Internationally renowned artist Derrick Adams has purchased the Waverly property, which he plans to turn into the Black Baltimore Digital Database (BBDD), a multi-purpose cultural center dedicated to cataloging historical and ongoing contributions made by the Black citizens of Baltimore, which have long been overshadowed by those of their white counterparts.

“Growing up in Baltimore, as a Black person, as an artist, it has always been a challenge to understand the creative contributions of Black Baltimore on American culture—the music, the arts, the writing,” says Adams, 52, who grew up in Park Heights before moving to New York, where he pursued a career as a multidisciplinary artist, with works now included in the prestigious permanent collections like the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “These are things thatI want to have available not just for Black History Month but every day of the week to help people understand the overall picture of the city, how it came to be what it is now, and what it could be in the future. It’s so important to know history and understand history and have a place to discover history, in a way that’s visually interesting.”

Set to open in 2024, the BBDD will collect and store digitized archival materials, serving as both a private collection and public center. Through the latter lens, it could be utilized for education, research, and analysis, with a goal of fostering a more equitable sense of agency for Black residents and dynamic engagement for all visitors.

“I’m not an archivist, but there is a need to have a facility that people can actually come to, and sift through images, digital recordings, audio, or video, and also learn the techniques of archiving,” says Adams, who hopes to employ local archivists of color, in part to help build community trust.

Adams chose the Waverly neighborhood for the BBDD because of its central location at a cultural crossroads of Baltimore, near branches of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and Waverly Farmers Market, surrounded by both Black and white communities, and just a straight shot to Towson or downtown. It is also the site of The Last Resort Artist Retreat, a Black creative residency program founded by Adams and located just up the road from the BBDD, with the proximity lending to potential collaboration between the two spaces.

“My family has lived all over Baltimore,” says Adams. “I see every part of the city as having some relationship to me. My cousins live on the east side, the west side, the north side, Baltimore County. Waverly to me is like the middle of all of those places. I always felt like a place that people just passed through, but I was always curious about it as a midtown space that should be a destination.”

In addition to the state-of-the-art upstairs digital archive lab, which he envisions like a Mac-store-meets-library, the BBDD will also have two multimedia spaces: a downstairs art gallery, named for late Baltimore photographer I. Henry Phillips Sr., as well as a screening room. Both will feature works by local and international artists (perhaps one day including the works of local journalist Lawrence Burney, whose arts publication True Laurels documents Black culture, and who happens to be Adams’ nephew, with the two collaborating on an archival exhibition at the Eubie Blake Cultural Center in 2019, which provided some inspiration for the BBDD. A co-op coffee shop and gift store will also feature items created by Black-owned businesses, while a front lawn will be activated as a shared community space.

Adams and his partners—including Columbia professor and architect Jelisa Blumberg, who serves as creative director, and JHU sociology research professor Kali-Ahset Amen, who is acting as project advisor—are currently in the planning and development stages, which includes working with consultants to develop a digital interface system for their database technology. A new $1.25-million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which is fiscally sponsored by the Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center, has helped kickstart that work, with a fundraising campaign for the building’s construction to launch in the coming weeks.

“We don’t want it to just be a building, but a destination,” says Adams. “And not just Black Baltimoreans, but anyone who understands how important it would be for Black people in Baltimore to know a little bit more about Baltimore, and how valuable that would be for the city, to give other groups who have been disproportionately left out the chance to actually learn more about contributions made by people like them. I believe this place will be an anchor.”

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To the right, a lush, green velvet couch waits against a yellow wall, and to the left, a hoisted floor-length mirror sits precisely photo ready. After all, the Lemonade Selfie Museum’s entryway was designed with a purpose. Opened to the public since February, it joins a growing trend of local spaces that were designed to be posted on Instagram, featuring various rooms created for parties, field trips, pop-ups, and, you guessed it—selfies—which can be reserved by the hour on Wednesdays through Sundays.

At a lavishly pink table, we catch up with the museum’s founding owner, Michelle, who is using a pseudonym to protect her privacy, about the inspiration behind the first venue of its kind in Baltimore.

What led you to open a museum?
I went to California and they have some selfie museums that are similar to this one. I remember thinking, “We don’t have anything like that in Baltimore.” I really wanted our museum to have a theme and speak to something more than just taking a picture, so I did a lot of research and went to other museums to make sure that ours was [up to the same standards]. At the Museum of Ice Cream in California, the coolest part about it was the props. We wanted to make sure that we had props that people could actually pick up and utilize. We make sure we have staff to help take pictures. Sometimes guests will stand in our windows and we’ll go outside to take pictures for them. Creativity is really what I want.

How would you describe the Lemonade Selfie Museum’s theme?
The idea was for the Lemonade Selfie Museum to be a museum of affirmations. I had experiences with domestic violence, and putting little sticky notes with affirmations on them in my bathroom, on the window, or my mirror, was always just a way to remind myself that I had everything I needed to move on. I didn’t want to do this for the money. I created this place to be a way to remind myself that I’m always going to have good vibes, I didn’t stop, and I’m still going to be great. And every person who walks in here, they’re going to be great too!

It reminds us of Beyonce’s Lemonade album.
Exactly! She created that album as a self-proclamation, like, “I am Beyonce. Whatever I went through, I made lemons into lemonade.” We wanted to embody the effects that album had and bring them into one space. We have a sign that says, “This Must Be the Place,” meaning any place you are is “the place.” Our mirror in the entryway says “G.O.A.T.,” because we want everybody to feel like they’re the “Greatest of All Time.”

What went into designing every room?
I wanted each room to be its own and everything to be friendly and family oriented. That’s why you see stuff that looks like it’s for kids, but adults can use it too, like the seesaw. We also have a rain installation. Why not have our rain be colorful? And why not have a clear umbrella so we can see how pretty it is? We reached out to different artists in the area; one of them hand-painted our Burberry wall.

How do you decide what music to play?
We always try to make sure our music is PG-13, but we try to mix it up. When people come in with big crowds, we let them choose their own music. The museum is about creativity, and music is a form of art as well.

What’s the most rewarding part of this experience?
Being able to use this platform to reach out to other women. Besides coming in here to feel good, I want them to be able to utilize the space for their own businesses as well. We’ve had people come and ask to use our backdrop for their podcast. We want them to be able to use this space for pop-up [vending.] Why not make it a one-stop shop? A lot of people can’t afford [their own] brick-and-mortar.

What’s next for the museum?
I’m hoping to create an upstairs, too. I definitely see us coming up with multiple locations. I’ve been playing with the idea of music. Maybe recreating old music videos from back in the day, like Missy Elliot’s videos, or recreating the scene of the SZA album cover with the TVs.

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Screen House
This new series of videos from local film artists takes a hard look at locations whose pasts have been shaped by colonization, war, and forced labor. In this first collection, Tom Boram, Jackie Milad, Ariel René Jackson, and Ada Pinkston each draw viewers’ attention to places such as the former Confederate monument across from the BMA, a statue in Bentonville, Arkansas, and pillaged archeological sites. First series on view Aug. 4-29. Spring House at the Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Dr.

Music

Love Groove Music Festival
The Love Groove Music Festival returns this year for its fifth-annual event celebrating young artists and creating opportunities for them to learn, grow, and expand their networks. Partnered with Hot Sauce Artists Collective and Blueprints for Artists, the two-day festival at Baltimore Center Stage will feature workshops and talks with local luminaries such as Kondwani Fidel, Abdu Ali, and Gaia. Plus catch music by DDm and festival founder John Tyler. Aug. 27-28. Baltimore Center Stage, 700 N. Calvert St.

Literature

Writers LIVE! Dr. Leana Wen
Join WYPR’s Midday host Tom Hall for a discussion on Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health, with author, physician, and former Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen. In this newest work, Wen discusses some public health issues plaguing the nation today, including treating gun violence as contagious and racism as a threat to individual health. Aug. 5, 6:30 p.m. Online.

