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| The Right Brain Initiative receives support from National Endowment for the Arts |
Teachers and artists work together to push their own creative boundaries, and gain tools to implement in the classroom, at a Right Brain professional development session, 2011
The big news is in: The Right Brain Initiative, the Portland-area arts education partnership led by RACC, has been awarded a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. As Right Brain’s first national grant, this investment leverages current funding from local public and private sources.
This grant supports Right Brain’s professional development program, which boosts the ability of classroom teachers and teaching artists to integrate the arts with other core subjects. Annually from October to May, Right Brain provides a comprehensive sequence of training sessions for partner teachers and artists, which will serve 180 total educators during the 2011-12 school year. Each summer, the Initiative offers Imagine This!, an inspiring and tactical three-day seminar to100 K-8 educators from the Portland region and beyond.
The Initiative’s professional development program is led by Deborah Brzoska, a teaching artist of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington., D.C., also a long-time educator within Portland Public Schools. Investing in educators is just one way Right Brain builds the arts back into Portland area school districts for the long-term.
June 20-22, 2011, Right Brain provides an exciting opportunity for educators of all disciplines to participate in this award-winning program with local and national arts education experts. At Imagine This!, the annual three-day seminar, educators will roll up their sleeves and gain practical tools they can implement in their K-8 classrooms. Featured guest presenters include Brian Davis of the internationally acclaimed band Pink Martini, who will lead participants through an inspiring demonstration of community building through rhythm; and Garry Golden, a nationally recognized futurist/forecaster traveling from New York City to provide a provocative presentation on the future of learning. Right Brain partners Deborah Brzoska and Dennie Palmer Wolf, former director of Harvard’s Project PACE, will also lead sessions at this summit.
Imagine This! A Seminar on Bringing Creativity to Classrooms
June 20 – 22, 2011
Portland Art Museum
Read descriptions of Imagine This! sessions and register by June 15
Read the full press release announcing the NEA award
Other national sources are talking about The Right Brain Initiative, too. Read why The Huffington Post last month called Right Brain’s work “vital.” |
From RACC Executive Director Eloise Damrosch
Goodbyes and Greetings
The end of a fiscal year at RACC means bidding farewells to departing Board members and extending welcomes to new ones. This year we are losing two truly remarkable people after six years of service.
Josie Mendoza has ably represented Clackamas County interests; provided invaluable perspectives on the high tech industry; generously supported various regional theaters; and been a force of zeal for Work for Art, our workplace giving program. Josie has been a strong and strategic leader since the program’s inception and has been instrumental in its dramatic growth. Happily she has agreed to continue her fervor for workplace giving as a member of our Resource Council.
Carole Morse has touched most facets of RACC serving on almost every committee. She has brought deep and broad knowledge of the business and philanthropic communities; opened countless doors for Work for Art, board candidates and Honorary Work for Art Chairs; and knows (almost) everyone. On top of that she was RACC’s extraordinary Chair for two years and Chair Emeritus for a third. And next month she becomes the new Work for Art Honorary Chair. Watch out contenders for the top campaign spot!
Now we welcome two extremely talented and versatile individuals. Ethel Branch is an attorney who drafts contracts to facilitate public finance transactions for tribes, states and municipalities. She has worked on a wide range of complicated bonding measures and intertribal financing arrangements. Prior to her firm work she interned for an impressive array of causes from the Native American Rights Fund to the Department of Justice, the US Senate, Navajo Nation, the EPA and others. Her life has been steeped in art from childhood and she is passionate about many art forms.
Verlea Briggs has a strong business background with 28 years of utility experience. She educates and advises PGE customers on energy efficient technologies and Energy Trust of Oregon incentives. Before coming to Oregon she was an energy representative for a gas utility in Illinois. She has been an active volunteer with Oregon Ballet Theatre, where her son performed, and a range of other non-profits including Kids on the Block, Junior League of Portland, Friendly House and the Multnomah Athletic Club.
We are so thankful for all that Josie and Carole have contributed to RACC and for being such wonderful human beings. We warmly welcome Ethel and Verlea, and thank them for joining us.
