Maryland Arts Summit

Cost should never be a barrier to attend our events. That is why we offer several opportunities to subsidize the registration fee. Please take a look down below for more information and how to apply!

Member Pricing

Email Amanda Morell, amanda@mdarts.org, for information about membership pricing.

Artist Stipends Available!

Thanks in part to generous support from our funders, we have numerous scholarships to offer towards practicing artists in the Maryland community to attend the Maryland Arts Summit.

Applications are now open! If you are a practicing artist in Maryland, you qualify for this opportunity. For questions about the application please email info@mdarts.org.

Recipients of an Artist Stipend will receive:

• FREE admission to the Maryland Arts Summit 2023
• A stipend of $200 to help cover travel expenses (check will be received June 9 at the close of Summit activities).

Please take advantage of this offer and apply today by clicking this link!

Sliding Scale Pricing

In the event you are not a practicing artist or actively a student but still need a break on pricing, please complete this form, and someone from the MCA office will be in touch to discuss our sliding scale pricing.

Student Pricing Available!

Students with a valid and operational school email address will be granted access to the Summit for a flat rate of $10. Whether you come one or both days, access is granted with a flat rate. But wait! Are you a student currently enrolled at UMBC? Because your campus hosts our event, we offer FREE registration to you as a small way of saying thank you! Email Tracy with your UMBC email to receive a special discount code.

Please follow the instructions below for information on how to apply for the student rate.

1. Complete the Google Form with a VALID school email address. For best consideration, please complete this form by Thursday, May 25, 2023.
2. A confirmation email will be sent from Tracy Stevens from tracy@mdarts.org.
3. Respond to the email from Tracy and a follow up email will be sent to you with a DISCOUNT code.

Welcome & Open

Thursday, June 8: 9:30am – 11:00am

 

Championing the Arts: Advocacy and Policy Insights from Maryland’s Leaders

Presenters: Comptroller Brooke Lierman, Senator Sarah Elfreth, Delegate Stephanie Smith, Nicholas Cohen

Kicking off the Maryland Arts Summit, join us for an insightful and engaging panel discussion featuring esteemed Maryland policymakers. This special opening session, hosted by Nicholas Cohen, Executive Director of Maryland Citizens for the Arts, brings together Comptroller Brooke Lierman, State Senator Sarah Elfreth, and State Delegate Stephanie Smith. These influential leaders will discuss the importance of the arts in Maryland and share their expertise on effectively approaching lawmakers, developing strategic advocacy initiatives, and understanding the role of policy in fostering a vibrant arts community. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn from Maryland’s top policymakers and elevate your advocacy efforts for the arts and the role of policy in supporting and enhancing our community. 

**this session will be livestreamed

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Session Time Block 1

Thursday, June 8: 11:15am – 12:15pm

 

Oasis for the Arts: Building Community through Creative Placemaking

Presenters: Elieen Cave and Caryl Henry Alexander

Teaching artists share a community event to create collaborative public art that mobilized arts leadership while promoting environmental preservation and arts education. Learn about the essential components for hosting a successful event, using a local historic site, and obtaining sponsorship from an arts agency. Explore how a public art installation can become a gathering spot for ongoing community engagement, then create your maquette to apply acquired knowledge. Participants will fabricate a maquette sculpture. Art supplies and a variety of craft items will be provided, applying your own environmental or social justice issue.

 

Ready to Act: Youth-Led Panel on Arts Advocacy

Presenters:  Amari Davenport, Myra Hicks, Kourtney McCleary, Ky’mera Paulings, Carrie Snowden, Troy Stull,  Thelma Williams, Chloe Zheng, Sheena Morrison

We are members of the B’More Youth Arts Advocacy Council (BYAAC), a program of Arts Every Day. We are a group of eight youth creatives dedicated to fighting for the Arts in Baltimore City Public Schools because equitable opportunities for college and careers in the arts begin with equitable access to a high quality k-12 arts education.

If youth are to join the ranks of arts professionals and continue to create art that makes society a better place, we must take part today in calls for equity, action and raising awareness of our right as students to learn an instrument, act in a theater production, express ourselves through dance, and to paint and draw— no matter where we attend school in the state of Maryland.

Join us for a youth-led panel discussion on arts advocacy that will highlight the efforts of students themselves to impact arts education policy.

 

Plan it and Live it: A Framework for Facing a Challenging Future

Presenters: Kibibi Ajanku, Jeannie Howe, Kevette Kane

Following months of effort to develop, strategic plans have a reputation for losing momentum and “collecting dust” on a shelf. This case study examines the 2020-2025 GBCA strategic plan as a framework for staying on course and continuing to thrive in a changing and challenging time. We will examine several features of the plan and, critically, tools and workplace practices that have supported successful implementation and strengthened Board and Staff engagement.

Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about and discuss ways to actively manage strategic goals.

 

Illuminated Histories of the Peale Museum

Presenters: Alexandra Garove and Dr. Diane Kuthy

This presentation will share our arts-based research of the Baltimore Peale Museum, its place in the broader context of natural history collections, related curricular resources designed through a critical museology lens, and our insights and enduring understandings due to this process. Our image-based presentation will begin with a storied history of the Peale Museum, its significance in museology history, and its current innovative mission, including inclusive programming and accessible design. We will then present our arts-based research, which began as an assignment for the graduate-level course Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Issues in Art Education and culminated in the exhibition Spark: New Light, commemorating the grand reopening of The Peale.

