RACC Blog

9/23 SPACE@RACC hosts Tender Table event

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We are so excited to announce that we will be hosting Tender Table: Ratnanjali Adhar & Rachelle Dixon as our inaugural SPACE@RACC event!  Join us on the 23rd!!

SPACE@RACC: Setting Purposeful Access & Community Engagement, is a new program designed to create cultural equity through an investment of space for under-served artists and communities.

Tender Table is a storytelling platform featuring women of color and gender nonconforming people of color and their stories about food, family, and identity.

Join us on Saturday, September 23, from 7-9 p.m.,  for stories and food by RATNANJALI ADHAR & RACHELLE DIXON

Artist Bios:

  • Rachelle Dixon is a lifelong “foodie” and a caterer at her company, Antilles Pearl Catering in Portland, Oregon. Rachelle cooks with soul to prepare meals that are deeply satisfying and has been doing so for over 3 decades. See more on Rachelle https://www.tendertable.com/#/rachelle-dixon/

  • Ratnanjali Adhar is a first generation immigrant from India. Her parents grew up in an ashram outside of Agra where most mornings were spent farming as a community. Ratna tries to integrate those values into her life here. See more on Ratnanjali https://www.tendertable.com/#/ratnanjali-adhar/​

All ages are welcome to this event. $5-10 sliding scale to support the artists. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

If you can’t make it, please donate to support the artists: Squarecash: $TenderTable or Paypal tendertable@gmail.com

RACC teams up with the The Standard to keep the Portland Building’s public art on display

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As City Bureaus begin relocating their offices in advance of the Portland Building renovation RACC has also been working to find temporary storage for the many public art works that will be displaced during construction. Portlandia will stay put on the building’s west façade, but the iconic 35 foot high sculpture will be screened off to protect her copper surface while exterior building repairs are made.

While our city’s symbol is hidden from view tourists and locals will still be able to get a Portlandia fix however, thanks to a generous offer from The Standard insurance company. The Standard is making room on the 2nd floor lobby of their Plaza building—located directly across the street from Portlandia—for the display of artist Raymond Kaskey’s exacting scale model of the sculpture. The model will join several other Portlandia related exhibits that will be relocated from the Public Art Gallery on the Portland Building’s 2nd floor.

In addition to stepping in to display these Portlandia related items during the Portland Building’s three year long renovation, The Standard is also assisting RACC by providing art collection storage space at a friendly rate. This storage will allow RACC to safely house all of the other public art normally located within the Portland Building until the renovation is complete.

“The Standard came through in a big way and has been enthusiastic, generous and helpful. They have a history of supporting arts and culture and RACC, and their assistance with this temporary relocation is sincerely appreciated.” –  Keith Lachowicz, RACC Public Art Collections Manager.

The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue. The relocated Portlandia display will be on view in the L2 lobby of The Standard’s Plaza building, 1134 SW 5th Avenue, beginning September 20th.

Night Lights presents site-specific outdoor media monthly through April

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Regional Arts & Culture Council and Open Signal to host projections from local artists

PORTLAND, ORE — Night Lights, a monthly public art event, continues into its third year of urban intervention. A special launch party will be held at Open Signal on Wednesday, September 20 before the First Thursday series begins on October 5, showcasing projections of digital media from local artists and art students. Open Signal and the north wall of the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) offices will serve as the sites for this year’s events, with artists presenting works tailored specifically for those locations.

Night Lights represents an ongoing relationship between RACC’s public art program and Open Signal, celebrating the crossroads of local talent and technological innovation. The series illustrates the organizations’ inventive spirits, featuring presentations that include large-format projections, and interactive performances. Finalists were chosen through an open call and a community panel process, receiving a stipend for their participation.

The full Night Lights schedule is listed below, showcasing a different work each month. Emcee and performance artist Pepper Pepper inaugurates this year’s events on October 5, debuting an immersive project that will transform its audience into a kaleidoscopic collage.

This year, artists-in-residence Amy Chiao & Chloe Cooper will have full access to Open Signal’s resources for four months, developing a new work about their experiences parading a fifteen foot puppet through public and private settings. The documentary will premier on April 5, 2018 at Open Signal’s parking lot, and attendees will also have the opportunity to interact with the puppet used for filming.

