• Welcome 9:00 - 9:30 a.m.
  • Performance by Louis Campbell
  • Opening remarks
     
• Session 1: 9:40 - 10:40 a.m.
  Exploring the Contributions of Trauma-Informed Dance Therapy, Freedom of Assembly, and Association of Survivors of Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence
  Presented by Tyde-Courtney Edwards (Ballet After Dark)
  Ballet After Dark uses ballet as a restorative tool to engage with vulnerable populations of youth and women (and those who identify as women) within the community. The program additionally exposes underserved communities to the classical discipline without a financial responsibility creating a more inclusive environment. This presentation will explore the contributions of the trauma-informed dance therapy curriculum with a screening of the virtual recital showcasing a few program participants and will follow with a discussion of our trauma-informed definition and highlights of the 9-month curriculum.  
  
  Participant goals of this Art OF The Community case study include:
  • Understanding how the creation of trauma-informed art spaces allows for survivors to  use their freedom of assembly and association, and 
  • Understanding of how scaling the Ballet After Dark dance therapy program will assist with shedding light on the lack of resources available to underserved communities of black and brown women (and those identifying as women) while simultaneously creating more resources survivors of sexual trauma may need.
     
• Session 2: 10:50 - 11:50 a.m.
  Racial Justice: Moving from Solidarity to Accountability
  Facilitated by Pam Breaux (National Assembly of State Arts Agencies)
  Our country continues to experience the devastating impacts of longstanding interpersonal, structural and systemic racism as we bear witness to anti-Asian hate crimes, the killing of unarmed Black people by police, and more. Individually, organizationally and collectively we stand in solidarity with the victims and decry racism. When does solidarity give way to action and accountability? This session will illuminate strategies you can use to move from standing in solidarity to racial justice action and accountability.
   
• Creative Keynote: 12:00 - 12:30 p.m.
  Choose a 30-minute burst of inspiration while creating and reflecting on art in real-time. 
  • Busy Graham & Denise Jones, Carpe Diem Arts: Multidisciplinary art, Music focus
  • Dana Parsons, Maryland State Arts Council: Aesthetic Perspectives and Arts Administration/Programming
  • Silvia Roberts, Dance Exchange: Dance
  • Emily Cory, Single Carrot Theatre: Theatre Arts and Literary Arts
  • Destiny Brown, Wide Angle Youth Media: Visual/Media Arts
     
• Session 3 (Grab your lunch!): 12:40 - 1:40 p.m.
  Elevating Community Exchange
  Facilitated by Barb Seese (Dorchester Center for the Arts), Adrian Holmes (Alpha Genesis), and Michael Rosato (artist)
  “Take My Hand”, the internationally recognized Harriet Tubman mural in Cambridge, Maryland, serves as a premier example of the power of public art to transform communities. Equally important are the conversations, the dialogue, that inspired the design and yielded a collective voice. Join the team behind this iconic image as they discuss their process and insights from the first public forum to the final ribbon-cutting. 
  
  Learn the spectrum of community engagement and take away techniques for incorporating critical exchange into any project. How can the community be directly involved in decisions that impact them? What voices are needed to reflect the community fully and legitimately? Be inspired to elevate your projects to the next level – projects not just for the people, but of the people.
   
• Session 4: 1:50 - 2:50 p.m.
  Affinity Groups 
  Join state and community leaders to take a deep dive and connect the dots on how the Summit sessions align with your specific work within the sector.
  
  Options for affinity groups include: 
  • County Arts Agencies/Arts & Entertainment Districts 
    Facilitators: Steven Skerritt-Davis (Deputy Director, Maryland State Arts Council), Suzan Jenkins (Executive Director, Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County), Jamie Heater (Executive Director, Salisbury Arts & Entertainment District)
  • Public Art
    Facilitators: Liesel Fenner (Program Director - Public Art, Maryland State Arts Council), Tonya Jordan (Public Art Consultant and former Director of Public Art, DC.), Ryan Patterson (Public Art Program Manager, Maryland State Arts Council)
  • Folk and Traditional Arts
    Facilitators: Chad Buterbaugh (State Folklorist, Maryland State Arts Council), Ryan Koons (Folklife Specialist, Maryland State Arts Council), Rico Newman (Former Elected Speaker, Choptico Band of Indians; retired from Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian)
  • Advocacy
    Facilitators: Nicholas Cohen (Executive Director, Maryland Citizens for the Arts), Quanice Floyd (Executive Director, Arts Education in Maryland Schools), Denise Saunders Thompson (President & CEO, The International Association of Blacks in Dance, Inc.)
  • Arts Organizations
    Facilitators: Navasha Daya (Executive Director, Youth Resiliency Institute), Peter Dayton (Programs & Operations Manager, Arts Education in Maryland Schools), Brooke Kidd (Executive Director, Joe’s Movement Emporium), Ken Skrzesz (Executive Director, Maryland State Arts Council), Emily Sollenberger (Program Director - Arts Services, Maryland State Arts Council)
  • Independent Artists
    Facilitators: Kayla Morgan (Events and Communications Coordinator, Maryland State Department of Education), Candice Mowbray (Independent Artist & Classical Guitarist), Laura Weiss (Program Director - Arts Services, Maryland State Arts Council)
  • Arts Service Organizations
    Facilitators: Lillian Jacobson (Maryland State Department of Education), Dana Parsons (Grants and Professional Development Director, Maryland State Arts Council), Maggie Villegas (Executive Director, Baltimore Creatives Acceleration Network)
  • Arts in Education
    Facilitators: Precious Blake (Program Director - Arts in Education, Maryland State Arts Council), Catherine Frost (Arts in Education Management Associate, Maryland State Arts Council), Anita Lambert (Creative Arts Programs Office’s Coordinating Supervisor, Prince George’s County Public Schools), Alysia Lee (Coordinator of Fine Arts, Maryland State Department of Education)

• Performance 2, Long Conversation: 9:30 - 10:25 a.m.
  Start the morning with an inspiring perspective on community exchange through the creative process as AEMS Executive Director, Quanice Floyd, jumpstarts a quick-moving conversation with an extraordinary guest lineup: 
  Carla Du Pree (Executive Director, CityLit Project), Alanah Nichole Davis (Independent Artist), Anne L’Ecuyer (Executive Director, Arts on the Block), Barbara Johnson (Founder and Executive Director, Art Works Now), Monique Walker (Executive Director, Charles County Arts Alliance), Brion Gill (Executive Director, Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts & Entertainment District), and Mary Callis (Executive Director, Garrett Lakes Arts Festival).
   
• Session 5: 10:35 - 11:35 a.m. 
  Crafting Policy Recommendations for a More Creative and Equitable Community: Lessons from the Baltimore Arts & Culture Transition Committee
  Panel discussion led by members of the City of Baltimore's Arts and Culture Transition Committee
  When Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott took office in late 2020, Arts & Culture was one of ten priorities during his transition. His administration formed the Baltimore Arts & Culture Transition Committee - a diverse group of 30 Cultural Leaders, Artists, and Arts-Advocates - tasked with developing actionable recommendations for the City’s arts and culture sector that prioritized public safety, equity, building public trust, young people, responsible stewardship of City dollars, and the COVID-19 recovery.
  
  Over four weeks, the Transition Committee used an asset-based approach to deliberate and decide on the most important issues facing the arts and culture sector in Baltimore. The arts and culture recommendations for the Mayor’s first 100 days, year, and term were shaped by the broad and deep experience of the Committee, stakeholder interviews, digital surveys, and a city-wide text/voicemail campaign that was replicated by other transition committees. 
  
  The Arts & Culture Transition Committee has since completed their formal work, but the process set the foundation and trajectory for more connection, alignment, and city-wide impact across institutions. Members of the Arts & Culture Transition Committee and community stakeholders are now using the recommendations as a tool for advocacy, accountability, and collaboration.  
  
  Learn how Baltimore’s Arts & Culture Transition Committee developed a series of actionable recommendations rooted in a collective vision where arts and culture are fully and responsibility embedded in public life.
  
  Learn strategies for co-developing and championing equitable cultural policies for your community.
   
• Session 6: 11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. 
  Access as Intimacy and Love
  Facilitated by Robin Marquis & Denise Shanté Brown
  Access Intimacy (a term originally coined by Mia Mingus) is the multitude of practices that create spaces, relationships, and communities where people’s whole bodies and minds can show up and be nurtured just as they are. It is a practice of moving past approaching disability as something to accommodate with a list of rules and regulations and moving towards accessibility as a place where revolutionary dreaming and a genuine commitment to caring for all people and all bodies flourish. Join Denise Shanté Brown and Robin Marquis in an intimate conversation as they share what practicing access can look like for disabled people when approached with care, solidarity, and wonder. They will discuss their lived experiences as disabled creatives and the loving, intimate processes they use and seek out when thinking about how disabled people’s needs can be asked and tended to for us all to truly experience an accessible future.
   
• Affinity Group Wrap Up Over lunch: 12:55 - 1:15 p.m
  Reconnect briefly with your Affinity Groups to identify forward action after the Summit!
   
• Closing Celebration: 1:20 - 1:40 p.m.
  • Performances by Mighty Mark, Sombarkin', and Barrier-Free, connecting this year’s theme, Art OF the Community, to Maryland performing artists. 
  • Closing remarks and action forward 

The collaborators of the Maryland Arts Summit are committed to making sure all Marylanders can access its programs and services. Attendees with accessibility questions or who require accommodations may fill out the Accessibility Request Form or contact the organizers at events@mdarts.org. 

Click here to fill out the form for a Summit stipend ($200).  Attendee must attend both days of the Summit.

Questions about the form? Email Morgan Brown at Maryland Citizens for the Arts at morgan@mdarts.org. 

To read the Maryland Arts Summit press release, click here. 

Questions? Contact Amelia Evans, MSAC's Marketing and Communications Manager, at amelia.evans@maryland.gov. 

The Maryland Arts Awards honored and celebrated the artists, arts advocates, and arts leaders of Maryland! The awards featured special performances and presentations by:

• the Maryland State Arts Council's Heritage Awards winners, Independent Artist Award winners, and the Poetry Out Loud State Champion,
• the Fine Arts Office of the Maryland State Department of Education’s Arts Educators of the Year in music, dance, and visual art,
• the Maryland Citizens for the Arts' Elected Official Awardee,
• and the Arts Education in Maryland Schools Arts Education Advocacy Awardee!  

To access the program, click here.

Please visit the MSAC Eventbrite page for a list of all online offerings and registration information!

Regional Arts Summits are held in the Fall. Stay tuned for more information!