BmoreArt

This week’s news includes: Katie Pumphrey’s Historic Swim, CJay Philip Wins a Tony Award, Leslie King Hammond, Local Emmy Award winners including Wendell Patrick and Kondwani Fidel, BOPA’s New Contract with the City, Nicholas Galanin and Laura Ortman at the BMA, MSAC grant awardees, a portrait mystery solved, Antiques Roadshow at the zoo, Fallon Goodman and the Young Vic, new hires at the BMA,  and the Smithsonian returns Ancestor Rock Kānepō to Hawai’i — with reporting from Baltimore Magazine, Baltimore Fishbowl, Baltimore Brew, and other local and independent news sources.

Header Image: Katie Pumphrey, 36, took on a lengthy swim from the Bay Bridge to the Inner Harbor on June 25, 2024. Pumphrey finished the swim in under 14 hours. (Kaitlin Newman/The Baltimore Banner)

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Baltimore woman completes historic swim to Inner Harbor
by Clara Longo de Freitas, Kaitlin Newman, Stokely Baksh and Rafael Escalera Montoto
Published June 25 in The Baltimore Banner

Excerpt: While you were sleeping, Katie Pumphrey jumped into the dark waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

She completed a more than 24-mile swim Tuesday from Sandy Point State Park near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the Harborplace Amphitheater in the Inner Harbor.

Pumphrey, 36, is an experienced open water swimmer, having previously swum through the English Channel, around Manhattan Island and across the Catalina Channel in California, earning her the triple crown of open water swimming.

But this swim was different. It’s an obstacle of her own creation, and one she sees as her love letter to Baltimore, celebrating years of work poured into improving the harbor. Pumphrey and her crew prepared for months.

… this story continues. Read the rest at The Baltimore Banner: Baltimore woman completes historic swim to Inner Harbor

See also:

Woman’s 24-mile swim to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor tests a clean-water dream
by Clara Longo de Freitas
Published June 22 in The Baltimore Banner

Why this Tony Award-winning teacher chose Baltimore over Broadway
by De’Andre Young
Published June 24 in The Baltimore Banner

When CJay Philip took the stage at the Tonys on June 16 to accept the excellence in theatre education award, she recalled her own learning path through the industry. In her speech, the Baltimore community arts coordinator and Broadway veteran thanked her peers for “the light that you’re shining on those who see the light in a young person and celebrate it.”

Proving that she is a theater educator through and through, she asked the hundreds of audience members on the national platform to follow her lead. “Now class, repeat after me: Let the light within you shine.” They listened.

In an interview Tuesday, Philip called the night “a full-circle moment.”

“New York was my teacher. Those mentors, those directors and choreographers were my teachers and my mentors, and I took that education really, really seriously,” Philip said.

Philip is the founder and artistic director of Dance & Bmore, an ensemble and community organization with a mission to “create meaningful human connections through movement, music, and theater in communities with people of every age and stage of life for their social and emotional well being,” according to its website. The organization, which has its offices at Motor House in Station North, has programs ranging from dance to musical theater to spoken word poetry.

Lauren Erazo, who works with Philip as the director of operations for Dance & Bmore, said in an email that the founder is “constantly thinking of how we can meet the needs of others, whether it is on stage, on Zoom, in a class or just an email.”

For Philip, the excellence in education award further highlights her work as a teacher and a community member and reaffirms her sense of self as an artist.

“I think for me, it means a lot because I am an arts educator, and I am still a performer. I’m still a writer, I’m still a director and a choreographer,” she said. “I’m writing new shows now, but I also write new shows with education in mind.”

Before leaning into arts education as a way to make an impact, Philip climbed the ladder to being a Broadway performer, cultivating the skills that the Tonys recently recognized her for.

Originally from Albany, New York, Philip found her passion for performing as a toddler, taking a liking to the dance class intended for her older sister. She eventually moved to New York City with dreams of becoming a dancer, but when she was later introduced to musical theater, she realized how prepared she was to thrive as a performing artist.

