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Randace Rauscher : BY ANNE WEEKS Without a trace of entitlement she says, "It's almost like Robin Hood. I take from the rich and give 10 the poor." Local event organizer/fundraiser Randace Rauscher makes her efforts towards the needy sound flippant but the reality is that she doesn't take from the rich, rather she relies on them {and 'non-rich' alike) 10 offer in the form of donation. Donations, generous gifts given for no equal exchange, whether solicited or not from entities with a surplus or a proclivity 10 share are the basis for Raucher's fundraising. Without donation, her job both in and out of the office would be markedly more difficult and a large number of needy individuals would go Without. Rauscher has worked in a fund raising capacity for 10 years though she came out of unrelated career in New York City as a graduate of Display and Design at New York's acclaimed Fashion Institute of Technology. After working as a window dresser at Sak's Fifth Avenue, Rauscher decided she wasn't completely fulfilled in the world of fashion. She turned to fund raising but she didn't abandon her interest in the arts; in fact she married the two to great effect. It started Some years ago, while working~g at The Foundation for Children with AIDS. Rauscher came up with a particularly simple and effective idea to pair the visual arts checks for something" they don't see. They don't know why they are here: They aren't looking" at anything". I wanted to tie a fundraiser in with an art Show." So in this particular case Rauscher added her own input to the event; she shot and donated a series of photos called 8:30-2:30: A Day In the Life of Children~n with AIDS representing" the kids associated by the foundation. Unfortunately, the foundation closed but Rauscher look the idea with her to subsequent causes and her initial idea has now blossomed into a nearly full-time side project that accents her 9-5 job. With the help of local artists and her own talent for conjuring donators, Rauscher makes local artwork be the catalyst for local fundraising relying" heavily on the kindness of the people she knows. Local artists donate their work and the funds raised by their sales are given to whatever organization Rauscher happens to be working for at the time. Currently Rauscher Is the Donation Center Coordinator at Casa Myrna Vasquez, Inc., "New England's largest service organization for battered Women and their children." The organization has been around for 25 years, but Rauscher has been there for only a year and a half. Working" with artists such as Kevin Banks, Russell Moore and the locally renowned Paul Richard (Who is now located in New York City) Rauscher relies on word of mouth and studio tours to find out about local artists with talent and interest in donating" to her fundraising events. "Artists in Massachusetts are extremely generous as well as being" very talented," she states emphatically. "The first piece Paul gave for donation, he transported to the even! site while riding" on his bike," says Rauscher, explaining" precisely how generous and Y"willing Some of her donators can be. Though the artists themselves can be willing, the environment around them is not always So devoted, Bostonians, have a seemingly unadventurous relationship 10 the arts these days, despite the fact that the area is thick with cultural content. Which is not to say that the city of Boston is a totally impotent vehicle for the arts, but the fact that Massachusetts has a weak funding structure in terms of state supported grants certainly doesn't help. The fact that there are other cities out there with better funding, a more willing audience and cheaper housing makes the Boston area, while thriving in Some senses, a place of transience when it Comes to thick artist communities. In a sense, the artists Who help Rauscher are in their own right qualified 10 be RECEIVING donations themselves, which makes their effort So much more incredible. "I think there is a lot of talent in Boston but unfortunately, Boston doesn't seem to have that type of work/struggle ethic that New York City artists have. It is so hard to make it in New York, but interestingly most of the artists who go to New York are willing to wait for the success. [The] artists are willing to be around longer. In New York, I see 43-year-old artist selling their work on the street. They don't give up. They keep doing it despite the long road to fame or success," Rauscher explains. Having worked with Richard independently as his event coordinator, Rauscher eventually lost her most devoted donating artist to New York City. She has since filled her time with subsequent coordination for clubs interested in hosting visual art-focused events at Hibernia and the G Lounge downtown. But the search for artists and venues to accommodate them can be a challenging one. Rauscher feels, if not tries to fill, the void when the area loses gifted and generous artists or accommodating venues. There are great opportunities for young artists in LA, Portland, or, and San Francisco. I look at someone like Paul; he was fairly famous in Boston but now he's in New York City. People throw more money into the arts in New York. They are willing to have just one couch or one piece of furniture in their apartment and then spend the bulk of their money on collecting fine art, " explains Rauscher about competitive communities. People in Boston just won't wait and part of the problem with is that there just aren't enough venues to accommodate. I don't know why people in Boston haven't stepped up to create more venues in this town. [It most likely has something to do with the real estate prices] In New York there are countless venues. New York is more socially conscious too. Massachusetts is both of the states in terms of donations and giving. That is why I love tying it all. There is a superficial air to the arts, and to tie in fundraisers towards a good cause is great, " she says, admitting her love for challenge. Rauscher's most recent project, this past December at Hibernia, required that attendees only gain entrance to the event by donating a toy; a particularly appropriate tie-in to the season. Her biggest event is called "Art of July," a large-scale art auction with all proceeds going to a local charity. With 72 artists having participated in last year's event she is currently scouting for a venue to accommodate the 8th annual Art of July. At some point, she says she wants to do an event where the artists make art for a shelter to make the shelter look better inside. That is what I'm thinking about for a future project." Above putting together Shows to raise money, Rauscher would inevitably like to BECOME one of the individuals to step up to the plate and open a new venue such as a gallery or open public art space. But until then she'll continue working towards indefinite fundraising regardless of the space available. © 2002 ANNE WEEKS
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