Maryland Arts Summit- Virtual Offerings

Tuesday, June 16th

Opening Plenary – 9:00 am – 10:00 am

The Opening Plenary features Lindsey Baker, Steven Skerritt-Davis, Kisha Mason, and Rob Forloney, leaders at the forefront of Maryland’s arts and humanities sectors.

This engaging keynote conversation will examine the opportunities, challenges, and collective action needed to ensure the arts and humanities continue to thrive. Exploring why these fields are connected and how stronger collaboration can amplify their impact on communities across the state.

Maryland continues to rank among the nation’s most vibrant arts communities, sustained investment, advocacy, and partnership are more important than ever. This panel is the perfect way to launch the Maryland Arts Summit’s two day summit.

Intention not Perfection: Disability Justice and Inclusive Practice in the Arts

Presenters: Emily Davidson, Levi Lewis & Deborah Mason

Description: This panel brings together artists, educators, youth voices, and institutional leaders to explore how arts organizations can move beyond performative accessibility toward sustained, anti-ableist practice grounded in lived experience. Rooted in the work of Baltimore-based organizations, this session centers disability justice as an essential-not supplemental- framework for programming, exhibitions, and community engagement. Panelists will share real examples from their work across museums, community arts spaces, and youth media programs, highlighting both successful strategies and ongoing challenges. The conversation will address: How “access” is often treated as an afterthought-and how to shift it to a core value; Building an organizational culture that resists ableism, even within constraints (time, staffing, funding); Collaborating with disabled artists, youth, and consultants as co-creators, not just participants; Rethinking access holistically: language, marketing, physical space, scheduling, hybrid access, captioning, and ASL; Developing new standards of practice that reflect accountability, transparency, and care. Panelists will emphasize the importance of lived experience, highlighting how artists and community members directly impacted by accessibility barriers must be included in planning, decision-making, and evaluation processes. The session will also acknowledge real institutional limitations, such as capacity and funding, while encouraging actionable, incremental change rooted in intention rather than perfection.

Profiles in Artivism: Amy Sherald, Kara Walker and Faith Ringgold

Presenter: Eileen Cave

Description: Explore these dynamic pioneering Black women artists, and learn how they address race, gender and American history, yet they differ significantly in medium and tone. Their thematic focus, narrative power and cultural impact are integrated with the social justice anchors of identity, diversity, justice and action. Participants will apply their understanding of artivism, by creating their own art project inspired by these artists. Art supplies and an arts integration lesson plan seed will also be provided.

Stories That Matter: The Case for Independent Media Today

Presenters: Rob Lee & Camille Kashaka

Description: Rob Lee, host of the The Truth In This Art podcast, has made an extensive archive of podcasts focusing on stories that matter. In a world of trends and algorithms, Rob Lee has maintained a focus on authentic, independent storytelling. Arts administrator Camille Kashaka will interview Rob Lee to share insights on why independent media matters and make the case to keep storytelling authentic and why our real stories matter.

Creative Bridges: Building Intergenerational Partnerships Between Emerging and Legacy Artists of all Ages

Presenters: Stacey Cruise & Kadeisha Stothart

Description: “When age diverse teams collaborate intentionally, they share a wider range of knowledge, skills, and networks.” (Harvard Business Review, 2022). Yet many arts communities still operate in generational silos, limiting opportunities for mentorship, collaboration, and shared learning.

This interactive workshop explores how intentional partnerships between emerging artists and legacy creatives can strengthen artistic practice and sustain vibrant creative communities. The session draws on the work of Tribe 55+, a collective of 68 creative Black women artists and writers representing five Maryland counties. Tribeswomen are engaged in active, creative journeys, ranging from established professional artists to those embracing artistic practice later in life.

Tribe 55+ recently collaborated with the Joshua Johnson Council and the Baltimore Museum of Art on the intergenerational Greyscale Workshop in connection with Amy Sherald’s American Sublime exhibition. Building on that experience, Tribe 55+ is launching a new initiative connecting 55+ artists with college visual and literary artists. A visual art major will cofacilitate the session, modeling intergenerational collaboration while participants explore strategies for mentorship, creative exchange, and community building.

