Baltimore Museum of Art Launches Initiatives to Directly Support Local Galleries, Artists, & Community

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) has announced that it is launching three new initiatives to provide direct support to Baltimore-based artists, galleries, and communities: BMA Salon, BMA Screening Room, and BMA Studio. The initiatives will provide some immediate financial relief to local artists and businesses, develop new platforms of visibility to ensure the longer-term success of Baltimore’s arts ecology, and extend participatory opportunities to populations that do not have ready access to digital content. The development of these programs stems from the BMA’s popular, ongoing speaker series, The Necessity of Tomorrow(s), which was established to imagine futures that embrace issues of social justice, equity, and creative practice. The BMA’s new initiatives actualize the series’ core principles and respond to the needs of the current situation through creative endeavors, furthering the museum’s role as a cultural collaborator and civic leader.

“Baltimore is a city rich in creative innovation and artistic experiences. As part of our mission of civic engagement, we felt it was incumbent upon us to develop new opportunities to support the cultural fabric of our community, especially as artists, art organizations, and the public face different but very real challenges during the coronavirus pandemic,” said Christopher Bedford, BMA Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. “Our new initiatives build on ideas core to us as an institution from connecting audiences with exciting, thought-provoking works of art to championing artistic experimentation and positioning creative production as central to social change. At the same time, these programs shift our approach from discussion and presentation to more active and directed collaboration—a change in tactic that acknowledges our new reality and one we believe will help secure the future of the visual arts in our city.”

BMA Salon: The BMA will invite a selection of 20 Baltimore-based galleries and collectives to use the museum’s The Necessity of Tomorrow(s) digital platform (bmatomorrows.org) to cultivate new audiences. The BMA will provide each participant with a $2,500 organizing fee to help realize their visions for their digital presentations and to support staff in their efforts. All of the transactions will be conducted by the individual galleries, who will keep all proceeds from the sales. The initiative provides partners with a small influx of funds, while also helping to expand visibility for their work in support of longer-term success.