For this exhibition, we created Illuminated Histories of the Peale Museum for this exhibition, an interactive artwork incorporating mixed media and natural displayed on   a hand-crafted light table. The installation “illuminates” the history of the museum and aims to promote a critical discourse about how aesthetic objects are perceived, collected, and categorized. Like many facets of the Western historical canon, our understanding of museums is intrinsically connected to the history of colonialism and racism. Our research reexamines this history, amplifying previously unheard narratives. The session will culminate with a discussion of ideas and implications for museum gallery teaching and K-16 art classrooms.

Participant goals include accessing local and natural history for artistic and pedagogical inspiration, gaining ideas for fusing new technology with traditional exhibition practices, and best practices in accessible design and critical museology. Participants will also have access to curricular resources we developed as part of the project. Participants can evaluate their achievement of these goals through their understanding and use of curricular resources, incorporation of accessible technologies into their personal practices or classrooms, and deeper appreciation of museology. Knowing the history and understanding the origins of museology practices can enrich the experiences of teachers and students alike.

**this session will be live-streamed

 

Arts Ed Overview: Arts Ed Access and Advocacy (Part of the Arts Education Advocacy Track)

Presenters: Peter Dayton and Rachel McGrain

This introductory session of the Arts Education Advocacy Track will provide an overview of arts education advocacy, geared towards audiences at all levels of involvement in arts education. The presentation clarifies the direct connection between arts education access and the future of Maryland’s creative sector. The session will educate attendees on 1) what Maryland public school students should have access to under Maryland law, 2) what they currently have access to, and 3) ways that their voices as constituents can be mobilized to help increase arts education access in their education communities. Participants will be made aware of Maryland students’ rights to arts education access and the current inequities in the state. Participants will understand that there is a key role that they, as part of a community’s broader constituency, have to play in ensuring Maryland’s creative future.

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Lunch Time

Thursday, June 8: 12:15pm – 1:45pm

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Session Time Block 2

Thursday, June 8: 1:45pm – 2:45pm

 

MSAC Office Hours

Presenters: MSAC Staff

Based on feedback from the 2022 Summit and success with Regional Office Hours, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) staff propose holding Office Hours Thursday afternoon and throughout the day on Friday during the Summit where staff will be available for conversations with artists and arts organization leaders and staff . Participant goals include: 1) building relationships with individual MSAC staff members; 2) better understanding MSAC programs and opportunities; and 3) gaining skills navigating MSAC’s grants platform. MSAC will schedule staff members to be on hand throughout the afternoon on Thursday and during the day on Friday, providing a sign up sheet for Summit participants to schedule appointments with individual staff members as well as being available for walk-in appointments. During the Office Hours, Summit attendees can talk with staff about their needs, learn what MSAC programs offer, discuss application strategies, learn about professional development offerings, and discuss feedback from previous applications. Grants office staff will also be on hand to provide individualized technical support with Chromebooks available so that constituents can navigate MSAC’s website and SmartSimple with personalized assistance from a member of MSAC’s staff who can assist with setting up accounts and starting grant applications. The session will be successful if participants leave with stronger connections to MSAC, knowledge of its programs, and ideas of State resources available for supporting their work.

Office Hours will be offered throughout the Maryland Arts Summit. A complete listing of times can be found below:

• Session Time Block 2: June 8 1:45pm – 2:45pm
• Session Time Block 3: June 8 3:00pm – 4:00pm
• Session Time Block 4: June 8 4:!5pm – 5:15pm
• Session Time Block 6: June 9 11:15am – 12:15pm

**MSAC staff are available for virtual appointments beyond the Summit’s timeframe and happily engage with Maryalnd’s art sector consultants throughout the year. We highly encourage attendees to visit the staff page of MSAC’s website to contact and schedule an appointment.

 

Race and #RealTalk: Community Music Therapy Addressing Racism

Presenters: HALO, Inc

Race and #RealTalk is a unique program using the listening and singing experience of barbershop music led by HALO quartet in a Community Music Therapy framework facilitated by the program’s creators, Niambi Powell, LSCW-C and Shana Oshiro, MT-BC. Attendees will experience a new way to engage in fruitful dialogue about racism in their work and community life spaces that fosters intentional communication, awareness of self and others, centering the lived experiences of BI/POC, inviting everyone to hold space for these intersecting perspectives into a shared reality. As in the vulnerable and completely human experience of singing the tight harmonies of barbershop, we can learn to experience the tension in our conversations about racism as a beautiful opportunity to build the reality we’d like to share. We embrace the tension, and we sing the truth.

 

The Universality of Specificity: Embracing Marginalized Literary Spaces to Enhance Regional Readership

Presenter: Aditya Desai

How do new voices become part of a regional literary identity? For regionally-defined literary organizations, programming for “diverse” or marginalized voices risks a broadened scope to include all, or the check-box effect.

In an open forum style, this session is designed for writers, editors, and literature organizers and programmers of marginalized ethnic, religious, or LGBTQ+ backgrounds to connect over how to foster stronger communities and platforms for a more diverse range of voices in Maryland.

As their communities grow, they create cultural institutions and networks such as restaurants, markets, faith houses, community resource/wellness centers, and so on. These spaces then become a bridge between these communities to the mainstream Maryland public. In a state as diverse as Maryland, there is an imperative to give writers within marginalized communities the tools and opportunities to build literary groups, collectives, and organizations.

A home-grown literary group allows these writers to take more control of how their work is developed and received in an inclusive environment, while also acting as a bridge community space, to grow into the mainstream literary space.

Using models such as the Asian American Writer’s Workshop, Cave Canem, CantoMundo, and Lambda Literary, we invite participants to join a discussion where they can share, reflect, and connect 1) what would help create more supportive literary groups and networks within their communities, 2) what would help generate more literary readership and engagement within their communities, and 3) what challenges, hurdles, or desires they have in putting their work out to a mainstream audience?