“When I started auditioning, it went pretty well for me. I didn’t get things I think for the first two or three months. But then after about three months, I started landing things and then after a few months after that I was like‚ ranking. Like I’d get called back 90 to 95% of the time,” Philip said.

Philip was a part of several Broadway productions, including dancing in “Big: The Musical,” assistant stage managing for “Street Corner Symphony” and working a five-year position as the dance captain for “Hairspray.” Despite her success, Philip wanted to do something that made her feel more connected to people.

“There came a point where I felt like I outgrew it. I was like, I’ve done a bunch of Broadway shows and I’m pretty sure I could do a bunch more. But it feels like just rinse, repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse, repeat. And do I want that to be the sum of my life, is that I did a bunch of Broadway shows? Especially when you start teaching and start seeing the impact that you can make on another human being that’s not just 2 1/2 hours of their life,” Philip said.

Philip found her passion for teaching as an artist coordinator doing Saturday programs with over 200 students and their families at an art school for kids in Manhattan’s Washington Heights.

“I actually took a year off of performing to help to run that school. I had 40 volunteer teachers. And that’s when I learned that I had a knack for not only teaching myself, but also advising and instructing other teachers things that would connect to their students and engage their students,” she said.

During her transition from performer to teacher, Philip was on tour with “Legally Blonde” when she arrived in Baltimore in 2009. She launched the first Dance & Bmore program, the FazaFam Family Jams, to address the disconnect she noticed between young people and elders in the city and around the country. She settled in Baltimore, though, because she saw something in the city’s youth and arts culture.

The FazaFam, which pulls together families with children 5 to 12 years old for a “family strengthening program building bonds and memories through music, movement, and games,” remains one of several programs Dance & Bmore offers. The organization also has an elder arts and wellness program, which offers classes for folks 65 and older, or Bmore Broadway Live, for people 18 and older, which puts on “Broadway caliber” shows showcasing Baltimore talent.

“Working with her has expanded my vision for the communities we work with in Baltimore,” Erazo said. “She shines and shares her light with all those around her.”

Philip admires and connects to Baltimore’s openness to creative collaboration. The willingness to share ideas and networking is something she says New York is getting better at, but it’s not quite the same.

“You can drown in New York. You can lose your shirt, your apartment, right? Because it’s just so expensive to play. It is pay to play in bigger cities. Whereas in Baltimore, you’re like, I got a nickel, you got a nickel, we can get a couple more nickels and make a quarter and put on a show,” Philip said.

She hopes to further educate the community, expanding the reach and impact of her programs and molding them to fit the needs of the people they serve.

“I could do that if I’m somewhere else,” Philip said. “But I feel like it’s just — it’s going real well and I love doing it here and this feels like home to me.”

This story was republished with permission from The Baltimore Banner. Visit www.thebaltimorebanner.com for more.

LESLIE KING HAMMOND The Way Maker
by Emily Gaines Buchler
Published in JHU Magazine Summer 2024

Excerpt: Footprints of a live rooster strewn across sand. Fried chicken wrapped in gold chains. A bloody Band-Aid in a jar.

This odd mix of accoutrements was part of Art as a Verb: The Evolving Continuum, a groundbreaking 1988 exhibition co-curated by the art historian, curator, and artist Leslie King Hammond, A&S ’73 (MA), ’75 (PhD).

“The show set out to deliberately rattle the art world,” she says. “It was a huge risk.”

At the time, King Hammond was dean of the graduate school at the Maryland Institute College of Art, a position she started in 1976, “when MICA’s president announced my appointment at a faculty meeting, and my colleagues let out an all-too-audible gasp and one loud expletive,” King Hammond says. But more than a decade had passed since her unsettling start as one of the few Black women in the United States to hold a leadership position at a college or university—and the only one to run a graduate art program. King Hammond, though initially jarred, had moved on.