Theater

Steel Magnolias
Everyman Theatre returns to the stage in-person this month with Steel Magnolias, the beloved tale of six Louisiana women making their way through the highs and devastating lows of life, often from the chairs at Truvy’s salon. Resident company members Katie Kleiger, Beth Hylton, Megan Anderson, and Helen Hedman will be joined by Heather Gibson and Nancy Robinette for this heartwarming story. In-person Aug. 10 through Sept. 5, Streaming Aug 27 through Sept. 19. Everyman Theatre, 315 W. Fayette St.

News

Rebecca Hoffberger is Leaving AVAM
The founder and director of the American Visionary Art Museum announced last month that she will retire in March 2022, after 26 years at the helm. Hoffberger originally planned for her retirement to coincide with the beloved art space’s 25th anniversary last year, but stayed on to guide AVAM through the pandemic. An international search is currently underway to find her successor. “I consider myself the luckiest woman I know,” Hoffberger said in a press release. “It has been such a fantastic privilege to imagine, birth, and to help our American Visionary Art Museum flourish over these past decades, alongside the most wonderful hardworking staff imaginable. Every beautiful thought and opportunity to communally-inspire some greater good, we have joyfully undertaken.” For more on Hoffberger’s journey with AVAM, read our profile of the trailblazing curator.

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WYPR Plans to Acquire WTMD
After nearly 40 years of being operated by Towson University and its affiliates, WTMD is changing hands. According to the university, there was plenty of interest in purchasing the popular local station, but WTMD was “most excited about working with WYPR, since it is a local community licensee with a proven track record and commitment to growing the beloved format of the station.” The acquisition by the NPR member station will allow WTMD to continue partnering with TU and providing listeners with events such as First Thursdays. The announcement also stated that WYPR will “seek financial support from the community, inviting both major donors and grassroots supporters to participate and become members of this expanded public service opportunity. With the help of our community, it is WYPR’s intention to preserve and strengthen this public resource for music discovery.”

Metro Gallery Expands to Former Velocipede Space
On June 1, Metro Gallery announced that, as they celebrate their 14th birthday, the beloved North Charles Street venue will expand its footprint to include the former Velocipede, which stretches behind the current building. According to the venue’s Instagram, the team at Metro Gallery hopes to have renovations finished sometime this fall.

Visual Art

Separate, But/We Hold These Truths
Head to Old Goucher’s Waller Gallery to take in powerful new works by mixed-media painter McKinley Wallace III. In this solo exhibition, Wallace’s paintings, which utilize acrylic, charcoal, graphite, and ink on wood, explore the idea of privilege as a weapon. They encourage viewers to reconsider their ideas about power, freedom, and archives. June 11 through July 16. Waller Gallery, 2420 Calvert St.

Music

An Evening with J.M. Giordano, Michael Anthony Farley, and DDm
If you’ve been missing dark bars, sticky floors, stage lights, and the vibrant sounds of Baltimore clubs over the past year and a half, this talk through Enoch Pratt’s Summer Break Baltimore program is for you. Join photographer J.M. Giordano, artist and drag performer Michael Anthony Farley, and rapper DDm to discuss Giordano’s We Used to Live at Night and the scene they all love. June 22, 7-8 p.m. Virtual

Comedy

Nightmares
Return to the Ottobar (vaccine card and mask in hand) to experience this series of interviews about what creeps into our heads at night. Comedian Robin Hazel and cartoonist Emily Flake will be joined by guests Arika Casebolt, Allison Robicelli, Sandy Asirvatham, and Laura Lippman to draw and discuss their very own unpleasant dreams. June 5, Doors at 8 p.m., Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St.

Theater

Summer 6-Pack Series
Settle in with the comfort of your home’s A/C for this summertime play series. Each week from now through mid-July, Everyman will stream new play readings that take on everything from separating fact from fiction in media (The Lifespan of a Fact, based on the book by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal) to the complicated task of making friends as an adult (R. Eric Thomas’ Crying on Television). Viewers can select individual shows, or grab the whole six pack for a month and a half of on-demand theater.  May 31 through July 11, Online.

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To get you started, here are reviews of four wonderful, locally-made films.

STRAWBERRY MANSION

As Strawberry Mansion starts, our hero, James Preble (co-director and co-writer Kentucker Audley), is trapped in a small, Pepto-Bismol pink room. On top of being that sickly color, everything is coated in a claymation-like substance.

There is no food or water. It becomes menacing. Then a cheerful man—a beer-bellied best friend in a sitcom type—knocks on the door, bearing a bottle of Red Robin soda and a bucket of Cap’n Kelly chicken. “Buddy!” Preble says, happy to see his friend, and he begins to chow down.

In the morning, Preble wakes up and logs his dream into an automated system. Turns out, this is a not-so-distant future where dreams are recorded, stored, and audited. And Preble is not just your garden variety dreamer, he’s a dream auditor himself. After stopping at Cap’n Kelly for a bucket with extra gravy (he’s suddenly craving chicken), his job takes him to the isolated home of an artist and eccentric, Arabella Isadora (Penny Fuller), who hasn’t paid her dream taxes in years. What’s more, she hasn’t digitized her dreams, the way most people have, but has them stored on something akin to VHS tapes. There are thousands of hours of tape. Arabella offers to put up Preble in a guest room—he’ll be sharing it with her pet turtle.

Horror film tropes being as they are, we suspect that the cheerful, chatty, slightly daffy Arabella might secretly be dangerous. But she’s not. In fact, she’s just a kind-hearted, lonely person in need of a friend. She’s also in possession of a disturbing truth about dream auditing that will change the way Preble views his job (and reality).

Preble puts a fancy viewing contraption on his head—the bulky metal box would be the idea of something futuristic in a 1950s sci-fi film—that allows him to enter Arabella’s dreams. In the dreams, she’s an ethereal young woman (Grace Glowicki), prone to hanging out in meadows and hugging tree-shaped men, and he is immediately smitten by her. (Technically, we don’t appear in our own dreams so Preble wouldn’t be able to see young Arabella, but since he doesn’t just view the dreams, he enters them, I’ll allow it.)

The film alternates between dream and reality, as events transpire that put Preble’s life in danger. It’s an acid trip of a movie, with talking frogs and rats and flies and scary sea creatures, but it has an internal logic and a deadpan sense of humor that makes it quite accessible. And of course, at its heart, it’s a love story.

Fans of Charlie Kaufman will surely delight in this film, which was shot in Baltimore and co-written and directed by Baltimore’s own Albert Birney. Strawberry Mansions forever, y’all.

[Strawberry Mansion is the opening night film of the MdFF, May 19]

ALL LIGHT, EVERYWHERE

Baltimore-based documentarian Theo Anthony is part sociologist, part poet, part philosopher—a combination which results in some fascinating and provocative films. His first documentary feature, Rat Film, was about Baltimore’s rat infestation. But it was equally about human nature, how we conform and adapt to our environments, and how, well, rat-like we all really are. His second documentary, All Light, Everywhere, which features another hypnotic and spacy soundtrack by local maestro Dan Deacon, is about the dangers of our surveillance state. But it’s equally about the way we see things, our desire for some kind of universal truth, and the limitations of consciousness.

As has become his trademark, Anthony threads together several narratives—often inserting himself in the action, just so we’re clear that this is his perspective, and that his presence as an observer inherently changes things. There’s also a placid-sounding female narrator who adds crucial bits of facts and historical context.

For part of the film, we’re getting a tour of the Axon headquarters, led by Steve Tuttle, a cheerful and slick PR guy. Axon makes body cameras that are used by the police as well as tasers, which is remarkable—but less so when the narrator explains that the first movie camera operated a bit like an automatic rifle, with a rotating chamber that clicked pictures. (The metaphor may be thick, but it also bears the advantage of being true.)

I’m always amazed when a person goes on film and incriminates themselves—but that’s sort of what happens to Tuttle here.

