October
2008
· IN THIS ISSUE ·
The Right Brain Initiative Launches
By Marna Stalcup, The Right Brain Initiative Program Manager
(all photos by Bill Barry)
After more than a year of planning by a wide spectrum of community participants, the arts education initiative formerly known as Arts Partners launched on September 18th under its new name: The Right Brain Initiative.
The Right Brain Initiative is a collaboration among artists, arts organizations, school districts, governments, businesses and donors working to integrate the arts into the standard curriculum of every K-8 classroom across the region’s school districts. From February through April, 2009, 10,000 children and their teachers will be served in 20 pilot schools across four school districts (see list below). The program is expected to roughly double each year for the next 4-6 years until every K-8 student in Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties is being served. RACC is the managing partner of The Right Brain Initiative, which ties directly to RACC’s mission of integrating arts and culture in all aspects of community life throughout the Portland metropolitan region.
Some of the brains behind The Right Brain Initiative.
From Left: Eloise Damrosch (RACC Director), Carole Morse (RACC Chair), Carole Smith (Portland Public Schools) and Gail Hayes Davis (Young Audiences) |
At The Right Brain Initiative’s celebratory launch at the Winningstad Theatre in downtown Portland, Carole Morse (left), Chair of the RACC Board and President of the PGE Foundation, spoke of the importance of arts in the classroom. “Studies have proven that children do better in other subjects when they participate in the arts. But our students aren’t getting enough,” she stressed. “It is time to bring arts learning back into our classrooms so that our children can succeed in school and in life.” With the stated purpose to achieve a measurable impact on learning by integrating the community’s arts and cultural resources into the education of every K-8 student in the region’s school districts, The Right Brain Initiative is poised to do just that.
Carole Smith (above), Superintendent of Portland Public Schools, explained why she and other superintendents are enthusiastic about this effort, stating the need to “provide our students with the kinds of educational experiences that increase their capacity, and commitment, to becoming actively engaged citizens.” By integrating the arts into other core academic subjects, our schools will be “actively involving students in their learning; helping them recognize the interconnectedness of multiple disciplines; and challenging them to learn in creative ways that will help them become more open-minded, creative citizens.”
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Teaching in creative ways is the hallmark of National Teacher of the Year Michael Geisen’s success. As a seventh grade science teacher in Prineville, Oregon, he uses creativity to help each student connect with the big ideas of science. “We need to honor the full humanity of our children by infusing creativity into everything we teach,” Geisen (pictured at right) told the audience of nearly 200 arts education advocates. “We must realize that students won’t be prepared for the 21st century if they only use the left side of their brains to understand science and math, and that they’ll only become passionate and engaged in learning if we encourage their natural curiosity and creativity.”
The Right Brain Initiative is unique in that it places core emphasis on equitable access to arts experiences that support holistic learning in every classroom across the region. The 20 participating elementary schools in the pilot program in the 2008-2009 school year include:
Gresham Barlow School District: East Orient, Hollydale
Hillsboro School District: Free Orchards, Jackson, Lincoln Street, Quatama
North Clackamas School District: Ardenwald, Concord, Oak Grove, Spring Mountain, Sunnyside, View Acres
Portland Public Schools: Glencoe, Hayhurst, James John, Markham, Rigler, Sitton, Whitman, Woodlawn
Carole Morse & Michael Geisen, inspired and excited by this new arts education initiative |
RACC will work in conjunction with three operating partners to implement The Right Brain Initiative this year, including Young Audiences of Oregon and SW Washington. Known for their work in arts education services to schools, Young Audiences will help coordinate the arts experiences that will reach children and their teachers this school year. The program evaluation and professional development partners are in the process of being determined.
For the first-year implementation of the program, more than $550,000 has been raised from the City of Portland, The Collins Foundation, the James F. & Marion L. Miller Foundation, Multnomah County, Clackamas County, the Oregon Arts Commission, the Hillsboro Arts & Culture Council, the PGE Foundation, US Bank, and Bank of America. Each of the four participating school districts has contributed as well, and RACC has just received word that the Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation will invest $25,000 per year for the first three years of the program! We are working to raise an additional $235,000 by December 31.
For more information, to sign up for e-mail updates, or to donate to the initiative, please visit www.TheRightBrainInitiative.org, or e-mail TheRightBrainInitiative@racc.org.
A more complete history of the initiative may be found at www.racc.org/TheRightBrainInitiative.
From RACC Executive Director:
Eloise Damrosch
Literature Fellowship Awarded to Kim Stafford
Each year when we award our $20,000 Individual Artist Fellowship I am overwhelmed by the dedication, talents, vision, and generosity of the artists chosen for this honor. We undertake this process by carefully selecting and entrusting the very best jurors to make extremely hard decisions. Every year the announcement of the winner is a glorious celebration and this one is no exception.