Night Lights schedule

Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Launch Party
Open Signal
2766 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Portland
7:00pm-9:30pm
Free RSVP

Thursday, October 5, 2017
Pepper Pepper
Regional Arts & Culture Council, exterior north wall
411 NW Park Avenue @ Glisan Street, Portland
Begins After Dusk, Lasts 2 Hours

Thursday, November 2, 2017
Stephanie Mendoza
Regional Arts & Culture Council, exterior north wall
411 NW Park Avenue @ Glisan Street, Portland
Begins After Dusk, Lasts 2 Hours

Wednesday November 29, 2017
PSU Presentation with Professor Dave Colangelo
Regional Arts & Culture Council, exterior north wall
411 NW Park Avenue @ Glisan Street, Portland
Begins After Dusk, Lasts 2 Hours

Thursday, December 7, 2017
Ezekiel Brown
Regional Arts & Culture Council, exterior north wall
411 NW Park Avenue @ Glisan Street, Portland
Begins After Dusk, Lasts 2 Hours

Thursday, February 1, 2018
Julia Calabrese
Regional Arts & Culture Council, exterior north wall
411 NW Park Avenue @ Glisan Street, Portland
Begins After Dusk, Lasts 2 Hours

Thursday, March 1, 2018
Portland State University Showcase
Regional Arts & Culture Council, exterior north wall
411 NW Park Avenue @ Glisan Street, Portland
Begins After Dusk, Lasts 2 Hours

Thursday, April 5, 2018
Amy Chiao & Chloe Cooper (Artists in Residence)
Open Signal
2766 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Portland
Begins After Dusk, Lasts 2 Hours

Learn more about Night Lights at nightlightspdx.tumblr.com


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, an equipment library, artist residencies and programs five cable channels with locally produced content. Open Signal delivers media programming with a commitment to creativity, technology and social change. Learn more at opensignalpdx.org

About Regional Arts & Culture Council
The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) provides grants for artists, nonprofit organizations and schools in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties; manages an internationally acclaimed public art program; raises money and awareness for the arts through Work for Art; 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.

RACC’s evolution continues

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By Jeff Hawthorne, Interim Executive Director

The Regional Arts & Culture Council is an ever-changing organization, leading initiatives that help artists and arts organizations thrive in the Portland metro area, and using arts and culture as powerful tools to respond to a wide variety of community needs. Once a city bureau, RACC became an independent 501(c)(3) organization in 1995 so that we could, among other things, be more entrepreneurial in pursuing our mission of enriching the community through arts and culture. Since that time, and under the leadership of Eloise Damrosch, RACC has expanded its services and its relevance in dramatic ways – today we are serving more people and having a greater impact on our community than ever before.

Most people know RACC for its extensive history of providing grants and services for artists and arts organizations in three counties, and managing a vast public art collection for Portland and Multnomah County. We significantly expanded our advocacy role in 2005 by launching Work for Art, a workplace giving program that now raises $750,000/year for local arts organizations, and we responded to a critical decline in arts education in 2007 by pairing teaching artists with classrooms teachers to help them integrate the arts into other classroom subjects. Ten years later The Right Brain Initiative is serving more than 26,000 K-8 students/year, and research shows that participants have dramatically improved test scores in reading, math, and English language proficiency.

In 2012, Portland voters reaffirmed the importance of arts education and healthy arts organizations when 62% of them approved the arts tax. This innovative dedicated funding stream raises more than $10 million a year – enough money for every school in Portland to have an art, music or dance teacher, and significantly increasing the funds that RACC has available to invest in General Operating Support and Project Grants – though persistently $2 million short of what organizers (including RACC) had planned. RACC is working to not only fill this gap, but to explore funding from other sources, and to ensure that all of our resources are distributed equitably – and that means setting aside funding for emerging organizations, culturally specific organizations, and other vital community groups that deliver extraordinary arts and culture offerings in our community but may not have benefited from RACC funding in the past.  Our arts and culture ecosystem is evolving, and RACC must continue to evolve along with it.

Which brings us to the search for a new Executive Director. Our board, chaired by Mike Golub, and our search committee, led by Steve Rosenbaum, have been working diligently to ensure that the entire search process, from the job description to our final selection, reflects the organization’s values and priorities – placing equity, inclusion and diversity at the center. I am proud of the work these volunteers have done to gather input from the community and staff, and to build a comprehensive new job description that will intrigue, inspire and entice the right candidates.

