Arts+Culture
Best of Baltimore
Arts+Culture
EDITED BY LYDIA WOOLEVER
WRITTEN WITH KERRY FOLAN, TERI HENDERSON
AND COREY McLAUGHLIN
—COURTESY OF BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART/PHOTO BY OLIVIA LIFUNGULA
EXHIBITION
AMERICAN SUBLIME
AMY SHERALD’S BLOCKBUSTER SHOW made national headlines when the MICA alum pulled it from a scheduled stop at the National Portrait Gallery over censorship concerns. And when she pivoted to the Baltimore Museum of Art, the curators knew it would be a big deal for the institution and its city. But no one could’ve predicted the record-setting attendance that followed. By smartly displaying everything from her early works (like “Miss Everything,” which inspired Sherald’s Met Gala fit) through her more recent soaring canvases (like “A God Blessed Land (Empire of Dirt),” featuring local farmer Denzel Mitchell Jr.), the BMA curated a powerful viewing experience that emphasized Sherald’s connection to Baltimore. Though she’s relocated to New York, we’ll always consider her ours.
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ACTIVISM
PRO-DEMOCRACY DANCE PARTIES
Resistance comes in all forms. And one of the most joyful can be found at Penn Station during rush hour on the third Friday of every month. For the past year, this so-called Pro-Democracy Dance Party has been popping up outside of the Station North landmark. At the base of the Man/Woman Statue, a DJ booth spins upbeat tunes, inciting shimmies and shakes from an intergenerational crowd dressed in everything from American flag capes to heart-shaped sunglasses and neon boas. Most hold handmade signs decorated with messages like “we the people,” “abolish I.C.E.,” and “dissent is patriotic.” Everyone is smiling and often bubbles blow in the breeze. After the last presidential election, this gathering was dreamed up by local writers Sonia Shah and Gabriella Souza (a former Baltimore editor) as a form of protest against this country’s increasing inhumanity. More than that, though, it’s also become a much needed means of creative expression, and in that, cathartic release.
ARCHIVE
HOUSE OF MELO
Coinciding with Carmelo Anthony’s 2025 induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, House of Melo transformed the entire first floor of the main Enoch Pratt Central Library into an immersive tribute to the NBA icon’s Baltimore roots. With the Cathedral Street entrance wrapped in the red of his childhood rowhome on Myrtle Avenue and the bookstacks lined with milestone magazine covers, favorite music, and Olympic memorabilia, it was a fitting tribute to the man and the city that shaped him—and a beacon for anyone with dreams as big as his own. We just wish it were on permanent display.
CULTURAL HUB
LIBRARY NINETEEN
When architects Pavlina Ilieva and Kuo Pao Lian bought the old Enoch Pratt Free Library Branch 19 in Fells Point, the creative couple did more than revitalize the abandoned building. The PI.KL Studio designers created a local center for arts and culture. Now the circa-1922 brick building is not only a gorgeous, light-filled showcase for their offices and archives on the first floor, but a stylish cultural hub that draws poetry readings, holiday parties, vinyl listening sessions, and live Latino music into the space’s basement. And you never know which local makers will be there. Recent pop ups have included Cucina Luchadoras and Greedy Reads.
FILM
OBEX
With OBEX, local DIY auteur Albert Birney has created a charming dark fairytale about a shut-in named Connor who must step away from the safety of his computers and television screens to save his beloved dog, Sandy, who has been abducted by a demon. Birney plays Connor with an appealingly sweet sheepishness but it’s Sandy (aka Birney’s own bulldog mix, Dorothy) who nearly steals the show—with her wise eyes and deadpan reaction shots, she’s a star, baby. Filled with imagination, visual wit, ingenuity, and the most creative use of cicadas ever committed to screen, OBEX is a singular film from Baltimore’s most singular director/ actor/dog wrangler.
GALLERY
GALERIE MYRTIS
Dr. Myrtis Bedolla is a true visionary. For two decades, her eponymous North Charles Street gallery has consistently championed and supported Black artists in Baltimore—helping build careers and community, encouraging collection of art and correcting the historical record, establishing a level of institutional seriousness for Black art in the art market both near and far. And that success is ongoing, as evidenced by recent partnerships with the Christie’s auction house, a curatorial presence at esteemed art fairs like the Venice Biennale, and a robust roster of talent from local photographer Devin Allen to painter Jerrell Gibbs to collagist Bria Sterling-Wilson. (Years ago, in a true nod to Myrtis’ genius eye, the gallery also represented a young Amy Sherald.) Long may her legendary legacy reign.
PERFORMANCE TROUPE
AFRO HOUSE
Scott and Alisha Patterson are the definition of a dynamic duo. The husband-and-wife creative partners behind the Afro House art collective have spent the past dozen years pushing the frontier of performing arts in Baltimore. From their early in-home concerts to their more recent, multi-sensory, sci-fi space operas, they’ve become an embodiment of the city’s DIY ethos. Over the last year, perhaps you’ve seen their Astronaut Symphony at the Keystone Korner, National Aquarium, or Walters Art Museum. Combining operatic vocals, live funk-infused instrumentation, and a futuristic fantastical odyssey, their euphoric work explores the possibilities of love and liberation across the cosmos. Listen to their album and join us in looking forward to whatever they dream up next.
—COURTESY OF MATT ADAMS
INSTAGRAM:
@mattadamsfilm
Like many analog art forms, film cameras are in the midst of a major comeback. And you can feel that medium’s full glory, even through your phone screen, in the images of local photographer Matt Adams. Each is imbued with the soft, warm, potent colors that only the likes of Kodak can capture. Combined with his compositions, often without a human in sight, he dreamily transforms an empty scene of Baltimore—an old Coke machine, a parked car, a corner store at twilight—into something full of life.
