Author Archives: Bopa Communications

Artists and arts organizations are critical to Baltimore’s culture and economy and have been significantly impacted by the rapidly evolving Coronavirus pandemic. In response, the Bromo Arts and Entertainment District will assist artists from varying creative industries with financial support. The Bromo Artist Relief Fund is specifically for artists whose place of business and/or home is located within the geography of the Bromo District.

Applications open on April 3rd and will close on Friday, April 17th at 5pm. Grants will be awarded the week of April 27th. Twenty $500 grants will be made available to artists working in all disciplines. Mimicking the newly launched “Boston Relief Fund”, giving parameters are as follows:

The fund will be open for but not limited to the following uses:

Recouping financial losses due to cancelled events. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Performances in all performing arts disciplines
• Readings, panels, and speaking opportunities

Reimbursement for travel expenses related to creative work that you paid for yourself. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Attending conferences and convenings that have been cancelled
• Artist Residencies
• Touring

Offsetting loss of income for teaching artists who could not teach during this time because of cancelled classes and school closures

Support for artists working full or part-time in the service industry who have lost supplemental income used to support their creative practices.

Applications will be reviewed to ensure that the applicant meets the eligibility requirements. If eligible, applicants will receive a number that enters them into the grant lottery. Awardees will then be chosen through a randomized selection process. All awardees and applicants will receive notification from the Bromo Arts District organization the week of April 27th.

Please click here to view current Bromo District boundaries.

APPLICATIONS OPEN

This grant program is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council and The City of Baltimore.

To support artists during the COVID-19 crisis, a coalition of national arts grantmakers have come together to create an emergency initiative to offer financial and informational resources to artists across the United States.

Artist Relief will distribute $5,000 grants to artists facing dire financial emergencies due to COVID-19; serve as an ongoing informational resource; and co-launch the COVID-19 Impact Survey for Artists and Creative Workers,designed by Americans for the Arts,to better identify and address the needs of artists.

To be eligible for a relief grant, applicants must be:

• Practicing artists able to demonstrate a sustained commitment to their work, careers, and a public audience;
• Experiencing dire financial emergencies due to the COVID-19 pandemic;
• 21 years of age or older;
• Able to receive taxable income in the U.S. (e.g. citizen, green card holder, and/or permanent resident who can provide a W9 and SSN or ITIN);
• Residing and working in the U.S. for the last two years;
• Not a full-time employee, board member, director, officer, or immediate family member of any of the coalition partners;
• Not previously awarded a relief grant from this fund.

Please note that the Artist Relief coalition partners will make final eligibility determinations as needed. Learn more by reviewing this FAQ. To apply, click here. 

Please visit www.artistrelief.org for more information.

Posted April 3, 2020 by Maryland State Arts Council

https://www.msac.org/press-release/msac-opens-emergency-grants-arts-organizations-and-independent-artists

In response to the COVID-19 State of Emergency, the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) has created special grant opportunities that provide emergency funding to arts organizations and artists in Maryland as they adjust to losses sustained because of programming, operations, and events that have been modified or cancelled. Full guidelines and rubrics are available here. 

Please note:

• For Organizations: to be eligible for MSAC Emergency Grants, the organization must submit proof of ineligibility or proof that an application has been approved or declined for one of the following:
  • US Small Business Association Disaster Relief Loan
  • Maryland Small Business COVID-19 Emergency Relief Loan Fund 
  • Maryland Small Business COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grant Fund
• For Independent Artists: to be eligible for MSAC Emergency Grants, the artist must submit proof of ineligibility for Unemployment Insurance (UI) or proof that they have either exhausted UI benefits, (including Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance) or that UI benefits do not fully cover losses sustained as a result of the Governor’s declared State of Emergency in relationship to COVID-19. 

 Due to limited funding, grant requests will be prioritized to assist artists and organizations whose needs cannot be met through funding from other relief sources. To help with this process, applicants will be asked to upload evidence that their funding requests from the State and Federal relief sources above have been accepted, denied, or deemed ineligible. For specific questions about your artistic practice or organizations, please contact the relevant MSAC program director via our staff page. 

Applying for a Grant

Grant applications are available to arts organizations and independent artists through Smart Simple. Applications will be reviewed upon submission, and Emergency Grants will be awarded throughout the fiscal year until allocated funding is depleted. Note that the timeline between approval and payment may be 90-days.

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain
We all have sorrow 
But if we are wise 
We know that there's always tomorrow
Lean on me, when you're not strong 
And I'll be your friend 
I'll help you carry on 
For it won't be long 
'Til I'm gonna need 
Somebody to lean on
From Lean On Me by Bill Withers 

If there was ever a time when we need to lean on each other, it is now. Though we are physically apart for safety, together we are part of a unique experience that if we go it alone will weaken us—physically, mentally and artistically.

As this pandemic divisively plays out, the BOPA team is leaning into our role as Baltimore’s Arts Council, Film Office and Events Producer. Though we can’t gather like we did at Brilliant Baltimore in November and we’re hoping to for Artscape in July, we will continue to do all we can to strengthen the arts and community in Baltimore and beyond.

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Creative Conversations are discipline-specific virtual gatherings in response to COVID-19, presented by the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC). More information, including topics and dates, is available below and on MSAC website.

Last month, Debbie D. Dorsey, BOPA’s Director of the Baltimore Film Office, traveled to Park City, Utah to support Baltimore’s presence at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. The annual film festival is highly anticipated as one of the biggest gatherings of filmmakers and audiences, with many films that launch at Sundance going on to gain critical acclaim worldwide.

This year’s festival featured screenings of narratives, documentaries, and shorts from all over the world, including Sweden, Iran, Mexico, Germany, and more. BOPA is proud to report that Baltimore was also present among this international roundup of films and storytellers.

“Baltimore was well represented at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival,” says Dorsey, fresh off of her first trip to Park City for the festival. Dorsey was able to attend screenings, meet with cast and crew, and see Baltimore talent shine at Sundance.

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1.       As the Visual Arts Specialist, what is your position within the Arts Council at BOPA?

I work as a project manager for the Sondheim Artscape Prize, the Municipal Art Society’s Artist Travel Prize and Public Art Prize, Public Art Projects, and the visual arts awards for the state’s Scholastic Art Awards.

2.       This is an exciting time of the year for you, with the launch of the 15^th annual Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize application. Can you tell us a bit about this process and what we can expect over the next few months leading up to Artscape?

Sure! The call for artists just closed, so I review all the applications to make sure they are complete before sending them along to our jurors to score. Our jurors (Gary Carrion-Murayari from the New Musuem, photographer Nona Faustine, and Diya Vij from the High Line) will score all 300 entries, and from those scores the top 25 to 30 artists will be semi-finalists, who submit additional materials which the jurors score again. This scoring is used to shape the discussion in the in-person meeting (usually in New York), where the jurors select the finalists for the prize. The in-person meeting is crucial to the process, in my experience this helps to come up with a very thought-through group of artists. These finalists are then notified and have meetings with The Walters Art Museum staff to help figure out the gallery layout, needs of each artist, etc. That show will open Thursday, May 28, 2020. Then, the jurors will travel to Baltimore to interview each artist in their exhibition on Saturday, July 11, 2020 with the announcement of the recipient of the award that evening.

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