A Few Minutes with Sam Hanson, Farmers’ Market & Bazaar Manager for BOPA

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1. What does a typical day look like for you as the Farmers’ Market & Bazaar Manager?

A typical day for me at the market starts out in the morning when I wake up. It’s about 4am and still dark out. I ride my bike down from Charles Village and survey the market grounds. I do a few hellos to the vendors who arrive prior to 5am and I start setting up a variety of tables and tents. As we get closer to the 7am start time, more and more vendors and programming partners start to arrive. After the market officially opens, I’m all over the place—answering questions at the Welcome Tent, getting ingredients for the cooking demos and fielding questions from vendors. On occasion, I’ll get to step back and see the diverse and cheery crowd nomming on food under an urban overpass and it really feels worth every bit of effort.

2. What is your background; what led you to BOPA?

My background is pretty eclectic and my path to BOPA has been a twisting one. Highlights include: skipping college, working for a bicycle company testing new products, foraging mushrooms for restaurants, building fighting robots for competition and running social media for a small urban fishing team. I was brought in to the BOPA fold by Sandy Lawler, the former market manager, as a market assistant. She has been my mentor and I owe her a lot. Thanks, Sandy!

3. Tell me one of your favorite things about the Baltimore Farmers’ Market & Bazaar?

This one is easy, the food. I love watching the progression of the seasons as it is reflected in the produce available at the market. I get very excited when ramps and asparagus greet us in the early spring, or seeing the first truckload of corn in the summer, or when kabocha squash and its pumpkin cousins finally arrive in the fall. Don’t get me wrong, the people are great, but you can’t eat them, so…

4. What are some of the challenges you face in this role?

Sometimes the market feels like a very intricate puzzle—when you solve one issue, two more pop up. Many groups and individuals all have their own concept of what is ideal and my job is to find the balance that leads to the greatest success for all. I love puzzles and I love challenges, so figuring out how best to bring 100+ different vendors together in a parking lot under the overpass in downtown Baltimore week after week is right up my alley.

5. In addition to the Farmers’ Market & Bazaar, are there other projects you work on at BOPA?

Well prior to becoming the manager of the market, I worked as a special events coordinator. It was a varied role at BOPA, which I really enjoyed. It touched many aspects of food and music and I was fortunate enough to work firsthand with amazing chefs, musicians and authors. I was responsible for fireworks displays, band battles, parade divisions and cooking competitions. It was a cool job and BOPA does cool things.

6. What is something people don’t know about the Farmers’ Market & Bazaar?

Based on the majority of the questions we receive at the Welcome Tent at the market, it is where the bathrooms are located. They are located on the southernmost part of the market by Saratoga Street and the Migue’s Mini Donut stand.

2019 MECU Neighborhood Grants Applications open

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APPLICATION OPENS THURSDAY, AUGUST 16 FOR

MECU NEIGHBORHOOD EVENT GRANTS FOR 2019

New This Year – Eligible Groups Can Receive Up To $5,000

 

The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) announces the application for MECU Neighborhood Event Grants for 2019. The program awards cash grants to Baltimore City non-profit neighborhood associations and community-based organizations for the purpose of producing a free-to-the-public event for the community and residents they currently serve. Special must focus on at least one of the following area: education, arts and culture, or community development. New this year, with additional support from MECU, eligible groups can receive up to $5,000. Applications will be available starting Thursday, August 16, 2018atwww.promotionandarts.org. The deadline for submissions is Sunday, October 7, 2018. The MECU Neighborhood Event Grants program is administered by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts and supported by presenting sponsor MECU, Baltimore’s Credit Union, in addition to the Baltimore City Department of Housing & Community Development (DHCD).

“We are proud to support the MECU Neighborhood Event Grants program for the seventh straight year,” said MECU President and CEO John Hamilton. “By increasing the maximum dollar amount, we’re excited to see even larger community events in the coming year.”

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Call for Artists: MASB Artist Travel Grant

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“Dollar General, Olney, Illinois” by Nate Larson, 2017 MASB Artist Travel Prize Recipient

The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) is proud to announce the third edition of the Municipal Art Society of Baltimore City Artist Travel Prize, sponsored by the Municipal Art Society of Baltimore City (MASB). The Municipal Art Society of Baltimore was founded in 1899 as part of the City Beautiful movement. It is one of only two remaining societies to be operating under its original charter “to provide sculptural and pictorial decoration and ornaments for the public buildings, streets and open spaces in the City of Baltimore, and to help generally beautify the City.” Artistic contributions to the City span more than one hundred years. In 2016 the Society embarks on a path to provide new opportunities to Baltimore artists and art places within the City.

This prize will award $6,000 to a visual artist or visual artist collaborators, living and working in Baltimore City. Successful proposals will be selected from submissions that clearly articulate the artist’s reason for travel and how it relates to their work, along with support materials. The $6,000 prize is intended to function as funding for travel essential to an artist’s studio practice that an artist may not otherwise be able to afford.

Click here to apply. 

Estimated Timeline

  • Thursday, August 2, 2018: Call for entries released
  • Friday, September 14, 2018: Application deadline
  • October 2018: recipient of MASB Artist Travel Prize announced
  • 2019-2020: Public presentation of travel by selected artist

For more information about the Travel Prize contact: Lou Joseph at 443-263-4339 or ljoseph@promotionandarts.org.