Kim Stafford has earned a cherished place in Oregon letters with his graceful style, his melodic voice, and generous spirit. In poetry, prose, essays, songs, stories for people of all ages, and artworks gracing public spaces, he speaks with earnestness and respect for people, places, and how citizens intersect with each other, their time and environment.
Some years ago helping Doernbecher Children’s Hospital select artworks for the new facility, I had the good fortune to work with Kim and his collaborator, Margot Thompson. Kim wrote a poem, which Margot calligraphed in the many different languages spoken at the hospital, so that families waiting for news of their critically ill children would be calmed and comforted. It spoke to the hearts of everyone. Kim called this poem Naknuwisha, the term used among the Yakima “to care for something precious, particularly children who need our help.” The shortened version of the longer poem reads:
Young friend
be home here
be healed
be well
be with us all
young friend
Kim wrote of his own mission as a writer, “When I write I seek to weave into the fabric of my native Portland, and the region where we dwell, a sense of custodial aesthetics. In literature, we may experience our place as a song, a network of beautiful ideas, a story trying to happen in a new and healing way”. Congratulations, Kim!
Watch for more on our Fellowship winner in a future Art Notes edition. Meanwhile, read the press release.
Eloise can be reached at edamrosch@racc.org.
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October is National Arts & Humanities Month
Every year at this time, RACC joins hundreds of arts organizations and communities across the country to celebrate National Arts and Humanities Month. Although the arts and humanities play an important role in our lives year-round, this month we seek to bring attention to the many contributions the arts bring to our community: they improve our quality of life; attract visitors and tourists to the Portland region; create employment for our artists which in turn supports local business and services and increases municipal revenues; improve our public spaces with innovative public art; increase property values in obsolete industrial areas; encourage understanding and awareness of other cultures through festivals and fairs; foster skills for success and unlock enormous potential for our students; and most of all entertain, challenge, inform and invigorate our spirit.
Some ways you can celebrate Arts & Culture in October:
- 10/2-29 Walters Cultural Arts Center (Hillsboro) In celebration of arts and culture, events will feature the efforts of artists, historians and art organizations working to make the arts and humanities a part of everyone’s life. This year’s schedule includes concerts, talks on a variety of topics, prose reading, film, theater and free art workshops and exhibitions. For registration, tickets and more information, call 503.615.3485 or visit www.ci.hillsboro.or.us/wcac.
- 10/8 Day of Culture. The Oregon Cultural Trust will hold a public event (12-2pm) at PCPA, 1111 SW Broadway, celebrating their 6th anniversary and a statewide Day of Culture. Speakers include Commissioners Nick Fish and Sam Adams; performances by leading arts groups; light refreshments and a cultural information fair. For more information call 503.986.0088 or email cultural.trust@state.or.us
- 10/11, 12, 18, 19 Portland Open Studios. Watch artists at work in all media and styles at 98 art studios throughout metro Portland. Go behind the scenes to see where, how, and why art is made in an up close and personal view. Studios open on both sides of the river for the 4 days. Buy $15 Tour Guide with 2 tickets, maps, and pictures at Art Media, New Seasons, Powells and other stores listed on www.portlandopenstudios.com.
- 10/16-30 Free Theater Night in Portland. Portland Area Theatre Alliance (PATA) presents Portland’s first-ever Free Night of Theater. Fifteen Portland area theater companies will join hundreds of art markets across the nation offering free tickets to new theatergoers. Tickets can be reserved at Free Night of Theater beginning at 8 a.m. on 10/1 for performances between 10/16-30. Free Night of Theater 2008 is presented by PATA in conjunction with Theatre Communications Group.
- Learn more about the new innovative arts education program The Right Brain Initiative (see Art Notes feature article above) and support or donate to this effort working to bring arts education to every student in the Portland metropolitan region.
- You can commit to building an even stronger creative community by learning about Creative Capacity and seeing how together we can grow the capacity of the collective force of artists, designers, architects, performers, and software developers who live and work in Portland.
- Come to Art Spark on 10/16 at Ron Toms, 600 E Burnside from 5-7pm to meet artists and art community supporters and participate in some creative conversations and fun networking.
- If you’d like to support more than 75 regional arts and culture organizations with a single gift, contribute to Work for Art.
- Whatever arts organizations you support, don’t forget to make an equivalent contribution to the Oregon Cultural Trust in order to receive a tax credit.
- To find out what’s happening this month, check out the RACC Cultural Calendar www.racc.org/calendar and enjoy the arts!
Run-off Candidates Respond to Arts & Culture Questionnaire
RACC has posted the responses to an arts and culture questionnaire sent to the 10 candidates in run-off elections in City of Portland, and Clackamas and Multnomah Counties. Visit www.racc.org or NW Business for Culture and the Arts at www.nwbca.org. We encourage our readers to consider the candidates’ position on these important issues when they vote. Deadline to register to vote is 10/14. Ballots go out 10/17. Deadline to get your ballot in is 11/4. For voter information visit www.sos.state.or.us/elections.
