What Do You Think Baltimore?: Baltimore Think-A-Thon
On Friday May 24th an event is bringing together Baltimore artists, social activists, researchers, medical professionals, scientists, humanists, political representatives, and foundations to do some thinking. The Baltimore Think-A-Thon is an all day brainstorming event being held by the Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. Focusing on addressing both black infant mortality and rising AIDS/HIV rates in the city, along with other possible issues raised by participants, those in attendance will be coming together across occupations and communities to discuss past, present, and future ways to address these issues.
The Think-A-Thon comes out of recent studies that have found the collaboration between arts and science practitioners in problem solving can create innovative and effective interventions. The varying backgrounds of the thinkers involved from art to science, to politics encourages that they will bring different skills, perspectives, and thinking styles to the discussion. During the day artists will be working to create preliminary sketches of the ideas thought up by the group. The works created throughout the day will be used later in the “Baltimore Stories Project,” a larger community based project.
The intense day of problem solving, thinking and discussing will be taking place on Friday, May 24, 2013 from 9:00am-3:00pm and will be followed by a reception and a poster session. The Think-A-Thon is being held in the Westminster Hall, located at 519 W. Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
For more information and to register please visit http://www.arhu.umd.edu/thinkathon
Young at Art: Wide Angle Youth Media and The 8th Annual Youth Media Festival
Since 2000, Wide Angle Youth Media has been providing opportunities for Baltimore City youth to develop leadership skills, gain media education, and access to media resources and tools. Each year the organization works with hundreds of Baltimore youth who learn techniques that range from design to photography to film and more. Wide Angle provides these resources and education through a variety of different after school and summer programs: Wide Angle’s Attendance and Design Team, Baltimore Speaks Out!, Mentoring Video Project, Youth Speaks Out!, Summer Media Camp, Special Programs, and their Youth Media Festival. While each of these programs provide a different topic focus, the content is guided by and the end outcome is controlled by the youth involved. Running through all of Wide Angle’s programs is a consistent and clear intent to assist Baltimore City Youth in telling their own story through their own words… or images.
Wide Angle works to go beyond just providing the education and the resources, but creates platforms for youth to share their art with the rest of the city. The 8th Annual Wide Angle Youth Media Festival will be holding its Opening Reception next Wednesday May 15th, 2013 from 5:00-8:00pm at the Creative Alliance. The Youth Media Festival showcases the art of over 200 youth from over 40 schools and 10 after school programs across Baltimore City. Using photography and film, this year’s Youth Media Festival features pieces created to challenge negative stereotypes of young people in Baltimore. During the Opening Reception, Wide Angle is collaborating with The Gandhi Brigade’s Just Us Youth Media Festival to screen videos by youth from across Maryland addressing the difficulties they experience and the positive things young people are doing in response. From 3:00pm-5:00pm on the 15th Wide Angle will be hosting free art activities at the Creative Alliance prior to the official Opening Reception. While the Festival’s Opening Reception is next Wednesday the Exhibition will run from May 15th until May 24th.
Individual Tickets for the festival are $10 and can be purchased here.
Wide Angle Youth Media Festival Wednesday May 15, 2013 Opening Reception 5:00-8:00 PM Where:The Creative Alliance
Amalie Rothschild Gallery
3134 Eastern Ave., Baltimore MD 21224
Funding Opportunities Available for Community Greening Projects
Parks & People will be hosting grant workshops for three grants to fund community greening projects. The grants, which focus on community-led greening and service projects, would be a great opportunity for artists, community members, and organizations to receive funding to start or continue community projects.
Those interested in playground restoration and programs that support public parks can apply for the Partnership for Parks Grants. The grants provide awards ranging from $500-$5,000 and are co-sponsored through Baltimore City Department of Recreation & Parks and the Parks & People Foundation. Individuals and organizations interested in applying for the Partnerships for Parks Grants must attend a free workshop on either:
Tuesday, June 11, 2013 -or- Wednesday, May 29, 2013 6:00—8:00pm Rec & Parks Office, Druid Hill Park, 3001 East Dr., Baltimore 21217Community gardens, vacant lot restoration, and environmental education activities are just some of aims of the Neighborhood Greening & Clean Water Grants. The Clean Water Mini-Grant can provide up to $250 in funds for recipients, while the Neighborhood Greening Grant awards up to $1,000 in funds. Those interested in applying for either of the Neighborhood Green/Water grants must attend one of the following free workshops:
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 6:00—8:00 p.m. Parks & People Foundation, Stieff Silver Building, 800 Wyman Park Drive, Suite 010, Baltimore Tuesday, June 4, 2013 6:00—8:00 p.m. Zeta Center for Healthy & Active Aging, 4501 Reisterstown Road, Baltimore Wednesday, June 5, 2013 6:00—8:00 p.m. Bon Secours Community Works, 26 North Fulton Avenue, Baltimore Wednesday, June 12, 2013 6:00—8:00 p.m. HEBCAC, 1212 North Wolfe Street, BaltimoreIndividuals attending a workshop are asked to RSVP at least four days before the workshop they plan to attend. You can RSVP by contacting (410) 448-5663 x111 or valerie.shane@parksandpeople.