Leading the tour, Tuttle remarks that he’s proud of Axon’s open space and policy of transparency. The company is all about “candor with a positive intent,” he says, more than once (whatever the hell that means). Then the tour leads to an atrium of sorts, with blackened windows. This is where the top-secret stuff happens, Tuttle says with a grin, seemingly not noticing that he’s just contradicted himself.

Anthony also takes us inside a police training class where a group of cops are learning to use the body camera. The class is taught from the perspective that body cameras protect police officers, not citizens. Suspects lie about cops, the instructor explains, but the body camera can exonerate them. But, of course, what the body cam sees is not truth, Anthony reminds us. It’s one solitary perspective—that of the cop (indeed, that of one limited plain of vision of the cop—much as they try to give a panoramic view, there are blind spots in the bodycams). “There’s always a body behind the body camera,” the narrator notes. At one point, the film explains that cops are actually allowed to view the body camera footage before coming up with their official account of what happened.

One of the most fascinating sequences takes places inside a community town hall in West Baltimore. Ross McNutt, the owner of Persistent Surveillance System (hey, points for truth in advertising), is trying to sell the notion of his surveillance planes to the neighborhood. He has local “influencers” of sorts set up at the town hall, arguing that the planes will deter crime.

“Can the community watch the footage?” one resident smartly asks. McNutt looks briefly chagrined—no, the footage is strictly to be seen by law enforcement, he admits.

Again and again, the documentary has us questioning what we see and what we think we see—the very notion of a shared truth. It’s all happening already, of course. Mass surveillance. Deep fake photography that can literally trick the eye. Weapons created by the same companies that make cameras.

But, as one citizen at that town hall noted, “Just because we’re already being surveilled, why should we always be surveilled?”

[All Light, Everywhere debuts May 23]

MOM & M

Documentaries don’t get much more intimate than Mom & M. The film is a portrait of an extraordinary Baltimore family: Nikki and Elise and their adopted daughter Sansa. Oftentimes a documentary takes place after the fact, giving both the audience and the main players a chance to process the events and reflect on the big picture. Jen Burchick’s Mom & M is a little different. It just kind of plunks into the story in medias res, as it were—making it all the more compelling. Sansa, a bundle of energy and charm, has just finished her last treatment for leukemia and is starting kindergarten for the first time. Her parents worry about her illness returning, and, of course, they worry about how she will fit in at school. On top of Sansa’s illness, she also has developmental issues—her fine motor skills are a little underdeveloped and she almost definitely has ADHD. Nonetheless, her spirit is so happy and infectiously joyful, it’s easy to be patient with her (usually).

As for the transgender Nikki, she’s only recently transitioned, and both she and Elise are still coming to terms what that means for their marriage. They don’t really have time to discuss their relationship, because they’re just so busy existing: Dealing with financial problems (Nikki is a grad student and writer; Elise feels she unfairly bears the burden of financially supporting the family), dealing with Sansa’s health and wellbeing, and dealing with the stinging rebuke of Nikki’s family, who have not embraced her transition. It’s a lot. And it’s a gift to us as viewers to watch these big-hearted, Hampden-cool, intelligent women open up and share their lives with us. My only issue with the film? I wish it were a little longer!

[Mom & M debuts May 23]

INTO THE LIGHT

This slickly made local documentary short, directed by Jason Gray and Katie Martin and edited by Charles Cohen, takes us into the world of ball culture. Back in 1990, when Jennie Livingston’s Paris is Burning came out, it was a revelatory glimpse into an underground scene that few of us had ever heard of—let alone had access to. Today, ball is, if not quite mainstream, much more understood. There’s the TV show Pose, the HBO reality series Legendary. And, of course, Ru Paul’s Drag Race, which references and borrows/steals from the ball world all the time. What’s more, LGBTQ culture itself has become more mainstream.

The gay men and trans women in Baltimore’s ball scene understand that shift. They talk about how, back in the day, they had to sneak out of the house and put on their drag in alleys. Now they can do it at home. Which is not to say there isn’t still an element of transgression to what they do—that’s baked into the culture.

The documentary short revolves around the Peabody Ball—held at, yes, the Peabody Library. As the voguers visit the library for a walkthrough, they are wide-eyed. Who wouldn’t be wowed by the gilded library with its ornate skylight and queenly balconies, the site of so many weddings? This is the ultimate stamp of mainstream approval for the ballers, who have had to move from one basement on The Block to the next to keep the show going. (Their beloved Club Bunns recently closed permanently; now they’re vogueing at the 2 O’Clock Club, made famous by Blaze Starr.)

The film introduces us to various House leaders, including Keith (House of Ebony), who calls himself “the Prince of the City”; Marquis (House of Revlon), who speaks in self-help-guru lingo like “It’s about accepting nos and turning them into a yes”; and the glamorous trans woman Londyn (House of Mugler), who seems more than ready for her closeup. All of them, as well as their House members, talk about creating an alternate family, a common theme in the LGBTQ world, where one’s actual family is often withholding, rejecting, or worse. They also talk about the thrill of living out their fantasies of fame in this insular world. Inside the ball they’re celebrities. Outside, they sometimes struggle with a lack of money or place to live.

The beauty of Into the Light is that, by the film’s end, they are actual celebrities, stomping down the runway at Peabody, greeted by cheering fans and flashing cameras.

[Into the Light is being shown as part of the festival’s Baltimore is Burning Pride Night Special, May 21]

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But the latest news from Everyman Theatre has us looking forward to what’s right around the corner.

The downtown company announced today that it has been approved for a $25,000 Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which will go toward the production of a new play from Baltimore’s own R. Eric Thomas.

Thomas—whose wit, humor, and sincerity are already well-loved by audiences in Baltimore and beyond (see: national bestseller Here for It, his column for Elle, @oureric on Twitter)—is currently working on the play, titled Crying on Television, which he describes as a “platonic rom-com” about making friends as an adult. The NEA grant will provide for the workshopping of the piece, its inclusion in Everyman’s Summer 6-Pack reading series, and, eventually, a main stage production during the upcoming season.

“I believe Crying on Television is a vital play for a post-COVID world,” said Everyman founder and artistic director Vincent Lancisi in a release announcing the award. “I was immediately drawn to the story, as it’s a joyful comedy with a BIPOC cast that celebrates relationships and shared spaces. It also encourages audiences and reminds us to reconnect, especially with the people around us every day.”

Thomas has written several other plays, most recently Safe Space, which had its world premiere with Single Carrot Theatre last year and earned a finalist nod for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award.

We caught up with Thomas to discuss his partnership with Everyman and getting back into theaters.

How did you get involved with Everyman?
I’ve been a fan of Everyman’s work for most of my life and attended as a subscriber and as a single-ticket buyer. This process began when Vinny reached out to me as a playwright who had recently moved back to Baltimore, just to get to know me. I sent them Crying on Television, which I’d just finished working on with Nashville Repertory Theater, and a few years later, here we are. 

I love the concept of exploring finding friends as an adult. It’s one of those really hard things people don’t warn you about. Why did you decide to tackle this topic?
I moved into this lovely new construction apartment building—which shall not be named—and it was nice enough, and there was a package room and a gym and a pool, but I have never felt so isolated in my life! I thought that making friends as an adult, in an apartment building especially, was going to be like Friends or The Mary Tyler Moore Show, with people just bursting through the door and doing hijinks. This question—how do we reach people?—has become even more pressing and rich during the pandemic. I think we’re all thinking about what’s important in life and how we can make and maintain relationships that matter. 

How has working on the piece been so far?
We haven’t started the workshopping process yet—that’ll happen later this summer—but this process has already introduced me to director Raymond Caldwell, who is an absolute genius and has such exciting ideas about this script. 

In what ways has working on Crying on Television differed from your previous playwriting experiences?
This play was born out of a fellowship experience at Nashville Rep, where a four-playwright cohort was invited down to Tennessee for one weekend every month for half a year. We would work with performers and a dramaturg to shape the play. This was an extremely valuable process, as it allowed the play time and space and resources to grow organically. I got to experiment and explore in a way that is rarely possible. 