 

Seven Principles to Prioritize and Value the Professional Teaching Artist

Presenters: Denise Jones, Jennifer Ridgway, Khaleshia Thorpe-Price, Devin Walker

Since the summer of 2020, when Maryland Teaching Artists joined the national call for the arts and culture sector, the philanthropic community, policymakers, schools, libraries, retirement homes, detention centers, and all community entities to recognize the importance and value of Teaching Artists as paid professionals, they along with their colleagues from across the mid-Atlantic began deliberating over individual past and present experiences. They examined their understanding of a professional and how identifying as one might shape and transform their collective future. They arrived at seven principles for Professional Teaching Artists.

Achieving an equitable, sustainable, and vibrant arts ecosystem for Teaching Artists requires employees and independent professionals to seek fair and livable wages and compensation consistent with other fields and all stakeholders (Teaching Artists and those that hire, train, and support TAs) to adopt the 7 principles. With WEE Nation Podcast as our host, Maryland TAMA members will share personal stories to illustrate the principles of excellence, professional respect, autonomy/choice, fair pay, self-worth, control, and prepared and responsible – sharing how the principles will advance solidarity and justice in the field of teaching artistry so that Teaching Artists can remain contributors to the vibrancy and rebuilding of Maryland communities and beyond with art learning and making at the heart of healing and transformation.

**this session will be live-streamed

 

Keep on Keepin’ On: Making Art Against All Odds

Presenters: Kitty Clark and Ray C. Shaw

In this session, Kitty Clark and Ray C. Shaw of MAD Dance lead a discussion about creative process and being performing dance artists in an area where dance art is not a widely practiced or understood form of expression. Kitty and Ray share their approach to creating work, the successes they have had in collaborating with other artists and with community spaces, and the challenges they have encountered making work in non-urban places. Kitty and Ray will facilitate a conversation amongst attendees who feel challenged by their own circumstances and foster discussion about positive ways to face those challenges. Additionally, conversation will be encouraged so that those in support roles (arts administrators, funders, presenters, rehearsal/performance venues) can ask themselves the important question of how they can better support trend-setting artists. For all, the conversation will center risk-taking, passion, and art.

Some Points of Discussion:

•  What will you do tomorrow to keep making art in the face of adversity?
•  Who can you contact to help you bring your vision to fruition?
•  Who can you add to your network so you have people with whom to share the burden?
•  What will you do tomorrow to support an artist outside of your community’s norm?
•  What can you do next fiscal year to actively support artists outside of your norm?
• Session Goals:
•  Cultivating a renewed purpose to go forth and make art, even in situations where it seems implausible;
•  Identifying ways to better support artists who are working outside the norms of artistic expression in their communities;
•  Contemplating the notion that dance and other art forms can begin to thrive outside of their traditional ecosystems.

 

What’s on the Books: Legislation and the Arts (Part of the Arts Education Advocacy Track)

Presenters: Amy Hairston, Amanda Karhuse and Rachel McGrain

This deep dive will cover the promise and entitlements of the Federal and State laws for public school arts education access. National Association for Music Educators (NAfME) co-presenters Amy Hairston and Amanda Karhuse will discuss national and state funding sources for arts education and provide up to date information on arts education issues faced at the school-, local-, and state-level.

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Session Time Block 3

Thursday, June 8: 3:00pm – 4:00pm

 

MSAC Office Hours

Presenters: MSAC Staff

Based on feedback from the 2022 Summit and success with Regional Office Hours, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) staff propose holding Office Hours Thursday afternoon and throughout the day on Friday during the Summit where staff will be available for conversations with artists and arts organization leaders and staff . Participant goals include: 1) building relationships with individual MSAC staff members; 2) better understanding MSAC programs and opportunities; and 3) gaining skills navigating MSAC’s grants platform. MSAC will schedule staff members to be on hand throughout the afternoon on Thursday and during the day on Friday, providing a sign up sheet for Summit participants to schedule appointments with individual staff members as well as being available for walk-in appointments. During the Office Hours, Summit attendees can talk with staff about their needs, learn what MSAC programs offer, discuss application strategies, learn about professional development offerings, and discuss feedback from previous applications. Grants office staff will also be on hand to provide individualized technical support with Chromebooks available so that constituents can navigate MSAC’s website and SmartSimple with personalized assistance from a member of MSAC’s staff who can assist with setting up accounts and starting grant applications. The session will be successful if participants leave with stronger connections to MSAC, knowledge of its programs, and ideas of State resources available for supporting their work.

Office Hours will be offered throughout the Maryland Arts Summit. A complete listing of times can be found below:

• Session Time Block 2: June 8 1:45pm – 2:45pm
• Session Time Block 3: June 8 3:00pm – 4:00pm
• Session Time Block 4: June 8 4:!5pm – 5:15pm
• Session Time Block 6: June 9 11:15am – 12:15pm

**MSAC staff are available for virtual appointments beyond the Summit’s timeframe and happily engage with Maryalnd’s art sector consultants throughout the year. We highly encourage attendees to visit the staff page of MSAC’s website to contact and schedule an appointment.

 

A Crash Course in Public Speaking so Artists Can Ask for What They Need

Presenter: Amy Bernstein

Artists and advocates are frequently required to ask for money, space, collaborators, permission, ticket-buyers, vendors, and so much more. There is an art to asking—and one of the most challenging aspects is asking out loud, in real time, in front of a live audience. In this hands-on workshop, artists will practice honing a Shark Tank-style pitch in front of everyone. They will practice making an “ask” that reflects their real current and future needs. Some call this an elevator speech. But there is more to this than memorizing a few sentences. All participants will be treated sensitively and with respect, and all feedback will be positive

and constructive. Participants will come away with greater confidence in their ability to ask clearly for what they need and to feel somewhat more comfortable asking in person, in public. They will also understand what to work on in their oral pitch, and their strengths and weaknesses as public speakers.