Two additional great resources for artists, community members, and organizations interested in greening spaces in Baltimore to check out are Baltimore Green Space and Power in Dirt. These resources can help provide an idea of what is available and some of what is already going on in Baltimore.
Upcoming BA+JP Events: Save the Date!
Baltimore Art + Justice Project has two exciting events coming up in the next couple months that you will want to look out for.
First, to say thank you to everyone who has participated in the project and supported us over the past year, BA+JP will be having a Happy Hour next Tuesday, April 23rd from 5-7:30pm at Millers Court. The Happy Hour is co-hosted by Wide Angle Youth Media and in addition to lite fair and cocktails, we will have a sneak peak of the Wide Angle Youth Media Festival. We ask that if you are interested in attending the event that you please RSVP by Friday, April 19th to d.brienne.hagen@gmail.com.
Coming up in May we are having our next Community Dialogue! Connecting Art and Advocacy: Building Relationships that Work, will be co-hosted with the Public Justice Center. Our third dialogue in our series will continue to use a lively, interactive discussion to address the role of advocacy organizations in socially engaged art and design and how to find ways to make these relationships work.
Space for the event is limited so please make sure to RSVP to d.brienne.hagen@gmail.com.
Public Justice Center (1 N. Charles St. Suite 200, 21201)
Addressing Race and Gender at THIRTY
Maryland Art Place’s event series THIRTY: 30 Creative Minds Under 30 features artists under the age of thirty who are making a name for themselves in Baltimore. The next THIRTY on April 10th, 2013 features two artists that address issues around race and gender.
Nora Howell, a MICA graduate, uses her art as a way of addressing systemic racism and opening dialogues on whiteness. Howell uses popular images in her work, such as Oreos and media advertisements, to spark conversations surrounding race. Many of Howell’s projects have focused specifically on raising visibility to the pervasiveness of whiteness in society. Her “Cracker Dress” is one example of her use of head turning images.
Nora Howell in her Cracker dress
“Oblivia consumed by her own musings, Oblivia seems unaware of the impact of her “cracker-ness” on those around her.”
Alicia Ciambrone, a current MICA student, addresses the portrayal of women and girls in the media/television through her Girls Series. Ciambrone’s “Mean Girls” series showcases the hyper-sexualized and aggressive portrayals of women in many current reality television shows. Similarly, in her “Naperville Girls” series Ciambrone remarks on the images of young women often seen across social media sites were they are often stripped of any individual self.
Alicia Ciambrone’s “Biter”
You can check out more of Nora Howell and Alicia Ciambrone’s art at:
Wednesday April 10th 6:00pm Maryland Art Place 8 Market Place, Suite 100 Baltimore, Maryland 21202Dancing for a Cause
Tomorrow evening, Saturday March 23rd the Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center will be filled with two floors of dancing. Dancing for a Cause, the second annual fundraiser for Jubilee Arts, celebrates the many dance styles that originated within Harlem and have continued to grow across the country. The styles of Chicago Step, Hand Dance, and Line Dance, which will be highlighted at the event, are taught at Jubilee Arts “as a way to preserve and revive the legacy of arts in the African-American community.” In addition to an evening of dancing, guests will also enjoy light fare, performances, door prizes, and auctions. Dancing for a Cause is particularly timely following last month’s social and news media obsession with the Harlem Shake videos. Coverage of the videos were often void of any conversations regarding the dance /videos’ cultural or historical significance, highlighting how important and needed Jubilee Arts’ work is.
All proceeds for the event will help support the operations of Jubilee Arts and their programming which focuses on providing low cost dance, visual arts, creative writing and ceramics classes/programs to Baltimore communities of all ages.
Tickets for the event are $35 and can be purchased ahead of time online.
For more information on the event please visit the event page on Facebook.
When: Saturday, March 23rd 8pm- 12am Where: Eubie Blake Center- 847 North Howard St.Mapping Baltimore: GBCA’s Brown Bag
The Baltimore Art + Justice Project assisted yesterday with the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance’s “Map it Now” Brown Bag. BA+JP’s Kalima Young and Rebecca Yenawine from New Lens co-facilitated the packed event where many individuals presented their organizations’ maps and data collection experiences. Public Laboratory, Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance, Baltimore Jazz Alliance, Story of Place Project, Arts Everyday, Power In Dirt, Baltimore Green Space were some of the groups whose efforts were shared and discussed at the event.
Throughout the conversation the importance of art in the community was continually referenced and the effect that research and visual tools, such as maps, can have on showing the positive impact art and cultural programs have on communities. Some of the issues and challenges that were raised related to collaborating and bringing in new people. The Greater Baltimore Tech Council and the Tech and Social Change Baltimore Meet up Group were discussed as two good ways that arts, cultural, and justice based workers could reach out to individuals in the tech community looking to collaborate.