Public Art Returning to Transit Mall
Ivan Morrison’s painted aluminum sculpture from 1977 will return to the Transit Mall. |
Beginning the week of October 6th RACC public art staff, working with TriMet and Stacy & Witbeck Construction, will re-install several of the large outdoor sculptures that were removed when construction on the Portland Transit Mall commenced. The first phase of these returns will include works by Bruce West, John Killmaster, Ivan Morrison and Melvin Schuler. Along with the new light rail lines, public art will be a key element of the Transit Mall revitalization, and these favorites will be joined by a number of new commissions scheduled to be unveiled in the Spring of 2009. For an overview of the Transit Mall project, and the integral role public art will play, visit www.trimet.org.
RACC presents Fanning Rejection at the Portland Building, October 6-31
Fanning Rejection, by Beaverton sound artist Dan Senn, features 20 letters of rejection hanging from the ceiling on wires, and each letter will be voiced electronically. Viewers will hear 1-3 letters being voiced at a time. 7am-6pm, Monday through Friday at the Portland Building Installation Space, 1120 SW 5th Avenue. For more information, click here.
Come to Art Spark Oct 16th
Join RACC on the third Thursday of every month for this networking of artists. Portland Open Studios will host Art Spark from 5-7pm at Rontoms, 600 E Burnside. Visit www.portlandartspark.com.
Special Opportunity
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Call for Artists and Arts Organizations. The Right Brain Initiative, with RACC serving as the managing partner, will connect teaching artists and arts organizations as "Arts Partners" (i.e., arts service providers) with 20 tri-county schools during the 2008-2009 academic year. Learn more about the role of these Arts Partners in The Right Brain Initiative at www.racc.org. Deadline: 10/15/08, 5pm.
Grants Opportunities
- Opportunity Grants for Portland-based nonprofit arts and cultural organizations to help meet special opportunities or assist with emergencies that arise. Deadline for Intent to Apply: 10/22/08.
- Arts Education Fast Track Grants assist public and private schools in the tri-county region with bringing high quality professional artists and arts organizations into the classroom. Deadline: 10/31/08.
October Events Funded in part
by RACC
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Blue Sky Gallery: Photographs by David Maisel & Claudio Cricca
From Library of Dust |
10/2-11/2
Blue Sky Gallery, 122 NW 8th Avenue, Portland, 503.225.0210
www.blueskygallery.org
Library of Dust by David Maisel depicts individual copper canisters (pictured), each containing the cremated remains of a psychiatric patient from Oregon State Hospital. The hospital first revealed the existence of these 3500 canisters several years ago. The intensely hued mineral encrustations have combined to individuate the canisters - offering a kind of resurrection of these individuals by giving them visual form once again.
In Faceless, Claudio Cricca has documented the men who inhabit the last hospitals for the mentally insane in Italy - men similarly unclaimed by their families and fated to live out their anonymous lives in these institutions.
“Library of Dust” was funded in part by a RACC Opportunity Grant
Blue Sky Gallery receives General Support funding from RACC |
Oregon Ballet Theatre: Swan Lake
Photo by Andy Batt |
10/11-18
Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay, Portland, 503.227.0977
www.obt.org
A heart-wrenching fable of true love heroically won and tragically squandered. Swan Lake is classical theatricality at its thrilling best. Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Choreographed by Christopher Stowell.
Oregon Ballet Theatre receives General Support funding from RACC |
Cappella Romana: The Heart of Kiev
10/17
St. Mary’s Cathedral, 1716 NW Davis Street, Portland, 503.236.8202
www.cappellaromana.org
Slavic music expert and Ukrainian American Mark Bailey (pictured) returns with Cappella Romana to lead a program of Ukrainian sacred masterpieces.
Cappella Romana receives General Support funding from RACC |
BodyVox: ENCORES ~ The Best of BodyVox
10/22-25
Newmark Theater PCPA, 1111 SW Broadway, Portland, 503.229.0627
www.bodyvox.com
Artistic directors Jamey Hampton and Ashley Roland may have reached a new high in embracing the public --they are stepping aside and inviting the audience to select the dances to be presented in this presentation.
BodyVox receives General Support funding from RACC |
Minh Tran & Company: Retrospective Performance
From Nocturnal Path, photo by Basil Childers |
10/24-26
Reed College Sport Center Gym II, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. Portland, 503.233.0996
www.mtdance.org
Minh Tran’s work is particularly noted for its fusion of traditional Asian technique and contemporary Western dance, underscored by an unwavering commitment to breaking down cultural and racial barriers. This Retrospective celebrates Minh Tran’s appointment as Assistant Professor in Dance at Reed College.
Minh’s “Nocturnal Path” was funded in part by a RACC Project Grant
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For
a listing of many more events in the
metropolitan Portland area funded in part by RACC see
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