Applications Open for BOPA’s 2019 Arts Programs

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The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA), Baltimore City’s arts council, announces applications are available for its arts programs for winter 2019. Applications are open to artists, arts professionals, arts and culture organizations, and community organizations. Application deadlines vary. Applications are available here. BOPA, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, supports the arts community through advocacy, arts and cultural activities, and develops and administers funds, grant programs and community workshops. Additional artist opportunities will be available at a later date.

BOPA receives general operating support from the City of Baltimore, Maryland State Arts Council and the Joseph & Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds, along with program support from the South Baltimore Gateway Partnership, Baltimore City’s Department of Housing and Community Development, and Baltimore City’s Department of Planning.

An information session for the public takes place Wednesday, February 20, 2019 from 6–8pm at School 33 Art Center, located at 1427 Light St., Baltimore, MD 21230. People interested in applying for arts programs can ask questions about available opportunities, eligibility and application requirements, as well as meet BOPA staff.

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School 33 Art Center Exhibitions Feature New Media Animation, Emoji-inspired Collages & Reclaimed Material

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School 33 Art Center presents three new exhibitions on view Friday, February 15 through Saturday, April 27, 2019.

THE MOTHER OF INVENTION (Main Gallery) 

By artists Kelley Bell, Albert Birney, Sara Dittrich, Noa Heyne, Marnie Ellen Hertzler & Beth Hoeckel, Chelsea M. Rowe, Aidan Spann, Justin Stafford, Jennie Thwing

A group exhibition of projected experimental video shorts, THE MOTHER OF INVENTION features several artists who incorporate new media in the form of collage, stop motion animation, DIY digital and analog image manipulation, as well as hand-made and found objects in their work. Often eschewing linear narrative, and utilizing music, noise, and homemade sound effects as a priority over dialogue, these works employ a wide range of media in their creation— becoming versatile vehicles for both visual and performance art.

Modern Language (Members Gallery)

“Modern Language” is a solo exhibition of works by Amy Helminiak, a native Baltimore artist, featuring emoji-inspired collages that explore communication in the age of texting and social media. Printed on metal and incorporating symbols collected via Google images, such as Bernie Sanders heads, haircuts and pink elephants, the featured works focus on the artist’s experiences and surroundings. Political observations, humor and personal histories are transmitted collectively, while at the same time embodying a sense of ambiguity that exists within the conversations of today’s culture.

Amy Helminiak received a master of art in photography and design from ELISAVA Barcelona School of Design and Engineering, and a bachelor of fine arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her work has been included in national and international exhibitions including the TIM Future Centre, Venice, Italy; The Print Center, Philadelphia; Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michigan; Cosmos, Arles, France; Can Framis Museum, Barcelona, Spain.

soft obstacle (Project Space) 

Ben Piwowar’s studio practice combines drawing, painting and sculptural strategies, deploying an abstract visual vocabulary to evoke states of vulnerability and flux. With “soft obstacle,” Piwowar populates School 33 Art Center’s Project Space with works on paper and a series of cast abstract forms. The dialogue between objects and drawings sets the stage for a new, improvised installation that will undergo subtle mutations over the course of the exhibition. To develop his work, the artist draws on a trove of salvaged material: studio ephemera, cast-offs from construction sites and things found while walking around the city. He repurposes these fragments through paint application, light carpentry and strategic placement—taking care to preserve, and often underscore, their quirks and subtle irregularities. Piwowar explores the ways that modest interventions can activate and realign a viewer’s experience of a space. Here, the gallery becomes a provisional ecosystem where displaced organisms learn to stand alone, then together, through a made-up logic.

Call for Proposals: Maryland Arts Summit

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Maryland Arts Summit – Call for Proposals
 
Call for Proposals will be accepted through February 15, 2019 at 5PM. 
You will be notified of the status of your proposal by March 15, 2019. 
 
Accepted presenters will be offered free Summit registration and an honorarium. 
 