She was on a mission to make things right for Black and women artists, who had been overlooked and excluded by the art world for centuries. “At that time and still today in some cases, Black artists especially weren’t part of college art history courses and the intellectual landscape of our society,” King Hammond says. The world was missing out on seeing “the creations of all humans as worthy of investigation, examination, recognition, enjoyment, and representation.”

Baltimore poet Kondwani Fidel brings home regional Emmy for ‘You Can’t Clip These Wings’
by Rafael Escalera Montoto
Published June 24 in The Baltimore Banner

Excerpt: East Baltimore poet and writer Kondwani Fidel has won a National Capital Emmy Award for the reveal video for the Baltimore Orioles City Connect uniforms. The video features Fidel’s poem “You Can’t Clip These Wings,” an ode to Baltimore’s complexities and the many communities that make the city a source of pride for its residents.

Fidel, and the team behind the video, won their Emmy in the Sports Story – Short Form Content category on Saturday night.

Fans and friends celebrated the Emmy winner on social media, calling the award historic and a win for the city.

This story continues. Read the rest at The Baltimore Banner: Baltimore poet Kondwani Fidel brings home regional Emmy for ‘You Can’t Clip These Wings’.

The painting of Mary Ann Tritt Cassell is likely the first known portrait commissioned by an American born into slavery.
by James Johnson
Published June 24 in The Washington Post

Excerpt: The painting was an heirloom, handed down through generations but unknown to the world at large. The identity of its subject was uncertain. The owner thought it was an ancestor, probably painted by Georgetown artist James Alexander Simpson in the first half of the 19th century, but she wasn’t certain.

Now, the mystery of the portrait has been solved, and it’s scheduled to go on exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art this week.

The woman sitting for the portrait was Mary Ann Tritt Cassell, a woman of mixed race. Formal portraits of African Americans in the period of slavery are rare, but this is one of a kind: It’s probably the first known portrait commissioned by an American born into slavery.

BOPA board approves contract that authorizes it to continue producing Artscape and other events
by Ed Gunts
Published June 21 in Baltimore Fishbowl

Excerpt: The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) on Thursday approved a one-year contract that authorizes the organization to serve as the city’s events producer, arts council and film office until June 30, 2025, and clears the way for it to produce Artscape 2024 as planned on Aug. 2 to 4.

BOPA’s interim board voted 8 to 0 on Thursday to accept the contract negotiated with the Mayor’s Office over the past month. The vote came 10 days before BOPA’s current contract is due to expire, on June 30, and six weeks before Artscape 2024 is scheduled to begin.

Baltimore’s spending body, the Board of Estimates, still must approve the contract before it can take effect. That board’s next meeting is June 26, and BOPA board members expressed hope that the Comptroller’s office would add the contract as a “walk-on” agenda item for that meeting.

See also:

BOPA, city working together to finalize contract ahead of Artscape
by Hallie Miller
Published June 20 in The Baltimore Banner

MSAC Awards Over $700,000 in Public Art Grants
Press Release :: June 25

The Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) announced today that $734,282 in grants have been awarded through the Public Art Across Maryland (PAAM) program, highlighting the agency’s continued investment in public art projects across the state by funding 36 projects in 16 counties.

The PAAM program is recognized for promoting and supporting the inclusion of public art in the everyday experiences of Marylanders—not only through the state’s Percent-for-Art program but also through its unique grant offerings supporting the planning and creation of new work, as well as the conservation of existing work. PAAM grants support a wide array of projects, including murals, sculptures, mosaics, and functional art like bike racks and benches, as well as the restoration of historic works fostering a vibrant cultural landscape that will last for generations.

“These grants ensure that the inspiration and stories that public art represents are accessible to all,” said MSAC Public Art Program Director Liesel Fenner…

Among the grant recipients are:

Building African American Minds, Inc. ($10,000 – Talbot County): supporting the creation of a much-needed bike rack at an athletic center and community hub in Easton. The project will be guided by the center’s patrons, aligning closely with the community’s identity and aspirations.

