The Regional Arts and Council Commission announced their 2009 grant awards today: Congratulations to Hand2Mouth, defunkt theatre, PDX Pop Now!, the IPRC, and the 98 other artists and organizations who will share $458,676 in grant money. (The money comes from the City of Portland, Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas Counties, Metro, and the RACC’s Work for Art program, and is 12.5% more than they awarded last year.) I’ll post the full list after the jump, since apparently not all of the artists got the official word as quickly as press did—I congratulated someone earlier who hadn’t heard the news, and his complete response was: “AAHHHH!!!!! Oh man! Thanks for sending that on! I’m stoked!” Or you can click here for a pdf with a complete description of each project.

A total of 212 applications were received (up 12% over last year), and these proposals were evaluated by 44 community volunteers – including professional artists, teachers, community representatives and arts administrators – who served on 11 panels. The panelists studied the applications and rated each proposed project for artistic merit, audience access, and fiscal responsibility, and ultimately recommended 102 projects for funding to the RACC Board, which approved the final allocation on December 10. Exactly half of the awards went to organizations and individuals who had never before received a RACC Project Grant.

The following 50 organizations were awarded a total of $222,930 in Project Grants for 2009:

Adelante Mujeres** Folk Arts Project $ 2,130
Agnieszka Laska Dancers Multi-Discipline Project $ 5,400
Art on Alberta Presenting Project $ 6,000
Art Walk Etc. Multi-Discipline Project $ 4,570
Beaverton Arts Commission** Presenting Music Project $ 4,305
Children’s Healing Art Project Visual Arts Project $ 4,800
Classic Greek Theatre of Oregon Theatre Project $ 4,000
Cooper Mountain Elementary** Visual Arts Project $ 3,924
Dance Coalition of Oregon Dance/Movement Project $ 3,969
defunkt theatre Theatre Project $ 4,993
Disjecta Interdisciplinary Art Center Visual Arts Project $ 3,700
Elemental Summer Camp Multi-Discipline Project $ 3,866
Estacada Area Arts Commission* Presenting Project $ 5,041
Fear No Music Music Project $ 5,400
Hand2Mouth Theatre Theatre Project $ 5,238
Independent Publishing Resource Ctr. Media Arts Project $ 4,752
India Cultural Association Presenting Project $ 4,536
Innovative Housing Inc. Visual Arts Project $ 5,100
Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (IFCC) Visual Arts Project $ 4,540
Krayon Kids Musical Theater Company* Theatre Project $ 850
Kukatonon Dance/Movement Project $ 6,000
Live On Stage Theatre Project $ 5,439
Merlo Station High School/BSD** Visual Arts Project $ 4,250
Multnomah Arts Center Association Visual Arts Project $ 4,437
My Story Visual Arts Project $ 3,175
New Avenues for Youth Literature Project $ 3,518
New Century Players* Theatre Project $ 6,000
Newspace Center for Photography Visual Arts Project $ 1,058
Northwest Film Center Media Arts Project $ 4,505
Oregon Historical Society Folklife Program Folk Arts Project $ 4,459
Oregon Women’s Caucus for Art Visual Arts Project $ 4,800
Orlo Literature Project $ 4,600
PassinArt: A Theatre Company Theatre Project $ 4,140
PDX Pop Now! Dance Project $ 5,770
Portland Children’s Museum Visual Arts Project $ 5,400
Portland Jazz Orchestra** Music Project $ 3,719
Portland Queer Documentary Film Festival Media Arts Project $ 5,700
Portland Theatre Works Theatre Project $ 1,768
Quest Center for Integrative Health (QC) Visual Arts Project $ 5,378
Sowelu Theater Theatre Project $ 4,780
Stumptown Stages* Theatre Project $ 3,732
Terra Linda Elementary PTC** Visual Arts Project $ 5,109
The Art Gym* Visual Arts Project $ 6,000
The Deep Roots Music Project Multi-Discipline Project $ 2,448
The Media Project Media Arts Project $ 5,400
The PDX Film Festival Media Arts Project $ 4,800
The Young People’s Theatre Project** Theatre Project $ 4,800
Third Angle New Music Ensemble Music Project $ 4,800
Tribal Leadership Forum (TLF)** Media Arts Project $ 5,031
Wisdom of the Elders Folk Arts Project $ 4,800

The following 52 individuals were awarded a total of $235,746 in Project Grants in 2009:

