Join online for a day of family-friendly activities including storytelling, workshops, author talks, art-making activities and literary resources that celebrate diverse book titles embracing black culture and identity!
Join celebrity reader and author Karyn Parsons (“Fresh Prince of Bel Air”) for a discussion and reading of her book How High the Moon with MahoganyBooks at 1 p.m.
That live discussion will be followed by a talk with authors Zetta Elliot and Just Us Founders Cheryl Willis-Hudson and Wade Hudson about the importance of teaching children about activism through the use of children’s literature at 2 p.m.
Boost Bmore aims to support neighborhood small businesses — including nonprofits, locally-owned restaurants, start-ups and entrepreneurs — with pro-bono communications counsel from Abel Communications.
Abel Communications is offering:
A one-hour strategy session to help address a company’s most pressing business and marketing challenges
An internal Innovation Lab that will focus on brainstorming how to solve business or marketing challenges
A “Boost Analysis” with ideas and recommendations
An invite-only PR 101 workshop
Who is eligible?
Organizations that have been negatively affected or disrupted by COVID-19
Organizations with 50 or less full-time employees based in the Greater Baltimore area
Small businesses, including nonprofits, restaurants, startups and entrepreneurs
If you or someone you know fits the criteria, please apply by Wednesday, July 8 using the link below. Spread the word to qualifying organizations that you think could benefit from free communications consulting right now.
Every two years, the City of Baltimore invites cultural organizations to apply for funding made available through General Obligation bonds for capital projects. These bonds are a small but critical component of the City’s Capital Improvement Program. The goal is to provide capital support to organizations that promote arts and culture in Baltimore City and contribute to the City’s unique identity.
This year, the fund is being renamed as the Baltimore City Cultural Spaces Capital Support Fund. Awards between $50,000-$200,000 will be made available to support physical improvements to cultural spaces throughout the City. Projects that also promote equity will receive greater weight.
Eligibility
The process is open to not for profit museums, galleries, and theaters, as well as all arts or cultural venues within designated arts and entertainment districts (click here for a map of these districts or visit the Maryland State Arts Council website to search by address).
To apply organizations must: · Be a museum, gallery, or theater (OR a cultural venue within a designated arts and entertainment district) · Be a registered non-profit in good standing with the State Department of Assessment and Taxation · Have a physical location in Baltimore City, and either own the facility or have a long-term lease and primary responsibility for capital improvements · The facility must be open to the general public
More Information A webinar information session to review the application process will be held on June 30, 2020 at 10am. You can register here for this information session.
Applications are due August 14, 2020. Additional information is available here.
20th Anniversary of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade January 20, 2020
At the start of 2020, the Baltimore Office of Promotion
& The Arts celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. Parade. We gathered in Midtown, layered up against the cold,
to pay tribute to the civil rights leader. Baltimore businesses and community
members lined up along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard surrounded by the
hundreds of spectators that join for this annual tradition. Each year, we look
forward to seeing Baltimore come together as marching bands, performers, elected
officials, and more honor Dr. King’s remarkable legacy.
Six months after our January parade, the movement of Black
Lives Matter that has swept the country is a necessary reminder of that very
legacy. The words of Dr. King are quoted to this day because they speak so
accurately to this very moment. We are hopeful that in 2021 we may resume our gatherings
and continue our annual parade, to honor the voices that continue to rally
against racism and injustice today.
We hear these voices of change throughout Baltimore: in
protest, in artwork, through communities, organizations and individuals. With
this in mind, we are asking Baltimore to nominate an Honorary Grand Marshal for
our Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade next year. Consider your community
leaders, the ones that are fighting now and year-round for change in our City.
Consider the individuals that have stepped up this year to make sure that Black
voices are supported and amplified. Consider those that have helped keep
communities safe as we face not only social unrest but also a worldwide
pandemic. Our parade should be as much about honoring a legacy as it is about
making sure the values and lessons of that legacy are applied each day. Our
call for nominations for the Honorary Grand Marshal is open now, with more
information available at www.promotionandarts.org.
Commemorating
Juneteenth
Coinciding with this historic moment across our country, we celebrate Juneteenth this Friday. As we commemorate the freeing of the last slaves in 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the Black Lives Matter movement reminds us yet again to consider how history remains relevant. Juneteenth is an annual opportunity to reflect on slavery’s unique place in American history, and its effects—past and present. Juneteenth celebrates freedom and it is important that Americans of all colors know their legacy and its weight on the present day. More organizations than ever have begun to recognize Juneteenth, and the national conversation finally highlights this day. Let us all keep this level of focus and amplification as strong going forward.
Donna Drew Sawyer
CEO, Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts
