The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) announces the winners of Sound Off Live! presented by Hard Rock Café Baltimore. PBC Vocal Band is the overall winner with the highest score in the competition. Additional winners include Amanda Lynne Band, Antica, Cha Cha, Eli August and the Abandoned Buildings, Eman the Heartbreak, Jessi Adams, La Rosa, Leo & Cygnus, Lily Barek, MovaKween, Roc Writah, Skyline Hotel, The Streams, Suga Grits, and Survival Society. Musical groups competed for a performance slot at Artscape (July 19-21, 2019) and Baltimore Book Festival and Light City (November 1-10, 2019).

Produced by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, Sound Off Live! is an annual competition where regional bands perform in front of a live audience and panel of judges. This battle of the bands provides up-and-coming musicians an opportunity to perform on the official music stage at a large-scale festival produced by BOPA.

About PBC:

PBC (Pitches Be Crazy) Vocal Band is a five-person cover band rocking R&B, rap, funk and pop hits of the last four decades. With no instruments, the band creates original arrangements of music that include tight harmonies, beatboxing/vocal percussion, and bone-rattling sub-harmonic bass to create an entertainment experience like no other. Known for remixing and mash-ups, PBC Vocal Band’s unique approach to genre and music blending keeps audiences engaged from start to finish. Focused heavily on covering music from the 1970s-1990s, PBC takes pride in bringing back the “old school jams” that spark nostalgia and memories for some, but just as important, introduces younger audiences to music that influences the artists of today.

Image Credit: PBC Vocal Band, 2018 Sound Off Live!; Photo by Kimberly Shorter 

Photo Credit: Edwin Remsberg

Illuminating Baltimore with literature and ideas during the day and a world-class light art and performances at night, the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) announces that it is uniting two of its marquee events: Baltimore Book Festival and Light City. The two events come together as one spectacular festival from Friday, November 1-Sunday, November 10, 2019 to create ten days of a one-of-a-kind international event at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

“Uniting the Baltimore Book Festival and Light City provides benefits artistically, operationally and financially for BOPA and the City of Baltimore while meeting our mission to use the arts, in all forms, to create a more vibrant city. At the same time we provide an illuminating extended experience for residents and visitors—truly a win-win for everyone,” said Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts Chief Executive Officer Donna Drew Sawyer.

The festivals move to November in conjunction with the end of daylight savings time to provide visitors with a greater opportunity to view the light art installations earlier in the evening and to engage more authors as most new books are being released in mid-autumn by publishers.

The Baltimore Book Festival, a celebration of the literary arts, features author appearances and book signings, exhibitors and bookseller tents, readings on multiple stages, children’s activities and cooking demonstrations. Light City, a festival of light, music and innovation, features BGE Light Art Walk at its center with awe-inspiring light art installations, performances, concerts, a fun-filled family zone and more. By uniting with Light City, the 24^th annual Baltimore Book Festival will be the conference portion of the event addressing contemporary, innovative and historical issues through conversations, Q&A sessions, panel discussions and workshops.

In the coming months, the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts will be announcing the details of the united festivals including speakers and performers. Information sessions for residents to contribute ideas and discover how to participate will take place in January, February and March. Applications for performing artists, food vendors, booksellers, exhibitors, and presenting authors open Wednesday, January 9, 2019 for all of BOPA’s 2019 festivals – Artscape, Light City and the Baltimore Book Festival.

Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower resident artist Martha Dougherty showcases her vibrant paintings and collages during “Watercolors,” on view Saturdays from November 3, 2018 through February 23, 2019 from 11am to 4pm. An opening reception takes place Saturday, November 3 from 5pm to 7pm. Managed by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA), Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower is located at 21 S. Eutaw St., Baltimore, MD 21201.

Dougherty’s paintings are in response to various subject matters, from the hidden beauty in a gritty cityscape to freshly picked tomatoes from a friend’s garden. A recent painting series was prompted by her travels to Italy, where light, color and water reflections become a challenge with its own rewards. Additionally, the artist added new dimensions to her work, creating collage and paper cut out and reimagining unwanted first tries into 3D constructions.

Image Credit: Martha Dougherty, Abstract Collage with String Instrument

Baltimore-based artist Erin Stellmon explores the physical and metaphorical presence of walls and fences in her mixed-media collages and paintings on view in “For Your Safety,” opening Thursday, October 4, 2018 through Sunday, January 6, 2019 at Top of the World Observation Level. An opening reception takes place Friday, October 26 from 5 to 7pm. Managed by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA), Top of the World Observation Level is located on the 27th floor of the World Trade Center at 401 E. Pratt Street. Admission is free to the reception, but guests must arrive by 6:30pm.

The Portland, OR, native photographs brick and stone walls, rock piles, staircases and temporary fencing throughout Maryland. Stellmon combines her photos with quilt pieces, along with imagery from the Oregon Trail to further question her ancestors’ right to lay claim to land and build barriers. Her use of paper collage exposes the fragility of these boundaries, while a neon palette is employed to both attract and repel the viewer—turning the serenity of traditional American landscape painting into a visual Emergency Alert.

Image: Erin Stellmon, Alien Landscape Under Construction.