cultural asset map). In order to do this, we need you, your voice, your stories, and your knowledge about what we have, where it is, and, of course, what we need to sustain and grow this brilliant and diverse community. I invite you to participate in our upcoming cultural asset mapping efforts this summer. Stay tuned for more information!

 

An Invitation
These past few months have been enlightening and illuminating. This is because of YOU. Please keep connecting with me and with RACC. I am always open to ideas, reflections, and plans. Email me at mcario@racc.org or interact with me on Instagram as I continue my journeys around our area.

And come to an event! Here’s some great ones.

  • My next Art+Coffee  will be on May 6 from 10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. at Taborspace Coffee, 5441 SE Belmont St, Portland OR 97215.
  • RACC’s next Art&Power conversation on Gender & Sexuality is May 23rd.

 

I am grateful for the past 100+ days and looking forward to important work and new adventures for RACC and our region.

Sincerely,

Madison Cario

mcario@racc.org
503-823-5408
Executive Director

Get to Know Incoming Executive Director Madison Cario

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What an exciting month it’s been since we announced Madison Cario as the Regional Arts & Culture Council’s incoming Executive Director come January 2019! Madison is joining us from Atlanta, Georgia, where they served as the inaugural Director of the Office of the Arts at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

While Madison will be making their way to meet with the arts and culture community once they begin their post in January, we asked them a few questions about their experience, what they’re looking forward to, and more. Read on and get to know a little more about our incoming Executive Director:

As you transition from your role as Director of the Office of the Arts at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT), what are some takeaways you feel will guide you in your new leadership role at RACC?

I’ve always been a good listener and synthesizer of ideas, but at GT, with so many truly different ways of speaking – about the creative process, and about collaboration, I had to learn to listen differently. I had to learn, in some cases, to dream differently. I am excited to apply these fairly recently acquired skills to a new environment. I’m excited to see what challenges await and what learning will take shape.

I learned what matters most is not that I myself can articulate the vision (that is important), but when everyone within an organization can articulate the purpose and plan for the organization (once it is established), then we are cooking with gas!!!

Also, every voice matters, every language and nuance is important. At GT I learned how to start by asking people what they loved and from there we found a common bond to work together.

What you most looking forward to at RACC? How do you envision spending your first 6 months?

Listening, provoking, and listening to what the provocations generate.

What do you feel are the most pressing challenges the art and culture sector needs to address today related to diversity, equity, and inclusion?  Do you feel there are questions we need to be asking that we haven’t asked already, and actions we need to take that have yet to be taken?

I believe we need to communicate and honor complexity and transparency in this conversation. We need to understand how to contextualize issues of equity and inclusion. We need to look beyond numbers and representation when using the term ‘diversity’. We need to stop telling singular stories and feel that we are providing platforms for ‘minority voices.’

I believe what is missing is the interconnectedness and relationality of differing perspectives and lived-experiences. To uncover and acknowledge implicit bias is important – but needs work in the arts, and in every system, is the step after recognition. What is needed is the collective action: the development of new systems, testing of those new systems, feedback loops, next-round testing, implementation, assessment, redesign, and deep and care-filled processes that are co-created through the lenses of equity, diversity and inclusion. These are not static or two-dimensional concepts – they are constellations within constellations.

And I like to ponder the question, once we have all the boxes checked, then what?

What’s exciting, strange, or familiar as you make your move to Portland? Is there anything particular that you’re looking forward to doing as you become a resident of the Pacific Northwest?

What is exciting? A new city, terrain, community, and the ocean (well, at least closer than Georgia). Also, sporting a new silhouette for me, and a long rain duster instead of a sunbrella!

Re Strange – Define strange.

What is familiar? Years ago I fell in love with the west coast when I lived in San Francisco for 7 years and I am thrilled to be back – it feels like a home coming of sorts. I love being outdoors, walking everywhere and of course learning more about the Pacific Coast and all the fantastic art, food and people that call Portland home.

Folks are really intrigued with your experience bringing the arts and technology sectors together. Can you talk more about that? What has been the most fun or interesting thing about working at these intersections?

When it works, it’s magic. We bridged worlds perceived to be radically different together. The interesting thing about working at these intersections is I’ve developed a constellation mapping way of connecting things that seemingly perhaps do not go together but have, at their essence, a common purpose or interest.

I also witnessed how quickly ideas can take shape when you work at the center of various creative processes simultaneously.

What was your perception of arts and culture growing up and how has it evolved?

It wasn’t for people ‘like me’. I got that message over and over again. My perception evolved greatly when I started making performances and identifying as an artist. As an arts leader I am both a champion and critic of arts and culture. I care about arts and culture deeply, enough to critique and push for evolution of the field as well. My perception about the value and identity of insider/outsider has especially evolved.