Pending acceptance, presenters will be expected to attend an Orientation Meeting for the Summit (in-person or conference call) in mid-April, and submit their space requirements as well as max attendance. 
 
Submitted Call for Proposals will be reviewed by the Summit Committee, comprised of Staff and Board members of the presenting organizations as well as community members and key stakeholders. 
 
Assessment Criteria includes (1) Alignment of session with Summit topic(s); and (2) Experience of presenter with selected conference topic(s).

Baltimore Screenwriters Competition Application Deadline Extended to Monday, February 11, 2019

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The Baltimore Film Office at the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) has extended the application deadline for the 14th annual Baltimore Screenwriters Competition.

Applications are due Monday, February 11, 2019 by 5pm. The competition is open to all screenwriters. Applicants can submit screenplays in the feature or shorts categories. Scripts must be set in or can be filmed in Baltimore. The top entries in each category win cash prizes, and feature winners also receive all-access passes to the 2019 Maryland Film Festival and passes to local movie theaters. The application and guidelines are available at www.baltimorefilm.com. The Baltimore Screenwriters Competition is a project of the Baltimore Film Office, a division of BOPA, in conjunction with film programs at Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State University. Funding is provided by The Arts Insurance Program, a division of Maury, Donnelly and Parr. Additional support is courtesy of the Maryland Film Festival, NEXTCAR and Visit Baltimore.

Submitted scripts receive coverage from students in the Johns Hopkins University and Morgan State University screenwriting programs and by local screenwriters and producers. The final screenplays are judged by film industry professionals. Winners of the competition are announced during the 2019 Maryland Film Festival on Saturday, May 11, 2019. 

In the feature category, the first place winner receives $1,500, an all-access pass to the 2019 Maryland Film Festival, a Weekend in Baltimore Package, a rental car for the weekend and passes to area movie theaters. The second place winner receives $750, an all-access pass to the festival and movie passes. The third place winner receives $350, an all-access pass to the festival and movie passes. In the shorts category, winners will receive cash prizes.

For more information on the Baltimore Screenwriters Competition, call 410-752-8632 or visit www.baltimorefilm.com.

Artist Talk with Stephanie Barber

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The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) announces an artist talk with Stephanie Barber at School 33 Art Center, located at 1427 Light St., Baltimore, MD 21230. In conversation with poet Buck Downs, Barber will discuss her exhibition, “Nature as a Metaphor for Economic, Emotional and Existential Horror,” the expanded text associated with the exhibition and the role of language in the visual arts.

Barber’s solo exhibition is on view at School 33 Art Center in the Members Gallery through Saturday, February 2, 2019. The artist uses words as sculptural elements to contemplate the morphological state of language and nature in her body of work in a variety of media. Additionally, her films have received solo exhibitions at MoMA, New York City; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Yerba Buena Center, San Francisco; National Film Academy, Prague; Lowenbraukunst, Zurich; Anthology Film Archives, New York City, among others. Her books “These Here Separated…” and “Night Moves” were published by Publishing Genius Press, and her collection of short stories “All The People” was published by Ink Press Productions.

Image Credit: Detail images from “Nature as a Metaphor for Economic, Emotional and Existential Horror,” 2019.

Baltimore Office Of Promotion & The Arts Announces The Appointment Of Baltimore Public Art Commission Members

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The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) announces new members of the Baltimore Public Art Commission. The commission is mayoral appointed and oversees the city of Baltimore Percent-for-Public Art program and permanent gifts of public art to the city. Administered and staffed by BOPA, the commission is set to meet Friday, January 11, 2019 from 11:30am–1pm at BOPA, located at 10 E. Baltimore St., 10th floor, Baltimore, MD 21202.