 

The Audio Describer As Cast Member: Audio Description At Every Performance

Presenter: Joel Snyder, PhD

This presentation will demonstrate how audio description (AD) provides access to the arts for people who are blind and can most effectively be offered at *every performance* in the run of a performance.

AD makes visual images accessible for people who are blind or have low vision. Using words that are succinct, vivid, and imaginative, describers observe, select, and then succinctly and vividly use language to convey the visual image that is not fully accessible to a segment of the population—the American Foundation for the Blind notes that 31 million Americans are blind or “have difficulty seeing even with correction”.

In 1981, a formal audio description service—the world’s first—was begun under the leadership of a blind woman at The Metropolitan Washington Ear, a radio-reading service based in Washington, DC.

Radio reading services are heavily dependent on volunteers and The Ear’s audio description service was also structured around voluntary contributions of time and effort. With support from the D.C. Aid Association for the Blind, the Audio Description Project of the American Council of the Blind proposed a more expansive audio description arrangement for two productions again at Arena Stage: an audio describer attended rehearsals for each production, met with the stage director, actors, the designers (scenic, costumes, lighting, sound) and developed an audio description script throughout the three-week rehearsal period. The script was then available for that same describer to voice at every performance beginning with opening night and with, of course, an eye on stage action as minor changes in action could occur from performance to performance.

**this session will be live-streamed

 

Sustainability for artists and the organizations that support them: A conversation

Presenter: Sofia Hailu and Lauren Latessa

How can we best nurture our artistic integrity and creative passion while navigating the challenges of our industry? Sofia Hailu and Lauren Latessa, two mid-career artists/arts managers, invite you to join them in a conversation around sustainability in the fields of music and art. The two will discuss the challenges of creating a purpose-driven and financially viable life using insights from their own experiences. Sofia’s career has led her across various sectors of the industry, from full time performer with the Army Band to non profit arts management and entrepreneurship, with the intention of following her authentic voice as an artist, despite the challenges presented by the industry. Lauren, in 2019 after recognizing that no existing institutions fit the vision of her life in music, founded Iris Music Project, a non-profit organization that reimagines retirement and healthcare communities as spaces of creative exchange through community-embedded musicianship.

Sharing insights from their own experiences, while creating entry points for participants to do the same, Sofia and Lauren aim to brainstorm ways that our industry might better nurture and empower artists to build creative career pathways. By embracing diversity and nurturing rather than siloing artistic pathways, the Maryland arts sector can position artists as thought leaders capable of solving many of the challenges facing society today and influence individual and organizational sustainability in our industry and beyond.

 

Talking to Principals: Making the Case for the Arts (Part of the Arts Education Advocacy Track)

Presenters: Marc Martin, Rachel McGrain and Nina Lattimore

This deep dive will offer multiple school principal perspectives on how the arts can and should be incorporated as a central piece of school culture.. Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/Middle School Principal Marc Martin (Baltimore City) will provide practical advice to teaching artists and visiting arts organizations about how to present their programming to school principals to successfully initiate a school collaboration. T Prospect Heights Elementary School Principal Nina Lattimore (Prince George’s County) will discuss ways in which arts integration can be incorporated into school environments. Participants will gain an understanding of the perspectives and mindsets of the school administrators and learn different tactics to increase arts education access in their school communities.

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Session Time Block 4

Thursday, June 8: 4:15pm – 5:15pm

 

MSAC Office Hours

Presenters: MSAC Staff

Based on feedback from the 2022 Summit and success with Regional Office Hours, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) staff propose holding Office Hours Thursday afternoon and throughout the day on Friday during the Summit where staff will be available for conversations with artists and arts organization leaders and staff . Participant goals include: 1) building relationships with individual MSAC staff members; 2) better understanding MSAC programs and opportunities; and 3) gaining skills navigating MSAC’s grants platform. MSAC will schedule staff members to be on hand throughout the afternoon on Thursday and during the day on Friday, providing a sign up sheet for Summit participants to schedule appointments with individual staff members as well as being available for walk-in appointments. During the Office Hours, Summit attendees can talk with staff about their needs, learn what MSAC programs offer, discuss application strategies, learn about professional development offerings, and discuss feedback from previous applications. Grants office staff will also be on hand to provide individualized technical support with Chromebooks available so that constituents can navigate MSAC’s website and SmartSimple with personalized assistance from a member of MSAC’s staff who can assist with setting up accounts and starting grant applications. The session will be successful if participants leave with stronger connections to MSAC, knowledge of its programs, and ideas of State resources available for supporting their work.

Office Hours will be offered throughout the Maryland Arts Summit. A complete listing of times can be found below:

• Session TIme Block 2: June 8 1:45pm – 2:45pm
• Session Time Block 3: June 8 3:00pm – 4:00pm
• Session Time Block 4: June 8 4:!5pm – 5:15pm
• Session Time Block 6: June 9 11:15am – 12:15pm

**MSAC staff are available for virtual appointments beyond the Summit’s timeframe and happily engage with Maryalnd’s art sector consultants throughout the year. We highly encourage attendees to visit the staff page of MSAC’s website to contact and schedule an appointment.