What does being awarded this NEA grant mean for the production?
I think it actually makes it possible for the play to exist at all, which is no small feat. This play really sings with a talented team of performers, a director, and designers. The NEA grant allows Everyman to hire them and give them enough time to build the play. 

After more than a year of traditional theaters being closed to audiences, what does it mean to you that people are going to see this work on a main stage?
There’s absolutely nothing like being in the same room as a group of people and performers experiencing that transformative power of live theater. I write for a lot of different mediums, but one of my first loves was writing for the stage, and I am hungry to have that experience back. I’m also excited that this year has given us so many new skills for creating hybrid theatrical experiences for people who can’t join in live, but still want to enjoy the show. 

What do you want people to know about this production?
It’s two hours of laughing, which is good for your health.

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GBCA Announces 2021 Baker Artist Awards: This year, instead of just six awardees, the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance elected to award 36 artists representing six categories with $2,500 prizes. The change was made to address the needs of the artist community, which has been greatly impacted by COVID-19. More than 600 artists submitted online portfolios, and the selected winners will exhibit their work virtually from April through June, followed by the annual Artworks presentation of the winners in September. This year’s awardees include Abdu Ali, Outcalls, Lola B. Pierson, Ernest Shaw, and Letitia VanSant, among others. View the full list here.

Visual Art

Asia North 2021: Towson University’s Asian Arts and Culture Center is in the midst of a full year of programming to celebrate its 50th anniversary, and this month marks the beginning of its biggest event of the year, Asia North. The weeks-long celebration of art, culture, and Station North’s long Korean heritage begins with a virtual kickoff event on April 10. The festival will continue with both in-person and virtual exhibitions, workshops, and concerts through May 15.  Times vary.

#AsLongAsItsDope: After isolating for so long, this interactive exhibit from Flatform Studios sounds downright refreshing. For only two weekends, this series of installations from artists Kaya and Ayana will transform the Flatform Studio space into a museum full of art and amazing photo ops. April 15-18, 22-25. Thursdays and Fridays 5-9 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 2123 N. Charles St.

Music

The Blue-Collar Recital: Local rapper Wordsmith’s storytelling abilities take center stage for this afternoon concert depicting a day of working class trials and triumphs. Broken up by summaries and interludes, the original pieces will explore subjects such as living check to check, promotions, and keeping promises. Stay tuned after for a live Q&A with Wordsmith, who will share stories and commentary about the work. April 20, 1:30-3 p.m. Live streamed.

Literature

Poets in Conversation: The Ivy Bookshop will host this virtual meeting of the minds with three poets from Loyola University Maryland’s Apprentice House Press. Join Virginia Crawford, Lynne Viti, and Matt Hohner for an evening of verse, and don’t forget to browse their collections via The Ivy ahead of time. April 20, 7 p.m. Online.

Theater

Baltimore Butterfly Sessions: To Change Everything, We Need Everyone: Center Stage’s final Butterfly Session of the season examines climate crisis impacts and the disproportionate effects they have on BIPOC communities. Be reminded of Baltimore’s long history of fighting for environmental justice and our collective responsibility to make change through performances from Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina artist Ashley Minner, Eze Jackson, and TSU Terry. April 5, 7 p.m. Live streamed. 

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This is the moment at the center of Man of God, a new production from Strand Theater Company and the Asian Pasifika Arts Collective, written by Anna Moench and directed by Elizabeth Ung.

The virtual performance, which premiered March 26, incorporates both Zoom and filmed dream sequences to tell this story of rage, revenge, and feminism.

“These young girls discover a camera in their bathroom, and it spirals into a 90-minute show about how they grapple with their own understanding of feminism, the male gaze, and what it means to be a woman in these times,” Ung says. “And because these are young women of color, it’s a way for them to reveal who they want to be. In a society where they are taught that you can only choose this one path in life, they’re able to express themselves through these odd dream sequences.”

The sequences, filmed during a packed two-day shoot, were the only time the cast and crew behind Man of God got to work together in person, with Kelly Ng, who plays Mimi, even making her way down from New York for filming. The result is a performance that blends live theater with the cinematic, and one that, by necessity, turns the audience itself into the voyeurs.

“It’s been hard because this play wasn’t written for a Zoom stage,” Ung says. “It was definitely difficult to adapt it as such, but I made sure for the actors to feel like they’re all in the same room, even if they can’t see each other. It also kind of speaks to the voyeurism that is implied in the show, and how scary it is that somebody may be watching them. We don’t really know who’s watching on the other side of the camera that is on us.”

Along with Ng, Man of God features Libbey Kim, Sydney Lo, Steve Lee, Rebecca Kiser, Daniella Ignacio, and Jaine Ye. In addition to other support, Strand’s partnership with APAC helped ensure that Ung was able to cast the show in the way she wanted, by reaching out to local AAPI actors.

“This is a play that anyone of any race or gender can relate to, but [APAC] helped a lot with casting,” Ung says, “because one thing I feel in the Baltimore community is very challenging is trying to cast Asian and Asian-American actors. Luckily, I was able to get it rightfully casted and share that we weren’t gonna settle for anything less than that.”

Ung’s desire to share stories from the Asian diaspora genuinely and authentically, as well as to feature Asian artists in Baltimore, fit easily into the vision of APAC and its co-founder Cori Dioquino—who Ung says offered moral and emotional support throughout the production, in addition to the assistance with casting.

The hope is that Man of God can spur audiences to have several conversations, not only about the issues that arise in the play itself, but about whose stories are being told as theater adapts and changes for a new landscape.

“I hope that this show will send a signal to other theaters that this is what we need in Baltimore—more substantial, consistent ways to portray the whole diaspora of Asian-American stories and Asian-American people,” Ung says. “[As theater moves forward,] we have to keep the changes coming and ensure that it’s not only safe in terms of being healthy not getting sick, but being safe for people of color for the future in Baltimore.”

Ung says she hopes audiences will have fun with these characters who are learning, making mistakes, and growing as they try to understand the right thing to do. She hopes that the show helps to make it clear that it’s okay to stumble on a journey toward becoming a feminist or an activist. The important thing, she says, is to do the work, even if there are mistakes along the way.

“I feel like the ending will spur [audiences] to go out there and use that anger and outrageousness to do the work themselves—for them to research and look up these situations,” she says. “I hope that, at least, it will plant a seed in their mind to do something.”

Man of God runs Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through April 11, and tickets are available online.

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Stray  Opening Weekend Fundraiser

From March 5-7, the SNF Parkway will donate a portion of each ticket to Stray, a new documentary following three dogs living on the streets of Istanbul, to the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS). Watch as Zeytin, Nazar, and Kartal offer us glances into both their lives as strays and the often-overlooked humans who they encounter along the way, and feel good knowing you’re supporting care for Baltimore’s own strays at the same time. March 5-7, Online.

Visual Art

2021 AIA Baltimore and BAF Spring Lecture Series

In celebration of AIA Baltimore’s 150th anniversary, this lecture series about built environments and the culture they both construct and reflect will examine how the buildings around us interact with “the arts, community initiatives, sustainability goals, preservation, equity, the vernacular, and more.” The series begins March 10 with “Architecture, Identity, & Place.” March 10 at 6 p.m., March 31 at 6 p.m., and April 21 at 6 p.m. Register online.

Music

BSO Sessions: A Little Night Music

This streaming concert from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra may just have you dancing in the moonlight. The program includes beloved pieces by Mozart, Dvořák, and Tchaikovsky, among others. Watch the premiere Wednesday, March 10, or enjoy one of the perks of BSO Offstage and save it for date night. Premieres March 10. 8 p.m. Available on BSO Offstage.

Theater

Cry It Out

Those who were looking forward to last year’s New Voices Festival at Everyman Theatre will be thrilled to see this tale of motherhood from Molly Smith Metzler available to stream. Laura C. Harris joins Everyman resident company members Megan Anderson, Beth Hylton, and Tony Nam for a comedy that explores the peaks and perils of new parenthood. Be sure to grab a pre-show cocktail from the kitchen and dim the lights for that authentic viewing experience from home. Available online March 1-April 11, Everymantheatre.org.

