Professional Development Scholarships

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2016 Professional Development Scholarships
Apply by September 30

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The Visit Baltimore Foundation wants to fund your continuing education and empower our tourism community!

Professional Development Scholarships up to $2,000 each are available. Individuals looking to enter and/or currently working within Baltimore’s meetings and tourism industry and pursing any number of special certification(s), product knowledge and/or professional training are encouraged to apply. Eligible activities and programs include (but are not limited to):

  • American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI) Professional Certification Programs
  • Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) or Certificate in Meeting Management (CMM)
  • National Restaurant Association Professional Certification Programs (ManageFirst, ServSafe)
  • Other relevant continuing education courses or dedicated job-focused training in Business, Culinary, Hospitality, Hotel, Tourism or Non-Profit Management pending sufficient clarification and connection to Baltimore’s meetings and tourism industry in the application form.

Scholarship dollars are also available for employees of Baltimore’s non-profit cultural/heritage tourism community to attend educational conferences and/or workshopsas long as that individuals’ participation can be demonstrated as strengthening the capacity of local organizations to attract and serve visitors.Additional eligibility restrictions may apply.

For more information including an application visit baltimore.org/foundation.

All applications must be postmarked by September 30, 2016

2016 OPEN STUDIO TOUR ARTIST HIGHLIGHT: LYNDIE VANTINE

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A brief interview with 2016 Open Studio Tour artist: Lyndie Vantine

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Sluice by Lyndie Vantine

Can you tell us a little bit about the work that you do in your studio?

Every artist who approaches the genre of landscape – whether rural or urban – trods a well-worn path of traditional motifs and solutions by many artists who have created before her. By creating abstracted landscapes that exist somewhere between the illustrative and the sculptural, I try to push headlong into an overexposed genre in an attempt to discover something new.
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Heal by Lyndie Vantine

What drew you to the medium(s) that you are currently working with?
I’ve long held a fascination with how painting could leave the 2-D surface and create something “more physical” by inclusion of the third dimension. The form of my works allow me to explore many types of “scapes.”
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Eventide by Lyndie Vantine

What is something that you think is unique about your studio or practice?

I build all of my understructures and do the shaped canvas work myself.

What is one thing you love about being an artist in Baltimore?

It mirrors the individualistic nature of the neighborhoods of the city. There are “pockets” of artists, all ages, styles, galleries, etc., each contributing their own unique ideas to the art scene whole. Love the possibility in that idea.
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Connections by Lyndie Vantine

What are you most excited about for this year’s Open Studio Tour?

I missed it last year while on a trip to New Mexico. Mostly love the direct interaction with people who come to the studio, conversation, new connections, new information.

Is there anything else you would like to add?
Just a thank you to School 33 for continuing to coordinate this event. It is a great opportunity to artists and visitors alike.
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Untitled 2 by Lyndie Vantine

Thanks, Lyndie!

You can check out Lyndie Vantine’s studio in the Cork Factory, located at 302 E Federal St. Her studio will be open on both Saturday & Sunday (Oct. 8 & 9) between 10am-6pm.

Click Here To View Lyndie Vantine’s Website

Aug 2016 2016 OPEN STUDIO TOUR ARTIST HIGHLIGHT: BRUCE MCKAIG

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A brief interview with 2016 Open Studio Tour artist: Bruce McKaig

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Bruce McKaig’s studio

Can you tell us a little bit about the work that you do in your studio?
My work has always been process driven, initially exploring material qualities: pouring things on to photo paper, successive doses of light, hand coloring, intervening as much as possible. In my forties, I almost revisited teenage thoughts of being a photojournalist when I combined pinhole and time-lapse techniques to photograph people doing what they do, mostly working. That exploration produced images, objects, and projections increasingly channeled through public art projects. As part of my first public art project in 2001, I produced 1000 DVDs and handed them out on the streets. As my art became increasingly public art, ever process driven, I started to directly examine the processes of public art and subsequently, finance and economics. I have been a visual artist for nearly forty years, and have a Masters degree from Georgetown University in international affairs with a concentration in economics.
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Artwork by Bruce McKaig

What drew you to the medium(s) that you are currently working with?
Photography started for me as a child on Sunday afternoons between the Wonderful World of Disney and family vacation slides. The slides were accompanied with stories and eventually they replaced my memories. I now remember being in a living room with screen, shag carpeting and a milkshake more than ever being at Hoover Dam or on a farm in Alabama. Between Disney and family vacation photos, I grew up with ample examples of how well photography makes up it’s own reality.

