RACC Blog

Arts for All Program Increases Access and Outreach in Community

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The Regional Arts & Culture Council Announces a Relaunch of the Arts for All Program to Increase Engagement and Outreach in Our Community, and Beyond, Ensuring Arts & Culture Are Accessible for All

We envision a community that supports, engages with, and finds joy in arts and culture being accessible by all–not just those who can afford to pay, but also for those with limited resources. RACC wants opportunities to be available for all members of our community. We want people to be uplifted, enjoy arts and cultural events, and be part of the creative fabric of our state. The Arts for All program was conceived by a group of thoughtful arts leaders more than 10 years ago to ensure that everyone receiving assistance through the Oregon Trail Card/SNAP could attend arts and cultural events for $5 a ticket.

While the Arts for All program has flourished and steadily grown, we have seen that there is a need to increase its accessibility. To achieve our goals, we are relaunching the program with renewed engagement and outreach. Our goals include making the information downloadable from our website at www.racc.org and distributing printed materials throughout the region to hundreds of non-profit social service agencies, county and city government offices, schools, health departments and clinics, community centers, arts and culture organizations, and more. Program information will be available in six languages and will be at culturally specific locations.

Friends of Chamber Music was proud to be one of the founding member organizations of Arts for All back in 2011, and I’ve personally had the privilege of continuing to help coordinate the program for the last several years. It’s been so gratifying to see the impact Arts for All has had in making the arts accessible to all parts of our community and see it become a model for similar programs across the country.  – Pat Zagelow, Friends of Chamber Music Executive Director

The Arts for All program enables us to enjoy arts and culture together while ensuring access for all. Without the support and dedication of arts organizations in our community, this program would not be possible. We are thrilled to announce a new partnership with the Hult Center for Performing Arts in Eugene, Oregon. The expansion of the Arts for All program throughout the state ensures better access to arts and culture for all of our residents.

RACC looks forward to hearing the community’s response for this renewed launch and engagement opportunity for Arts for All. Please let us know how we can continue to ensure that access to arts and culture activities is available for all who wish to participate. Let us know how we can make this community-centered program better! – Carol Tatch, Executive Director, Regional Arts & Culture Council

The organizations who have joined RACC to ensure access to arts and culture in our community are listed at racc.org/artsforall. Please support these arts and cultural organizations any way that you can to show your support for arts and culture access for all. For more information, please email us at arts4all@racc.org.

Please join us: RACC in Community on Monday Sept. 25 from 6-8pm

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We invite you to our third  RACC in Community engagement. This is an opportunity to get informed and ask questions about the July announcement from the City of Portland, proposing to not renew RACC’s contract, and to learn how you can support RACC at this time.

When: Monday, September 25

Time: 6:00-8:00 pm

Where: Lakewood Center for the Arts,  368 S State St, Lake Oswego, OR 97034 in Clackamas County

RSVP here. and remember to let us know if there are accessibility needs that we can accommodate for your participation.

Please come to hear our response, plans for the future, and to learn how you can be activated to respond to the City. Food and artistic engagement will be provided. We are looking forward to your presence!

WE NEED YOUR VOICE! WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!

RACC is holding  a series of community events  throughout the region. Bring your voice, curiosity, and your questions. RACC was built by community for community. RACC is your solution for a thriving ecosystem, powered by creativity, with arts and culture in every neighborhood. Being mindful of our community, we understand that some of you may choose or are unable to attend this next event. We respect the wide variety of cultural, religious, and spiritual practice’s of our communities. Therefore we are working on providing a number of different community events across the tri-county area. We hope you can join us at one in the future. Please see additional save the dates below.

SAVE THE DATES:

September 29, from 6-8pm  SE Portland at Shaking the Tree Theatre, 823 SE Grant St, Portland, OR 97214. Please RSVP here.

 

October 5, from 6-8pm at the Walters Cultural Center, 527 E Main Street, Hillsboro, OR 97123 in Washington County. Please RSVP here.

 

October 17, from 6-8 pm at the Wade Creek Park Community Building,  915 NW Wade St. Estacada Oregon, 97023  in partnership with the Estacada Area Arts Commission, in Clackamas County. Please RSVP here. 

Check out our Instagram  for additional updates.

If you have further questions,  please reach out to advocacy@racc.org.

More information can be found on our Advocacy Hub. Click here for our FAQ’s

Please join us: RACC in Community on Wednesday Sept.20, 2023

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We invite you to our second RACC in Community engagement. This is an opportunity to ask questions about the recent announcement from the City of Portland about the proposal to not renew RACC’s contract, and to learn how you can support RACC at this time. Bring your voice, curiosity, and your questions. RACC was built by community for community. RACC is your solution for a thriving ecosystem, powered by creativity, with arts and culture in every neighborhood. Our first engagement in NE Portland at openHAUS was a huge success!

When: Wednesday September 20, 2023

Where: BodyVox, 201 NW 17th Ave, Portland, OR 97209

Time: 6-8 pm

Please  RSVP here. 