There is so much for our new Executive Director to build on. The staff is hard at work transforming our organization to be more accessible, and actively adapting our programs to eliminate barriers and deliver services more equitably. From our new “Fresh Paint” collaboration with Open Signal that develops emerging muralists from communities of color, to the user-friendly adjustments we have made to our Project Grant program … from our new capacity building initiative for culturally specific organizations, to the new emphasis we are placing on emerging leaders of color in our Art of Leadership Program, we hope you are seeing – and benefitting from – the continued evolution of RACC. We know there is much more work to do, including the need for clear direction and decisive action on the affordability crisis that is wreaking havoc on our artists and arts organizations, which is why we are excited about the prospects of a new leader with innovative ideas, a commitment to collaboration, and a strong passion for this work.

We expect that the Executive Director search will officially launch next month with the publication of a new job description, and you can follow the committee’s process in the meantime by checking out the public updates that are posted at racc.org/executive-director-search-update. In a post dated July 14, the committee announced that they have finalized the following core competencies they are looking for in a new Executive Director:

  • Equity, Inclusion & Diversity
  • Executive Level Management
  • Change Management
  • Commitment to the Arts

The committee lists Communication, Advocacy, Fundraising, and Grantmaking experience as secondary competencies, and they continue to welcome input by emailing EDsearch@racc.org.

Meanwhile, the RACC staff and board remain hard at work, and there’s plenty more progress coming your way in the months ahead. RACC’s continued evolution is certain, and the next 12 months will be especially exciting. Please be in touch if you have any comments, questions, suggestions or concerns along the way!

 

 

 

Artist and filmmaker Elijah Hasan presents “12 Degrees Black” at the Portland Building Installation Space, July 10 – August 4

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PORTLAND, ORE – The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) is pleased to present an installation by artist Elijah Hasan in the exhibition space adjacent to the Portland Building lobby. Hasan’s installation, which runs from July 10 to August 4, combines a set of the artist’s stunning films with a suite of still images. The two mediums work together to poetically explore themes of race, place, and social consciousness.

Using Portland as his stage and backdrop Hasan’s work comments on universal themes, but is rooted deep in the African American experience in Portland and the Northwest. The three films on view at the Portland Building, all written and directed by the artist, are united by their ability to reframe and freshen critical conversations about social injustice, social consciousness, and who records history. The delicate, non-verbal sound tracks (written and performed by Hasan) that accompany the visuals complement content that is at turns challenging, comedic, dramatic and poignant.

“Every one of these pieces represent a degree of departure from the pervasive mindsets that perpetuate cycles of ignorance (darkness). Each of the works have a title as well as a unique symbolic category in which they exist. Whether a work expresses the sorrows of standing in the shadows of capitalism, or the exhaust of lugging around the weight of externally imposed artificial blackness, my challenge is the same. That is, how do I navigate through the flames of these hostile environments and retain my vitality and purity as a Human Being? A worthy question for which I present 12 symbolic realms of reflection.” – Elijah Hasan

About the Artist: Portland artist Elijah Hasan is an award winning filmmaker, photographer, writer and composer. While primarily known for his films and still photography, he describes what he does more universally—as “making art.” His films often employ experimental techniques that work to blend complex concept with powerful, graceful storytelling. Hasan is also an educator and has taught videography, 3-D animation, and photography to inner city youth for many years. His film Is That Me, which is included in 12 Degrees Black, was honored at the 36th Northwest Film Festival with both the Judges Choice Award and the Audience Choice Award for Best Experimental Film. www.elijahhasan.com

Meet the Artist: Join us for an opportunity to meet Elijah Hasan and discuss his work in person at the Portland Building Installation Space on Thursday, July 20, at 4:00 pm.

Viewing Hours & Location The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Ave. and is open 8 am to 5 pm, Monday – Friday. 12 Degrees Black opens Monday, July 10 and runs through Friday, August 4. For more information on the Installation Space series go to www.racc.org/installationspace.

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The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) provides grants for artists, nonprofit organizations and schools in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties; manages an internationally acclaimed public art program; raises money and awareness for the arts through Work for Art; 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. For more information visit racc.org.

RACC announces new structure for project grants

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RACC has long offered project grant support to individual artists and organizations in the region, helping to support the creation and presentation of artmaking of all kinds. More than 140 artistic projects were funded last year, ranging from solo dance performances to an audio documentary series exploring gentrification to afterschool Taiko ensemble classes for youth.

Traditionally, RACC’s project grant application has been offered once a year, in the summer, to support the many performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, broadcasts, festivals, tours, workshops, events, installations, and happenings that occur in the following calendar year. Now it is time for something new.

