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Welcome New RACC Staff

School’s out and summer’s here! While you’re getting ready to attend the countless arts and cultural events happening these warmer months, we’ve got some new faces at RACC we’d like to introduce you to. Meet the newest RACC staff: Jae, Lokyee, and Yessica: Jae Yeun Choi Jae received her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop […]

Why Can’t I Just Exist: Code-Switching in the Art World

by Humberto Marquez Mendez Code-Switching, the practice of alternating between different languages, ways of speaking, conduct, and presentation of self, is often the reality for people of color and other marginalized groups. From a young age, we learn from our community, personal experiences, and observations that “acting” a certain way results in access to resources […]

Fresh Paint with Molly Mendoza

In a city known for murals, how do you get your foot (or art) through a door when you’re an emerging artist of color? Fresh Paint, a partnership between RACC’s Public Art Murals program and Open Signal, offers that door to have artists work in the public space. Last May, Molly Mendoza kicked off the […]

Fresh Paint with Alex Chiu

Alex Chiu's mural featuring 6 frames of his daughter jumping up and down a bed

In a city known for murals, how do you get your foot (or art) through a door when you’re an emerging artist of color? Fresh Paint, a partnership between RACC’s Public Art Murals program and Open Signal, offers that door to have artist work in the public realm. In our 2017 pilot year, Fresh Paint […]

“Not About Us Without Us”

RACC’s new Art & Power conversation series kicks off with discussion of Cultural Appropriation in the Arts by Humberto Marquez Mendez   “What is the historical and cultural framework which informs your art practice?” This question by Anna Vo kicked off the series and set the stage for an evening of critical thinking, personal reflection, […]

Now’s the time

ELOISE BLOG: The time has come for me to bid goodbye to my wonderful RACC family and close an exciting 30 year chapter here. It has been quite a journey from our early days in the Portland Building with a staff of 6 or so to the complex, non-profit we have become with great digs […]

This Time in Portland

ELOISE BLOG: A week ago it seemed completely appropriate for me to write a sincere last Arts Notes post prior to my June 30th retirement. The idea was to talk about all the wonderful experiences I have had over 30 years with MAC/RACC and to thank the thousands of wonderful people I have had the […]

State of the Arts

I spoke with a colleague the other day who works at the National Endowment for the Arts where people are soldiering on every day not knowing whether or not they have a future there. I am reminded of how lucky we are here in the Portland region that support for RACC,  and all the artists, […]