The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) announced today that it is launching three new initiatives to provide direct support to Baltimore-based artists, galleries, and communities: BMA SalonBMA Screening Room, and BMA Studio. The initiatives will provide some immediate financial relief to local artists and businesses, develop new platforms of visibility to ensure the longer-term success of Baltimore’s arts ecology, and extend participatory opportunities to populations that do not have ready access to digital content. The development of these programs stems from the BMA’s popular, ongoing speaker series, The Necessity of Tomorrow(s), which was established to imagine futures that embrace issues of social justice, equity, and creative practice. The BMA’s new initiatives actualize the series’ core principles and respond to the needs of the current situation through creative endeavors, furthering the museum’s role as a cultural collaborator and civic leader. 

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Over the past several months, Baltimore’s creative community has had to make significant adjustments to the ways in which we all interact with the arts. With stay-at-home orders, gathering restrictions and social distancing, many arts programs, classes and activities can no longer happen the way they once did. Thinking creatively, Baltimore individuals and organizations have looked to virtual opportunities to keep the arts thriving during this time.

BOPA is proud to feature Baltimore and Maryland arts organizations that have had to make these necessary adjustments. Today’s spotlight is on Wide Angle Youth Media, one of Baltimore’s arts organizations that’s working hard to ensure that their media arts education programs both adapt and thrive in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hear directly from Wide Angle Youth Media below:

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Request for Artistic Proposals to Safely Bring the Community Together at Maryland Hall during the COVID-19 Crisis

Dedicated to Art for All, Maryland Hall in Annapolis, Maryland, is the region’s cultural core, convening and engaging all people in arts experiences that strengthen community.

“Maryland Hall is beginning to envision arts programming to serve its greater community through the summer and fall 2020. We know we need to adapt what we do in a creative and even more collaborative way in order to more safely meet the artistic and enrichment demands of our neighbors. We want to tackle this ever shifting landscape in partnership with the artists inside and outside of Annapolis, crafting new outlets for artistic expression and experimentation. It is our hope this request for artistic proposals will lead to new ideas and new ways of using Maryland Hall’s assets together with the creativity of our community to feed our collective artistic needs.”

Artists from all over Maryland are eligible to apply. For more information about the Call to Artists, please read the Request for Artistic Proposals to Safely Bring the Community Together at Maryland Hall during the COVID-19 crisis.

To submit a proposal, visit the Maryland Hall website.

Artwork by Sara Tomko

Join Station North Shines for a virtual “art walk” this Friday, May 22 from 5-7 PM!

Station North Shines will feature live and pre-recorded segments from artists, small businesses, and galleries.  It will be broadcast on Station North’s Facebook and Event Page live.

At this moment, artists across the world are adapting their practice to stay connected and continue making art. Station North is shining a light on artists who are finding unique ways to stay engaged and celebrate their work.

Over the next few months, Station North and Central Baltimore Partnership will be showcasing artists and businesses in the district through a virtual “art walk” the first Friday of each month. This first special evening will provide a taste of the incredible, handmade jewelry artists and makers within the district, along with a family-friendly how-to video from Open Works to make a Shadow Puppet Theater!

Elliot Keeley, studio manager with the Baltimore Jewelry Center will walk us through their current exhibit, Object Permanence, and explore the Metal Shop, featuring local and nationally recognized contemporary jewelers. Gina Tackett will guide us through her transformational shell casings-turned talisman jewelry, Jordan Faye Block will feature three artists’ work in her new yoga studio and gallery, Thrive Atelier, Designer Qwishuna Smith will spotlight Lobe’ Dangle, her haute couture leather accessory brand, and Open Works Education Manager, Laura Cohen, will demonstrate how to make a shadow puppet theater using materials from around your home. More artists will be featured in the coming months!

Artscape, Choose Your Own Adventure by Graham Projects
Photo Credit: Edwin Remsberg

Because of the ongoing Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) announces cancellations and updates for its Summer 2020 calendar of events.

Following mass gathering restrictions, BOPA’s large-scale summer events Artscape 2020 and Baltimore’s 4th of July Celebration have been canceled. The Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize exhibitions will proceed on a virtual platform this year.

BOPA will continue to adapt its annual programming and seek alternatives including virtual platforms in response to the health crisis. Announcements will be made accordingly in the coming weeks.

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