RACC is responding to community needs

Project grants are the most popular funding program at RACC by volume, and the interest and need for public support has increased significantly over the years. In 2008, RACC received 192 applications; two years later that number had increased to 267, and by 2014 RACC received a record 358 applications. This growth in the creative community needs to be met by a granting structure and timeline that better serves the artmakers, rather than the grantmakers.

In the most significant project grant change in years, RACC is moving from one deadline annually to three deadlines a year. The arts community can plan for the next project grant deadline coming up on Wednesday, August 2, 2017 by 5:00 p.m.  Subsequent project grant deadlines will be in February, June and October of 2018. RACC’s professional development grants will also move to the same multiple deadlines every year.

With the more frequent grant deadlines, artists and organizations can apply when they are ready to present their projects for consideration rather than when RACC’s application is available.

Grantmaking for Equity

Over the last two years, RACC staff have collected community feedback through online surveys and focus groups, and have researched and incorporated national best practices in grantmaking. Project grant enhancements are building on the lessons learned in administering RACC’s Arts Equity Grant program that was launched last year, and are a direct response to community need.

As always, RACC project grants are available to individual artists and non-profit organizations in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties. The project grant categories and the application itself are slightly different than in previous years, so RACC encourages applicants to explore the categories and other grant requirements well in advance. The new categories for project grants will be:

  • Arts Equity & Access. Arts Equity Grants, which were first awarded in 2016, are now being folded into project grants and made available to individual artists as well as organizations. This change also allows RACC to expand Arts Equity Grant funding to all three counties when it had previously only been available to City of Portland and Multnomah County applicants. Arts Equity & Access projects will support arts programs and services that involve direct community participation from communities that are underserved, students, and other events and festivals that are community based.
  • Arts Services. Arts Services is a new category to artists and organizations that are providing technical assistance and other services to the field. RACC has seen an increasing number of these proposals over the last few years, and this new category makes funding available to projects that support the arts community with activities such as workshops and conferences.
  • Artistic Focus. The Artistic Focus category remains unchanged with the vision, innovation, creativity and high artistic quality of the artist or arts organization at the heart of the proposal.

As returning grant applicants read through the project grant guidelines and application, they may notice some additional changes. For example, organizations will no longer be required to meet a one-to-one match in their proposed budgets, and the review criteria has been revised.

Two-step process

RACC is also implementing a new two-step application process that will include a shorter Inquiry Application, followed by a Full Application for those proposals that are ready to be considered by a grant review panel. The Inquiry Application is brief, including several short questions plus a narrative opportunity to describe the proposed project, but will allow a staff review panel to determine that the details and timing of the proposed project are far enough along to be competitive.

“This new process will help save applicants from doing all the work of a full application at once,” says grants officer Helen Daltoso. The Inquiry Application will be reviewed by staff, and projects most likely to be competitive will be invited to submit a Full Application. Proposals that are not selected to submit a Full Application will have an opportunity to prepare further and re-apply in the next project grant deadline.

“If a project isn’t quite ready to move forward and needs more time to work out some of the details, there will always be another opportunity to re-submit another application in a few months,” said Daltoso. “Applicants will no longer have to wait a full year for the next opportunity to apply.”

Summary of Key Changes

Taken together, these changes will give artists and arts organizations more flexibility, and more opportunities for success at the Full Application stage. With three annual deadlines, applicants can come forward with proposals when they, and the projects they are developing, are truly ready for consideration.

  • Move from one annual deadline in August to three deadlines February, June and October beginning in 2018.
  • Applicants will be establishing their own project timeline, rather than having to adhere to the calendar year.
  • Revising grant categories to include Artistic Focus, Arts Equity & Access, and Arts Service projects.
  • Two-step application process:
    • Step one: Inquiry Application – a short application outlining project details
    • Step two: Full Application – only projects most likely to be competitive will be invited to submit a full application

The RACC staff and board are excited to launch this evolution of project support and how we serve the many dancers, filmmakers, composers, actors, artists, writers, performers, producers and creatives throughout the tri-county region.

How to Apply

The first step in the application process is to read the Project Grant Guidelines. This document outlines all the details of the program and can help applicants determine whether their project is eligible for a grant.

RACC is moving to a new online grant application system, so first time and returning applicants alike will need to create a new account in the new system at racc.org/apply.