Literature

18th Annual CityLit Festival

Like most things in the past year, the CityLit Festival has been reimagined to offer festival-goers myriad ways to engage from home. CityLit and Enoch Pratt will offer virtual workshops, Zoom lectures, and readings throughout the month, with a full day of events on Saturday, March 20. Engage with luminaries such as Emily St. John Mandel, George Saunders, and Terrance Hayes; listen in on panels on YA lit or the state of Baltimore; and writers, don’t miss the chance for a one-on-one editorial critique with Rosalia Scalia, Karen Houppert, Bret McCabe, Laura Ballou, Rebekah Kirkman, or Chelsea Fetzer. March 2-31. Online.

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“This show brings out an entirely different side of Dan that most of his fans haven’t seen before, or perhaps have only caught glimpses of,” says Sam Sessa, Baltimore music coordinator at WTMD. “It’s like hanging out at his house and listening to his record collection. That’s one of the most exciting aspects: the way it challenges Dan, and the way his music challenges us as listeners.”

Launching at midnight on Friday February 19, Distorting Time will feature two hours of airtime dedicated entirely to unabridged long-form music—a natural theme for an artist who has spent his career pushing the boundaries of the sonic experience, as heard in the recent seven-minute track, “Bumble Bee Crown King” off his latest record, Mystic Familiar, or the 22-minute, five-piece suite “USA,” featured on 2012’s lauded America.

“So much media, especially radio, is optimized for time, to try to squeeze as many songs into a show as possible,” says Deacon. “This show is trying to do the exact opposite. I’m trying to play as few pieces of music as possible . . . I hope listeners find the show both helps pass the time and allows thoughts to linger in it.”

Deacon traces his love of long-form music back to childhood, when he would try to add all eight minutes of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” or “Kashmir” into a homemade mixtape. He eventually studied musical composition in college, where he gravitated toward modern composers like Terry Riley, whose minimalist works sometimes exceed 20 or 40 minutes. “It all spiraled from there,” he says.

Distorting Time has been several years in the making, propelled into existence by the COVID-19 pandemic and its ongoing cancellation of concerts and tours. The title comes from the Oblique Strategies deck by Brian Eno, which Deacon uses as a creative tool—seeing this particular card, in relation to the show, as “a helpful reminder that time, or rather our perspective of time, is subject to fluctuation, and how certain things can elongate or expedite a moment,” he says.

“We’ve all dealt with the insanity of the past year in different ways,” says Sessa. “A show like this is one way for us to destress—just tune in and let your mind drift. Distorting Time is a life raft in a sea of doom scrolling and other distractions.”

The after-hours show will air on Friday nights into Saturday mornings, from 12 to 2 a.m., featuring “longer-than-song songs,” as Deacon puts them, like American jazz pianist Herbie Hancock’s 1973 “Rain Dance” or German futurist folk artist Lyra Pramuk’s 2020 “Cradle.”

“I love being on tour and driving late at night and stumbling on a great station playing odd sounds and listening to it until the signal turns to static,” says Deacon of late-night radio. “Knowing that it’s literally moving through the air, covering the mostly slumbering surroundings but finding its way into the receivers of both folks tuning in with intention, as well as those that are just cruising the dial, it’s just a distinctive mythical beast as far as music-listening goes.”

Tune in live via 89.7 FM or the free WTMD app.

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Sixth-Annual Django Jazz Fest

COVID can’t keep this annual celebration at Creative Alliance down. Log on the last weekend in February for an international lineup of celebrated Django jazz artists and a full day of workshops on how to pick all kinds of strings. Be sure to tune in Saturday night when, to close it all out, nine local treasures will put on show live from Eastern Avenue as they celebrate Django Reinhardt’s Django & His American Friends. Feb. 26-27. Online.

Visual Art

Second-Annual Asian Pasifika Arts Collective Virtual Art Gallery

The Asian Pasifika Arts Collective’s Virtual Art Gallery returns this month with works inspired by their 2021 theme, “Crossing Borders.” Launching in conjunction with the Lunar New Year, this online gallery will feature pieces that explore the question of what it means to start over in new places among the unfamiliar. Begins Feb. 8., Online at baltimoreapac.org.

Poetry 

Poetry Out Loud Regional Competitions 

Poetry lovers will have two chances to watch talented performers from counties across Maryland recite verse in this competition sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation. Catch the 24 regional finalists from Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Washington counties on Monday before the remaining competitors from Calvert, Caroline, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s, St. Mary’s, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico, and Worcester counties take the stage on Wednesday. Only eight will move on to recite for a chance to be 2021’s Maryland State Champion in March. Feb 8 and 10, 4-6 p.m. Online.

Literature

Art of Reading ft. Barbara Bourland

Books have been a blessing during these long months indoors. Before this virtual talk at the end of the month, be sure to pick up Barbara Bourland’s Fake Like Me, a twisting tale of intrigue in the art world. Then join Bourland and Walters Art Museum Curator Joaneath Spicer for a discussion of the book, art history, and the museum’s extensive collection via Enoch Pratt. Feb. 25, 6 p.m. Online.

Theater

Everyman Offers New Virtual Field Trip Program

With stages still primarily closed off to visitors, Baltimore’s students have been without one of the city’s best resources: its local theaters. Luckily, Everyman Theatre has pivoted their educational programming online, offering new virtual field trip options for classrooms. Streamed productions, educational materials, pre-show workshops, and post-show discussions are all on offer, with prices flexible according to school resources and need. Inquire about dates and program options at Education@EverymanTheatre.org or call 443-776-8580.

Hippodrome Announces Return of Broadway Series this Fall

Audiences eager to get back in the theaters can mark their calendars. The Hippodrome announced Feb. 1 that the popular Broadway Series will return beginning in September, with seven out of eight previously postponed shows on the schedule. Season ticketholders will be able to count on their seats for corresponding performances on the new schedule, but new subscriptions are also on sale now for the eight show season, which includes Pretty Woman: The Musical, Tootsie, The Prom, Dear Evan Hansen, Ain’t Too Proud, Hairspray, Mean Girls, Hamilton, and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. For subscription information, visit BaltimoreHippodrome.com/season or contact Service@BaltimoreHippodrome.com. 

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Between the World and Me
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ 2015 book, Between The World And Me, was written as a letter from father to son, telling the story of growing up in Baltimore and in a society that enables white supremacy. It is required reading, but whether you have made your way through the lessons in those pages or not, this new HBO special based on a 2018 adaptation and staging of the work at the Apollo Theater is worth a watch. The author is joined by an all-star cast that includes Angela Bassett, Oprah Winfrey, Phylicia Rashad, Angela Davis, and Mahershala Ali, among many others, for readings from the book, often paired with personal and archival documentary footage and beautiful, collage-style animations. It is a stunning audiovisual companion piece to Coates’ National Book Award-winner. Check local HBO listings, on-demand through Dec. 27.

Visual Art

Cody Pryseski
Inspired by prolific artists such as Willem de Kooning, Chuck Close, and Lucien Freud, Fells Point-based painter Cody Pryseski has pursued portraits with an eye toward the internal character, as well as the external. Take the rare opportunity for an in-person viewing by booking one of several time slots available for small groups to wander through The Alchemy of Art. Dec. 3, 6:30-10:30 p.m., Reservation required. The Alchemy of Art, 1637 Eastern Ave.

Music

BSO Sessions: Holiday Pops with Jack Everly
Gather the family and ring in the holidays from home with this latest episode of BSO Sessions, which will feature a 2020 rendition of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” from new artistic partner Wordsmith, in addition to a whole slew seasonal songs and carols from Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly. Premiere Dec. 16, 8 p.m., on-demand through June 2021. BSO Offstage.