 

The Art of Equity: A Conversation to Inspire Creative Strategies for Equitable Programming, Resource Pipelines, and Collaborative Community Efforts

Presenter: Cydni Stewart

Evidence of active tools and systemic structures that balance access to opportunity for those who start out with an impediment or oppression. This session will include:

• Understanding the gap (difference) between Equity and Equality (GAME)
• Perspective: Exploring Equity Through Community Design (ReImagining Resource Pipelines)
• Equity Through Creative Collaborations (Equitable Programming /Collaborative Community Efforts)
• Dreamer’s Journey: Discussing OUR Future in Equitable Practices

 

Digital Branding and Career Sustainability

Presenters: Ceylon Mitchell, Ruby Lopez Harper, Joshua Jenkins

This workshop is designed to teach best practices and innovative approaches for individual artists to enhance their personal brand, grow their audiences with values-driven content, and leverage revenue streams in a 21st-century landscape. Takeaways include the essential elements of an artist statement, composing a visual identity for owned media, serving your community, diving into the nuts and bolts of a social media strategy, and exploring other digital strategies.

**this session will be live-streamed

 

Teaching Self-Regulation and Social Emotional Learning through Puppet Making

Presenters: Dr. Julie Dietrich-Eisler and Laura Numsen

Learning about emotions is vital to student success in school. Puppetry is a medium that allows individuals who may or may not have great art skills express themselves in a non threatening and meaningful way. Ms Numsen and Dr. Dietrich-Eisler will demonstrate how teachers can use puppet making in order to teach students social emotional learning and self-regulation. Art teachers will learn a variety of puppet making techniques they can use with students through a hands-on workshop in which teachers can make their own puppet examples.

 

Education Power Structures (Part of the Arts Education Advocacy Track)

Presenters: Rachel McCusker and Rachel McGrain

This deep dive will explore what local education power structures look like: the various roles and powers of Maryland’s school districts and whom to advocate to in order to increase arts education access in your community. The discussion will be led by AEMS Executive Director Rachel McGrain with current music educator and State Board of Education member Rachel McCusker. This session will have an interactive component in which participants will be invited to discuss with other participants about the people and power structures of their school district. Participants will gain an understanding of the different agencies and officials involved in key arts education policy decisions. Participants will have an opportunity to network with each other to begin the process of advocacy organizing for their own communities.

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Evening Activities

Thursday, June 8: 5:30pm – 7:30pm

 

Artist Bazaar & Networking Event

We invite you to visit the Dance Cube which is located within the scenic PAHB at UMBC. Here you will find twelve native Maryland artists showcasing and selling their artwork alongside a cocktail reception.  The music is provided by Grammy board member and nominee DJ Thommy Davis.

Mr. Davis is one of the founding members of the Basement Boys who brought us club classics such as the Grammy nominated song Gypsy Woman by Crystal Waters, the top 100 ranking song Git the Hole and Mass Order’s Lift Every Voice. Come to network, support local artists and celebrate the arts.

 

MAIRJ Alumni Event

The event welcomes all members of the Maryland Arts Institute of Racial Justice cohort. Participants are invited to join facilitators Alysia Lee and Quanice Floyd for an engaging conversation focused on sustaining racial justice efforts within their organizations and across the arts sector.

Breakfast Hour: Friday

Friday, June 9: 9:00am – 10:00am

 

Coffee with the Council, Live!

Presenters: MSAC Staff

Join the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) staff and councilors for a live edition of Coffee with the Council, the current iteration of the popular series of virtual conversations that MSAC began offering at the beginning of the pandemic as a way for the arts community to connect and share. This hour-long facilitated conversation will be participant-driven, so attendees are encouraged to bring questions and ideas for MSAC as well as questions and examples of inspiring work to share. Participant goals include: 1) sharing, hearing, and giving input on ideas for MSAC staff and council; 2) removing barriers to accessing public funds and resources by getting answers to questions about MSAC opportunities; 3) making connections with artists, arts leaders, and community members with similar aims for the arts sector; 4) gaining inspiration from fellow artists and arts leaders. The session will be successful if participants leave with connections, information, and inspiration to inform and energize their work. (Scheduling preference – Friday, during breakfast)

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Session Time Block 5

Thursday, June 9: 10:00am – 11:00am

 

Marketing your art like “The Real Housewives”!

Presenter: Derek Pentz aka Zenobia Darling

Visual Artist and famed Drag performer Derek Pentz AKA Zenobia Darling hosts an informative lecture on how to utilize social media to promote the arts using branding and marketing theatrics employed on reality tv shows such as Bravo’s The Real Housewives as well as applying artist Allan Kaprow’s theater theories on Happenings to combine visual and performing art to great fine art marketing success.

**this session will be live-streamed

 

Paradigm Shifts in Arts Organizations

Presenter: Ariel Cavalcante Foster

Paradigm Shifts in Arts Organizations creates a shared workspace to elaborate and exchanges ideas on the integration of paradigm shifts through community building for art organizations. This round table discussion with facilitator, Ariel Foster, provides an open and vulnerable space for arts administrators, artists and community members to bring their questions, limitations and doubts about how to integrate inclusion and equity into their value systems. This is a space of admitting the unknown with support from the facilitator into opening new possibilities, new perspectives and moderating an open discussion to receive feedback from the group. Participants will leave with a greater understanding of what paradigm shifts are within the arts ecosystem and community engagement.

 

Blink to See”; Unlocking Creativity with Pareidolia

Presenter: Pat Bernstein and Laura Parkhurst

Have you ever seen images in the clouds or in nature? Do you subscribe to Thingface on Instagram? Our ability to see familiar shapes in unusual places is a scientific phenomenon called pareidolia. During this hands-on learning session participants will discover how to “turn on” this instinct, while brainstorming connections and ways to use the power of pareidolia with students. Participants will receive ready-made lesson plans that integrate pareidolia with Visual Art, English Language Arts, Social Studies, health & wellness practices and Social Emotional Learning (SEL). You will also walk away with your own photographic evidence of this exciting phenomenon! Access to a camera phone is required.

