RACC Blog

GOS Survey Results

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In January, RACC conducted a stakeholder survey to collect feedback on RACC’s General Operating Support (GOS) grant program. The anonymous survey was distributed to all current GOS program member organizations, more than 150 arts organizations that do not currently receiving GOS support, and to community members.

Here is the Executive Summary.

GOS is the single largest funding program at RACC, funding 55 arts organizations across the community spectrum and supporting a wide range of arts programming throughout the Portland tri-county area. We are grateful to all who provided input! If you have additional feedback, please do not hesitate to contact the RACC grants team at grants@racc.org.

 

Portland City Council adopts arts affordability plan

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On February 28, Portland City Council adopted a set of recommendations to protect and expand affordable arts spaces. You can read the resolution and the adopted plan here:

A Plan for Preserving and Expanding Affordable Arts Space in Portland

The need for such a plan is clear: the cost of living in Portland is rising rapidly. The city’s housing crisis, displacement, gentrification, aggressive development, and real estate market dynamics are contributing to an alarming loss of arts spaces in Portland, and making it impossible for artists to afford to live here. Portland risks losing its soul and identity if we don’t respond to this emergency.

In early 2017, RACC and city leaders agreed that the city itself was in the best position to take the lead and collaborate with bureaus to identify changes that can make a real difference. The resultant plan articulates 24 ideas for city bureaus, RACC, and the broader arts community to address this problem. City Council did not approve or fund any of the specific recommendations; rather, by adopting the plan they codified the city’s intention to pursue these recommendations in the months and years ahead. Each recommendation will come to city council separately as it is pursued—to earmark funding, to change city code, or whatever may be needed.

Commissioner Nick Fish and his staff led the development of this plan, and will continue leading several of the recommendations through the implementation phase. The offices of Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Chloe Eudaly remain strongly involved, as well as several city bureaus. RACC participated in the process by articulating the arts community’s concerns, contributing ideas, researching national best practices, and convening discussions around some of the recommendations; we will also assist with implementing several of the recommendations.

RACC is grateful to Portland City Council for recognizing this serious problem in our community, and for identifying some ways the city can respond. If you would like to stay apprised of this work moving forward, or comment on the plan, please contact info@racc.org.

 

Other links:

“Can Portland Save Its Arts?” an OPB State of Wonder story

“We Have a Lot To Lose — Portland Commissioners Try To Save Creative Space,” OPB/April Baer’s interview with Commissioners Nick Fish and Chloe Eudaly

 

 

Search update for February 27

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Working with our executive search firm, Koya Leadership Partners, the RACC Search Committee has selected four semi-finalists for our Executive Director position.

The Search Committee is organizing a diverse sample of community members to meet the semi-finalists. The sample will include board members, staff members, individuals representing organizations, individual artists, and public officials.

All four semi-finalists prefer not to be publicly identified at this time, and as such, all people meeting the semi-finalists will be subject to non-disclosure agreements.

Members of the sample will meet with all four candidates individually in small groups (5-10 people per session) with two representatives of the Search Committee present as facilitators and observers. These meetings will occur March 14-23, and the stakeholders participating in those meetings will fill out feedback forms. The Search Committee will then consider the feedback and make its recommendation to the RACC Board in early April.

We are excited that we have a candidate pool that is diverse in terms of gender, race and current location of the candidates. We are also proud that we selected our semi-finalists through a deliberative and inclusive process that included listening to the community, implicit bias training and removal of bias-inducing personal information during the initial screenings.

The Search Committee welcomes your feedback. Please send emails to EDsearch@racc.org.

 

 

Privacy Policy

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Your privacy is very important to us. Accordingly, RACC has developed this policy in order for you to understand how we collect, use, communicate and disclose and make use of personal information. The following outlines our privacy policy for www.racc.org, www.therightbraininitiative.org, www.workforart.org and www.portlandartspark.com.

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LINKS TO OTHER SITES – A DISCLAIMER

RACC websites have links to other websites as a convenience to our constituents. These include links to websites operated by other nonprofit organizations, government agencies and for-profit businesses. When you use one of these links, you are no longer on a RACC website and this Privacy Policy will not apply. When you link to another website, you are subject to the privacy policy of that new site.

When you follow a link to another site, neither RACC, nor any officer or employee of RACC warrants the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published by these external sites, nor endorses any content, viewpoints, products, or services linked from these systems, and cannot be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of their information. Portions of such information may be incorrect or not current. Any person or entity that relies on any information obtained from these systems does so at their own risk.

INFORMATION COLLECTED WHEN YOU BROWSE RACC WEBSITES

If you do nothing during your visit to a RACC website but browse or download information, we automatically collect and store the standard data collected by all web server software. That information is as follows:

  • The Internet Protocol (IP) address used. The IP address is a numerical identifier assigned either to your Internet service provider or directly to your computer. We use the Internet IP to respond to your browser request. Example: 122.125.36.42;
  • The domain name (DNS) assigned on the Internet to your IP Address (if there is one). Example: somename.com;
  • The type of browser and operating system you used.
  • The date and time you visited this site;
  • The web pages or services you accessed at this site; and
  • The website you visited prior to coming to this website. (Note: this is included so that summary analysis can be done on how visitors get to our site, i.e., from a search engine, from a link on another site, etc.)

We do not track individual user navigation choices. We do, however, summarize the information listed above to determine:

  • What organizations are our most frequent users, to better target our content for the audience.
  • What browsers are being used on our site to determine what techniques we can use to develop pages that will work with different browsers.
  • How often our pages are being used.
  • By the traffic from organization names such things as the search engines that are good at directing people to the site.

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this site may monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. If security monitoring reveals evidence of possible abuse or criminal activity, system personnel may provide the results of such monitoring to appropriate officials. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the state law and federal statutes including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996.

E-MAIL AND FORMS

If you send us an electronic mail message with a question or comment that contains personal information, or fill out a form that e-mails us this information, we will only use the information needed to respond to your request. We will not share your information with any other party unless clearly indicated on the form, or when you specifically approve the sharing of this information.

SECURE TRANSMISSION

For secured-data transmission, this site uses the industry standard encryption software, Secure Socket Layer (SSL). The URL in your browser will change to “HTTPS” instead of “HTTP” when this security feature is invoked. Your browser may also display a lock or key symbol on its task bar to indicate invoked secure transmission. If these indicators are not present, any information is susceptible to interception by other parties. Most Internet e-mail communication will not be secure. If you are communicating sensitive information, you may wish to consider sending it by postal mail.

 

REFUND POLICY

Requests for refunds (ticketed events, donations and otherwise) must explain the reason for the request in writing and be signed by the individual requesting the refund. They will be reviewed on a case by case basis. RACC cannot guarantee any refunds. In the event that your request is honored, please allow 4 to 6 weeks to receive your refund.

ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS POLICY

If you have any questions about this policy, please contact info@racc.org.

Subashini Ganesan is Portland’s new Creative Laureate

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Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish has announced the city’s next Creative Laureate, Subashini Ganesan! She was introduced at the Wednesday January 17th City Council meeting.

“Our inaugural Creative Laureate, Julie Keefe, served the City with distinction and set a high bar for her successor,” said Commissioner Fish. “Suba will bring passion, innovation, and a wealth of experience to this position.”

“The Creative Laureate is the City Council’s connection to Portland’s creative community,” said Mayor Ted Wheeler. “I’m excited to work with Suba to build stronger partnerships with Portland’s creative class.”

Subashini Ganesan is a leader in the regional arts community, an educator, a performer, and a non-profit founder. Her non-profit, New Expressive Works (N.E.W), is a performing arts venue in Southeast Portland. N.E.W. showcases multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary performance arts. It also provides affordable studio space and a choreography residency program where diverse artists can work together and benefit from unique experience.

An immigrant from Singapore, Suba’s goal as Creative Laureate is to “offer my story, of artistic excellence and community building experiences, as a way for the City to celebrate how independent artists of all races, ethnicities, religions, genders, identities, and abilities can thrive.”

A professional artist who teaches with The Right Brain Initiative and Young Audiences of Oregon & SW Washington, Suba also practices Bharathanatyam, an ancient dance form of South India. She has performed at numerous Portland-area and regional festivals. In 2017, Artslandia named Ms. Ganesan a “Change Artist.”

“Suba has a unique ability to inspire audiences, educate youth, and bring communities together,” said Jeff Hawthorne, Interim Executive Director of the Regional Arts and Culture Council. “Her vision, leadership, and passion for equity will enhance Portland’s reputation as a global center of creativity. We look forward to collaborating with her.”

Subashini Ganesan honored by Portland City Council

Background:

The City of Portland’s Creative Laureate, established in 2012, serves as the official ambassador for the broader creative community in Portland. The Laureate participates in community education, advocacy, and public events including speaking engagements, workshops, and ceremonial functions.

