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 Salon, BMA 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.
BMA Salon: The BMA will invite a selection of 20 Baltimore-based galleries and collectives to use the museum’s The Necessity of Tomorrow(s) digital platform (tomorrows.artbma.org) to cultivate new audiences. The BMA will provide each participant with a $2,500 organizing fee to help realize their visions for their digital presentations and to support staff in their efforts. All of the transactions will be conducted by the individual galleries, who will keep all proceeds from the sales. The initiative provides partners with a small influx of funds, while also helping to expand visibility for their work in support of longer-term success. The BMA’s contemporary art curators are selecting the participants, which currently include the following organizations: as they lay, C. Grimaldis Gallery, Catalyst Contemporary, Connect + Collect, Creative Alliance, Current Space, ICA Baltimore, Galerie Myrtis, Goya Contemporary, Resort, St. Charles Projects, sindikit, Springsteen, and The Parlour.
BMA Screening Room: A new video streaming service is being launched on the website to feature works by up to 50 Baltimore-based artists. They will be selected by curators from the museum’s department of contemporary art and paid a modest licensing fee ranging from $500 to $750. The video works will be viewable as part of an evolving repository on the BMA’s website, providing funds and increased exposure for artists during a moment in which there are few exhibition opportunities. Equally, the Screening Room will offer new content with which the museum’s audiences can engage. Video artists confirmed for the launch are: Rahne Alexander, Abdu Ali and Karryl Eugene of as they lay, Stephanie Barber, Mollye Bendell, Erick Antonio Benitez, Nicoletta Daríta de la Brown, Emily Eaglin, Markele Cullins, Tanya Garcia, Nia Hampton, Chung-Wei Huang, Nia June, Jaimes Mayhew, Meredith Moore, Devin N. Morris, Clifford Owens, Margaret Rorison, Jules Rosskam, Lendl Tellington, Stephanie J. Williams, Caroline Xia, and Monsieur Zohore.
BMA Studio: BMA staff will create at least 1,400 ready-to-go artmaking kits to be distributed by the Greenmount West Community Center staff to the Maryland Food Bank, World Central Kitchen, and families in the neighborhood. The kits will include instructions and materials, with supplies drawn from activities planned for the museum’s onsite Free Family Sundays program. While the BMA has already started providing downloadable art activities, this initiative aims to address disparities in digital access and supplements other outreach efforts, such as BMA Lexington Market, Open Hours, and Free Family Sundays, that foster connections with and increase participation among a wide range of audiences. The BMA will follow all appropriate health and safety guidelines when creating and distributing the kits.
The BMA’s new programs are made possible through funds earmarked for The Necessity of Tomorrow(s) series, and which were established through the generous support of Suzanne F. Cohen and the Cohen Opportunity Fund.
THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART
Founded in 1914, The Baltimore Museum of Art is a major cultural destination recognized for engaging diverse audiences through dynamic exhibitions and innovative educational and community outreach programs. The BMA’s internationally renowned collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the famed Cone Collection of modern art, as well as one of the nation’s finest holdings of prints, drawings, and photographs. The galleries showcase an exceptional collection of art from Africa; important works by established and emerging contemporary artists; outstanding European and American paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts; significant artworks from China; ancient Antioch mosaics; and exquisite textiles from around the world. The 210,000-square-foot museum is also distinguished by a grand historic building designed in the 1920s by renowned American architect John Russell Pope and two beautifully landscaped gardens featuring an array of 20th-century sculpture. The BMA is located in Charles Village, three miles north of the Inner Harbor, and is adjacent to the main campus of Johns Hopkins University. General admission to the BMA is free so that everyone can enjoy the power of art.
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