Session activities will include but are not limited to:

• Introduction to the pareidolia instinct through photographs taken by staff of the Baltimore Lab School while on a nature walk. Participants will then identify alternative images they may see.
• Pat Bernstein will share her experience of suddenly discovering this instinct and the expanded opportunities that followed.
• Hands-on experiential learning activity during which participants will be given time to explore the building and the grounds to discover and photograph images. As participants return to the teaching space volunteers will have the opportunity to cast their photos on the screen for group discussion and discovery.
• Brainstorming session in which Laura & Pat will share some examples of how pareidolia has been used in educational settings. Participants will then be asked to discuss and generate ideas/connections they see to their own artistic practice, schools, careers, etc.
• Exploration of ready-made lesson plans that participants will have digital access to after the session.

 

Building Your Brand with Purpose and Connecting to Community

Presenter: Kellyn Mahan-Naing

This session will explain the behind-the-scenes process in creating a brand strategy to help guide you or your organization to build a strong brand that you can leverage to connect to your community. In this session, we will walk through the strategic and creative process to finding your unique position and how to communicate that visually and through your marketing platforms such as social media, website, client success stories and more. The goal is for each participant to understand how to think critically about their artistry as a business or as an art organization and be able to feel confident in building a brand with purpose.

 

The Legal Requirements & Possibilities for Governance & HR practices: A guided conversation for Artists & Arts Organizations

Presenters: Maryland Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts Staff

Join MdVLA for an interactive inquiry around key legal requirements that affect artists and arts organizations: board governance, employment and staffing. This audience-led conversation may delve into structures of a nonprofit board, nonprofit bylaws, employment classifications, employee handbooks, and more. By dissecting what is legally required, we can work towards a collective understanding of what is possible for the arts sector. Takeaways are valuable for anyone in the arts ecosystem: from employers to workers, those associated with a for-profit or non-profit, and more.

 

Knowledge is Power: Using Data to Inform Arts Ed Advocacy (Part of the Arts Education Advocacy Track)

Presenters: Justin Caithaml, Rachel McGrain and Sheena Morrison

This deep dive will showcase the possibilities for using data presented through the National Arts Education Data Project, developed by Quadrant Research. The presentation will walk through how to navigate the platform (including seeing the amount and what kinds of arts education students around the state have access to) and how advocates can use this data in their advocacy. The presentation will also include anecdotal accounts by Baltimore City-based arts education advocacy organization Arts Every Day, demonstrating how school arts education data they have access to has been leveraged to push for increased arts education access.

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Session Time Block 6

Thursday, June 9: 11:15am – 12:15pm

 

MSAC Office Hours

Presenters: MSAC Staff

Based on feedback from the 2022 Summit and success with Regional Office Hours, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) staff propose holding Office Hours Thursday afternoon and throughout the day on Friday during the Summit where staff will be available for conversations with artists and arts organization leaders and staff . Participant goals include: 1) building relationships with individual MSAC staff members; 2) better understanding MSAC programs and opportunities; and 3) gaining skills navigating MSAC’s grants platform. MSAC will schedule staff members to be on hand throughout the afternoon on Thursday and during the day on Friday, providing a sign up sheet for Summit participants to schedule appointments with individual staff members as well as being available for walk-in appointments. During the Office Hours, Summit attendees can talk with staff about their needs, learn what MSAC programs offer, discuss application strategies, learn about professional development offerings, and discuss feedback from previous applications. Grants office staff will also be on hand to provide individualized technical support with Chromebooks available so that constituents can navigate MSAC’s website and SmartSimple with personalized assistance from a member of MSAC’s staff who can assist with setting up accounts and starting grant applications. The session will be successful if participants leave with stronger connections to MSAC, knowledge of its programs, and ideas of State resources available for supporting their work.

Office Hours will be offered throughout the Maryland Arts Summit. A complete listing of times can be found below:

• Session TIme Block 2: June 8 1:45pm – 2:45pm
• Session Time Block 3: June 8 3:00pm – 4:00pm
• Session Time Block 4: June 8 4:!5pm – 5:15pm
• Session Time Block 6: June 9 11:15am – 12:15pm

**MSAC staff are available for virtual appointments beyond the Summit’s timeframe and happily engage with Maryalnd’s art sector consultants throughout the year. We highly encourage attendees to visit the staff page of MSAC’s website to contact and schedule an appointment.

 

How to Protect Black Hair in Dance

Presenter: Anastasia Johnson

This session is meant to bring awareness to the complexity and beauty of black hair to educators, studio owners, and artistic directors etc. Meanwhile sharing the necessity of having projection over black hair for their black students within the art form of dance. This Case Study presentation will challenge the societal definitions of “neatness” and “professionalism.” The goal of this interactive informational session is for participants to leave with better knowledge about black hair and to accumulate tips on how to dismantle micro-aggressions and discrimination against black students in the dance community surrounding them. This session serves as an extension of an initiative called, Color Me (__), which is centered around allowing black folks to show up as they are without subscribing to whiteness while simultaneously upholding a positive representation of blackness.

**this session will be live-streamed

 

Operation Arts: Inspiring the Community through Public Art

Presenters: Daniel Collins, Chyna Fries and Renee Taylor

During this session, participants will have the opportunity to learn about Operation ARTS Foundation, how they collaborate with the community, and how they bring art to the public while amplifying community voices through storytelling. The organization will discuss how they developed their programming and how they manage their organization with the help of volunteers and interns. Their goal is to establish a connection with the community and provide resources to help with their projects. Following the presentation, participants are welcome to ask any questions and express interest in potential collaborations. In addition to the presentation, there will be an opportunity for participants to create 2 pieces of tiny art together. This artwork will be shared with the community through their Free Little Art Gallery program, and participants will also have the option to take their artwork home. Additionally, participants will have the opportunity to share their artwork and story in their documentary film about public art.