Theater

The Stoop Virtual Holiday Hoo-Ha
It isn’t quite the same when you’re not packed in, laughing, or sniffling along with the crowd as people tell their tales at another Stoop Storytelling night. But, like everything else this holiday season, you can join in virtually to try to capture some of the neighborly magic broadcast live from Creative Alliance. WYPR’s Aaron Henkin hosts the Maryland Improv Collective and the Hot Club of Baltimore for what will likely be a holly jolly evening, even from home. Dec. 12, 7 p.m. Online.

News

Mayor-Elect Brandon Scott Names His Transition Team Arts & Culture Committee
On Dec. 1, Mayor-Elect Brandon Scott announced the members of his 10 transition team committees, including the committee for arts and culture, which will be co-chaired by Graham Projects founder Graham Coreil-Allen and Art in Praxis founder Jessica Solomon. The team’s priority is “valuing creative hubs and cultural institutions” and includes members that represent both longtime leadership and newer voices across the city’s art spaces. The committee members are:

Graham Coreil-Allen: Founder, Graham Projects
Jessica Solomon: Founder, Art in Praxis
Elissa Blount Moorhead: Artist, curator, producer
Lady Brion: Spoken word artist; Cultural Curator, Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle
Derrick Chase: Poet, educator, community activist
Nicholas Cohen: Executive Director, Maryland Citizens for the Arts
Navasha Daya: Soul artist
Quanice Floyd: Executive Director, Arts Education in Maryland Schools Alliance
Krista Green: Chief Administrative Officer, The Peale Center
Denise Griffin Johnson: Director, Arch Social Community Network
Arianna Hawthorne-Cox: Singer, dancer
Adam Holofcener: Sound artist, composer
Eze Jackson: Hip hop artist
Jeffrey Johnson: CEO, JIJ Impact
Vincent Lancisi: Founder and Artistic Director, Everyman Theatre
Julia Marciari-Alexander: Executive Director and CEO, Walters Art Museum
Joanne Martin: Founder, The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum
Aaron Maybin: Artist, author
Sheena Morrison: Baltimore Arts Education Initiative Manager, Arts Every Day
Asma Naeem: Chief Curator, Baltimore Museum of Art
DJ QuickSilva: DJ, radio host
John Racanelli: CEO, National Aquarium; Host, “A Blue View”
Susan Schuster: Educator
Ernest Shaw Jr.: Artist
Savannah Wood: Robert W. Deutsch Foundation Fellow; Archives Director, The AFRO-American Newspapers
Maggie Villegas: Executive Director, Baltimore Creatives Acceleration Network
Stephanie Ybarra: Artistic Director, Baltimore Center Stage
Clair Zamoiski Segal: Chair of the Board of Trustees, Baltimore Museum of Art

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We recently caught up with Crotty to discuss the short story, what she’s reading now, and her upcoming novel.

What was the inspiration behind “Halloween”?
My students were brainstorming essay topics for a short memoir, and we were talking about topics that often don’t work, such as essays about the death of a grandparent, which tend to be predictable and overly sentimental. This got me thinking more about why these essays are so hard to write and how the story of a grandparent’s death might be compelling and original. My initial beginnings to this story were an effort to take up that challenge of making something familiar new. In the end, I didn’t succeed in telling the original story, but the idea helped me to create Jules and her grandmother Jan.

Why the title “Halloween”?
On a literal level, the story is set in the fall and ends with a Halloween party. Thematically, I was also playing around with the idea of masks and secrets and how the safety of a mask sometimes allows us to reveal ourselves in other ways.

The story left me thinking about the masks we wear—not just on Halloween but yearlong. Your story shows the freedom—and fun—in our ability to change masks as needed. Was it important to you to illustrate what could be thought of as superficiality in that way?
I didn’t begin the story with any particular idea. I was mostly just interested in this character, Jules, who is figuring out who she is while at the same time realizing that she can misrepresent herself and get away with it.

Was the grandmother, Jan, inspired by anyone, real or fiction, or an amalgam of people? She’s such a great character.
Thanks! I went to grad school in Tallahassee, which is where many of the details of the setting came from—including Jan’s apartment complex, which was based on a place where a friend and her husband lived. Where the rest of the story came from is more of a mystery to me, though I do know that Jan became more interesting to me as soon as I began to see her as vulnerable—not just a tough, mouthy grandmother, but also someone who had experienced great pain that still affected her present relationships.

Why is this story an important one to tell?
For me, the importance of any story is simply to allow readers to experience the world through someone else’s point of view. I hope this story shows something of what it’s like to be this particular teenager—overwhelmed by her love life and also in search of adult guidance and knowledge. Lately, I’m also interested in stories about unlikely friendships and surprising moments of connection.

What was your reaction to the inclusion in Best American Short Stories?
This has definitely been the best news I’ve gotten in 2020. I’ve been reading the anthology every year for a long time and was thrilled to have a story included. I was especially happy to learn that the guest editor was Curtis Sittenfeld, whose work I really admire. I highly recommend Eligible, her modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, as well as her recent short story collection, You Think It, I’ll Say It.

How did you become involved with The Common?
I met Jen Acker [founder and editor in chief] several years ago when we were both living in The United Arab Emirates. I was writing essays in Al Ain as part of a Fulbright grant, and she was teaching at NYU-Abu Dhabi as a visiting professor. The journal publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry with a strong sense of place. I work with the Young Writers Program, which offers an online course to high school students, and with Weekly Writes, which sends subscribers weekly writing prompts. Working with the journal has introduced me to the work of great writers from around the world, and it’s been exciting to see how the journal has grown over the past 10 years.

Is place an important component to your writing? Specifically how place shapes our identity and vice versa? If so, why?
Place is definitely central to my writing, and the location of the story is almost always set in my mind right at the beginning—even before the story itself really takes shape. Thinking about the imagery of a place helps me sink into the fictional world, but it also determines what feels possible to me in terms of the plot. Who might the characters encounter? What are the local conversations? How will the scenery and climate shift the mood of the story?

Do you prefer writing fiction to nonfiction? Which do you prefer to read?
I tend to write more fiction, but I really like to read and write both. Fiction helps me process the world on an almost unconscious level; nonfiction helps me make sense of my own experiences and have a reason to go out and learn new things.

What are you reading now?
I just finished A Good Country by Laleh Khadivi, which is a beautiful and empathetic novel about the radicalization of an American high school student. Now I’m reading Pizza Girl, by Jean Kyoung Frazier. There are three story collections coming out soon that I’ve been anxiously awaiting—The Rock Eaters by Brenda Peynado, The Department of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans, and Life Among the Terranauts by Caitlin Horrocks.

Can you talk at all about the novel you’re working on and give us a little teaser?
It’s an expansion of a short story I included in What Counts as Love called “The Fourth Fattest Girl at Cutting Horse Ranch.” It’s set at a treatment center for eating disorders and follows a college student’s time there.

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Surreal

Explore interpretations of one of the movements that defined the 20th century with artists Daniel Stuelpnagel, Richard Hagerty, and Cindy Mehr at Y: ART Gallery. This entrancing exhibition of paintings, photography, and sculpture can be viewed by appointment, but don’t forget to join the gallery either in person or via Facebook Live for an opening reception celebrating these works on Nov. 14. Nov. 11 through Dec. 19, Opening Reception Nov. 14, 5-7 p.m., 3402 Gough St.

Music

Live at the Ottobar: A Super City Movie

Pandemic closures may have stopped them from heading out on their cross-country tour, but they won’t keep Super City from delivering us one of their signature choreographed performances with a lineup of old favorites and new music. Catch the no-quite-live show from the Ottobar on Nov. 14, no door line or ID required. 8 p.m., Nov. 14, Eventbrite.

Film 

It’s Pandemonium!

