PICA is proud to announce the Round Thirteen recipients of the Precipice Fund, an initiative providing critical support to unincorporated visual art collectives, alternative spaces, and collaborative projects in and around Portland, Oregon, since 2013. This year, a total of $61,000 in grants were distributed to 13 artist projects, encompassing 36 individual artists.
The projects selected for Round Thirteen cover a wide range of media, concepts, and audiences, with a special emphasis on skill sharing and artistic development. Accepted proposals include a series of workshops led by queer and BIPOC Portland artists; a guide for community-responsive Portland artists as they navigate various challenges an immersive, nourishing gathering for Black queer and trans visual and performance artists; an artist-run gallery whose program centers critical, contemporary work and supporting underrepresented artists across the Pacific Northwest; a series to showcase and amplify Oregon Native/Indigenous playwrights, actors and directors; an artists’ alliance providing support, space, and opportunity for time-based artists; an experimental performance series aiming to revive Portland DIY performing arts culture; an interactive art ritual centering Chinese cultural practices around ancestral reverence alongside contemporary grief; a zine resource focused on healing for Black trans masculine people; a collaborative project using the concept of utopia to incite critical discussion on contemporary culture; a three-day arts festival celebrating trans, nonbinary, and queer creators in the greater Portland area; a book club connecting artists through anticapitalism; and a contemporary art gallery housed inside a residential garage.
An independent panel selected the 2024 recipients. This review body consisted of artists and visual art professionals external to PICA who understand, value, and support the contributions of contemporary artists to their communities and the vital role of informal, independent, collaborative, and experimental projects and programs in a broader arts ecology. The 2024 panelists included curator, writer, creative producer, project manager, artist advocate, arts administrator, and consultant in contemporary performance and visual art Roya Amirsoleymani; nawa angel a.h., widely known as Moonyeka, a chimeric creator working across containers of performance, qt nightlife, writing, experimental media, and the divine; Kalaija Mallery, an artist, leader, and the Executive and Artistic Director of The Luminary in St. Louis, Missouri; and Mick Rose, a Two Spirit, Indigiqueer, nonbinary person from the Diné, Umonhon, and Pawnee Nations who has stewarded arts programming, community programming, and placemaking at the Native American Youth and Family Center and the Native Arts and Culture Foundation. We warmly thank the panelists for their time, expertise, and thoughtful consideration of this year’s project proposals.
Below is an alphabetical list of the projects selected for funding in Round Thirteen, detailing working titles, artist names, award amounts, and project descriptions (as provided by the artists).
PICA congratulates the 2024 grantees, acknowledges all applicants, and extends sincere gratitude to The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for continuing to invest in contemporary art and artists nationwide.
GRANTEES
All Hands Creative Lab | $5,000
Dani Jean and Bernadette Little
All Hands Creative Lab by Show Out is a series of four workshops led by queer and BIPOC artists, focusing on creativity, skill building, and self-expression. As part of the “Show Out” pop-up events, hosted by Bernadette Little and Dani Jean, each session will be documented to capture shared experiences and insights. The aim is to uplift Portland’s queer and BIPOC communities through artist showcases, workshops, and talks, fostering inclusive spaces for resource sharing and breaking down traditional barriers.
Anticapitalism Artist Book Club | $3,000
Megan Chin and Cory Weaver
Anticapitalism Artist Book Club (AABC) is a place for Portland artists to gather together with fellow creative minds, critical thinkers, cultural workers, and magic makers to connect on and center anticapitalism.
Black Feast: SOFT LANDING | $5,000
Salimatu Amabebe, Jasmine Beach, and Annika Hansteen-Izora
Black Feast: SOFT LANDING is a four-day immersive gathering of Black queer and trans visual and performance artists. We will spend the first three days of the gathering prioritizing rest and nourishment through food, conversation, and collaboration. The gathering will culminate on the fourth day in a symposium where each artist will share their work with the public through a community offering. Offerings can take the form of a talk, workshop, performance, or film screening.
Burning and Building Bridges: A Pocket Manual for Community-Responsive Artists | $5,000
Paola De La Cruz and Lillyanne Pham
Burning and Building Bridges is designed to support community-responsive artists in Portland as they navigate the complexities of money, institutions, conflict, harm, and collaboration. Compiled from reflections and lessons learned by local artists involved in local community projects, it offers practical insights and strategies. The guide also provides questions, definitions, and exercises, fueling artists to foster meaningful connections and enhance their collaborative efforts alongside their communities.
