“They said, ‘He’s swallowing something’ and one [cop]
went to put his finger in my mouth. And then I came down and I bit down
on it, you know?” The unnamed man continues describing how he gnawed
through a cop’s finger while being beaten by a group of police at NE
MLK and Shaver. As with other episodes of Neighborhood Diaries,
the walking-tour podcasts created by Abraham Ingle, “Police Beating”
pairs a location with a story.
Neighborhood Diaries was among the 52 individual projects
supported in 2009 by a grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council
(RACC). RACC awarded Ingle a project grant of $4,750, which Ingle says
helps him pay for “equipment rental, studio rental, [and]
fundraisers.”
Local, regional, state, and federal governments, as well as private
donors fund the RACC, which serves Portland’s tri-county area with an
ambitious mission to “integrate arts and culture in all aspects of
community life.” Ingrid Carlson, the RACC’s grants specialist, says the
RACC is “one of the few arts councils in the country that did not have
to slash our budget this year” and is still giving out grants to folks
like Ingle.
With deadlines for 2010 grant applications fast approaching, it’s
worth revisiting some of the projects supported by RACC grants in
2009—some in progress, some completed, they share themes that
might be useful if you’re thinking of applying.
Ingle’s project explores regional history, as does Motoya Nakamura’s
photography series Go for Broke. Pictures of WWII vets in
then-and-now semi-transparent layers, Nakamura’s photos document the
lives of Japanese Americans from the Northwest who served on the
Regimental Combat Team of the US Army. Projects documenting a unique
regional history appear to resonate on a large scale, registering as
strong cultural investments with the RACC’s peer-review panels.
Liz Fuller’s Video to Youth gives homeless children access to
cameras and video-editing tools, provides them with equipment
instruction, and creates a documentary in the process. Fuller teamed up
with local nonprofit p:ear, which serves homeless youth via educational
programs and learning facilities (pairing up with an existing
organization strengthens any grant proposal). Like other RACC grant
recipients, Fuller’s Video to Youth combines community outreach
with arts education to create a tangible product.
Oregon’s arts renaissance is varied and the RACC’s grant recipients
reflect that—many projects have less to do with history or
community, representing art for the sake of art.
Dan Gilsdorf received grant funding for two multimedia installations
that he created as part of Beyond the Theater at Marylhurst
University’s Oregon Sesquicentennial Film Festival. One of Gilsdorf’s
installations is a cone of stacked televisions on which an evergreen is
displayed, bursting into flames over and over. Projects such as these
fit Carlson’s definition of a compelling proposal, in which a project
is “clearly described… [including] details about process, the final
product, the people involved, a specific plan for audience development,
and a complete budget with diverse revenue sources.”
Themes aside, if you want to submit a grant proposal there are four
dates to remember. Tuesday, July 7, is a project grants orientation for
individual artists, where RACC staff will review their knotty
application process and answer questions. An intent to apply form must
be submitted by August 5, an online application by August 19, and
physical master copies of proposals by August 26. The project grants
orientation for organizations is on Wednesday, July 8—see the
RACC website (racc.org) for details.