Arts Bureau to control public grants for artists

• As of July 1, the city will no longer supply RACC with the bulk of its $7.5 million budget.

Why it matters: Portland aims to stimulate the post-COVID arts sector by treating it as an arm of economic development. The city thinks it can save money on administrative costs and give more to artists.

Driving the news: Thursday is the deadline for other nonprofits to apply to manage grants for arts organizations (orchestras, museums) and artists.

At a series of arts conversations with the public last year, Ryan and his team stressed that they could save $1 million in administrative costs by not using RACC.

The City Council was also unimpressed with RACC's 2022 report, saying "RACC could not answer basic questions about the organization's finances, what the impacts of the City's investments have been, and who was being served."

What's next: The new nonprofits will be announced in April, and grants go out to artists in September as usual.