Happy 2017, BmoreArt friends and readers. Or, to put it another way: Fuck You, 2016. Here’s hoping this next year brings better news, better times, and better life expectancy for epic artists.
BmoreArt’s Picks presents the best weekly art openings, events, and performances happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas. For a more comprehensive perspective, check the BmoreArt Calendar page, which includes ongoing exhibits and performances, and is updated on a daily basis.
To submit your calendar event, email us at [email protected]!
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Exhibition & Collection Tour: Imagining Home
Wednesday, December 28th : 2-3pm
The Baltimore Museum of Art
10 Art Museum Drive : 21218
Discover the Imagining Home exhibition in this free guided tour with a BMA educator.
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DOT by Colman Domingo
Wednesday, December 28th : 2-3pm
The Everyman Theatre
315 West Fayette Street : 21201
For the holiday season, hot off its hit New York run, comes an uproariously funny new play from playwright/actor Colman Domingo (Wild With Happy / star of Fear the Walking Dead)that takes a touching look at shifting family dynamics and the fragility of the mind affecting an African-American family from West Philly. Dotty and her three adult children are home for the holidays, but this year there is more than presents and yuletide on their mind. While Dotty fights to maintain a grasp on her fading memory, brother and sister collide in a riotous and raw familial brawl where losing your mind and losing your sanity are two different things.
Cast Conversations post-show actor discussion. Free.
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50th Anniversary of Kwanzaa Celebration
Friday, December 30th : 12pm
Reginald F. Lewis Museum
830 East Pratt Street : 21202
Bring out the family to celebrate the holiday’s 50th anniversary and the Kwanzaa principle Nia (“Purpose”). Enjoy storytelling, African dancing, and drumming by Sankofa Dance Theater. Sallah Jenkins leads holiday craft-making. Dr. Jeffrey Menzise of Morgan State University gives the keynote speech about the meaning of Nia.
Please let us know that you’re coming. Click here to RSVP online.
Schedule of Events
| 12:00pm – 4:15pm | African Marketplace |
| 12:00pm – 4:00pm | Resource Center open. Research your family tree! Genealogy Sessions 1:30 and 2:30 pm |
| 12:00pm – 4:00pm | Kwanzaa Crafts. Make a family tree booklet, beaded necklaces, and or Kwanzaa banners |
| 12:30pm – 1:15pm | Program Commencement. Sankofa Dance Theater performs opening drum call and candle lighting ceremony and explains the meaning of Kwanzaa |
| 1:30pm – 2:30pm | Workshops: Sankofa Dance Theater Percussion Workshop; Storytelling/Spoken Word Session; African Dancing/Gelee Headwrap Session; “Black Candle” Film Screening |
| 2:45pm – 3:15pm | Keynote Talk “Finding Your Purpose (Nia)” by Dr. Jeffrey Menzise of Morgan State University |
| 3:30pm – 4:15pm | Sankofa Dance Theater performs African dancing, drumming showcase, and 2nd candle lighting ceremony |
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New Year’s Eve Celebration
Saturday, December 31st : 8pm
Mobtown Ballroom
861 Washington Boulevard : 21230
We are immensely pleased to announce that, for the second year running, we, the fine folks at the Mobtown Ballroom will be throwing a New Year’s Shindig that it would be a shame for you to miss.
The details are still rolling in, but here are some bits and pieces. Live music, aerialists, and burlesque; including but not limited to:
– Sarah Sullivan and The New Old Fashioneds specialty band, playing a lot more than jazz
– Brooks Long
– Whiskey Joy
– Tempete La Coeur
-Aerialist performances (including Patrice Woodard)
Other Amazing stuff:
-Several DJ sets that will change you forever
-Free champagne toast at midnight
-We can also stay open late, so don’t miss your chance to drink way past normal operating hours
Doors at 8pm. Bar closes when people stop drinking (late).
Tickets are onsale now at www.mobtownballroom.com for $45 a piece. Last year we sold out weeks in advance, so get it done now.
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4th Annual Gong Show
Saturday, December 31st : 9pm
The Yellow Sign Theatre
1726 North Charles Street : 21201
Music, comedy, dance, burlesque, sideshow, theater and monkeys! Join us for a night of fun and weirdness at Yellow Sign’s 4th annual gong show. Performers will compete for a cash prize and be judged by dead celebrities. Admission is free. The show ends before midnight, so head next door to the Club Charles. Admission there is free too and you can drink with the cast of the show!
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The Millennium Ball : A New Queer’s Eve Party
Saturday, December 31st : 9:30pm
Metro Gallery
1700 North Charles Street : 21201
The future is uncertain. The future is now.
Let us go boldly….to party like its our last!
December 31 at Metro Gallery for The MIllenium Ball.
Get futuristic, get fancy (or come as you are)
Doors at 9:30 $20@ the door $15 Presale
***Complimentary Small bites & Champagne toast
***Body Painter & Glo stuff
***Gogo Dancers
***Futuristic Video Projections
***Live Collaborative Mural
*Hosted by Kotic Couture
*Performance by JPope featuring Wendell Patrick
* Music by LDP / Ducky Dynamo / Trillnatured
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Bumper Jackson’s New Year’s Eve Ball
Saturday, December 31st : 9:30pm
Creative Alliance
3134 Eastern Avenue : 21224
There’s a lot to digest from 2016, both sorrows and joys. Let’s get together to start our 2017 hot and sweet!
ABOUT THE EVENT The Creative Alliance, the Bumper Jacksons, Dubscience Photography and Baltimore area musicians and social justice thinkers are collaborating on this evening – an evening designed to uplift, unify, and inspire us all to #createthefuture of our communities.
In honor of the New Year, we’ll be posting videos of interviews taken from people all of Baltimore City about their personal connections to the city, their New Years resolutions, and their hopes and dreams for the future of Baltimore. The interviews will get screened again before the performance, and YOU will also get a chance to take the interview and add your voice to the story.
BUT WAIT – THERE’S MORE! We’ll also have: – a photo booth – a home-made noisemaker contest – light fare (aka snacks, aka dinner-at-optimal-volume) – a complimentary champagne toast at midnight Come dressed to impress! 9:30pm | $35, $30 mbrs, includes complimentary champagne toast at midnight | $175 VIP table for 4 with a bottle of champagne ABOUT THE BAND Bumper Jacksons are a band with a plan. Our local hot jazz hotshots have been barnstorming the country, leaving in their wake a rabid and devoted fanbase. With a sound that infuses the gritty good times of early New Orleans jazz with a healthy dose of Appalachian melodies and instrumentation, there are few bands that we can think of to create such a perfect accompaniment to your BEST NEW YEAR’S EVE — EVER!
Brought to you in part with a generous grant from the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation
9:30pm | $35, $30 mbrs, includes complimentary champagne toast at midnight | $175 VIP table for 4 with a bottle of champagne