Soccer Without Borders ($30,000, Baltimore City): supporting the painting of a mural by artist Rowan Bathurst that honors the resilience and potential of young refugees, using soccer as a symbol of unity and hope.

City of Frederick ($30,000 – Frederick County): supporting the restoration of the Community Bridge, originally built in 1993, which has served as a transformative catalyst for the city by fostering inclusivity, social cohesion, and local identity through its innovative community engagement process. Led by the original artist William Cochran and commissioned by the City of Frederick, this project will be a multi-year effort to honor the bridge’s contribution to the city’s economic growth. […]

BMA Opens Solo Exhibitions of Acclaimed Native American Artists Nicholas Galanin and Laura Ortman in July
Press Release :: June 25

BMA to Open Solo Exhibition of New and Recent Works by Acclaimed Artist Nicholas Galanin

On July 14, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will open Nicholas Galanin: Exist in the Width of a Knife’s Edge, a solo exhibition of new and recent works by the artist that addresses the consequences of European colonization and occupation of Indigenous homelands—specifically theft and erasure of belongings, Land, resources, and cultural knowledge from Indigenous communities. In his multifaceted works, Galanin (Lingít and Unangax̂) offers an incisive and unflinching view of the enduring impacts of colonialism—including the willful excision of history and resulting collective amnesia—while also reclaiming Indigenous narratives and creative agency. Exist in the Width of a Knife’s Edge engages audiences with his provocative practice through eight significant works and installations, urging reflection on the damage caused by cultural erasure and eradication, as well as the persistence of Indigenous self-determination. The exhibition will remain on view in the BMA’s contemporary wing through February 16, 2025. […]

BMA Presents Laura Ortman: Wood that Sings as part of Preoccupied: Indigenizing the Museum

On July 17, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) will present Laura Ortman: Wood that Sings, a focus exhibition that explores Apache musicality by displaying the film My Soul Remainer (2019) by Laura Ortman (White Mountain Apache) alongside an early 20th-century Apache tsíí edo’a’tl (fiddle) from the BMA’s collection made by Amos Gustina (Western Apache). Crafted from the hollow stalk of an agave plant and played with the wide end against the musician’s chest, its Apache name translates to “the wood that sings.”

Apache oral traditions trace the origins of stringed musical instruments to the beginning of the earth, and music has played a central role in cultural traditions ever since. In My Soul Remainer, Ortman plays her violin throughout the southwestern landscape of the United States: in a forest clearing, on a mountainside, and within a rocky stream. Her collaborator Jock Soto (Diné) assumes different reverential postures while Ortman’s original score—which samples a piece by German composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)—bleeds into an atmospheric and ethereal composition. By building upon and ultimately departing from the overwhelmingly white and male history of Western classical music composing, Ortman insists upon her own Native autonomy. The exhibition will be on view through January 5, 2025. […]

Maryland Public Television wins 15 Capital Emmy® Awards during regional competition
Press Release :: June 24

The National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS-NCCB) presented Maryland Public Television (MPT) with 15 Emmys during its 66^th Capital Emmy® Awards ceremony at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center on Saturday, June 22.

NATAS-NCCB comprises television industry professionals dedicated to fostering and recognizing outstanding achievements in television production in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. The NCCB chapter is one of the largest in NATAS with more than 1,500 members. Its annual Capital Emmy Awards competition acknowledges excellence in a range of television program genres and production roles.

During its more than 50-year history, MPT has earned 211 Capital Emmys out of 496 total nominations. The statewide public television network has also earned the Board of Governors Award (the chapter’s highest honor), Community Service and Overall Excellence awards, and four national Emmy Awards.