Appointees are Jaquelin F. Bershad, vice president of planning and design, National Aquarium; Danielle Brock, senior project engineer, site development, RK&K; Aaron Bryant, curator of photography and visual culture, National Museum of African American History and Culture; Sam Christian Holmes, artist; Mary Demory, executive assistant to the City Council President; Brian Oster, architect and managing principal, Cho Ben Holback a Quinn Evans Company; Kuo Pao Lian, architect and co-founder, PiKl; Alma Roberts, senior manager of community health benefits, Kaiser Permanente; and Kirk Shannon-Butts, curator for City Hall, City of Baltimore. Commissioners serve for a mayoral term of four years and may be reappointed to serve up to two consecutive terms.

The new commissioners will be welcomed to their first meeting, followed by an overview of the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, the Baltimore Percent-for-Public Art program and the Baltimore Public Art Commission. The commission is scheduled to vote on the spring 2019 maintenance and conservation funding allocation, in addition to a discussion on proposals to create a committee to review and update public art guidelines, and plan a commission retreat in April 2019. Commission meetings are open to the public.

Baltimore Public Art Commission Appointees:

 

  

Jaqueline F. Bershad is vice president of planning & design at the National Aquarium. She and her team are responsible for all capital improvement projects, exhibition design and fabrication, and building facilities. Bershad has been with the Aquarium since January of 2015. She is a licensed and LEED certified architect with more than 20 years of experience in the design of museums, exhibit experiences, zoos and aquaria.
 

 

  

 

Danielle Brock is a licensed professional engineer and currently works as a senior project engineer in the Site Development Department for Rummel, Klepper & Kahl, where she has been for more than 10 years. Brock provided civil engineering services for various private and public projects throughout Maryland and Washington D.C. She is an active member of the National Society of Black Engineers, Baltimore Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter, and the Baltimore Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.

 
 

  

Aaron Bryant is curator of photography and visual culture at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C. Prior to the Smithsonian, Bryant was curator for the James E. Lewis Museum of Art at Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD. In addition, he has curated and developed content for exhibitions at the National Electronics Museum, Linthicum, MD, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD.

 
 

  

Baltimore-based sculptor, printmaker, and multimedia artist Sam Christian Holmes, who earned a bachelor of fine arts and master of fine arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and taught in the general fine arts and graphic design departments for several years, creates artwork that responds to particular localities. His ability to relate his ideas to a community and create a sense of identity around that community’s issues is noteworthy.

 

 
 

  

Mary Demory is a licensed certified social worker who has worked as an administrator in healthcare and government relations for most of her career. Demory was the founding executive director of Associated Black Charities, who also invested four years with a task force developing the foundation for the viable and impactful agency in the Baltimore metropolitan community.

 
 

  

Brian Oster brings a curious, process-oriented and diligent approach to design, exploring options and carefully considering a building’s relationship to the past, present and future. His diverse portfolio includes challenging adaptive use projects, museums, community buildings and higher education facilities. He is a founding member of Design Center Baltimore and has long been active in the arts community, advocating for the arts and technology as important urban catalysts.

 
 

  

Kuo Pao Lian is an architect and licensed contractor whose experience includes architecture, design build and development. He is also a part-time instructor at Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, and Maryland Institute College of Art. Lian is chair of the Fells Point Design Review Committee in Baltimore and a unionized set designer with experience in award-winning HBO television shows. He is also a committee member of the newly founded Major Capital Projects Committee for the Friends of Patterson Park. Kuo Pao co-founded PI.KL in 2015.

 
 

  

Alma Roberts is a second generation abstract painter whose works give insight into her viewpoints on life and the issues and forces that impact it. The artist and health executive has exhibited regionally, including Studio of the Arts, Washington, D.C., and the James E. Lewis Museum of Art, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD. Roberts is the founding director of New Breezes Arts Forum (1983–1994), and previously served on the Mayor’s Council on Art and Culture and the board of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture.

 
 

  

Filmmaker, curator and video essayist Kirk Shannon-Butts holds a bachelor of arts in marketing from the American College, Atlanta, and a master of fine arts in film/TV production from Chapman University, Orange, CA. His works have received critical acclaim and have been screened at the Cannes International Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, and The Kennedy Center. Shannon-Butts has been in special features in L’Uomo Vogue, Out magazine and Uptown magazine.