Please come to hear our response, plans for the future, and to learn how you can be activated to respond to the City. Food and artistic engagement will be provided. We are looking forward to your presence! Thank you for your support—RACC was created by community, for community.

SAVE THE DATES:  More engagement events will be held in SE, SW, and in Clackamas and Washington counties. Please click here for listings. Check out our Instagram  for additional updates.

If you have further questions,  please reach out to advocacy@racc.org.

More information can be found on our Advocacy Hub. Click here for our FAQ’s

A Call to Action: Legacy Arts Council asks Communities for Support in Fight for Continued Partnership with Portland

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RACC hosted artists

RACC hosted artists: Javon Johnson, Ted Lange, Regina Taylor, Phillip Bernard Smith, and RACC Team Members during the recent Pacific Northwest Multi Cultural Readers Series and Film Festival. Photo by M. Boakye.

Immediate Release

September 14, 2023

Regional Arts and Culture Council holds in-person events with its supporters to rally awareness, support for its continued contract with the City

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) is doing what it does best: Building community for the purpose of supporting the region’s artists and creatives. Thursday, September 14, the nonprofit will kick off community events across the Portland metro region, to celebrate its base and rally support as they ask the City of Portland to reconsider canceling its contract with RACC.

“We continue to do everything in our power to speak the truth about our three decades-long partnership with the City of Portland,” said Carol Tatch, RACC executive director. “RACC’s level of expertise and involvement is critical to the revitalization of Portland. We stand by our legacy of success and track record of responsible stewardship of the public’s dollars.”

RACC in Community Event
RACC is facing a deadline imposed by the City of Portland. Councilmember Ryan announced in July he is canceling the City’s contract with RACC, effective June 30, 2024. The City plans to bring the Portland arts and cultural decisions inside the government versus through RACC, an established and respected 501(c)(3).

The RACC team and its community are working feverishly to illuminate the impact canceling the contract would have on artists and arts organizations throughout the tri-county area – and how the entire Portland metro area would suffer. Commissioner Ryan’s decision would take away the Portland community’s power to make decisions about arts funding, and hand it back to city officials. The reason RACC was created in the first place, 28 years ago, was to return that authority to the people, where it belongs.

“I truly don’t believe the public understands what’s at stake,” said Debby Garman, RACC interim board chair. “I believe that facts matter, and truth matters. I believe citizens of Portland deserve to hear RACC’s perspective and to hear correct facts about the City claims leading to canceling the RACC contract. Portland is deeply in need of restoration, and the expert team at RACC supporting the broadest creative community can be a brilliant part of the solution.”

Event Details and Activation
Thursday, September 14, marks the kickoff community event, held at openHAUS, 5020 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. RACC encourages everyone to bring their questions, curiosity, and voices. There will be ample food and entertainment, along with details about RACC’s plan. Communities will learn how to leverage their voices to support area artists who depend on RACC funding.

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Please join us: RACC in Community on Thursday Sept.14, 2023

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We invite you to our first RACC in Community engagement. This is an opportunity to ask questions about the recent announcement from the City of Portland about the proposal to not renew RACC’s contract, and to learn how you can support RACC at this time. This is the first of a series of community events we will hold throughout the region. Bring your voice, curiosity, and your questions. RACC was built by community for community. RACC is your solution for a thriving ecosystem, powered by creativity, with arts and culture in every neighborhood. Our first engagement will kick off in NE Portland.

When: Thursday, September 14, 2023

Time: 6:00-8:00 pm

Where: openHAUS, 5020 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland OR 97211

Please RSVP here and remember to let us know if there are accessibility needs that we can accommodate for your participation.

Please come to hear our response, plans for the future, and to learn how you can be activated to respond to the City. Food and artistic engagement will be provided. We are looking forward to your presence! Thank you for your support—RACC was created by community, for community.

SAVE THE DATE: Our second engagement will be in NW Portland at BodyVox, on September 20th from 6-:00-8:00 pm. Please  RSVP here.  More engagement events will be held in SE, SW, and in Clackamas and Washington counties. Check out our Instagram  for updates.

If you have further questions,  please reach out to advocacy@racc.org.

More information can be found on our Advocacy Hub. Click here for our FAQ’s

 

Image Credits: Aztec Dance group “Coatlicue” after performing a blessing at “Our Space of Possibilities” on the final Saturday of June 2023. Photo by Kevin Truong. “Our Space of Possibilities” was created by Patricia Vázquez Gómez in collaboration with local East Portland artists and organizations and funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), Trimet, and RACC.

 

Advocacy in Arts Education

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What do we want? Arts Education! When do we want it? Now!

This seems like the mantra every new school year, every budget season, and perennially from youth across our communities. They love art. They love the paint, the sticky glue on their fingers, the seasonal pumpkin sketches, and the field trips to performances and exhibitions. They love using scissors and cutting hearts out of red construction paper, school assemblies, showcasing their ceramics and photography in the halls, learning current media techniques, and most of all, they love the joy of being creative together.

Advocating for arts and culture in our community and schools is a full-time job. We hope that one day it will just be the norm. People will simply understand the value of arts and culture in our community, in our schools. We will not have to advocate for funding and sustaining a vibrant arts education program in our PK-12 schools, but will be thinking instead about all the new courses, and the arts educators we need to hire because the demand for art is so vast and the classes are too full. Imagine.

Yet, arts and culture are in demand now. Arts save lives. We know that because teachers, community members, students, policy makers, data reports and analysis, and arts organizations remind us repeatedly. It is through arts in our schools that an atmosphere of communication and tolerance, a mapping of emotions through creation, enable students to connect to the greater world. There they can express their creative selves, find their voice, and to see the connectedness of the human spirit. In community, we do the same.

Can you recall the world without music, movies, gatherings and performances while we were in lockdown during the global Covid-19 pandemic? The arts enable us to survive through some of our darkest times as a community, and the arts continue to uplift and support us as we struggle not just to survive, but to thrive in our new world.

We ask you to join us as an advocate for arts education in our schools and in our community. Lend your voice to the chorus, and share your experiences and joy with others. Tell your story of how the arts saved you. Nurtured you. Tell your family members to support candidates and board members that want sustained funding in arts education in our community. Support arts councils that advocate for arts and culture in your community. Support arts organizations by volunteering, attending performances, and sponsoring school trips through donations. Whatever you do, be that advocate and voice for arts and culture in our community and schools. Be loud.

Please join us at www.racc.org/arts-education to learn more.  Tag us on Instagram when you share your stories.

-Chanda Evans, Arts Education Manager

Why a Regional Arts Approach is Best for the Community to Thrive – Oregon ArtsWatch

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Carol Tatch (second from left), Executive Director of the Regional Arts and Culture Council, with (from left) Javon Johnson, Ted Lange, Regina Taylor, and Phillip Bernard Smith. RACC hosted these artists during the recent Pacific Northwest Multi Cultural Readers Series and Film Festival. Photo: Meech Boakye

The City of Portland has notified the Regional Arts & Culture Council of its intent to end a 28-year fiscal relationship by Summer 2024. Carol Tatch, Executive Director of RACC, wrote an opinion piece for Oregon Arts Watch on why a regional arts approach is best for the community to thrive. 

“Our grantees are not just names on applications; they are our partners in our mission. RACC continues to demonstrate how our local region can successfully engage, support, uplift, highlight, and share arts and culture. RACC has clearly demonstrated it is the solution for clear access to funding, engagement with respect and dignity, and a regional advocate for more funding and support for arts and culture, for the past 28 years.”

We invite your questions and ask that you actively demand that the city support RACC in continuing its mission, which deeply honors equity, transparency, and community uplift. Please check out the RACC Advocacy Hub as well as joining with us for our “RACC in Community” conversations coming soon (check our website and social media for updates on where and when). All are invited!

Read the full article here.

RACC’s Unwavering Commitment to Arts: Discussing the Future of Arts Funding on “Eye on Northwest Politics”

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In a recent “Eye on Northwest Politics” segment on KOIN 6, Carol Tatch, Executive Director of the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC), addressed Portland City Commissioner Dan Ryan’s decision to terminate the city’s contract with RACC. Carol spoke with Ken Boddie about how this action raises critical concerns about the future of arts and cultural development in Portland at an especially pivotal moment.

RACC is a community-based organization that stands for the values and desires of the community. The organization was formed 28 years ago with a mission to foster artistic expression in the Portland metro area, and this mission is reflected in everything we do. Since then, RACC has been at the forefront of arts and culture, leading the region in understanding what our artists and creatives need.

The decision to terminate the contract is particularly concerning for several reasons. First, it removes arts funding decisions from the hands of the community and places them within government agencies. RACC was established to ensure that arts funding is decided by the community.

Second, RACC is more efficient and faster in its operations than what can be replicated at the government level. RACC uses community reviewers who are familiar with the arts and have specialized knowledge. This ensures that funding decisions are equitable and reflect the voices of the community. We also offer professional development opportunities and engage with the community at levels that cannot be replicated at the City level. RACC is a nonprofit, non-partisan group that has been responsive to the community’s needs.

Furthermore, it is essential to understand that RACC is not a government agency. We work with our communities to ensure that there is a diverse and equitable lens in our approach to arts and culture. We have garnered community trust over time and have become a leading voice in the arts and culture ecosystem in the Portland metro area.

As we move forward, we remain focused on the larger community and are exploring how best to continue in our role. What’s more important is the loss of community input and the community’s voice in making decisions about which artists and arts organizations have their voices lifted or diminished. We were created by the people for the people, and today’s RACC is the culmination of long-time community regional needs.

We are excited to be part of the solution for the City of Portland and all our partners. Portland is at a pivotal point in its economic recovery, and we look forward to being part of the solution. We are the fabric of the Portland Metro region that threads together art and cultural communities, and we are ready to face the challenges ahead with the expertise, heart, and vision that RACC has sustained for over a quarter-century.

Thank you for your continued support. We encourage you to watch the full segment to learn more about our efforts to support the arts community, our plans for the future, and the significance of a centralized organization serving artists, creatives, and the broader creative economy. Despite the upcoming changes, we remain diligently committed to our mission.