Continuing the Conversation: What have been some of your challenges and experiences collecting data and mapping Baltimore’s cultural, arts, and justice based communities? What have you found?
Birth Matters: Fundraiser for Maryland Families for Safe Birth
Often conflicting, complicated, and emotional, birth is a topic that stirs a wide range of responses in people. When mentioned amongst different people adjectives vary from powerful, transformative, exciting, and beautiful to grotesque, painful, and scary.
The variety of experiences and stories that individuals have surrounding birth are what the Maryland Families for Safe Birth (MFSB), an organization that is working toward legalizing Certified Professional Midwives in Maryland, is looking to be shared at their upcoming fundraiser. They are asking for individuals to share and perform their birth stories, the good, bad, beautiful, difficult, and everything in between, at the upcoming event.
MFSB, is hoping the performances people share of loss, birth multiples, cesareans, medicated births, midwife assisted births, natural births, unassisted births, and any other story will help bring up the topic of birth and make it clear that as Carmen Calvo of MFSB states “birth matters.”
Calvo, who has a background in art, felt the idea of using storytelling performances would involve families in a powerful that “could serve as a venue for healing.” The event is a fundraiser to benefit the MSFB, but the organization also hopes to raise awareness of issues regarding birth and midwives in the state in the process. Calvo explained that MSFB has been working on passing legislation to legalize Certified Professional Midwives (CPM) in Maryland, “At this time, if a woman chooses to have an out-of-hospital birth experience, she is forced to go underground. By licensing CPMs and having a board of midwives holding CPMs accountable, women will have access to evidence-based care and be able to give birth how and where they choose. This movement is to give MD women and their families safe options outside the hospital setting. With c-section rates at an all time high, women are seeking a more natural, personal care provider and are asking for midwives. Women in MD deserve a choice.”
MFSB is looking for individuals (and families) to share their birthing stories. They are calling musicians, poets, performance and visual artists, storytellers, and anyone without performance experience who would like to share their story to come to participate in the event. Individuals who would like to share their story but may not want to perform it themselves are also welcome to contact Calvo. There will also be space at the event for children to create their art in a craft area.
For more information on the event or how you can participate/contribute please contact Carmen Calvo at carmencalvo22@gmail.com .
MSFB Birth Storytelling Fundraiser
Thursday 21, 7pm @ 2640 (2640 st. Paul st.)
What is the Intent?
by Brie Hagen and John Massad
On December 13, 2012, the BA+JP held a community dialogue, Merging Art and Activism. The event included an exercise where attendees discussed four Baltimore art/activism projects: Baltimore Storm Drain Project, Schools Not Jails, Baltimore Graffiti Warehouse, and Baltimore LOVE Project. Throughout the discussion, those in attendance were grappling with the concept of the intersection between art and activism. Participants unpacked what constitutes art as “activism.” This distinction began to be defined by evaluating whether or not a piece should be understood within the context of active engagement with communities to foster change.
The Schools Not Jails example was discussed as low on the dimension of “art” and quite high along the dimension of “activism,” while many felt that the Baltimore Graffiti Warehouse was the reverse. The Baltimore Storm Drain Project, as well as the Baltimore LOVE Project were viewed largely by participants as somewhere in the middle, though it is vitally important to note that there was not consensus on either. It was clear in the conversation that not all art in the public sphere is inherently considered “activism.”
An underlying theme emerged in the conversation about what people looked for in defining art and activism. What was not discussed, but was woven through each of the conversations, and lies at the intersection, is intentionality. What is the intention of the person who produced each project and the artists associated with it? Is it intended to motivate change? Is it intended to speak truth to power? Can we really know, and does it even matter?
So, as we are considering the intersection of art and social justice activism, we are grappling with definitions of what constitutes “art” and “activism,” with an overlay of what the intention of the artist/producer really is. And what about a work of art that is not in any way “intended” by the artist to produce change and yet is so provocative that it redefines discourse about both?
What do you think?
We want to hear what you have to say on the topic of intentionality, art and activism in Baltimore.
If you are interested in submitting a blog post on the topic, please email your post by this Friday Feb. 8th to d.brienne.hagen@gmail.com to be featured next Monday Feb. 11th.
Community Greening Resource Network Summit
Have you ever walked past a community garden in the city and thought to yourself that you would like to be part of creating one? Or perhaps you’ve been riding by and saw a bright, green open space and appreciated the beauty it adds to any street? For anyone interested in becoming involved, already involved, or a seasoned eco-vet an event is being held this Thursday January 31st that is perfect for you! The CGRN Summit is an open summit in it’s 3rd year being held to discuss all things related to creating a green and sustainable Baltimore. It’s a great place to make your concerns heard and learn how to get (more) involved.
January 31, 2013 — 6:00pm – 8:30pm
Location: 2640 Space, 2640 St. Paul St., Baltimore, MD 21218
Please RSVP to community.greening@parksandpeople.org