Grab your popcorn and join this virtual fundraiser for Creative Alliance featuring the premiere of It’s Pandemonium, a new film by CA Film Curator Aaron Barlow and the staff of the Highlandtown art space. After the show, keep your live stream up for music from Outcalls and other talented guests. 7:30 p.m., Nov. 7, creativealliance.org

Theater

Queens Girl: Black in the Green Mountains

After an untimely closure last spring, Caleen Sinette Jennings’ final installment of her Queens Girl trilogy will return to the stage Nov. 19 to open Everyman Theater’s 30th anniversary season. The one-woman show starring new resident company member Felicia Curry will offer both in-person and virtual performances, allowing patrons to finally experience the conclusion of Jacqueline Marie Butler’s story whether they are comfortable returning to the theater or would rather watch from home. Beginning Nov. 19, Everyman Theater, 315 W. Fayette St.

News

The BMA Puts Its Deaccessioning Plan on Pause

On Oct. 28, the Baltimore Museum of Art announced it would pause the sale of three works by Brice Marden, Clyfford Still, and Andy Warhol in response to criticism both from within the BMA and the greater art world. The museum planned to use the proceeds from the sale of the three paintings to fund an Endowment for the Future, which would be dedicated to diversity initiatives and pay equity. For more information on the proposed sale and the issues surrounding it, read our explainer.

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In the wake of an announcement that the Baltimore Museum of Art plans to sell works by major artists Andy Warhol, Clyfford Still, and Brice Marden in order to fund a $65 million “Endowment for the Future,” objections have sprung up from all over the art world. 

Though the endowment itself is well-intentioned—money would be used to care for the BMA’s collection, work toward equitable pay for its staff, create funds for diversity programs, establish evening hours, and extend free admission to special exhibitions—critics have raised concern over the museum’s method for raising funds.

The move comes after years of BMA efforts toward a more inclusive and progressive organization, with programs such as 2020 Vision and Necessity of Tomorrows working to highlight voices traditionally underrepresented in the often-homogenous museum world. A previous deaccessioning—the 2018 sale of several 20th-century works, including some by Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg—also raised some eyebrows. The proceeds from those sales went toward creating a “war chest” for acquiring new works by women and artists of color.

Op-eds condemning this new deaccession have appeared in The Art Newspaper  and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications, and museum stakeholders have penned letters to the Maryland Attorney General and Secretary of State urging a cancellation of the sale and calling for an investigation into whether the plan is a breach of the public trust. One board member and former board chair, Stiles Colwill, has even resigned in protest of the decision. 

But for those who aren’t familiar with the best practices governing the way art moves in and out of museums, the whole thing may seem a bit overblown. The museum wants money, the art is expensive, so where’s the harm in selling off three paintings out of nearly 100,000 for the sake of the bottom line? 

It comes down to a few concerns, primarily with what is being deaccessioned, and how.

The BMA’s Interpretation of New Guidelines for Deaccessioning
Many critics have pointed out that the BMA’s announcement takes advantage of recent changes to the U.S. Association of Art Museum Directors’ (AAMD) typically strict rules pertaining to how proceeds from sales of artworks can be used. In April, the AAMD relaxed its guidelines for deaccessions in order to give museums some freedom to use such funds to prevent layoffs and closures as COVID-19 caused shutdowns across the country, allowing financial flexibility to “pay for expenses associated with the direct care of collections.” According to The Economist, the BMA joins The Brooklyn Museum, as well as other institutions in New York, New Jersey, California, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Texas in the decision to take the opportunity to auction off portions of their collections.

However, the BMA reports that it is not currently in dire financial trouble, and critics say the museum is taking advantage of the rule changes in order to generate funds for projects that do not necessarily fall under that umbrella. In his commentary for The Art Newspaper, Martin Gammon, author of Deaccessioning and Its Discontents: A Critical History, called the BMA’s decision to sell the three pieces “uniquely egregious,” writing that the museum’s rationalizations do not add up and must be challenged. Gammon contends that there is no significant curatorial reason that the pieces chosen for deaccessioning should be sold, and that it is clear the pieces were chosen based on their worth at auction to create a “windfall” for other operational purposes, including “shoring up salary disparities and other inequalities.” 

In short, critics feel that using proceeds from the sale of works to increase salaries is at best a dubious manipulation of the new AAMD guidelines, and at worst presents a conflict of interest—as the museum’s curatorial team was asked to vote on a proposition that would directly affect how much they are paid. The Endowment for the Future would in part be used for salary maintenance and increases. 

The Sale Could Be Detrimental to Both Artists and the BMA Collection
Concerns over the impact of losing these particular three pieces have also been raised. Minimalist painter Brice Marden’s 3 is the only painting by the artist at the BMA, and while defenders of the sale point to several works on paper as sufficient for the collection, others believe that the sale of the large oil on linen represents both a substantial loss for the public and a move that could damage the overall value of Marden’s work. As BmoreArt editor Cara Ober wrote in her analysis of the deaccessioning: “That Marden is a living artist also makes the sale more potentially damaging in setting a precedent, as it could impact the artist’s perception of value internationally and the museum’s credibility in collecting works by living artists.”

For many, Clyfford Still’s “1957-G” represents a significant loss. Still gifted the mid-century oil on canvas to the museum in 1969—the only time the Abstract Expressionist gave a single painting to a museum. Still worked in Carroll County for 19 years, and the gift is his only piece in the BMA collection. Some, Ober among them, have pointed out that this directly contradicts the museum’s efforts toward support for regional artists, as well as the wishes of Still himself.

It is predicted that Andy Warhol’s “The Last Supper,” a highlight in the BMA’s contemporary Wing, will sell for around $40 million, not at public auction like the others, but through a private sale by Sotheby’s. The justification is that the painting is redundant to the collection, which features many other late-career Warhol paintings. But some have pointed out that the famous pop artist’s other paintings, including multiples from the Skulls, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Diamond Dust series, would present better options for sale. Instead of selling duplicates, the museum has opted to deaccession the piece from their Warhol holdings that would likely return the largest profit. Critics have also taken issue with the fact that The Last Supper is allegedly being sold for less than its potential value, and that the museum did not seek competitive bids from auction houses outside of Sotheby’s for the private sale. According to noted critic Christopher Knight’s Los Angeles Times commentary, the given price is $20 million less than what a comparable work sold for at Christie’s three years ago.

BMA Leaders Have Responded to Critics
The deaccession plan was pitched by BMA director Christopher Bedford, along with chief curator Asma Naeem and senior curator for research and programming Katy Siegel, all of whom have defended the proposed sale. In a response to critics in The Art Newspaper, Naeem and Siegel outlined their reasoning, as well as what they believe to be problems with Gammon’s and others’ critiques.

“Gammon frames the situation as a battle between timeless aesthetic values and opportunism. But what underlies his argument, and so many others like his, is a fundamental misunderstanding—or rejection—of the equity-based vision, values and considerations that undergird our decision,” they wrote. “…The BMA believes that the mission of the museum is civic, and that its dual responsibility is to create an internally equitable structure and an equitable and mutual relationship with the public, as expressed in the collection, exhibitions, programming and overall engagement.”

BMA Board Chair Clair Zamoiski Segal also released a statement defending the decision. In it, she pointed out that a supermajority of voting board members supported the deaccessioning and rebutted claims that their actions were a “dereliction of duty,” framing them instead as concrete steps toward long-term goals.

“The change brought about by the BMA’s Endowment for the Future will impact the shape of our collection, our ability to invite, accommodate, and connect with a greater swath of our community, and to honor the people who work at the BMA by paying them a fair and living wage,” she wrote. “These are not abstract goals; these are priorities with lasting impact and with which museums need to be engaged. This is an effort to live our mission, and the change is necessary and long, long overdue.”

What Comes Next
As things stand, the BMA plans to move forward with the October 28 deaccession, and the Maryland Attorney General’s office has not commented on whether or not it will investigate the allegations of breach of public trust. 

It is more than likely that the three pieces will leave the BMA collection and fund the proposed initiatives. Paying all museum employees more equitably and allocating funds for acquisition of more diverse works are noble goals, and ones that would be welcomed in this moment when many cultural institutions are grappling with and working to address their historical shortcomings. Still, the concern is that this decision sets a dangerous precedent for how museums use their collections in the future. Museums are traditionally held up as institutions that work for the public good, in the best interest of those who benefit from their presence. The impression by some that these actions amount to cashing in chips in the commercial art market to free up funds for projects, not necessarily with value of the pieces to the public in mind, is the root of much of the outrage.