The initiative highlights the cultural leadership of Black women artists while creating meaningful pathways for emerging artists to learn from them.

Creating Space: Addressing Equity in Classical Music through Sampling & Performance

Presenter: Maestra Chameleon

Description: Serving as an extension of her Master’s thesis, Maestra Chameleon will present to the Maryland arts community a mini lecture-performance exploring equity issues in classical music. She will discuss how she identified these issues from her own pre-professional experience through to her current work as a teaching artist. Maestra will then demonstrate how she is addressing them through her artistic process: using DJing and music production to reframe classical music in the modern musical world. Participants are invited to listen, self-reflect, and create actionable goals within their own professions for confronting classical music inequity.

Wednesday, June 17th

Coffee with the Council

Presenters: MSAC Staff

Description: Join the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC), the state’s largest arts funding organization, for Coffee with the Council, an informal group conversation bringing the state’s arts community together to connect and share. This conversation will be facilitated by the MSAC team and driven by participant inquiry, so attendees are encouraged to bring their questions, ideas and examples of inspiring work.

The Resort Residency Advantage: Leveraging Guest Relationships for Artistic Growth

Presenters: Amanda Haymans, Claire Hardy & Donald Smith

Description: Resort-based Artist‑in‑Residence (AiR) programs offer artists something uniquely powerful: direct, sustained access to guests who often have the resources, influence, networks, and enthusiasm to propel an artist’s career forward. Unlike traditional residencies, resorts bring artists into contact with individuals who may be collectors, executives, arts supporters, philanthropists, or cultural decision-makers—all within a relaxed and naturally conversational environment.

Using the lens of a resort AiR program, we will examine how guest interactions can serve as pivotal professional touchpoints—opening doors to exhibitions, commissions, collaborations, mentorship, and long-term patron relationships. The session will demystify how artists can strategically engage with resort guests, present their work with impact, and cultivate supportive relationships that extend far beyond the residency stay. We’ll also discuss best practices for resorts in designing guest facing residency experiences—open studios, in lobby demonstrations, gallery talks, and personalized encounters—that meaningfully connect guests to artists’ processes and careers.

Participants will leave with a toolkit for intentionally using hospitality-based residency environments as career accelerators, driven not by community programming, but by high value guest engagement and professional relationship development.

Positioning your brand for story publication

Presenters: Ceylon Mitchell & Allison Leigh Eatough

Description: To gain media attention, you must “serve” rather than “sell” by providing journalists, publishers, and editors with a timely, relevant, concise, unique, and high-value story angle. Research  the right people, craft a compelling pitch, build relationships and credibility with a professional portfolio or media Kit, and master the follow-up. In this panel, participants will learn best practices from experienced marketing and public relations experts, including the University of Maryland Associate Director of Communications and a City Lifestyle Magazine Director of Photography.

Artist Incubator Presentation

Presenters: Nicholas Cohen, Debbie Ellinghaus, Paula Saneaux, Representatives from MSAC

Description: Join this session for a debrief from the Arts Incubator Workgroup, created by the Maryland General Assembly in 2023 and appointed by Governor Moore to explore ways to better support individual artists across Maryland. You’ll hear how the workgroup came to be, along with reflections from two participants about their experience being appointed and serving on the workgroup over the past two years.

The group wrapped up its work in 2025 with the submission of a final report to the General Assembly. During the session, we’ll share an overview of key findings and recommendations for future research, potential legislation, and considerations for the Maryland State Arts Council. Anyone interested in artists’ access to fair wages, affordable housing, and cross-sector resources is encouraged to attend, and there will be plenty of time for questions.

The Epiphany Project

Presenter: Kendall Arin

Description: This session will open with an excerpt from Epiphany, featuring real-life stories of individuals whose lives were transformed by art during moments of vulnerability. This reading will lead into a reflective discussion on the role and impact of the arts in participants’ own lives. By the end of the session, participants will collaboratively create a script that weaves together their shared stories and experiences, highlighting the transformative power of the arts.