RACC Press Releases
December 5, 2007
Portland City Council Approves Expansion of Work for Art
With revenues that have exceeded expectations in the City’s FY08 budget, Portland City Council today approved new general fund expenditures of more than $5.7 million, including $250,000 for significant expansion of “Work for Art,” a program of the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC).
Work for Art, now in its fourth year, raises new dollars for local arts and culture organizations, primarily through workplace giving campaigns. This increased investment from City Council will help RACC extend the program into dozens of more workplaces in 2008 and beyond, to continue matching individuals’ donations to Work for Art, and to solicit new corporate contributions. Combined, these efforts are designed to help Work for Art grow from a $447,000 campaign in 2007 to a $1 million campaign by 2009.
“This new funding from the Portland City Council will pay dividends throughout the region for years to come,” said Eloise Damrosch, Executive Director of RACC. “We will get to work right away in leveraging this support into new dollars for the local arts community, which in turn will create more vitality for our neighborhoods, more arts learning experiences for our children, and more economic prosperity for our region.”
Past public investments in Work for Art have produced remarkable returns for the local arts community. Last year, a City matching challenge fund of $200,000 resulted in additional gifts of $246,982 from the private sector for a total campaign of $446,982 of new dollars for the local arts community. This year, the City of Portland has already renewed it matching challenge of $200,000, and Clackamas County and Washington County have both joined the challenge fund as well with $15,000 each to help Work for Art accomplish its goal of $525,000 before June 30, 2008. 100% of all Work for Art proceeds are passed on to local arts organizations through a competitive grants process, and are used by arts organizations to support their activities, including education and outreach programs.
Commissioner Sam Adams explained why this was an important investment to make. “Although the Portland region is becoming increasingly known as a center of creativity, neither the public nor the private sector are investing enough to capitalize on the tremendous opportunity we have before us. Work for Art helps us encourage more investment so that we can leverage this creative community into a more innovative, more successful future for the entire Portland metropolitan region.”
In addition to these funds for Work for Art, the Portland City Council also approved $200,000 in special funding for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), and many other packages. For a complete summary of the process and the projects that were funded, visit
http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=176138.
Through vision, leadership and service the Regional Arts
& Culture Council works to integrate arts and culture in all aspects of
community life.
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RACC Staff to Contact
Jeff Hawthorne
Director of Community Affairs
503.823.5258
jhawthorne@racc.org
Mary Bauer
Communications Associate
503.823.5426
mbauer@racc.org
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