Applicants who submit an Inquiry Application will receive a response from RACC within 5 weeks. Full Application proposals will be grouped by discipline and reviewed by a panel of community volunteers who have interest and experience in arts and culture programming.

The next four project grant deadlines are:

  • Wednesday, August 2, 2017 by 5:00 p.m.
  • Wednesday, February 7, 2018 by 5:00 p.m.
  • Wednesday, June 6, 2018 by 5:00 p.m.
  • Wednesday, October 3, 2018 by 5:00 p.m.

GRANT ORIENTATIONS

For more detailed information on Project Grant applications you may attend the following free, optional orientation sessions. It is important that you register for these orientations by either going to racc.org/rsvp or emailing Jack MacNichol at  jmacnichol@racc.org.

  • Thursday, July 13, 2017 | 6:00-7:30pm | Beaverton Library Auditorium 12375 SW 5th St, Beaverton
  • Friday, July 14, 2017 | This session is full and we are not able to accept additional registrations
  • Monday, July 17, 2017 | 6:00-7:30pm | Kenton Library Meeting Room – 8226 N Denver Ave, Portland
  • Wednesday, July 19, 2017 | 6:00-7:30pm | Midland Library Meeting Room – 805 SE 122nd Ave, Portland
  • Thursday, July 20, 2017 | 3:00-5:00pm | RACC Office – 411 NW Park Ave #101, Portland
  • Wednesday, July 26, 2017 | 6:00-7:30pm | Hollywood Library Meeting Room – 4040 NE Tillamook St, Portland
  • Thursday, July 27, 2017 | 9:00-11:00am | RACC Office – 411 NW Park Ave #101, Portland

Questions?

You can learn more about Project Grants and read the new Grant Guidelines on our Project Grant page. Please contact Quinn MacNichol with questions about RACC grants, or with translation and technical assistance requests, at 503-823-2928 or qmacnichol@racc.org.

Pochas Radicales presents “Nuestrx espacio; soy otro tú” at the Portland Building Installation Space, May 2 – May 26

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Click here for a Spanish version of this press release.

PORTLAND, ORE – Pochas Radicales, a queer Latinx art collective located in Portland, will present a timely, site specific installation in the exhibition space at the Portland Building beginning May 2. The project, titled Nuestrx espacio;soy otro tú, will transform the compact gallery adjacent to the building lobby into a platform that offers an engaging narrative of a young, queer Latinx living in Portland.

Visitors will immediately recognize the layout and furnishings in the room as something familiar, comfortable, and warm. Upon entering, we are lead into the narrative of the young person that created the space. As visitors contemplate the room’s story, the narrative unfolds and we are taken into the mind of this youth, seeing the world as they do and learning the rhythm of their heart. Entonces—who’s room is this?

“We invite the public, employees of the building, and visitors to interact with the space by entering the room, having a seat and making themselves at home. On designated days, there will be café de olla and pan dulce available for participants to enjoy in communion with the artists. The intention of this installation is to personalize the stories of so many people whose lives go unnoticed because they are often reduced to a flash on the evening news with very little context. We want participants to care about this young person as though they were someone very dear to them. They are young, they are queer, they are Latinx, and their story is worth sitting down and listening to. This person could be me, and they could be you. We are highlighting the power of the self-told narrative, and the precious, often overlooked details of human beings that we share space with at work, in our neighborhoods, and throughout our lives.” –Pochas Radicales

About the Artists: Pochas Radicales works to foster community engagement and social justice through art & activism. The collective was founded by Blanca Stacey Villalobos while she was at Portland State University to build community and support for queer Latinxs. Villalobos, along with Andrea Elena Telles form the heart of Pochas Radicales today and the collective has completed an impressive number of projects in a variety of mediums. In 2016 they received a Precipice Fund grant and worked throughout the year on their project echo/hecho. The project included starting a podcast, remodeling a camper trailer and converting it into a mobile gallery, and curating a 3 day event at the end of the year in which featured numerous artists from across Portland. Pochas Radicales also focuses on creating safe spaces for queer and trans people of color throughout Portland and are constantly working to educate themselves and their communities on ways to uplift themselves and one another. Their work challenges archaic notions of gender and sexuality and embraces, validates, and champions the richness of Latin American diaspora. (The term pocha is slang for a Mexican-American person who blends American and Mexican culture; alternately it is a reclaimed term used with pride to validate place and experience in a diverse North American culture.) pochasradicales@gmail.com

Meet the Artists: Join us for a chance to meet Pochas Radicales and discuss their installation in person at the Portland Building on Tuesday, May 2nd at 4 PM.