After garnering 42 nominations this year – a record for the organization – MPT received Capital Emmy Awards in the following categories:
ARTS/ENTERTAINMENT – LONG FORM CONTENT
Artworks: The Art of Jazz
T.L. Benton, director/producer
CHESAPEAKE HERITAGE – LONG FORM CONTENT
Discovering the Dove
Stefanie Robey, producer; Frank Batavick, executive producer
CHESAPEAKE HERITAGE – LONG FORM CONTENT
Kent County’s Storied Landscape: Place, Past and Present
Frank Batavick, producer; Susanne Stahley, producer
CHESAPEAKE HERITAGE – SHORT FORM CONTENT
Be Inspired: Magnet Fishing
Gina Ciardi, producer/director/editor
DIVERSITY/EQUITY/INCLUSION – LONG FORM CONTENT
Artworks: The Art of Curation, Part II (Execution)
T.L. Benton, director/producer; Wendel Patrick, co-producer
DIVERSITY/EQUITY/INCLUSION – LONG FORM CONTENT
Water’s Edge: Black Watermen of the Chesapeake
Alexis Aggrey, director; Sarah Sampson, senior producer; Troy Mosley, executive producer
ENVIRONMENT/SCIENCE – LONG FORM CONTENT
Outdoors Maryland: Preserving Change
Sarah Sampson, producer
ENVIRONMENT/SCIENCE – SHORT FORM CONTENT
Outdoors Maryland: Shell Haven
Stefanie Robey, producer
INFORMATIONAL/INSTRUCTIONAL – LONG FORM CONTENT
Artworks: The Art of Curation, Part I (Conception)
T.L. Benton, producer/director
LIFESTYLE – LONG FORM CONTENT
Destination Maryland
Troy Mosley, executive producer; Patrick Keegan, executive producer; Tony Coffield, producer; Sara Fiksdal, producer
LIVE SPORTING EVENT/GAME (SINGLE PROGRAM)
Maryland 5 Star
Troy Mosley, executive producer; Mark Keefer, producer; Katie Brader, field producer; Autumn Malhotra, floor director; Jim Carr, executive producer
MAGAZINE PROGRAM
Artworks: The Art of Theater
T.L. Benton, director/producer
MAGAZINE PROGRAM
Maryland Farm & Harvest: Ten Year Anniversary Special
Robert Ferrier, series producer; Jay McDonald, producer; Luke Fisher, producer
SPORTS STORY – SHORT FORM CONTENT
Rivalry: Inside the CIAA
Travis Mitchell, executive producer; T.L. Benton, producer/director
WRITER – LONG FORM CONTENT
Kent County’s Storied Landscape: Place, Past and Present
Frank Batavick, writer; Susanne Stahley, writer

In addition, an MPT broadcast partner took home an Emmy in the EDUCATION/SCHOOLS – LONG FORM CONTENT category. The documentary Hampton University: One of the Wonders of the World, which aired during MPT’s HBCU Week in 2023, was the sole recipient of an Emmy in its category. The film was produced by Phill Branch of Phill Good Productions. It is available to stream on demand using the free PBS App and MPT’s online video player.

Antiques Roadshow’s Maryland Zoo tour stop draws thousands curious to learn about their own treasures
by Aliza Worthington
Published June 21 in Baltimore Fishbowl

Excerpt: The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore was certainly crowded with unusual creatures this week, but many of them were made out of wood, metal, cotton, or sewn onto heirloom quilts.

The Zoo was the final filming location for WGBH’s Antiques Roadshow, now in its 29^th season. Each season contains 15 regular episodes and 3 special edition episodes. The show visits five cities per season, and each city yields enough content to produce three episodes of Antiques Roadshow. Baltimore is the fifth and last stop on the tour. Over the years, the show has been to every state except Maine and Wyoming.

This is the first time Antiques Roadshow has ever filmed at a zoo. They’ve been filming at outdoor venues since 2016, but never at a zoo. The Maryland Zoo is the third oldest zoo in the country, so it is a bit of an antique in its own right.