What is something that you think is unique about your studio or practice?
Building on nearly forty years of exploring the visual arts, I have most recently turned to socioeconomic issues as the primary subject matter for the works. My images, videos, participatory sculptures and performances now examine issues of labor, income inequality, education, incarceration. I am a 2016 Fellow in the New Economy Maryland program (Institute for Policy Studies) where I research on funding practices and policies in the arts. In addition, I have been awarded the 2016 Engagement Grant Award (Crusade for Art) to build a barter network in Baltimore amongst artists and tradespeople.
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Artwork by Bruce McKaig

What is one thing you love about being an artist in Baltimore?
I moved to Baltimore summer 2015, and continue to appreciate how welcoming and diverse the city is to new comers. In addition to the rich visual and performing arts (music!), Baltimore explores a number of alternative models to bring art and people together, which aligns well with my research on funding practices in the arts.
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Artwork by Bruce McKaig

What are you most excited about for this year’s Open Studio Tour?
As well as meeting new people and introducing them to my studio and practice, I am most excited to use the open studio days to share details about the barter network with artists and workers that I am building thanks to the Engagement Grant award, hoping to connect with people who would like to participate.
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Artwork by Bruce McKaig

You can check out Bruce McKaig’s studio at Artists’ Housing Inc.! His studio will be open on October 8 10am-6pm and October 9 10am-3pm.
Click Here To View Bruce McKaig’s Website

2016 MASOB Artist Travel Prize recipient announced

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The Municipal Art Society of Baltimore City and the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts are happy to announce the recipient of the first annual Municipal Art Society of Baltimore City Artist Travel Prize, Stephen Towns. Stephen was selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants and with this $6000 award will take his first trip abroad to Ghana and Senegal to visit important historical sites that mark the transatlantic slave trade. Images and research from this trip will inform a future body of work exploring the history of colonialism and its effects on modern society.

Currently, based out of Baltimore, Maryland, visual artist Stephen Towns was raised in Lincolnville, South Carolina, a small town outside of Charleston.  Towns earned a BFA in Studio Art from the University of South Carolina and works at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).  Working primarily in oil, acrylic, and fiber, Towns draws much of his visual inspiration from Medieval altarpieces, Impressionist paintings and wax cloth prints.  His work has been exhibited at Gallery CA, Platform Gallery, Hood College,  Galerie Myrtis and is in the collection of the City of Charlestown, South Carolina.

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About his work, Stephen says “The portraits I create are not only glimpses of the sitters; they are also a reflection of myself and mirror my struggle to attain a sense of self-knowledge, self-worth and spirituality beyond the Christian values that are so often idealized in African-American culture.”

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Call for Artists: Creating Connections

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MARYLAND ART PLACE ANNOUNCES CALL FOR ENTRY IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CYBERWIRE:  “CREATING CONNECTIONS”

Maryland Art Place (MAP), in partnership with The CyberWire is pleased to announce an open ‘Call for Entry’. An extension of MAP’s annual IMPRINT project, MAP is working with The CyberWire to offer “CREATING CONNECTIONS”, a commission and print replication project.  The image of that artwork will be reproduced in a limited edition and presented to the guests of The CyberWire’s 3rd Annual Women in Cyber Security reception on September 27, 2016.  Applications are due Saturday, August 27, 2016

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University of Maryland, Baltimore, Health Science III Building Request for Qualifications

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The Maryland State Arts Council and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) are now accepting applications for the Health Sciences Facility III public art project. Artists residing in the United States are eligible to apply. The artwork will be a three-dimensional sculpture sited on the exterior public plaza of the Health Sciences Facility III on the downtown UMB campus, located adjacent to the schools of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy. Project completion date: September 2017. Up to four semi-finalist artists or artist teams will be selected for proposal development and receive a $2000 honorarium. One artist or artist team will be selected. Total project budget: $400,000.
Request for Qualifications deadline: Wednesday, September 14, 2016, NOON EDT. For project guidelines and application instructions click here. To apply online: CaFÉ,www.callforentry.org
For project questions: Liesel Fenner, Public Art Program Director, Maryland State Arts Council,liesel.fenner@maryland.gov. Technical questions related to CaFÉ: https://www.callforentry.org/cafehelp.phtml orcafe@westaf.org.

2016 Open Studio Tour Artist Highlight: Ashley Milburn

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A brief interview with 2016 Open Studio Tour artist: Ashley Milburn
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Sun Horse by Ashley Milburn

What is something that you think is unique about your studio or practice?
My studio has door sized windows overlooking our garden.

Can you tell us a little bit about the work that you do in your studio?
My studio is a work/love space (More work, than live). It’s not a mini-gallery, more example of where my focus is, was, will be.

Ashley_Milburn-morning_medow1Morning Meadow by Ashley Milburn

What drew you to the medium(s) that you are currently working with?
The horse is a visual for power and gentleness. It is exceptional. My work seeks to explore the nature of this power. The works are not meant to be portraits of the horse. Artists have been exploring the horse since the cave paintings in France. My work is heavily influenced by the Chinese and Japanese Sume painting techniques. At the same time, I’ve tried to push through to a contemporary approach. The use of wet paper towel as a brush does several things; it keeps me from being too precious with it, it mimics well the large Japanese brush stroke, and restricts the traditional mindset one uses when approaching the work.I want to capture more of the “spirit” of horse. I’ve tried to push past what I know about painting the horse to seek more. For me, its power lays within its torso and head; the intellect and the heart.

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Morning by Ashley Milburn

What is one thing you love about being an artist in Baltimore?
In Baltimore, all things are possible.

What are you most excited about for this year’s Open Studio Tour?
Showing my new work and getting feedback.
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Steel Horse by Ashley Milburn

 

Be sure to stop by her studio (2B) in the Artist Housing, Inc. building (1440 East Baltimore St.), which will be open on both October 8 & 9 from 10am-3pm.
Click Here To View Ashley Milburn’s Website