It is end of the year wrap up time and Holland Cotter felt like the NYC Museums delivered, while the galleries were complacent. I mostly agree with his assessment.

Mack McFarland interviews the gang over at Appendix in Bomb. Appendix does the alternative project space thing right. Here at PORT we always pay attention to what they are doing because they are important as a self-selecting group of talented and very intellectually engaged individuals.

RACC awards a record sum for Project Grants. It is important to note that they convened some multidisciplinary panels to evaluate projects like Ben Young's... a clear step in the right direction. Sure, some of the grants went to embarrassingly dippy projects to people who repeatedly get some of the larger project grants but the new names like Young and Bund are encouraging. Honestly, I've never bothered applying for a project grant because it seemed like a waste of my time (I am a critic/curator and thus infinitely capable of pissing off panels of my so-called peers even when I'm not trying to alienate people... it comes with the territory if you call a spade a spade). Yet with these special multidisciplinary panels I'm reevaluating my opinions of RACC's project grants now... perhaps now can they handle high level independent curatorial projects? Venues like Rock's Box, Appendix, Worksound, Gallery Homeland and Recess are the backbones of the scene but dont get support except when individual artists get a grant. That said congrats to those who did and don't suck! Im hard on RACC but if any of the projects they funded are excellent I'll be sure to give them the props they deserve.

The new federal budget plan cuts the NEA and NEH.

On Friday artist Robert Hanson died at age 75 and PNCA covered it best. I don't want to attempt a eulogy (I only do that for those I knew well) but I what noticed most about Robert is that unlike many others of his generation you'd see him out and about taking in the new shows each and every month... usually with his wife Judy Cooke (always such a wonderful couple). That curiosity speaks volumes about the man. Our thoughts are with Judy and his family as he will be missed. Hanson's work will be the subject of the next Apex show at the Portland Art Museum.