Devon Allen Theatre Project $ 4,000
Peter Armetta Theatre Project $ 5,665
Susan Banyas Multi-Discipline Project $ 6,000
Emily Beleele Theatre Project $ 5,668
Andrew Blubaugh Media Arts Project $ 5,705
Tracy Broyles Dance/Movement Project $ 4,382
Kevin Burke Music Project $ 4,800
Ryan Burns Visual Arts Project $ 3,200
Peter Burr Multi-Discipline Project $ 4,800
Brandy Cochrane Visual/Media Arts Installation Project $ 3,864
Alissa Creamer Media Arts Project $ 5,548
Suniti Dernovsek Dance/Movement Project $ 5,096
Sarah Dougher Music Project $ 2,450
Travis Ezell Media Arts Project $ 5,175
Liz Fuller Media Arts Project $ 5,157
Jackie Gabel Music Project $ 5,387
Dan Gilsdorf Visual/Media Arts Installation Project $ 3,392
Faith Helma Multi-discipline Project $ 4,463
LeAnne Hitchcock Visual Arts Project $ 2,848
Tahni Holt Multi-Discipline Project $ 5,011
Jody Hughes Music Project $ 4,584
Eric Hull Multi-Discipline Project $ 1,014
Bethany Ides Multi-Discipline Project $ 4,419
Abraham Ingle Media Arts Project $ 4,750
Kazuyo Ito Music Project $ 4,205
Ryan Jeffery Visual/Media Arts Installation Project $ 4,320
MyLinda King Music Project $ 4,536
Brian Lindstrom Media Arts Project $ 5,032
Brian Lindstrom Media Arts Project $ 5,700
Carla Mann Dance/Movement Project $ 5,960
Matt McCormick Media Arts Project $ 3,492
Mack McFarland Visual/Media Arts Installation Project $ 1,940
Kristen Miller Visual Arts Project $ 5,646
Motoya Nakamura Visual Arts Project $ 5,241
Lorna Nakell Visual Arts Project $ 4,707
Seth Nehil Multi-Discipline Project $ 5,700
David Oates Literature Project $ 4,972
Bruce Orr Theatre Project $ 4,743
Mary Oslund Dance/Movement Project $ 4,798
Chris Parkhurst Media Arts Project $ 4,760
Leif Peterson Media Arts Project $ 4,687
Ryan Pierce Visual Arts Project $ 1,422
Dmae Roberts Literature Project $ 5,750
Stephen Slappe Visual/Media Arts Installation Project $ 4,277
Desmond Spann** Multi-Discipline Project $ 3,060
Tim Stapleton Multi-Discipline Project $ 3,908
David Stein Visual Arts Project $ 4,228
Carl Vandervoort Media Arts Project $ 4,643
Megan Ward Theatre Project $ 5,100
Marie Watt Visual Arts Project $ 6,000
Alan Wone* Multi-discipline Project $ 4,973
Sharon Wood Wortman Multi-Discipline Project $ 4,568

The majority of applicants were from Multnomah County. (*) denotes artists and organizations in Clackamas County; (**) denotes artists and organizations in Washington County. To learn more about RACC and its various grant programs, visit www.racc.org/grants. For descriptions of each project receiving RACC funding in 2009, visit http://www.racc.org/grants/docs/2009RACCProjectGrant.pdf.

Alison Hallett served nobly as the Mercury's arts editor from 2008-2014. Her proud legacy lives on.

8 replies on “RACC Grants Announced”

  6. RACC sent out decision letters last Thursday so I’m sorry that your friend heard about his award in a round-about way. Congratulations to everyone who received a grant!

    To Cicolini’s point, here is a list of the larger arts organizations that received general support earlier this year. Not sure why you are compelled to describe them as spoiled rich. Dollar for dollar these grants actually serve more people in the community, but I for one am proud of RACC’s multi-tier approach to support institutions, grassroots organizations, and individual artists alike.

    Artists Repertory Theatre – $53,192
    Blue Sky Gallery – $10,656
    Bodyvox – $21,213
    Broadway Rose Theatre Company** – $27,040
    Cappella Romana, Inc. – $10,000
    Chamber Music Northwest – $50,287
    Columbia Symphony Orchestra – $10,000
    Do Jump Movement Theater – $25,897
    Ethos Inc. – $16,530
    Film Action Oregon – $14,230
    Friends of Chamber Music – $18,225
    Homowo African Arts & Cultures – $20,856
    Imago Theatre – $26,385
    Lakewood Center for the Arts* – $25,799
    Literary Arts, Inc. – $39,105
    Live Wire! – $9,000
    Metropolitan Youth Symphony – $26,796
    Miracle Theatre Group – $25,955
    Museum of Contemporary Craft – $20,943
    Northwest Children’s Theater and School – $22,142
    Northwest Professional Dance Project – $10,000
    Oregon Ballet Theatre – $79,697
    Oregon Children’s Theatre – $54,394
    Oregon Repertory Singers – $24,779
    Oregon Symphony Association – $139,746
    PlayWrite, Inc. – $12,230
    Portland Actors Conservatory – $13,295
    Portland Art Museum – $184,686
    Portland Baroque Orchestra – $19,155
    Portland Center Stage – $85,003
    Portland Chamber Orchestra – $13,377
    Portland Gay Men’s Chorus – $13,968
    Portland Institute for Contemporary Art – $25,180
    Portland Opera Association – $132,836
    Portland Piano International – $10,500
    Portland Taiko – $35,081
    Portland Youth Philharmonic – $26,189
    Profile Theatre Project – $21,054
    Tears of Joy Theatre – $27,590
    The Portland Ballet – $9,500
    White Bird – $46,414
    Write Around Portland – $16,375
    Young Audiences of Oregon – $25,351

  7. Does it influence anyone’s opinion to learn that the dozen or so top tier RACC officers pull down 6-figure salaries? Don’t believe it? Check Guide Star – it’s all there.

    Recommendations: increase the annual fellowships to at least match the Director’s salary – an extraordinary embarrassment!

    Finally, and most important: move the panels out of the Pacific Northwest – too much nepotism and too many axes being ground – decision process is sick – inbred to the max!

  8. Does it influence anyone’s opinion to learn that the dozen or so top tier RACC officers pull down 6-figure salaries? Don’t believe it? Check Guide Star – it’s all there.

    Recommendations: increase the annual fellowships to at least match the Director’s salary – an extraordinary embarrassment!

    Finally, and most important: move the panels out of the Pacific Northwest – too much nepotism and too many axes being ground – decision process is sick – inbred to the max!

Comments are closed.