Musical Muses
ARTIST
NOURISHED BY TIME
It’s been a big year for Baltimore native Marcus Brown. With his sophomore album, the singer-songwriter went indie-darling status. Think sold-out shows, interviews with Interview, opening gigs for pop superstar Robyn. His original R&B-meets-New-Wave-meets- house music is a must listen.
BAND
PINKSHIFT
Thank goodness these Hopkins grads took a hard-rocking detour from science degrees into the arts. The pop-punk trio is steadily landing bigger stages. And it’s not just fans noticing their youthful fervor. The Foo Fighters just booked them as an opening act next year.
DJ
AMY REID
Over the last decade, Amy Reid has become a pillar of the local music scene. She’s perhaps one of the hardest working artists in town, performing or producing shows every week, from her solo sets to the GRL PWR collective, whose Butch Garden dance parties are now an essential queer space.
FESTIVAL
SUBSCAPE
Baltimore has long been a city of scapes—Artscape, Whartscape, Ratscape—celebrating the landscape of the local arts scene. This weekend-long festival is the new torchbearer, featuring dozens of the city’s best punk, metal, and DIY bands. Best of all, it’s free and all-ages.
VENUE
LE COMPTOIR DU VIN
We love the surprising number of ad-hoc stages in unlikely spaces throughout this city. Like the back bar of this buzzy Station North bistro. During “patio season,” don’t miss their Peace in the Valley series, featuring experimental acts like Matmos and Mind on Fire.
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—PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRISTOPHER MYERS
TASTEMAKERS
CARPET COMPANY
WHEN CARPET COMPANY opened its first store in Station North this spring, the clothing brand transformed Baltimore into a destination for fashion overnight. Lines stretched down North Avenue with skaters, cool kids, and curious shoppers seeking to snag the latest drop from brothers Ayman and Osama Abdeldayem. Their streetwear—bold, chic, tongue-in-cheek pieces with a hefty nod toward the 1990s and Y2K, which is when the founders came of age in Laurel—already had a cult following online. But now Carpet is planting a flag, and with it, making a statement: that this city’s sense of style is undeniable. And with its cherry-red ceilings, chrome racks, built-in DJ booth, and Good Neighbor café in the back, their brick-and-mortar is officially the hippest hangout in town.
PLAY
NO MEAN CITY
You could call it Dan Rodricks’ second act. The veteran newspaper columnist retired from The Baltimore Sun last year, but by then, he’d already found another calling—the theater. Anyone who knows Rodricks is aware that the man is a great storyteller, and over the last few years, the lifelong thespian has proven his plays are no exception. The first two were dramatizations of his most memorable encounters as a local journalist. This spring, though, he presented an entirely original work to a sold-out run at the Baltimore Museum of Art. No Mean City is a tale of two Robinsons (Frank and Brooks), that explores a critical juncture of Baltimore’s civil rights history through the prism of the Orioles’ 1966 World Series run. It was hard to keep a dry eye during the game-winning triptych, as the city itself got a much-needed win.
RECORD STORE
CELEBRATED SUMMER
Some might say Tony Pence entered the record-store business at the worst time possible. It was 2006. By all accounts, vinyl was old news. This was the golden era of CDs, plus the iPod had just been released, and Napster was newly ushering in the early days of streaming. But the Baltimore native had been a collector since his youth, so he personally knew the power of that turntable sound. Twenty years later, that’s still apparent in his Falls Road shop, which is busier than ever. Kids are crate-digging again, and they’re drawn to his curated stock, ranging from the latest pop stars to local punk bands to rare jazz and soul. Best of all might be the cassettetape vending machine (copies of Turnstile’s Never Enough sold out fast last summer). Wouldn’t you know—those are making a comeback, too.
THEATER
EVERYMAN THEATRE
Baltimore is a bona fide theater town, thanks in part to the top-tier work at this downtown theater. This past season marked Everyman’s 35th year and their final run with founding artistic director Vincent M. Lancisi. To celebrate this landmark, they planned a next-level lineup of shows, showing off their world-class talent and proving that this ensemble cast remains not just relevant but ambitious. Highlights included a revival of the 1994 hit Art, which was simultaneously staged on Broadway; the world premiere of the family drama Dawn by Tuyêt Thi Pham; and Kate Hamill’s clever adaptation of Emma—altogether ending Lancisi’s era with a sense of momentum.
ZINE
A GAY LITTLE HISTORY
Over the last year, historian and librarian Ben Egerman has been creating a vital repository of Mid-Atlantic LGBTQ+ history. Seven editions of his A Gay Little History have been printed thus far, drawn from a research project with Preservation Maryland and covering everything from Gilded Age lesbian benefactors and jazz-era West Baltimore drag balls to John Waters’ crew of cinema misfits in the 1970s. The first six were just recently collected into a paperback book made in collaboration with Red Emma’s. Each is a fascinating exploration of the region’s queer past, featuring historic images, lively quotes, and a dose of tongue-in-cheek humor. For more, catch Egerman’s history nights at The Club Car in Station North.
—PHOTOGRAPHY BY WESLEY LAPOINTE
ARTIST TO WATCH
EMMA CHILDS
IN 2026, EMMA CHILDS IS the cool girl of the Baltimore arts scene. Raised in Monkton, this 30-year-old MICA grad has spent the past near-decade building a body of work and, with it, lots of buzz. During her “Interior Architectures” exhibition at Current Space last fall, a who’s-who of local artists lingered around her luminous canvases. They look like gemstones and, deceptively layered, they lure you in—each an enigmatic collision of color, shape, and light, exuding energy, evoking emotion. Look to the edges, where Childs has left the drips of each coat of paint, undoubtedly our favorite detail. Save the date for her next show, opening at the Mount Vernon Place Church on September 25.
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