Despite all the bad news we endure during this health crisis, there is some good news. Many are discovering friends and partners have their backs. Individuals and organizations within the community are neighbors helping neighbors. Landlords and creditors are waiving rents and payments, there are food and diaper drives, Baltimore City is ensuring that children are fed and neighbors who never knew each other run errands for those who need support.

We are also joining together to celebrate our strong Baltimore spirit with the arts—vibrant chalk drawings appear on sidewalks, an impromptu choir sings from the front steps of their homes, young artists display their work in the front windows of their homes and yesterday, I even saw a teddy bear dressed to go to the opera. Visual, literary and performing artists are taking to the Internet to entertain and enlighten us. Even though we can’t gather the arts can still amaze and engage.

The arts community is also coming together to support our own. A grassroots movement sprang up to become a full-fledged coalition of arts groups to support artists from many disciplines who lost commissions, contracts, or had scheduled performances cancelled and don’t qualify under the current rules for unemployment or government support. These are the people that give Baltimore its cultural soul. They need and deserve our support for all that they give to enliven our City. The Baltimore Artist Emergency Fund launches this week and BOPA is proud to be just one of the many organizations involved.

You can read more about the fund, the amazing people who brought the fund to fruition and how you can support our community artists in this week’s newsletter or on the BOPA website. This partnership BOPA is privileged to be a part of is not just about the funding, it is about creating an environment where the arts community knows that we’ll always have their backs—not just now but always.

Donna Drew Sawyer

CEO, Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts

Call for Entry

SEEN: 20 Years of Baltimore Music Photography

Application Deadline: Saturday, July 18

SEEN: 20 Years of Baltimore Music Photography will highlight photography, as well as video, show posters, and ephemera that relates to the past 20 years of Baltimore music history. The show will feature local musicians and creators from all musical genres and backgrounds (from local bands that broke big like Future Islands and Beach House, to fallen artists like K-Swift and Lor Scoota, to genre definers like Scottie B and DJ Class). 

THE GOAL is to present a comprehensive and culturally inclusive overview of Baltimore’s vibrant music scenes from the year 2000 through 2020 by showcasing as many different genres, cultures, and forms of representation as possible. SEEN is curated by local photographers J.M. Giordano, Josh Sisk with a panel comprised of members of the Baltimore music community.

MAP will open the show September 10 – November 14 in collaboration with WTMD Towson Radio. Promotions are scheduled to kick off at TMD on August 13.

Note: There will be satellite partners hosting extensions of the MAP show. Those venues currently include: Metro Gallery, Ottobar, The Crown, Sidebar and Union Craft Brewing. For more details on these sites, please contact their representative site manager. 

SUBMISSION DETAILS AND TIMELINE:
MAP is seeking photography, videos, posters and other ephemera from 2000-2020 with an emphasis on earlier works 2000-2005, though all submissions will be equally valued. 

Release Call to Artists: Friday, April 3
Application Deadline: Saturday, July 18, 5pm
Deliberation: July 20- August 1
Selected Artists Contacted: Week of August 3
Artists Announced & Pre-Production Begins: August 10 – 29
Installation: September 1 – 9
Opening Reception: September 10, 6pm

APPLICATION: SEEN

Application Deadline: Saturday, July 18, 2020

NOTE: Submission must be sent electronically to assitant@mdartplace.org

For the full prospectus click HERE 

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.

Loyola faculty have teamed up to offer consulting assistance to any business and nonprofit seeking advice and navigation of federal and state offerings.  “Loyola Crisis Navigators” can add a capacity boost for any Baltimore small business, nonprofit, or startup where you can pick a volunteer “navigator” who is an experienced business advisor.  View bios and schedule a consultation at: https://bit.ly/CrisisNavigators

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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