Drop in Tuesday Mornings: As a way for community and artists to engage in conversation. all are welcome to stop in for hot drinks and sweets with Pochas every Tuesday from 8:15 am – 9:15.

Viewing Hours & Location The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue and is open 8 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday. Nuestrx espacio; soy otro tú opens Monday, May 2 and runs through Friday, May 26. For more information on the Installation Space series go to www.racc.org/installationspace.

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The Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) provides grants for artists, nonprofit organizations and schools in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties; manages an internationally acclaimed public art program; raises money and awareness for the arts through Work for Art; 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. For more information visit racc.org.

Lineup announced for May 17 Battle of the Bands

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On May 17 at the Crystal Ballroom, bankers, architects, lumberjacks and surgeons will represent their companies and compete for prizes at Battle of the Bands, a benefit for Work for Art. Tickets are $12, on sale now at the Crystal Ballroom box office and online via workforart.org/bob. A limited number of VIP tickets are available for $100 each, including reserved seating, and hosted food and beverages.

Six bands, made up of employees who play music on the side, will compete in front of family, friends, coworkers and a panel of celebrity judges. Several prizes will be awarded including the title of Best Company Band. Audiences will select an “Audience Favorite” as determined by the band that receives the most in cash donations the night of the event.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Food and beverages are available for purchase. As a warm-up act, Brothers Jam will perform until 6:30 p.m., featuring BodyVox artistic director Jamey Hampton.

The main event begins at 6:30 p.m., emceed by Sarah G of WE 96.3 FM. The six competing bands are:

  • Hampton Lumber, Petty Crimes
  • Kaiser Permanente, Members Only
  • KeyBank, Hair Nation
  • Portland City Hall, Copper Goddess
  • Stoel Rives, The Bears
  • ZGF Architects, Pencil Skirt Paula and The Straight Edge Rulers 

Portland City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly and ZGF Architects principal Sharron van der Meulen are co-chairing this year’s event, and the competing bands are being mentored by Portland jazz musician Christopher Brown. The judging panel includes three local music industry celebrities:

  • Valerie Day has been a vocalist and percussionist for many years beginning with the Grammy nominated group Nu Shooz in the 1980’s. She has toured extensively in the United States, Canada and Europe, appeared on national and international TV programs, sold over a million records worldwide, has sung with orchestras and performed at numerous music festivals. In addition to her life as a performer, Valerie had a private vocal studio for over 20 years.
  • Rindy Ross is the lead singer, saxophonist, and co-founder of Quarterflash and The Trail Band, both bands she formed with her husband, Marv. Their platinum debut Quarterflash album produced the hit single, Harden My Heart, and they traveled extensively including tours with Elton John, Linda Ronstadt, Sammy Hagar and others. Since the Eighties they have released six Quarterflash and thirteen Trail Band albums and have been inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame.
  • Edna Vazquez is a Latin American artist based in the Northwest who performs original music that pays homage to her many influences from across the Americas. Edna has traveled far and wide with her band of all-star musicians to share their message of light, love and cultural healing.

There will also be a special performance by Rock N Roll Camp for Girls’ Strawberry Jam, with band members ranging in age from 15 to 17 years. This opportunity is made possible by a sponsorship from The Standard.

At approximately 8:30 p.m., while the judges deliberate and the cash is counted, the Portland Timbers Army band Greenhorn will perform. Timber Joey will be on hand to help announce the winners at the end of the evening.

All proceeds from Battle of the Bands benefit Work for Art, an annual campaign to raise money and awareness for local arts and culture organizations.

“As the top Work for Art campaign for six years in a row, it’s clear our employees are big believers in the power of art and its undeniable impact on our community,” said Kregg Arntson, director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Portland General Electric, and chair of this year’s Work for Art campaign. “Battle of the Bands is the perfect venue to celebrate the arts and creative expression, while cheering on our favorite local company bands.”

Battle of the Bands is sponsored by headliners Hampton Lumber, KeyBank, KINK 101.9 FM and The Standard. Additional sponsorship support is provided by Kaiser Permanente, Stoel Rives and ZGF Architects.

Work for Art is a program of the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC), which distributes a full 100% of all Work for Art donations, including Battle of the Bands proceeds, to arts organizations in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties. For more information visit workforart.org.