Eloise can be reached at edamrosch@racc.org |
| Economic impact study underway |
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Data is now being collected for “Arts & Economic Prosperity IV,” our comprehensive economic impact study for arts and culture, conducted in partnership with Americans for the Arts. The data collected from this study will help us build a strong case for public and private investments in the arts, and will provide significant visibility for our industry at a time when the Creative Advocacy Network will be firing up its campaign to secure long-term, dedicated funding for the arts in Portland. By now, every arts organization in Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties should have received a survey requesting budget information for this study. All surveys are due June 17th. If you have not yet received an email but would like to participate, please contact jhawthorne@racc.org. |
| Removing graffiti on the Springwater Trail |
Scott Posey, owner of Pacific Pressure Washing, and one of his employees, remove graffiti from Linda Wysong’s Shifting Assets sculpture on the Springwater Trail. All the graffiti pictured here was successfully removed |
The RACC Public Art maintenance team is responsible for removing graffiti on all the public art works we oversee for the City of Portland and Multnomah County—typically responding to incidents in the downtown core within 24 hours. Sometimes, however, the nature of the job requires a dedicated professional. Such was recently the case for a work by Linda Wysong on Portland’s Springwater Trail. Faced with stubborn tags and a lack of water or power at the site, we called on Scott Posey of Pacific Pressure Washing (PPW) who arrived at the location with a self-contained hot pressure washing rig. RACC has worked with PPW on difficult graffiti before and Scott often volunteers his services in the name of Public Art. Thanks Scott! To report graffiti on public artwork email Keith Lachowicz at RACC: klachowicz@racc.org. |
| Dedication of the Bud Clark Commons June 2 |
Detail from Masayuki Nagase’s stone seating sculptures |
The new Bud Clark Commons provides a 90-bed transition shelter for men, 130 studio apartments, and a day center for the homeless population. The City of Portland 2% for art was set aside from construction funds and a RACC Selection Panel chose San Francisco Bay area artist Masayuki Nagase to design an installation for the public plaza. The artwork consists of stone seating sculptures with references to water as it metaphorically relates to the mission of the building and its program. There will be a dedication at 10am, June 2 open to the public at the Bud Clark Commons, NW Irving and Broadway. Call 503.823.5111 for details. |
| Final RACC Artists Workshops in June |
RACC is presenting two more professional development workshops for artists this June. See more details at racc.org/workshops or call 503.823.5111.
- 6/4 The Fundamentals of Grant Writing for Individual Artists. This popular grant writing workshop is for individual artists who are new to grant writing or need a refresher course. Register here.
- 6/18 Basics of Digital Photo Editing. This four-hour class covers the basics of file type, image compression and resolution. It will also explore how traditional darkroom techniques translate easily into the digital darkroom. Register here.
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| RACC orientation for Washington County Artists |
RACC and Westside Cultural Alliance (WCA) host this meeting focusing on RACC services and grants to Washington County artists. For more information email melissapgh@hotmail.com.
- 6/28, 4-5pm, Pacific University, Price Hall, room 203, 2150 Cedar Street, Forest Grove.
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| At the Portland Building Installation Space |
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Chloé Womack & Brennan Broome’s A Home and a Country Should Leave Us No More through June 17. Prompted by the iconography of white or blank flags, the artists have created an installation that asks the audience to consider what it means to belong to a place, a country, a culture and to have that identity removed. What is the intent of hoisting a flag without an image? Who does such a flag represent? What does it stand for?
The Portland Building is located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland and is open 7 am to 6 pm, Monday – Friday. For more information on Portland Building installations featured since 1994 go to racc.org/installationspace. |
| Call for arts venue submissions |
Arts professionals of all sorts are always searching for places in the community to showcase their creations. As a follow up to our May e-newsletter announcing our new Venue Search tool, we encourage the arts community to add more venues to the database. In partnership with ChooseCulture.org, this database was seeded primarily with performing arts venues, but we want to add more venues for visual arts, readings, screenings, etc. For ideas, look under the “Type” of venues we have on the menu — from libraries to coffee shops to galleries to community centers — wherever art can happen. Please send your venue suggestions to feedback@chooseculture.org to help expand this database beyond performing arts venues. |
| 2011 Summer arts camp listings |
Happy camper at Pacific Northwest College of Art's smART Works Camp |
There are a variety of summer art camps in every discipline offered throughout the Portland region this summer. Best to sign up early, as the classes fill up fast. RACC is providing a listing of links to 2011 summer arts camps organized in the following disciplines: Dance & Movement, Literary Art, Media Arts, Multi-discipline, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts. Click here for the listing. If you want your camp to be listed, please send a link with dates to mbauer@racc.org. |
| RACC summer hours |
As in past summers, RACC will be open from 8am to 5:30pm, Monday through Thursday. On Fridays we will be open from 8am to noon. These summer hours will begin Monday, June 6 and end Labor Day September 5. If you need to contact us about this schedule you may call 503.823.5111 or email info@racc.org. |
 Public Art
- Funding for Portland Murals. Any individual or organization intending to create a mural on an exterior wall and within the boundaries of the City of Portland can apply for funding through the Public Art Mural Program. Click here to download guidelines. Deadline: 6/1/11
- Oregon Public Art Roster RFQ. National and international artists are invited to submit qualifications for the Oregon Public Art Roster. The Oregon Arts Commission/OAC in Salem, Oregon, and the Regional Arts & Culture Council/RACC in Portland, Oregon, manage the longstanding percent for art programs of the State of Oregon, Multnomah County, and City of Portland. Recognizing an opportunity to acknowledge and promote artistic quality in the field, the OAC and RACC have partnered to create the Oregon Public Art Roster.
The Roster will be used as a resource for public art selection committees to identify artists most suitable for their community and specific project needs. It will also serve as a resource that will be accessible to local public art programs, community groups, schools, architecture firms and private industry seeking experienced artists for projects. See more here. All materials must be submitted through CaFE™. Deadline: 7/1/11 at 11:59PM, MDT (Mountain Daylight Time).
Grants
- RACC Project Grants for organizations and individual artists in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas Counties. Grants of up to $6,000 are available for 2012 Artistic Focus or Community Participation art projects. Apply at racc.org/GrantApps. Intent to Apply Deadline: 8/3/11.
- Opportunity Grants (FY 2012 cycle 1) for Portland-based nonprofit arts and cultural organizations to help meet special opportunities or assist with emergencies that arise. Apply at racc.org/GrantApps. Intent to Apply Deadline: 8/24/11
| THIS MONTH'S FEATURED EVENTS |
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The events listed below were funded in part by RACC. |
| Oregon Jewish Museum presents Transformations |
Bill Aaron and Victor Raphael, 18th Street Subway, 2009, IRT Line, New York City, Private Collection |
June 2- September 4
Oregon Jewish Museum, 1953 NW Kearney Street, Portland, 503.226.3600
ojm.org
Transformations is a wonderfully inventive set of artworks that takes familiar landscapes in the United States and Israel and creates something completely new with them. Bill Aron is a photographer who focuses on Jewish communities. Victor Raphael works with an eclectic range of media, from the ancient medium of gold leafing to digital art
This project was funded in part by a RACC Opportunity Grant |
| The Portland Ballet’s Spring Concert |
(Photo: Blaine Covert) |
June 3-4
The Portland Ballet Studio Theatre, 6250 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, 503.452.8448
theportlandballet.org
The Spring Concert presents a condensed version of Swan Lake; premiere of And Then
by Rachel Tess of Rumpus Room and also the premiere of Noesis & Noema by Alex Ballard, founder of Bouand Dance Company.
The Portland Ballet receives General Support funding from RACC |
| Fuchsia Lin’s Fantasy, Folklore and Freshwater |
Water Dragon
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June 4
Nationale, 811 E Burnside, Suite 112, Portland, info@fuchsialin.com
fuchsialin.com
In this performance piece, Lin will create a series of sculptural masks and costumes of water dragons exploring the inherent beauty and spirituality of water, as well as the importance of our relationship with this precious resource.
This project was funded in part by a RACC Project Grant |
| Portland Gay Men's Chorus presents Revolution! |
Levi Kreis
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June 18
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, Portland, 503.226.2588
pdxgmc.org
On this Pride weekend, 2010 Tony Award winner Levi Kreis will join the 130 voices of PGMC to perform a new arrangement of his hit song, Stained Glass Window.
Portland Gay Men’s Chorus receives General Support funding from RACC |
| PHAME Academy presents Grease: School Version |
PHAME performers rehearse for Grease (Photo: Stephen Marc Beaudoin) |
June 18-19
Mt. Hood Community College Theater, 26000 SE Stark St, Gresham, 503.764.9718
phameacademy.org/blog
Everyone's favorite hand-jiving rock musical! Starring a cast of 47 inspiring PHAME performers! PHAME Academy supports the development of skills and self esteem in adults with developmental disabilities through education and participation in the fine and performing arts.
This project was funded in part by a RACC Project Grant |
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