BmoreArt

Could each of you talk briefly about your journey and time before MAP? 

Amy Cavanaugh (AC): My education is in music performance on the cello from the Catholic University of America in DC and the majority of my family are visual artists. I was raised on art. I was a performing and practicing musician until I wasn’t. In my early 30s, I got off the road and began working for ARCH Development Corporation (ADC) in DC, which managed and revitalized HUD properties. I very swiftly went from a touring, recording musician to the COO of ADC. 

I began writing grants with no experience and I was doing well. So, we started to slowly develop properties into art spaces to include a contemporary art gallery, Honfleur Gallery, where I curated and managed the artists. I did that for seven and a half years, and that is what led me to my role here. I subsequently ended up in Baltimore, because my band, Yeveto and some of my friends moved here and I wanted to get out of DC. When I applied to MAP, they were mostly interested in my programmatic and curatorial skills, not what I do today. 

Caitlin Gill (CG): I got my undergraduate degree in Painting from Towson University, and I got my Masters in Curatorial Practice and Art Criticism from the Ontario College of Art and Design. In 2013, while I was in Graduate School, I interned at MAP—which was Amy’s second year as director. 

When I moved back from Canada, I ended up landing a job at a commercial gallery called Renaissance Fine Arts. I dealt a lot with their acquisitions management, and I did a lot of their purchase ordering. I felt like commercial art practice wasn’t my vibe because I hate the commodification of art, so I ended up moving to a non-profit to be a community manager, but I was only there for under a year because this job opened. Then I applied and interviewed, and I have been here ever since. 

What are your goals for MAP? Is there anything that you hope to change or improve? 

AC: There are so many different layers of what the goals are. There is the building goal; improving the facilities and making it function better for all the artists that are working here, as well as maximizing underutilized space. 

CG: For us, its accessibility from all levels, for example: trying to get the elevator running effectively. We would also like to focus on reaching new audiences by being more strategic with our marketing. We are always raising the bar with our exhibitions. That is very important to us. 

AC: I think [MAP] can be more memorable at certain times than others. It might be more memorable if you walk into the basement and see the cabaret for the first time. Then you are like “Oh, I didn’t know that this was here.” We are going to go through strategic planning, and we are going to address what are the most immediate and far-reaching goals, but I do think rebranding is in the pipeline. Helping people better understand what we do here. It is not just a few shows in the gallery, there is a lot happening, and probably we have not taken enough time to talk about it. 

CG: We are very multifaceted and action oriented. We are striving to foster as many opportunities as possible for the artists. I think our biggest challenge is talking about it from an organizational perspective. We love getting to know artists and we love to do studio visits, just to familiarize ourselves with their work. But I’m not sure people know how accessible we are.

AC: Yes, we are really good at marketing and talking about the artists, just not ourselves. We would also like to do community surveys, but to do this we have to slow our roll because we don’t have a lot of capacity, which would perhaps mean fewer exhibitions and programming in the coming year while we go through that process.

Jumping off your point, MAP does an extraordinary amount of public programming, but you also support artists in projects that are less visible to the public. Could you talk a little about these projects, and elaborate on how these are instrumental in supporting artists?

AC: Everything that we do publicly comes under the name IMPACT public art projects. 

We have a partnership with the Quinn Evans Architecture firm that is exhibition based. Another recent partnership was with the Baltimore Peninsula and was a win-win situation because they wanted to use this extraneous pot of money that they had to support and acquire Baltimore artist’s works. They (Mag Partners) needed a community partner. It was a good fit. We ended up brokering two commissions and 18 artwork sales for public-facing spaces within the Baltimore Peninsula. 

I suppose the more we can talk about things like this, the more developers and other potential partners will realize the talented pool of artists that live and work here in addition to looking to MAP for support and connection. We are also managing the exhibitions schedule for the Four Ten Lofts Gallery as well as their community spaces. 

MAP has been offering fiscal agency and support for about five years now, more robustly in the last two years, and geared toward minority and underserved communities, but we are not in the position to make it an open, public program. We are just now concluding our relationship with The Last Resort Artist Retreat (TLRAR), which was founded by Derrick Adams, MAP has been TLRAR’s fiscal agent since it started. They have their 501(c)3 now, so I feel like we accomplished our mission. 

You touched on this a little already, but could you speak more about the Programming Advisory Committee (PAC) and how it is organized?

AC: The PAC meets quarterly just like the board. It is a non-voting, non-financial committee of the board, and we talk about all the basic stuff that is happening—art trends and what people feel like we are missing. The organization of the committee is something that we are scrutinizing. We have been operating on a very old set of bylaws, which we will be rewriting soon. We just finished writing our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) Statement, and we are also looking at new ways that the PAC could function. Prior to this we would review submissions and applications. A lot of that will still be in place, it will just be more organized with more rules, regulations, and set terms. 