A New Leader Takes Over the Young Vic
by Laura Farmer
Published June 24 in Baltimore Magazine

Excerpt: According to family legend, even before Fallon Goodman was born, she was a fan of Baltimore’s Young Victorian Theatre Company, the Roland Park-based summer musical theater group known to many as the “Young Vic.”

Her dad, Brian Goodman, has served as the company’s general manager for nearly five decades and, as he recalls it, “My wife was pregnant, and she told me that as soon as the overture music started, Fallon started kicking in her stomach.”

From that day on, Fallon was always in the theater—and it wasn’t long until she joined the cast. “I was eight,” says Fallon, now 31, of her first production. “That’s about the age when you start to cement real memories, so really, for as long as I can remember, I have always been enmeshed in the world of Young Vic.”

BMA Appoints Angela Wheeler as New Chief of External Affairs and Elisabeth Callihan as Chief Education Officer
Press Release :: June 20

The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) today announced that it has appointed new senior leadership: Angela Wheeler will begin in the new Chief of External Affairs position on July 1 and Elisabeth Callihan will start as the new Chief Education Officer on September 9. As members of the senior leadership team, Wheeler and Callihan will be integral to shaping the BMA’s initiatives, engagement with its community, and broader future direction in alignment with the vision of Asma Naeem, the museum’s Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. They join the BMA at a critical and exciting moment as the museum continues to emerge from the pandemic with a new focus on supporting artists and building bridges with cultural and civic leaders in its region. The BMA also announced today that it recently appointed Anna Lincoln Whitehurst as its new Senior Director of Advancement. She joined the BMA on February 5 and plays an essential role in diversifying and enhancing the museum’s fundraising efforts.

“The success of the BMA is built on the strength of our team. Angela, Elisabeth, and Anna Lincoln are individually deeply accomplished, and I know that their experiences and expertise will well serve the BMA as we envision and enact the museum’s next chapter,” said Naeem. “I look forward to collaborating with them, and the other members of the senior leadership team, to create a truly community- and artist-oriented institution. I’m certain that their distinct perspectives and approaches will help us grow in exciting ways.”

After 20 Years, Ancestor Rock, Kānepō, To Return Home to Hawaiʻi
Press Release :: June 26

After two decades representing the western cardinal point of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall, the volcanic pōhaku (rock) named Kānepō will return to its home on the Island of Hawaiʻi this summer. In preparation for Kānepō’s departure, a ceremony will be held July 1 during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. The ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. in the museum’s Potomac Atrium and will be led by Kekuhi Kealiʻikanakaʻole, who is a kumu hula (master teacher of the art of hula), educator, scholar and founder of Hālau ʻŌhiʻa, a program designed to deepen connection and relationship with the Earth through Hawaiʻi life ways.

An integral element of the landscape, Kānepō has stood with three other cardinal markers to represent the vastness of the museum’s scope and the special inclusion of Native Hawaiians. The three remaining markers will remain in their locations on the museum grounds.

Kānepō was selected by the Kūpuna (Elders) consultation group for Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. The group, composed of Native Hawaiians with genealogical ties to the lands that the park stewards, as well as retired park personnel, consults with the National Park Service staff on traditional practices.

Unlike the other three cardinal markers that were given outright to American Indian Museum, Kānepō was loaned to the museum for 20 years with the expectation that the stone would be returned. A new pōhaku has been selected to take its place and is scheduled to arrive at the museum in the fall. The new pōhaku also will also be named Kānepō and return to Hawai’i after 20 years.

The 2024 Folklife Festival will be held on the National Mall opposite the National Museum of the American Indian from June 26 through July 1. This year’s festival celebrates the museum and the people whose voices it amplifies. “Indigenous Voices of the Americas: Celebrating the National Museum of the American Indian” will highlight the living traditions of Indigenous peoples and honor contemporary and traditional creative expressions, celebrations and community connections, and feature more than 250 participants from 60 Indigenous communities in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil.