PORTLAND, ORE — The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) has awarded $693,959 in project grants for calendar year 2015, including 66 grants to nonprofit organizations and schools, and 80 individual artists in Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties. This year’s project grants are made possible by increased funding from the City of Portland, RACC’s largest funding source, and RACC’s workplace giving program, Work for Art. Clackamas County, Washington County, Multnomah County and Metro also helped fund these project grants.

RACC supported 49% of all requests with full or partial funding. Among the projects awarded to individual artists, 64% have never received RACC funding before, and 35% of all organizations are receiving project grant support for the first time. The pool of applicants continues to change and evolve as well – 40% of all proposals received this year were from artists and arts organizations that have never before applied for RACC funding.

“RACC made a commitment several years ago to finding and funding more diverse and accessible artistic programs,” said executive director Eloise Damrosch. “These project grants demonstrate that we are indeed reaching new and talented people in our community. The range of projects funded by RACC in 2015 will be deep and broad, and we will continue to improve on this every year going forward.”

To vet the proposals, 44 volunteers served on 11 different panels organized by discipline. Most volunteers (93%) served on a RACC grants panel for the first time. Guided by staff during the months of October, November and December, these volunteers evaluated proposals based on artistic merit, audience development and financial accountability, forwarding their final recommendations to the RACC board of directors for approval on December 17.

A summary of funded projects can be found at www.racc.org/2015projectgrants. Among them:

• First-time grant recipients included Sabina Haque who will premiere her multimedia installation at the Littman Gallery investigating the emotional impact of the “War on Terror” in Pakistan and in the Portland refugee community; Darrell Grant will present a CD release event for his jazz composition “The Territory” including video interviews with other notable Oregon artists; and photographer Larry Cwik will present large scale photographic work depicting the Inupiat, Inuit, and other Arctic communities in northern Alaska, Canada, Norway and Russia revealing recent lifestyle changes and the impact of global climate change.

• Organizations that were awarded project grants for the first time include Historic Parkrose which received funding to support “Summer Nights on Sandy” – a street fair with local entertainment, vendors, and family fun focused on the arts; Friends of Zenger Farm, located in outer Southeast Portland in the Johnson Creek watershed, will work with artist Leon Smith to facilitate the production of a community designed and built living structure at their 6 acre educational farm; and People-Places-Things LLC will develop a series of 52 images by Dominican artist Hampton Rodriguez that make a “Deck of Professions” reflecting the diversity of the city through our occupations and which will be used to teach language classes to immigrants.

• Projects rooted in community participation include a series of writing workshops called “With You On The Journey” culminating in a staged reading led by Carol Imani for family members of people in prison; a program by The Aspire Project which provides tap and classical dance classes and performance opportunities for low-income children and families in North Portland; and a bilingual exhibit at the Portland Mercado titled “El Espiritu del Emprendador”, facilitated by Hacienda CDC highlighting the entrepreneurial spirit of the Latino community.

• Arts-in-Schools opportunities will bring youth from the Oregon Trail Academy in Boring, Oregon to King Elementary School in Portland to collaborate on songwriting and then perform under the direction of One World Chorus; and a project by Laura Leiman involves students at Astor and Cesar Chavez K-8 schools creating unique signatures, monograms & self identifying symbols as they explore what makes each person’s identity special through the art of the letterform.

• In addition, an anonymous donor continues to provide special funding for an annual “Innovation Prize” of $2,500. This year’s award for outstanding, innovative, media-oriented project goes to Kelly Goeller for a film mandala and video tapestry showing a storybook version of the Pacific Northwest titled “Habitat.”

2015 recipients of RACC Project Grants: PDX Pop Now, artwork by Erik Stotik, Kukatonon, musician Darrell Grant.

PORTLAND, ORE – Disjecta, Pendulum Aerial Arts, and Portland Jazz Festival will join up to 46 other local arts organizations receiving General Operating Support from the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) in 2014-15. More than $1.1 million will be invested as unrestricted support for many of the region’s most established nonprofit arts organizations.

General Operating Support grants are awarded after a rigorous review conducted by a panel of community volunteers and RACC board members. Organizations are evaluated on artistic excellence and fiscal responsibility, and must demonstrate broad community support including a stable base of audiences and donors. The review also includes an objective third-party financial analysis from the Nonprofit Finance Fund to help measure operating health. 

