The Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) is listening and wants to hear from you! Four sessions of "We Are Listening" were conducted and MSAC received an overwhelming response for each session. Participants were able to voice their feedback on the Individual Artist Awards, Arts in Education initiatives, Accessibility, Veterans and the Grants for Organizations programs.
All the information is being compiled and reviewed for the strategic planning process. Feedback is still being received. If you have comments you would like to share, please email
msac.commerce@maryland.gov with the subject heading FEEDBACK and the name of the program. Session feedback can be found
here.
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Artist Resource Bulletin
Call for Artists Opportunities
The
MSAC Online Resource Bulletin
, maintained by Maryland Art Place, is where you can find regional, national, and international exhibition opportunities, grants, fellowships, and residencies as well as information on available studio spaces in the area. Updated on a weekly basis, the bulletin lists hundreds of arts opportunities, organized by subject and deadline date.
Here are some current opportunities:
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES BALTIMORE: Deadline July 6
Ronald McDonald House (RHM) Charities Baltimore is seeking artisans willing to donate new or existing original work which supports the theme “ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE”. MEDIA CATEGORIES: Drawing, Metal, Mixed Media, Painting, Photography, Textile, Wood. Application Deadline: July 6, 2018. For more information, click
here.
BAZAART HOLIDAY ART MARKET: Deadline July 13
Be a part of Bazaart – American Visionary Art Museum's annual holiday marketplace of original creations by regional artists and craftspeople. The market features the artsiest arts & craftiest crafts, ranging from painting to sculpture to jewelry to handmade clothing and accessories. For more information, click
here
.
GEORGIA AVENUE PUBLIC ART MURAL PROJECT: Deadline July 30
Through a unique public-private collaboration between the Silver Spring Urban District, Silver Spring Arts and Entertainment District, DGS, and Washington Property Company, the Silver Spring Arts and Entertainment District is seeking design proposals for a two-dimensional, outdoor, large-scale public art mural. For more information, click
here.
DECORATIVE LIGHT FIXTURE - The Maryland Theatre Expansion Project: Deadline September 14
The Maryland Theatre in Hagerstown seeks an artist to create a permanent indoor light fixture to be installed on the top floor event space within the expansion of the historic theatre. Work should be completed or well underway by Winter 2019. The call is open to all artists living within a 100-mile radius of The Maryland Theatre. For more information, click
here.
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Crisfield Named Maryland's Newest Arts & Entertainment District
District Designation is the State's 26th
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The Maryland Department of Commerce announced that the
City of Crisfield in Somerset County has been designated as Maryland’s 26th
Arts & Entertainment (A&E) District. The designation took effect July 1, and is Somerset County’s first Arts & Entertainment District. Crisfield’s A&E District designation is the result of a grassroots effort on the part of the city’s artists and community members who worked in cooperation with city government to conceive and plan for a district that aims to use the arts as a positive force for economic development and revitalization. The district is comprised of approximately 98 acres from the downtown commercial area on the waterfront to the uptown area, a historically black district that was once a thriving area with many small local businesses and entertainment venues. Read complete story
here.
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Public Art Across Maryland Announces Awards
Initiative Created to Commemorate MSAC 50th
Anniversary
The
Public Art Across Maryland
program awarded 12 grants to Maryland County Arts Councils. This one-time initiative commemorated MSAC’s 50th Anniversary, supporting public art celebrating the arts in local communities. The projects include a variety of murals, tile mosaics, sculptures as well as a unique and colorful surface painting of an outdoor basketball court for youth.
Six awards for the Public Art Project program were also awarded to Arts & Entertainment Districts. Projects included artist-designed wayfinding bike racks, as well as supplemental projects in parks and along trails complementing existing public art in A&E districts. All projects have a one-year implementation period. Dedication events information will be shared in the coming months. Click
here
for the full list of grantees.
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County Arts Councils
Fostering Partnerships with Board of Education Fine Arts Supervisors
Arts in Education program director Chris Stewart is visiting County Arts Councils and District Board of Education Fine Arts Supervisors during MSAC's strategic planning process, meeting artists and partners. Alysia Lee, Maryland State Department of Education's Coordinator of Fine Arts, and Arts Education in Maryland Schools (AEMS) Alliance Executive Director Lori Snyder and Mary Dell'Erba, Director of Programs and Administration are also participating in these meetings when possible. Counties visited to date: Anne Arundel, Caroline, Carroll, Charles, Dorchester, Garrett, Harford, Howard, Kent, and Talbot. Coming up: Prince George's and Somerset.
