RACC Blog

Give Because There Is A Need

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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.

The Right Brain Initiative and Work for Art release reports

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PORTLAND, ORE — Two programs of the Regional Arts & Culture Council – The Right Brain Initiative and Work for Art – have published summaries of their accomplishments and finances for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2015. 

The Right Brain Initiative’s 2015 Progress Report illustrates RACC’s unique approach to supporting K-8 educators in the Portland tri-county region. Through workshops, coaching, and collaboration with artists, Right Brain helped 1,220 Portland area educators integrate the arts into their teaching during the 2014-15 school year. The report features profiles of teachers who are served by the program, all of whom describe how Right Brain has helped them and their colleagues learn to teach differently.

“Supporting and training teachers helps us catalyze a new relationship between public schools and the arts, making creative thinking a fundamental part of the learning process for all kids,” said Marna Stalcup, director of arts education at RACC. “We haven’t always talked a lot about this aspect of our work, but it’s part of our DNA.”

The Right Brain Initiative benefited 19,324 students last school year, 55% of whom qualify for the free and reduced lunch program. This school year, Right Brain is growing to serve 63 schools in seven Portland area school districts. Read more by downloading the full report.  

The Annual Report for Work for Art provides a summary of RACC’s 9th workplace giving campaign for the arts. A total of $750,350 was raised between July, 2014 and June, 2015, and the report includes the names of all campaign donors – including nearly 2,000 employees at 75 companies in the region. Work for Art donations are matched dollar-for-dollar by a public-private matching challenge fund, and proceeds are distributed to approximately 100 arts organizations every year.

“Over the past nine years, Work for Art has distributed more than $6.2 million in grants and direct gifts to arts and culture organizations based in Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties,” said program manager Kathryn Jackson. “Their work plays out every day in theaters, concert halls, galleries, hospitals, libraries, classrooms and community centers throughout the region.”

Earlier this year, Work for Art announced that it has set an ambitious goal to raise $1 million in celebration of its 10th Anniversary Campaign that began in July, 2015 and runs through June 30, 2016. Mike Golub, President of Business Operations at the Portland Timbers, and Dave Lofland, President of KeyBank Oregon and SW Washington, are co-chairing the campaign. To learn more and contribute, visit workforart.org.

In late December, RACC will publish its “Year in Review” for all programs along with audited financial statements for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2015.