Starting this year, RACC is transitioning to a new reporting and funding calendar, reviewing organizations soon after they complete their fiscal years rather than all at once. At its June 25 meeting the RACC Board of Directors approved $1,114,301 in funding for 40 groups; as many as nine additional organizations will receive grant awards when their reports are completed and their financial statements are evaluated later this year.

General Operating Support grants are funded by the City of Portland general fund, and by Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties. These organizations will also receive proceeds from RACC’s workplace giving program Work for Art in August, and those that are based in Portland will receive additional funding from the city’s voter-approved Arts Education & Access Fund later this year.

FY2014-15 General Operating Support grants include:

Artist Repertory Theatre, $40,899
Blue Sky Gallery, $10,920
Broadway Rose Theatre Company, $18,500
Cappella Romana, Inc., $11,073
Chamber Music Northwest, $32,815
Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, $9,500
Friends of Chamber Music, $12,972
Hollywood Theatre, $13,335
Imago Theatre, $16,723
Independent Publishing Resource Center, $10,642
Lakewood Center for the Arts, $19,000
Literary Arts, Inc., $31,870
Live Wire! Radio, $11,544
Metropolitan Youth Symphony, $16,649
Miracle Theatre Group, $18,040
Northwest Children’s Theatre, $25,201
Northwest Dance Project, $14,632
NW Documentary Arts & Media, $7,000
Oregon Ballet Theatre, $53,099
Oregon Children’s Theatre, $39,375
Oregon Symphony Association, $133,334
Pendulum Aerial Arts, $7,000
Playwrite, Inc., $10,080
Portland Art Museum/Northwest Film Center, $175,700
Portland Baroque Orchestra, $15,797
Portland Center Stage, $90,027
Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra, $11,546
Portland Gay Men’s Chorus, $11,199
Portland Jazz Festival, $10,000
Portland Opera, $89,131
Portland Piano International, $10,230
Portland Taiko, $12,195
Portland Youth Philharmonic, $17,480
Profile Theatre Project, $14,483
The Portland Ballet, $10,578
The Third Angle New Music Ensemble, $7,000
Third Rail Repertory Theatre, $10,177
White Bird, $37,740
Write Around Portland, $12,375
Young Audiences of Oregon & SW Washington, $14,440

Organizations that have yet to be reviewed and funded for 2014-15 include Bag & Baggage Productions, BodyVox, Children’s Healing Art Project, Echo Theater Company, Ethos Music Center, Oregon Repertory Singers, PHAME Academy, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, and Tears of Joy Theatre. For more information, visit www.racc.org/grants. 

• First-time grant recipients David Ornette Cherry, a jazz and world music composer, will integrate storytelling, visual arts installation, and his Organic Nation band into a music performance; Anthony Hudson (aka Carla Rossi) will host a monologue and song-driven cabaret utilizing storytelling, music, dance, video and drag to tell the story of Weimar Germany juxtaposed against contemporary America; and playwright Deborah Rodney will further develop her original musical play for youth, “Bully the Kid,” through a series of community readings.
• Badass Theatre Company received their first RACC project grant to support an upcoming production ofSans Merci by Johnna Adams. Colored Pencils Art and Culture Council plans to develop a series of events in partnership with Multnomah County libraries to promote local authors and ESL students from diverse communities. The Northwest Animation Festival will use its first award to showcase the breadth of animation for NW audiences, and The Projects Festival will present workshops, panels and performances with experimental artists working in comics.
• The Art Gym in Clackamas County will feature a major exhibition and publication for Vanessa Renwick, and Christopher Mooney will exhibit his large scale portraits depicting workers on the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Willamette River Bridge.
• Washington County residents will see a new round of Ten Tiny Dances presented by the Beaverton Arts Commission and new mosaic pavers created by the community with artist Lynn Adamo installed at the Shute Park Library in Hillsboro.
• In addition, an anonymous donor continues to provide special funding for an annual “Innovation Prize” of $2,500. This year’s award for outstanding, innovative, media-oriented project goes to Laura Heit for a hand drawn animated installation and film titled “Two Ways Down.”