Pictured, L to R: Penny Proudfoot, Director of Early Childhood/Elementary Education, Garrett County Public Schools; Karen Reckner, Executive Director, Garrett County Arts Council; Chris Stewart, Arts in Education Program Director, MSAC; Kendall Ludwig, Board Member, Garrett County Arts Council; Joan Lyon, Board Member, Garrett County Arts Council and MSAC Councilor; Mary Dell'Erba, Director of Programs and Administration, AEMS; Lori Snyder, Executive Director, AEMS.
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Artist in Residence and Visiting Performer Rosters
Application Now Open! Deadline September 14, 2018
The artists on this roster specialize in harnessing the arts as tools for learning and are available to lead hands-on, intensive arts workshops in Maryland schools (Artists in Residence) or assemblies with two workshops (Visiting Performers). Artists in Residence may apply in performing arts, playwriting, poetry, and visual arts. Visiting Performers may apply in music, dance, puppetry, and theater. MSAC accepts applications for the rosters every two years.
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National Folklife Festival
Maryland Traditions Folklife Area Program Announced
The National Folklife Festival has announced the Maryland Traditions Folklife Area & Stage program. Performers, craftspeople and demonstrators who will be featured in this special area of the Festival in 2018 can be found
here. Attendees to the festival will experience crab picking, oyster shucking and Smith Island Cake baking at the Chesapeake foodways demonstrations; master shipwrights and decoy carvers; and an array of exciting performances and demonstrations by the most recent Maryland Traditions Master Apprenticeship Award recipients.
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Maryland State Arts Council Now Accepting Nominations for the
2018 Maryland Traditions Heritage Awards
The Maryland State Arts Council’s folklife program,
Maryland Traditions, created the state Heritage Awards in 2007 to recognize outstanding stewardship of Maryland’s living traditions. Each year, three awards are given in the categories of person/people, place, and tradition. Nominations can be submitted via the Heritage Awards form found
here. For more information on the Heritage Awards, click
here.
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Artist Insight - Maryland Traditions Grant Recipient
Linda Goss, African-American Storyteller
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Endearingly referred to as Mama Linda Goss, her story spans generations, as she is the storyteller of her family's journey through slavery, segregation, the Black Power movement, women's rights, to today's cultural landscape. Linda Goss is the recipient of several Maryland Traditions awards and grants and will be performing at the
National Folk Festival in Salisbury in September with Dr. David Fakunle, a fellow African American Storyteller.
Linda will tell you she was raised on fried apples, pinto beans, cornbread and storytelling. Growing up in the Foothills of the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, her inspiration to become a storyteller came from the influences she experienced being in a family of storytellers. "It is a calling to be a storyteller. To preserve the story and acknowledge and remember and honor your ancestors is what inspires me to tell their stories," stated Goss. "To honor and respect our elders but to also honor and respect and uplift our youth is a gift that storytelling gives us all. Preserving their stories builds connections in our communities." Linda emphasizes that the final key ingredient in her cultural tradition is that the storyteller must pass it down to the next generation. Read more about Linda Goss and her storytelling journey
here.
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Annual A&E Meeting Held in Bel Air and Havre de Grace
Professional Development Included in Two-Day Meeting
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MSAC convened Arts & Entertainment (A&E) District managers from across the state for a two-day professional development and annual meeting in Harford County’s two districts on June 4th and 5th. Day one in Bel Air featured a workshop on partnerships and resources. Day two in Havre de Grace included a presentation about Chattanooga, Tennessee's transformation from America’s dirtiest city to an arts destination as well as a listening session where managers talked with MSAC's Executive Director and the A&E Program Director about the resources they need to meet the goals of A&E Districts and the needs of their communities. See more pictures on
Facebook.