 

Mutual Aid: Constructing a Sustainable and Replicable Model to Support Ourselves

Presenters: Abdul Ali, Christina Delgado and Camille Kashaka

This is a crowd-sourced session facilitated by arts sector professionals including Abdul Ali (Arts Consultant), Christina Delgado (Community Organizer), and Camille Kashaka (Arts Manager) to discuss the merits, challenges, and feasibility of mutual aid funds to support artists in needs. Facilitators will provide an overview of current mutual aid trends. Participants will scrutinize current models and identify some of the unique needs of artists in Maryland. Together, we will

build a framework that can be implemented immediately. Participants will be able to connect following the working group with additional ideas. A survey will be sent out following the working group with the content of any additional ideas and the steps for moving the mutual aid fund forward.

 

Rallying Parents to your Cause (Part of the Arts Education Advocacy Track)

Presenters: Nichole Guinan, Rachel McGrain and Marla Posey-Moss

This deep dive will offer insights and the experience of organized parent groups. The presentation will provide strategies for parents who are passionate about a cause that serves their children and need guidance on how to navigate the challenges of rallying other parents to a cause on top of handling a full parental schedule. Participants will learn from the experience of a successful parent organizer about key tactics and strategies in mobilizing parents in their own communities. Participants will gain confidence in their own potential to become parent organizers through information and strategies provided.

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Lunch Time

Friday, June 9: 12:15pm – 1:15pm

Artist Bazaar

In case you missed yesterday, we invite you to visit the Dance Cube which is located within the scenic PAHB at UMBC. Here you will find twelve native Maryland artists showcasing and selling their artwork.

 

Closing Remarks and Performance

Friday, June 9: 1:15pm – 2:15pm

Closing remarks by Amanda Morell, Deputy Director of Maryland Citizens for the Arts will be followed by a special performance by Maryland Arts Summit presenter and Director of HALO, Inc, Shana Oshiro accompanied by Dr. Brian Bartoldus, pianist. Their set will include Adolphus Hailstork’s song cycle, Songs of Love and Justice, art songs set to text from sermons and speeches by Dr. King. She will also share some words and reflections on the subject of radical community connection and inclusion. The performance will conclude with an audience participatory experience of Sweet Honey in the Rock’s rendition of “Dream Variations” by Langston Hughes.

Welcome & Open

Thursday, June 8 9:30am – 11:00am

 

Session Title: “Championing the Arts: Advocacy and Policy Insights from Maryland’s Leaders”

Presenters: Comptroller Brooke Lierman, Senator Sarah Elfreth, Delegate Stephanie Smith, Nicholas Cohen

Kicking off the Maryland Arts Summit, join us for an insightful and engaging panel discussion featuring esteemed Maryland policymakers. This special opening session, hosted by Nicholas Cohen, Executive Director of Maryland Citizens for the Arts, brings together Comptroller Brooke Lierman, State Senator Sarah Elfreth, and State Delegate Stephanie Smith. These influential leaders will discuss the importance of the arts in Maryland and share their expertise on effectively approaching lawmakers, developing strategic advocacy initiatives, and understanding the role of policy in fostering a vibrant arts community. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn from Maryland’s top policymakers and elevate your advocacy efforts for the arts and the role of policy in supporting and enhancing our community. 

 

Session Time Block 1

Thursday, June 8: 11:15am – 12:15pm

 

Illuminated Histories of the Peale Museum

Presenters: Alexandra Garove and Dr. Diane Kuthy

This presentation will share our arts-based research of the Baltimore Peale Museum, its place in the broader context of natural history collections, related curricular resources designed through a critical museology lens, and our insights and enduring understandings due to this process. Our image-based presentation will begin with a storied history of the Peale Museum, its significance in museology history, and its current innovative mission, including inclusive programming and accessible design. We will then present our arts-based research, which began as an assignment for the graduate-level course Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Issues in Art Education and culminated in the exhibition Spark: New Light, commemorating the grand reopening of The Peale.

For this exhibition, we created Illuminated Histories of the Peale Museum for this exhibition, an interactive artwork incorporating mixed media and natural displayed on   a hand-crafted light table. The installation “illuminates” the history of the museum and aims to promote a critical discourse about how aesthetic objects are perceived, collected, and categorized. Like many facets of the Western historical canon, our understanding of museums is intrinsically connected to the history of colonialism and racism. Our research reexamines this history, amplifying previously unheard narratives. The session will culminate with a discussion of ideas and implications for museum gallery teaching and K-16 art classrooms.

Participant goals include accessing local and natural history for artistic and pedagogical inspiration, gaining ideas for fusing new technology with traditional exhibition practices, and best practices in accessible design and critical museology. Participants will also have access to curricular resources we developed as part of the project. Participants can evaluate their achievement of these goals through their understanding and use of curricular resources, incorporation of accessible technologies into their personal practices or classrooms, and deeper appreciation of museology. Knowing the history and understanding the origins of museology practices can enrich the experiences of teachers and students alike.

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Session Time Block 2

Thursday, June 8: 1:45pm – 2:45pm

 

Seven Principles to Prioritize and Value the Professional Teaching Artist

Presenters: Denise Jones, Jennifer Ridgway, Khaleshia Thorpe-Price, Devin Walker

Since the summer of 2020, when Maryland Teaching Artists joined the national call for the arts and culture sector, the philanthropic community, policymakers, schools, libraries, retirement homes, detention centers, and all community entities to recognize the importance and value of Teaching Artists as paid professionals, they along with their colleagues from across the mid-Atlantic began deliberating over individual past and present experiences. They examined their understanding of a professional and how identifying as one might shape and transform their collective future. They arrived at seven principles for Professional Teaching Artists.