As Ober asked, “Once you sell one or two, what’s to stop you from selling more? And once you start selling more, especially in the name of paying your employees a decent salary or serving as a beacon for diversity and equity in an elitist, homogeneous art world, where do you draw the line?” 

It’s a valid question, and one that, given the recent press and public outpouring, stakeholders and art admirers will likely keep a close eye on while the AAMD restrictions remain lax. Whether this deaccessioning ushers in welcome changes or further criticism will be up to the actions and accountability of the BMA.

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This fall, however, it’s a much different scene for the 104-year-old symphony, which has just reached a new five-year agreement between musicians and management—the first long-term contract since the last ended in 2016—marking a new chapter on the eve of their 2020-2021 season.

“It’s an astonishing reversal of fortune,” says percussionist Brian Prechtl, who is also co-chairman of the players’ committee. “There’s a very long history of adversity and distrust at the BSO, but we’re trying to move to a new paradigm—one of collaboration, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Even in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic, which arrived in Maryland just as the bargaining process began again in March, the new agreement creates an unprecedented sense of stability for an orchestra long mired in internal—but rather public—disputes. But the changes afoot are the result of many conversations over the last year, through the recently established “vision committee,” including various stakeholders, from musicians and board members to community leaders, as well as the General Assembly’s mandated state working group. The organization also received advice from “turnaround king” consultant Michael Kaiser, who was hired by the BSO last fall and is credited with helping to revive the American Ballet Theatre, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and the Royal Opera House in London during times of trouble.

“We’re working together in ways we haven’t in many, many years,” says president and CEO Peter Kjome. “The pandemic may have changed our world, but it hasn’t changed our resolve to share great music and chart the course for the future.”

Due to financial pressures associated with COVID-19, with in-person concerts cancelled through November 29, musicians will take a pay cut this season, starting with a 26 percent decrease in base compensation before gradual increases through 2025, ultimately reaching a minimum annual wage of $90,100—which is more than six percent increase from pre-pandemic salaries. Musicians say this new figure will help retain and attract world-class musicians. And in that vein, the organization will also restore the number of full-time musicians from 75 to 85 over the next five years, moving closer to a peak of 98 in the early 2000s.

“This isn’t some number pulled out of the blue,” says Prechtl, noting that the country’s top orchestras have more than 100 musicians. “It was decided by Tchaikovsky and Brahms and Strauss and Mahler, many, many years ago. That’s what it takes to play the great works of art.”

Also part of the BSO’s five-year contract, and inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, is the formation of a new task force to address diversity, inclusion, and equity within the organization—which will include examining hiring and audition practices as well as establishing fellowship programs. In early September, assistant conductor Jonathan Rush and artistic partner Wordsmith were appointed to the BSO’s artistic team, joining cellist Esther Mellon as the orchestra’s only African-American artists. Rush, a 25-year-old conducting fellow alum of the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra, will join associate conductor Nicholas Hersh on the podium. Local rapper Wordsmith will serve as an advisor and collaborator, presenting original orchestral projects throughout the season, including an accompaniment to Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, featuring the perspective of a Black soldier during the civil rights movement.

“We all agree that we need to do more,” says Kjome. “We’re looking forward to welcoming these additional voices to these important conversations.”

All of these changes arrive as part of a broader five-year strategic plan, created with Kaiser and announced in February, which aims to solve the BSO’s financial woes. Earlier this winter, the organization raised upwards of $7 million towards a $15 million, multi-year goal of public and private funds, plus $1.25 million toward its $60 million endowment.

“The stars sort of aligned,” says Prechtl of the donations. “That kind of dedication attracts others who have been waiting to see what will happen. I think more people will step forward. And it’s really important that we now do everything we can to drive contributed revenue, because we’ll have very little earned income to balance the books this year.”

Both the musicians and management agree that the conflict and compromise of 2019 has allowed the BSO, which did receive a Paycheck Protection Program loan, to better weather the calamity of COVID-19.

The orchestra was already operating on a reduced schedule when it pivoted to all online content via its BSO OffStage platform this spring, featuring livestreamed performances, virtual discussions, and podcasts.

February’s strategic initiative had also committed to investing in livestreaming technology, which the BSO will utilize this fall during a brand-new digital concert series, with newly installed robotic cameras bringing the symphony home to an expanded audience. Rehearsals have resumed at the Meyerhoff, but safety protocols are still being solidified, such as smaller ensembles and a socially distanced stage. Aerosols produced during woodwind performances still an area of concern.

“There’s been tremendous innovation during these times,” says Kjome. “While we might not be able to fit all of the musicians on stage for a Mahler symphony, there is some remarkable music we’re going to be performing that our audiences have not heard in a long time, if ever.”

There’s a palpable sense of excitement in the air.

“We’re hopeful,” says Prechtl. “I think we’re on the cusp of the next golden age of the BSO.”

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With The Crown, Metro Gallery, and Ottobar still dark, the drummer-dynamo set up mics, amps, and turntables on the outdoor stage of the Ynot Lot on North Avenue, hoping that his Nu Love Fest would bring art back to local audiences and offer a respite for the current times of COVID-19.

“By the time June rolled around, I was feeling frustrated about not being able to have creative outlets, and at the same time, frustrated and angry because of what was happening around us with George Floyd,” says Stokes. “I had to pull myself back and know that music is my power, and I can empower other people that way. I wanted to break the whole spell we were in and bring that positive energy back to the people.”

Featuring live performances by local rappers and R&B singers from a safe social distance outside in the open air, the grassroots festival was a hit, running for nearly eight hours, with fans, fellow creatives, and passersby joining the spaced-out crowd throughout the afternoon and evening. That inaugural gathering inspired Stokesto launch a bigger, better Nu Love Fest 2 this Friday, August 21.

Starting at 4:30 p.m., and streaming on Instagram Live, the Ynot Lot will feature an extended lineup this time around, starting with a Bmore Club dance-off, followed by an artist talk hosted by award-winning photographer Devin Allen featuring musicians, DJs, and photographers including Abdu Ali, Eze Jackson, Bobbi Rush, and Shae McCoy at 5:30 p.m.

Performances begin at 8 p.m., with rising rappers Zadia and Miss Kam, beloved hip hop artists Al Rogers Jr. and Butch Dawson, R&B-soul singer-songwriter Kasaun, and jazz trumpeter Brandon Woody, as well as sets by DJs Blaqstarr, Que Pequeno, and Murzo. Attendees are encouraged to bring face masks and follow social distancing guidelines. Hand sanitizer will also be available.

“It’ll be like our own BET Awards,” says Stokes of the lineup, which will also include a tribute to local rapper Dee Dave, who was killed in January, with a poetry reading by acclaimed spoken word artist Kondwani Fidel. “We’re gathering premier artists from around the city and putting more positive energy into the atmosphere, even if just for a few hours.”

Nu Love Fest 2 comes at a time when the music industry is struggling to envision its future, and the livelihoods of working artists of every stripe have all but evaporated. Some musicians have performed outdoor pop-up concerts throughout the city, such as through the Creative Alliance’s Sidewalk Serenades series, with proceeds benefitting both artist and venue. More have pivoted into the virtual realm, performing livestream concerts across social media for digital tips, while venues have also begun to invest in livestreaming video technology, such as the Meyerhoff for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming digital concert series. Both hallowed halls and small clubs remain in limbo, with reopenings likely entailing limited capacities until a vaccine is developed. Even outdoor events such as Nu Love are currently limited under Mayor Jack Young’s most recent executive order to 25 people or less.

“The least they can give us are these outside spaces and street corners—if you keep taking these things away, we won’t have anything left,” says Stokes. “The venues meant so much—they were a place for you to develop as an artist, for you to develop relationships with the other artists, to really become a part of a community. It’s scary to see that human element being lost. But music gives us hope. It’s for the people.

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