For more information about the Municipal Art Society of Baltimore City, contact: Peter Doo at petercdoo@gmail.com.  

The Baltimore Office of Promotion &The Arts is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization which serves as Baltimore City’s arts council, film office, and events agency. By producing large-scale events such as Light City, Artscape and the Baltimore Book Festival, and providing funding and support to artists, arts programs and organizations across the city, BOPA’s goal is to make Baltimore a more vibrant and creative city.

For more information on the Municipal Art Society of Baltimore City Artist Travel Prize, call 410-752-8632.

Call for Artists: Pratt Library Mural

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In an effort to brighten, beautify and enhance visibility of Enoch Pratt Free Library’s Washington Village Branch, Baltimore-based artists and designers are invited to submit a proposal.

No specific subject matter is required and all complete proposals will be reviewed. The Pratt does request that the word library appears on the Southern-most end of the wall. The final project may be a painted mural, printed or other media that appropriately fills the space. The library is open to a variety of materials. This submission should include every aspect of the design and install process. To learn more about the library, its patrons and those in the community, please attend the info session.

Artists may also submit questions to smccann@prattlibrary.org, questions should be submitted by August 9th for answer at the info session.

● Submissions due by August 17th
● Notification of winning design by September 15, 2018
● Work to commence September 2018

Visit the link for the full RFP: http://www.prattlibrary.org/uploadedFiles/www/about/Washington%20Village%20RFP.pdf

Transformative Art Prize Mural Dedication – Amy Sherald

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The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) dedicates a Transformative Art Prize project by renowned artist Amy Sherald, in partnership with Station North Arts & Entertainment District. A large-scale version of the artist’s oil on canvas painting, “Equilibrium,” will be installed at Stavros Niarchos Foundation Parkway Theatre, 5 W. North Ave., Baltimore, MD 21201, situated at the geographic center of the city. After the dedication, guests are invited to a brief reception at the Parkway. 

The original painting is in the permanent collection of the Embassy of the United States, Dakar, Senegal. Originally awarded in 2014, the Transformative Art Prize project is managed by BOPA and supported by Baltimore City Department of Housing & Community Development, Station North Arts & Entertainment District and Charles North Community Association. PNC Bank was a dedicated supporter of this project in 2014.  

About Amy Sherald:
Amy Sherald (American, b. Columbus, GA 1973, lives and works in Baltimore, MD) received her MFA in painting from Maryland Institute College of Art (2004) and BA in painting from Clark-Atlanta University (1997), and was a Spelman College International Artist-in-Residence in Portobelo, Panama (1997). Known for her stylized portraits of African Americans, in 2016, Sherald was the first woman to win the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery’s Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition; an accompanying exhibition, “The Outwin 2016,” was on tour through August 2018. In February 2018, Sherald unveiled her official portrait of Former First Lady Michelle Obama, commissioned for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. Sherald has had solo shows at venues including Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago, IL (2016); Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Baltimore, MD (2013); and University of North Carolina, Sonja Haynes Stone Center, Chapel Hill, NC (2011). A solo exhibition of new and recent works first opened at Contemporary Art Museum, St Louis, MO in May 2018 and will travel to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AK, and Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA. Recent group exhibitions include “Southern Accent,” Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC (2016), which traveled to Speed Museum of Art, Louisville, KY (2017), and “Face to Face: Los Angeles Collects Portraiture,” California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2017). Residencies include Odd Nerdrum Private Study, Larvik, Norway (2005); Tong Xion Art Center, Beijing, China (2008); Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD (2016); and the Joan Mitchell Foundation, New Orleans, LA (2017). Sherald’s work is held in the public collections of the Embassy of the United States, Dakar, Senegal; the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; The Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; and Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, NC. Sherald is represented by Hauser & Wirth, New York.

Call for Artists: Dusk & Dawn

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Maryland Artists, Performers, Writers!
 
Are you or a loved one affected by a mental illness or substance use disorder? Does your art explore these topics in any way, shape, or form, or offer a path for healing in regards to these sorts of hardships? Do you seek a performance or exhibition opportunity to share your art and/or story on these topics?
 
Then this may be for YOU.
 
The New Day Campaign is an initiative led by artist, curator, and organizer Peter Bruun that is dedicated to using arts programming and public engagement to challenge stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness and substance use, making the world a more healing place. In 2018 and 2019, the New Day Campaign is presenting a number of exhibitions and events throughout Maryland as part of its Dusk & Dawn series, aimed at awakening hope and healing for those hurting from behavioral health challenges.
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Call for Artists: Paint the Town (Bethesda)

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The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is currently seeking proposals for a large scale mural on the Norfolk Avenue facade of the Triangle Towers apartment building at 4853 Cordell Avenue in Bethesda, MD.
 
The wall designated for the public mural is approximately 70 feet wide and 100 feet tall. A $50,000 stipend will be provided to the selected artist to pay for supplies and the artist’s time. Necessary lifts and scaffolding will be provided and associated fees will not be the responsibility of the selected artist.
 
Artists must be 18 years of age or older and be residents of Washington, D.C., Maryland or Virginia to apply. Artists must also have prior experience with the design and installation of large scale murals and are asked to submit a detailed, site-specific proposal for the Triangle Towers Mural. The deadline to apply is September 1, 2018.
 
Special thanks to our partners Southern Management and the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission for making this new public art project in downtown Bethesda possible.