Achieving an equitable, sustainable, and vibrant arts ecosystem for Teaching Artists requires employees and independent professionals to seek fair and livable wages and compensation consistent with other fields and all stakeholders (Teaching Artists and those that hire, train, and support TAs) to adopt the 7 principles. With WEE Nation Podcast as our host, Maryland TAMA members will share personal stories to illustrate the principles of excellence, professional respect, autonomy/choice, fair pay, self-worth, control, and prepared and responsible – sharing how the principles will advance solidarity and justice in the field of teaching artistry so that Teaching Artists can remain contributors to the vibrancy and rebuilding of Maryland communities and beyond with art learning and making at the heart of healing and transformation.

 

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Session Time Block 3

Thursday, June 8: 3:00pm – 4:00pm

 

The Audio Describer As Cast Member: Audio Description At Every Performance

Presenter: Joel Snyder, PhD

This presentation will demonstrate how audio description (AD) provides access to the arts for people who are blind and can most effectively be offered at *every performance* in the run of a performance.

AD makes visual images accessible for people who are blind or have low vision. Using words that are succinct, vivid, and imaginative, describers observe, select, and then succinctly and vividly use language to convey the visual image that is not fully accessible to a segment of the population—the American Foundation for the Blind notes that 31 million Americans are blind or “have difficulty seeing even with correction”.

In 1981, a formal audio description service—the world’s first—was begun under the leadership of a blind woman at The Metropolitan Washington Ear, a radio-reading service based in Washington, DC.

Radio reading services are heavily dependent on volunteers and The Ear’s audio description service was also structured around voluntary contributions of time and effort. With support from the D.C. Aid Association for the Blind, the Audio Description Project of the American Council of the Blind proposed a more expansive audio description arrangement for two productions again at Arena Stage: an audio describer attended rehearsals for each production, met with the stage director, actors, the designers (scenic, costumes, lighting, sound) and developed an audio description script throughout the three-week rehearsal period. The script was then available for that same describer to voice at every performance beginning with opening night and with, of course, an eye on stage action as minor changes in action could occur from performance to performance.

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Session Time Block 4

Thursday, June 8: 4:15pm – 5:15pm

 

Digital Branding and Career Sustainability

Presenters: Ceylon Mitchell, Ruby Lopez Harper, Joshua Jenkins

This workshop is designed to teach best practices and innovative approaches for individual artists to enhance their personal brand, grow their audiences with values-driven content, and leverage revenue streams in a 21st-century landscape. Takeaways include the essential elements of an artist statement, composing a visual identity for owned media, serving your community, diving into the nuts and bolts of a social media strategy, and exploring other digital strategies.

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Session Time Block 5

Thursday, June 9: 10:00am – 11:00am

 

Marketing your art like “The Real Housewives”!

Presenter: Derek Pentz aka Zenobia Darling

Visual Artist and famed Drag performer Derek Pentz AKA Zenobia Darling hosts an informative lecture on how to utilize social media to promote the arts using branding and marketing theatrics employed on reality tv shows such as Bravo’s The Real Housewives as well as applying artist Allan Kaprow’s theater theories on Happenings to combine visual and performing art to great fine art marketing success.

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Session Time Block 6

Thursday, June 9: 11:15am – 12:15pm

 

How to Protect Black Hair in Dance

Presenter: Anastasia Johnson

This session is meant to bring awareness to the complexity and beauty of black hair to educators, studio owners, and artistic directors etc. Meanwhile sharing the necessity of having projection over black hair for their black students within the art form of dance. This Case Study presentation will challenge the societal definitions of “neatness” and “professionalism.” The goal of this interactive informational session is for participants to leave with better knowledge about black hair and to accumulate tips on how to dismantle micro-aggressions and discrimination against black students in the dance community surrounding them. This session serves as an extension of an initiative called, Color Me (__), which is centered around allowing black folks to show up as they are without subscribing to whiteness while simultaneously upholding a positive representation of blackness.

______________________________________________________________________________

Closing Remarks and Performance

Friday, June 9: 1:15pm – 2:15pm

Closing remarks by Amanda Morell, Deputy Director of Maryland Citizens for the Arts will be followed by a special performance by Maryland Arts Summit presenter and Director of HALO, Inc, Shana Oshiro accompanied by Dr. Brian Bartoldus, pianist. Their set will include Adolphus Hailstork’s song cycle, Songs of Love and Justice, art songs set to text from sermons and speeches by Dr. King. She will also share some words and reflections on the subject of radical community connection and inclusion. The performance will conclude with an audience participatory experience of Sweet Honey in the Rock’s rendition of “Dream Variations” by Langston Hughes.

 

The Maryland Arts Summit partners have committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion in the planning and implementation of the Summit. We are aided by the work of the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, and the Creative States Coalition, as they have clarified and shared approaches to uncover cultural bias in the procedures and policies of state arts organizations.

In the spirit of partnership and communal creativity, the Summit is designed to:

• engage organizations and individuals representative of the varying backgrounds and disciplines of the Maryland arts communities
• encourage submissions that do not fall under the suggested topics to yield a greater variety of professional development opportunities
• invite members of the Maryland arts community from all genre backgrounds and cultural practices to participate
• eliminate biases that may be found in any part of the planning and implementation process
• acknowledge positions of privilege while questioning practices, shifting paradigms of status quo arts activities, and taking more risks
• expand deliberations to include criteria beyond current conventions or Western traditions.

We recognize that this is an ongoing effort. We are committed to listening to feedback, both throughout the process and after the Maryland Arts Summit, to inform subsequent programming.