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Artist Stephen Towns
First Solo Show at the Baltimore Museum of Art
Baltimore native Stephen Towns and Individual Artist Awardee
talks about his new quilt show at Baltimore Museum of Art titled "Rumination and a Reckoning." The Birth of a Nation (pictured left) represents a black woman nursing a white infant against the backdrop of the first official flag of the United States. Suspended above a mound of earth, the quilt is surrounded by Towns’s Story Quilts, a cycle of seven works in luminous fabrics and glass beads that narrate the life of Nat Turner and the 1831 rebellion he led against slavery. Show is open now through September 2, 2018. For more information, go to
Baltimore Museum of Art.
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National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
Sponsorships Available for Assembly 2018 In Baltimore
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The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NAASA) Assembly 2018 is an opportunity to engage arts and civic leaders from across the country. Assembly 2018 is hosted by the Maryland State Arts Council in Baltimore from November 1-3, 2018. Connect with more than 400 state arts agency staff and board leaders from all 50 states, as well as, U.S. jurisdictions, including decision makers and stakeholders from the arts, business, government and education sectors, as well as from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Governors Association Economic Development team. Sponsors receive an array of benefits designed to provide high visibility, access and recognition.” For more information, click
here.
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MSAC Council News
The Maryland State Arts Council
Board
meets bi-monthly except in the summer. Listed
meetings are open for public observation. Please contact MSAC prior to attending as meeting dates, times, and locations are subject to change. Effective July 1, 2018 the Council Executive Committee consists of Jack Rasmussen - Chair; Julie Madden - Vice-Chair; and Joan Lyon - Secretary/Treasurer.
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Institutional Giving Manager Position
Olney Theatre Center
The Institutional Giving Manager will have primary responsibility for raising funds from foundation, corporate and government sources in support of the mission of Olney Theatre Center, helping to significantly increase revenue over the next five years. The successful candidate will have excellent writing and organizational skills, good judgment and an aptitude for succeeding in a fast-paced, creative environment. For more information and to apply, click
here.
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The Theatre Consortium of Silver Spring
Now Accepting Applications for New Members
The Theatre Consortium of Silver Spring provides innovative management of the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre for the culturally diverse resident companies and other artists and organizations for the enrichment of the community in and around the Silver Spring Arts and Entertainment District. Deadline to apply is July 15. More information can be found
here.
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Ken's Corner
I had the great honor of delivering a commencement address for the
Barbara Ingram School for the Arts on June 5. There is nothing more electrifying than to be in the space with arts students who are preparing to share what they've learned in a stellar high school experience with the rest of the world! Best of luck to the BISFA class of 2018!
Arts leaders and arts advocacy leaders met in Denver for the
Americans for the Arts Conference to focus our collective energies on equity, diversity and inclusion in art making and funding. The conversations, presentations, and networking were rich and inclusive. I am excited to see how the information will influence the strategic planning process for the Maryland State Arts Council.
Friday, June 22, was rain-filled and the result of the weather was the cancellation of the first of the
River Concert Series Performances in St. Mary’s County. The ever-resourceful Barbara Bershon, MSAC board member, acted quickly to replace the outdoor performance with an intimate gathering of 50, in her home, to be entertained by an exquisite string quartet from the Chesapeake Orchestra. The musicians delighted the audience, comprised of supporters of the arts in St. Mary’s County and area arts leadership, with Mozart.
The opening night of ON THE TOWN at the
Olney Theatre in Montgomery County held all of the excitement that one would expect. This rare gem of a musical by Bernstein, Comden and Green, is an example of the best of the art form. The stellar company performed to the back wall of the theatre in a show that is well crafted in direction, choreography, production, and design. I suggest getting your tickets now for a run that will certainly sell-out.
Finally, I had the pleasure of strolling through 1 West Mount Vernon Place, the recently re-opened section of the
Walters Art Museum. The restored interior and exterior architecture would have been enough to inspire any creative personality, yet the team at the Walters has presented an experience that celebrates the history of the home, responds to the slavery that allowed its splendor (through an exhibit of contemporary ceramic work by Roberto Lugo), and showcases vibrant student work led by ceramicist Herb Massie and Jubilee Arts… all elevated by 21stCentury technology. Congratulations to Julia Marciari-Alexander, and the entire Walters team, on the creation of an extraordinary experience that exemplifies what is possible when museums reconsider their place in contemporary society.
Ken Skrzesz, Executive Director, Maryland State Arts Council
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Maryland State Arts Council | 410 767 6555 | 175 S. Ostend Street, Baltimore 21230 msac.commerce@maryland.gov |
msac.org
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