See Art, Win Money, Make A Difference With Two New Portland Programs

Published: March 25, 2017, 12:13 a.m.

b'Ever passed a gallery and seen something that looked interesting through the window, but found yourself thinking "I could never afford it" or "I probably wouldn\'t get it?"

Well, you\'re not alone.

"Galleries can be really intimidating places\\u2014I\'m sometimes intimidated to walk in," says artist and writer Jennifer Rabin, which is saying a lot, given that she\'s paid to know art. Since 2015, she\'s been the visual art critic at "Willamette Week," although she will depart at the end of March.

After watching nine Portland galleries and one museum close in the first nine months she was at WW, Rabin grew alarmed. Then President Donald Trump proposed eliminating the national endowments for the arts and the humanities, and Rabin had to do something.

In the last two weeks, Rabin launched two programs, Art Passport PDX and Artists Resist, to get more people looking at art and standing up for why art matters.

Read the full story: http://www.opb.org/radio/article/jennifer-rabin-art-passport-pdx-artists-resist'