Carnation Contemporary: Portland Artist-Run Gallery | $5,000
Elizabeth Arzani, Kimberly Smith Claudel, Epiphany Couch, Michael Espinoza, and Pamela Hadley
Carnation Contemporary provides an accessible place for the Portland community to engage with critical, contemporary art while supporting underrepresented artists across the Pacific Northwest. A series of exhibitions and events that are free and open to the public will be developed.
CLUB ALIVE | $5,000
Wolfgang Black, Siloh Cairns, Kye Grant, and Rowan Willow
CLUB ALIVE is an artist-driven experimental performance series in Portland that blends participatory art and queer nightlife culture into a live talk show experience. Produced and hosted by performance artist Kye Alive, the monthly party showcases and uplifts an ideologically-eclectic mix of QTBIPOC and I/DD talent with the aim of reviving Portland DIY performing arts culture in the post-pandemic era and building a thriving, joyful community across artistic disciplines.
FamousFest: A Trans Arts & Making Festival | $5,000
Aeon Famous, Funktion Tournament, and Lady Tournament
FamousFest is a three-day arts festival celebrating trans, nonbinary, and queer creators in the greater Portland area. The festival will include a performance artist showcase, interactive community art installations, a vendor market, open mics, and an all-ages printing workshop. Curated by Aeon Famous, Funktion Tournament, and Lady Tournament.
Healing Traditions: A Zine for Black Trans Masculine Folx | $5,000
Michael David Battle and J. Charles
Healing Traditions: A Zine for Black Trans Masculine Folx is a zine guide focused on healing for Black trans masculine folx. The project, a collaboration between J. Charles and Michael David Battle, shares skills in herbalism, foraging, woodworking, textiles, cooking, and body movement. This zine is a resource for our community, promoting healing through traditional practices and skill exchange.
Native Playwrights Series PDX | $5,000
Lofanitani Aisea and Amber Kay Ball
Native Playwrights Series PDX is an opportunity to showcase Oregon Native playwrights in the local Portland area. Native/Indigenous playwrights of place and locale are not receiving resourcing to produce or show works with resourced support. The goal of this project is to create a soft launchpad out of Barbie’s Village to support Native/Indigenous playwrights, actors, and directors in the processes of new work development and portfolio creation, as well as to steward community togetherness through storytelling.
Old Fashioned Garage Gallery | $5,000
Jodie Cavalier and Alley Frey
Old Fashioned Garage Gallery is a lo-fi, DIY contemporary art gallery located in the residential garage of its creators, Jodie Cavalier and Alley Frey. Each season in 2025, a Portland-based artist will install their work with the assistance of the gallery. The work will then be documented and commemorated with a reception and artist dinner, bringing together a community of 10 to 12 to celebrate and share food with the artist of the season.
Outer Voice 24/25 Season | $5,000
Roland Dahwen, Sarah Rushford, and Ash Stone
Outer Voice is an artists’ alliance that provides a diverse group of time-based artists in the Portland area with opportunity, space, and support. We select new artists each year through an open call to meet every other Sunday, October through June, for an artist-supportive group workshop. We also program events and an exhibition, and produce a book. Precipice grant funding aids Outer Voice with the monetary and moral support needed to run this organization’s 2024-2025 season.
Ritual Feast: Festival of Hungry Ghosts | $3,000
Akshay Hariprasad, Jai Lawrence, David Shultis, and Bea Yeh
Ritual Feast is an interactive art ritual offered during The Festival of Hungry Ghosts that educates participants on Chinese cultural practices around ancestral reverence while holding space for contemporary grief. This ritual provides a pathway for descendants to honor ancestors who were not properly acknowledged in death. As dominant culture lacks communal grieving rituals, Ritual Feast allows for reverential mourning and reflection while acknowledging the multilayered global traumas we collectively face.
uuutopiaaa | $5,000
Simone Badaruddin, Autumn Jing, and Eleanor Randl
How does the concept of utopia incite critical discussion on contemporary culture? How do the themes of queer abstraction, community, and bodily awareness weave together in what it means to make art? How are artists’ practices integral to creating a collective and thoughtful future? uuutopiaaa is a collaborative project that proposes imagination and abstraction as tools to spur change. Our project is a map of the utopia that is queerness.