Photographer Julie Keefe has served as the City’s Creative Laureate since its inception in 2012. “I’m thrilled that the enormously talented Subashini Ganesan will represent and serve Portland as our next Creative Laureate, and that she will have the opportunity to illuminate issues from her unique perspective, giving us all the chance to engage with this city through her creative lens.”

Download Subashini Ganesan’s Creative Laureate Speech (WORD)

General Operating Support Grant survey

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The General Operating Support (GOS) Grant Program – the single largest funding program at RACC – seeks to fund arts organizations across the community spectrum and help support a wide range of quality arts programming made available to the Portland tri-county public. Last year the GOS program funded 54 arts organizations and distributed over $2.4 million.

The program was most recently revised in 2014, in anticipation of the Arts Equity & Access Fund (Arts Tax) in the City of Portland. Since 2014 we have had the opportunity to evaluate the way GOS funds reach the community and how much of our community benefits from GOS programs. RACC has also seen significant volatility in Arts Tax funding. Over the next several months, we will be re-evaluating the GOS program and making modifications that address these conditions while ensuring that the program is more transparent, flexible, and inclusive. By strategically revising our funding model, RACC hopes to foster a richer, stronger, and more diverse arts community.

With change comes uncertainty and we understand how challenging that can be for our arts community. RACC has committed to holding member organizations receiving General Operating Support at current funding levels though next year (FY18-19), but anticipates announcing the new grant program structure in Summer 2018 to be implemented in FY19-20.

The stakeholder survey is now closed, however organizations representatives and community members can continue to ask questions and provide input to the process by emailing grants@racc.org

RACC Audit Services Request for Proposals

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RACC is conducting a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Audit Services. The Finance & Audit Committee seeks three-year audit service proposals from CPA firms with extensive experience in providing audit services to non-profit organizations. Interested firms must send a Letter of Intent to apply to: auditrfp@racc.org by 12/15/17.

The Letter of Intent (LOI) must include:

  • A description of how your firm is qualified to provide audit services to RACC and why your firm is interested in participating in the audit services RFP.
  • Brief description of your firm, including location, staff size, and industries served.
  • Brief description of engagements that your firm currently conducts in the non-profit sector. Include a list of local non-profit clients that you believe are comparable to RACC in size and complexity.
  • Please provide your firm’s equity statement.

Please limit your LOI to a maximum of 3 pages, including your equity statement. Based on the information provided in the LOI, firms with relevant experience and capacity will be invited to participate in the full RFP process.

Letter of Intent Deadline: 12/15/17. Audit Services RFP Closing Date: 1/31/2018.

“Portlandia” display goes up at The Standard Plaza Building

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The $195 million, three year long renovation of the Portland Building has begun! Many already know that the City of Portland’s main administrative building is considered one of the first examples of Postmodern architecture, and that its western façade is the home of Raymond Kaskey’s iconic Portlandia. It is less well known however, that hundreds of additional public art works are normally housed within the building. This summer and fall RACC Public Art Collections staff prepared for the renovation by clearing the walls on all 15 floors of the Portland Building. Most of the contents of the 2nd floor Public Art Gallery also went into storage, but a few of the largest and most popular Portlandia related items will continue to be on display right across the street in The Standard’s Insurance Company’s Plaza Building.

This summer RACC reached out to The Standard to see if they would be interested in exhibiting Portlandia related artwork on the 2nd floor lobby of their Plaza Building at 1100 SW 5th Avenue. The L-2 lobby, with its towering floor-to-ceiling windows, looks directly across the street at Portlandia and the Portland Building. The response from The Standard was enthusiastic. Their team created space in the lobby, constructed additional display furnishings, and assisted RACC staff with the reinstallation of Kaskey’s original form and mold for Portlandia’s face. A tall pedestal and prominent location was also made for the 1/10th scale model created to guide the fabrication of the full sized sculpture.

What happens to the full-scale Portlandia during the renovation? The 35 foot tall symbol of our city will be completely covered for 15 months while work on the Portland Building façade takes place. During that time a “Portlandia fix” can be had at The Plaza Building where Kaskey’s delicately crafted scale model will serve as a stand-in. For a limited time, until the day Portlandia gets covered by her protective screening (sometime in late January) the public will have a unique opportunity to view both the large and small versions of the statue from the same spot on SW 5th Avenue.

Our sincere thanks go out to The Standard for their ongoing support of the arts and for making this display possible while the Portland Building is renovated!  www.standard.com.

See The Oregonian article, “City set to kick off $195M reconstruction of the Portland Building, shroud Portlandia statue.”