If you could time travel, what message would you leave your younger self?

This life can be everything you want and nothing you could have imagined… simply place one foot in front of the other, you will find the way.

You can sing!

What’s a question you wished someone would ask you?

How can I help you?

Why is it essential to continue your work nationally in terms of keynote speaking, leading workshops, etc?

Madison’s first day at RACC is January 14, 2019. More information about opportunities and events to meet and speak with them will come as we get closer to their arrival in Portland!

New mural materializing now on NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard

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Local artists channel Día de Muertos in next installment of Fresh Paint, a temporary murals program

October 17, 2018 — PORTLAND, OR – Passersby can now see the newest work-in-progress from Fresh Paint, a temporary murals program, on the exterior wall of Open Signal: Portland Community Media Center on NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard at Graham Street.

Created by artists Andrea de la Vega and Damien Dawahare, the mural depicts the Mexican tradition of building the ofrenda, or ‘offering,’ during Día de Muertos—a practice intended to welcome the deceased to the altar.

“Through our own greater cultural explorations, we discovered a ritual of connection that is all about telling stories and remembering and honoring the past,” the artists wrote in their mural proposal. “The imagery is lighthearted and shares a story of coming and going. The color palette is warm and vibrant, depicting a life after death through friendly and familiar tones.”

The mural will be completed on October 22, 2018, staying on display until March 31, 2019.

Fresh Paint is a partnership between Open Signal and the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC). Now in its second year, Fresh Paint is a professional development program that provides emerging artists of color the opportunity to paint a mural in a high-traffic setting for the first time. The goal is for each artist to learn new ways of creating art in a public space, as well as to build their portfolio.

Fresh Paint will feature two additional murals in 2019. Future muralists include Maria Rodriguez, Bizar Gomez & Anke Gladnick (April 2019 – October 2019), Munta (Eric) Mpwo and Limei Lai (October 2019 – October 2020).

 

About the Artists

ANDREA DE LA VEGA was born in Querétaro, Mexico and grew up in Las Vegas, NV. Her mother encouraged her creativity at an early age and she pursued a degree in Interior Design at UNLV. Her work in interior design is rooted in storytelling and she believes design can have a positive impact on the human daily experience. With her artwork, she is drawn to nature and the female form. She paints in acrylic and watercolor.

DAMIEN DAWAHARE is an artist and designer from Las Vegas, Nevada. He is currently working and studying at Pacific Northwest College of Art. Damien’s work ranges from traditional printmaking techniques to 3D modeling and interactive design. He utilizes line and color in order to interpret light and space.

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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 and Culture Council (RACC)
The Regional Arts and Culture Council provides grants for artists, arts organizations, and artistic projects in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties; manages an internationally acclaimed public art program; raises money and awareness for the arts; convenes forums, networking events and other community gatherings; provides workshops and other forms of technical assistance for artists; and oversees a program to integrate arts and culture into the standard curriculum in public schools through The Right Brain Initiative. RACC values a diversity of artistic and cultural experiences and is working to build a community in which everyone can participate in culture, creativity, and the arts. Learn more at racc.org.

Media Contact
Yousef Hatlani, Marketing Manager, Open Signal  |  yousef [at] opensignalpdx.org  |  (503) 536-7622
Lokyee Au, Communications Manager, Regional Arts & Culture Council  |  lau [at] racc.org  |  (503) 823-5426

RACC board elects new members and officers

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On July 1, Linda McGeady became RACC’s new board chair, succeeding Mike Golub who will serve as Chair Emeritus until June 30, 2019. McGeady is originally from Belfast, Ireland, and became a US Citizen 18 years ago; being involved in Portland’s arts community has been an important part of her life here.  She serves on the Art Committee of the Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel, and is active in The International School alumni community. She also serves on the board of The Circus Project.

“I am honored to be RACC’s new board chair. I consider RACC to be – among many other things – an engine of civic engagement and an outstanding resource for the community. I look forward to working even more closely with the talented staff, including – soon – a new Executive Director, and with all of our dedicated board members who give their time and expertise to ensure that the arts not only thrive but help every sector in the region be more creative and more successful.”

Joining McGeady and Golub on the Executive Committee in FY2018-19 are Vice Chair Osvaldo “Ozzie” Gonzalez, Treasurer Eileen L. Day, Secretary Angela Hult, Eve Connell, Katherine Durham,  Parker Lee and Frances Portillo.

The RACC board also elected Amy Kutzkey to the board. Kutzkey is a certified public accountant and shareholder at Perkins & Co.  

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

 

Linda McGeady Photo credit: Dodge and Burn Studios