[OregonArts] Ford Family Foundation Announces Major New Program to Support Visual Arts in Oregon

[D'Arcy, Christine T]

The Ford Family Foundation Announces Program to Support the Visual Arts in Oregon

Accelerating the work of Oregon's established visual artists and providing resources to visual arts institutions is central to the program

Roseburg, OR:  The Ford Family Foundation has announced the establishment of a new five-year, $3.5 million dollar Visual Arts Program to support the exploration, conceptualization, production, exhibition and documentation of new work by seasoned Oregon visual artists.  Impetus for the program was the Foundation Board's desire to recognize the late Hallie Ford's enduring commitment to Oregon and to honor her longstanding interest and legacy in the visual arts.

"Mrs. Ford believed strongly that others should have the opportunity to realize and fulfill their talents " stated Norm Smith, President of the Foundation.  "This is one way the Board can sustain her contributions and founding role, while actively supporting the people she grew to know and respect for their work during her lifetime."

The program is intended to help grow centers of excellence in Oregon and in so doing to enrich the overall visual arts ecology of the State.  It will focus on helping Oregon's most promising visual artists actively pursue their life work through enhancing or expanding creative work time and space; boosting artists who are at a critical crossroads in their practice of art; and by making strategic investments in Oregon visual arts institutions, whose purpose is to advance and exhibit their work.

The Foundation will award funding to qualifying Oregon visual artists and institutions for the following:
§  Hallie Ford Fellowships:  three annual fellowships, each in the amount of $25,000, to Oregon visual artists who have demonstrated a depth of sophisticated practice and potential for significant future accomplishment
§  Artists-in-Residences:  annual awards of $20,000 each to three "Golden Spot" residency programs in Oregon that provide opportunities for artists to explore and conceptualize new work.  Golden Spots are defined by their natural setting, and a distinctive environment that artists repeatedly find particularly compelling and stimulating.  Fifty percent of the funding will support the residency program and the balance will provide stipends to the selected artists to help offset life and work expenses.  In program years three, four and five, the Foundation will underwrite one or more opportunities for Oregon visual artists to experience a national residency program outside the State
§  Exhibition & Documentation:  funding for the curation, preparation and traveling of exhibitions of works by Oregon visual artists and the production of catalogues and other appropriate materials
§  Capital Projects:  modest awards for improvements to and expansion of studio and exhibition space at key Oregon visual arts institutions
§  Curator/Critic Tour:  support to underwrite visitations to Oregon by national curators and critics to consult with visual artists and to participate in community forums on the topic of visual arts
§  Unanticipated Opportunity Funding:  provided to artists facing unforeseen prospects for accelerated creation, production or exhibition of their work
§  Art Acquisition Funding:  resources to Oregon visual art institutions for the purpose of acquiring seminal works by Oregon artists to preserve public access to them

The Foundation researched regional and national programs and relevant studies on the visual arts in America and interviewed over 40 visual arts leaders and visual artists throughout Oregon to structure the program. It found, for visual artists, the greatest need was funding uninterrupted time and resources to learn, to explore and to produce new work as well as mentoring or connections.  A nucleus of these thought leaders provided ongoing advice on difficult choices about how to make the highest and best uses of resources and helped identify transformational opportunities to escalate quality in the creation of visual art.  The Foundation Board and staff considered recommendations of program elements in light of what it thought Hallie Ford would have appreciated according to her interest in the visual arts.

Recipients will be selected by a variety of methods.  The Foundation will grant directly to Oregon visual artists as well as partnering with existing organizations that have established selection processes.

Funding for Fellowships will be provided to individual applicants who are:

§  practicing visual artists currently producing works of art

§  full-time residents of Oregon for at least 36 months prior to the application deadline and provide legal proof of residency in the form of a valid Oregon drivers license, voter registration card or documented payment of taxes, utility bill, etc., and remain a resident through the duration of the grant period

§  30 years of age or older at the time of application

§  have evidenced, through appropriate documentation, seven (7) or more years of active professional participation in his/her medium

§  not enrolled in a degree-seeking program, either part-time or full-time at the time of application or during the successive grant period



Applicant organizations must have current 501(c)(3) public charity status from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), or be a governmental entity, or be an IRS-recognized tribe with proposed projects in Oregon that fulfill the specific program elements: exhibition, documentation and preservation of works by Oregon visual artists.


The Foundation will evaluate the effectiveness of and refine the program components on an ongoing basis.  Near the conclusion of year five, it will conduct a formal assessment after which Visual Arts program activities will be considered along with other Foundation programs for future funding.

The Foundation will roll out the program elements over the next 12 months, beginning with the introduction of the Hallie Ford Fellowships to coincide with Mrs. Ford's birth date:  March 17. The qualifying and selection process will conclude in June with announcement of the three 2010 Hallie Ford Fellows in early July.  Other program elements are anticipated to be introduced as follows:  Exhibitions & Documentation grants (Spring, 2010 - RFPs); Opportunity grants (Fall, 2010 - w/OAC); Artist in Residences (Summer-Fall, 2010 - RFPs); Critic & Curator Tour (Fall, 2010); Capital Project Fund (Winter, 2010 - RFPs); Art Acquisition Fund (Winter 2010 w/OAC).

"Visual artists do not produce good work in a vacuum, nor do the institutions that support and exhibit their work," added Smith. "Oregon's visual arts ecology, or eco-system, is composed of multiple elements that all converge, build on and nurture one another.  The Foundation hopes by investing in both the artists and the institutions, that it will nourish the environment that will make stellar work by Oregon visual artists increasingly more sustainable."

The Foundation is the sole funder of this Visual Arts Program.  However, it has actively sought and expects to partner with Oregon's leading visual arts educators, gallerists, museum and other arts professionals to help implement program elements.  It also strongly desires to leverage its funding with that of other state and national resources if goals are compatible and mutually beneficial.

For more information about the Foundation please visit the website at www.tfff.org<http://www.tfff.org>.

The Ford Family Foundation was established in 1957 by Kenneth W. and Hallie E. Ford. Its Mission is "successful citizens and vital rural communities" in Oregon and Siskiyou County, California.  The Foundation is located in Roseburg, Oregon, with a Scholarship office in Eugene.
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Chris D'Arcy
Christine D'Arcy
Executive Director
Oregon Arts Commission - Oregon Cultural Trust
775 Summer Street NE
Salem, Oregon 97301-1280
(503) 986-0087 direct
christine.t.darcy at state.or.us

Give the gift that grows. Contribute to any Oregon Cultural Nonprofit.
Match your gift with one to the Oregon Cultural Trust - and qualify for a generous tax credit.
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