There have been some committee members who have been on it for many years, which is great because there’s that historical knowledge. I’d like to keep that history while adding new members and perspectives. There may also be an application process for commitment and best practices purposes. 

CG: That is the goal, just being more intentional. I would also add that, internally, Amy and I divide and conquer to hit as many openings as we can. Because we have different tastes, we make very different aesthetic choices. But we find a way to bring each other’s voices together. 

AC: On major shows there is always a third [individual curating], usually a PAC member, like how we did Merkin Dream with Laure Drogoul, Kelly Bell, and Carlyn Wilder. 

What do you think is the best way to foster relationships in the arts, between artists and organizations, artists and audiences, and collectors and organizations?

CG: I can speak more about relationships between artists and organizations. I’m an artist so I have a sense of the community, and I connect a lot with people and their practice. That aspect has been really rewarding and it has taught me a lot in my position. I have had a safe space where people provide very honest feedback, not necessarily about the organization, but about past experiences with art handling or art installation and that has really informed my practice as an installer specifically. 

As an artist I’m also mindful of how I would want my artwork to be perceived so I put myself in their position. We have ridiculously long drop off and pick up windows because we try to accommodate the fact that people might be working 9-5s or might have three jobs. Also, being out in the community, connecting with people, engaging with their work, supporting them by going to their openings and different events is important. As well as going through things that they are going through: applying to exhibitions, grants and getting rejected. There is a level of humbling and vulnerability in that exercise.

AC: My connection with the arts and artists is really based on my experiences with my family. You learn to respect the artistic process they go through—to make things AND to make a living. Just having seen the dynamics behind the scenes from family members selling works at very high price points to seeing my mom carving sculptures in the basement, you have to appreciate all they go through. It would be great if people knew that we (MAP) really care about that. 

CG: We care. That is so valid. Also, because Amy has been such a mentor to me not only here at MAP but also as an emergent artist. She goes to my art openings, she reviews my artworks, holds private studio visits, and reads my grants. In terms of professional development, she is so supportive. She has shaped my art practice just as any of my friends have. She gives every artist free advice. Not everyone is as generous with their time and knowledge. I think we’ve all experienced resource guarding, but Amy is always supportive. 

AC: You asked about the patronage. What we have tried to do is demystify the experience of buying art through UNDER$500 and Out of Order and make people feel a little more safe and secure about it, especially new buyers. I mean if you like a $5000 Louis Vuitton bag, why can’t you like and buy a $5000 painting. What’s the difference? It is about changing mindsets. 

I also really appreciate the affordability of Under$500 and the presence of the artists. 

CG: The artist as collector is so prevalent in Baltimore. A lot of the participating artists end up buying art themselves especially in Out of Order. I bought Melissa Cormier’s work in Under$500 the first year I worked at MAP and now she is one of my closest friends. Her work really spoke to me and those are the connections that MAP fosters. I think that MAP returns on its investment.

AC: But this is also not new to MAP. This is what MAP has been doing for 43 years. I was lucky to inherit this role from smart people who had good ideas. 

I would also like to ask you about your life outside of MAP. Caitlin, what are you working on in your art? Do you have any upcoming shows?

CG: I just had a show at the Alchemy of Art, a solo exhibition, “Prey for Me” coming up at Cotyledon Arts in December, and a group show at NOMA Gallery and Towson University. I’m in a residency with the Bureau of Queer Art. And I’m working on a series of paintings of vultures stalking small children. I feel it’s in keeping with the work that I have been developing, for example: the chicken women and some of the more whimsical pieces. These 5-7 new pieces, which will be in Prey for Me are going to be similar in media, but different in concept. I would really love to conceptualize my chicken women as life-size sculptures. Ultimately, I see myself moving not entirely into 3D but creating works that are more three dimensional for sure. 

You also recently started a collective called Goxxip Girl Collective (which I’m also a part of) could you speak about the organization?

CG: We are an all-female identifying art collective formed by a group of Maryland artists that works to collaborate and support one another in our practices and pursuits. We are dedicated to creating an inclusive space that nurtures creativity, sparks inspiration, and promotes collective progress. We meet once a month and have about fifteen members. We also exhibit together (with recent shows at Prince George’s Community College, Night Owl Gallery, and the Bromo Art Walk). We are also starting a small gallery upstairs.

Amy, you are a talented musician and have played in multiple bands throughout your life? Do you still play or record new songs?

AC: I think my performance days are over, but I am going to be playing on my brother’s new album sometime later this year or early next year. I have been working on a few songs. I haven’t had a lot of bandwidth for music as a mostly single mom, but I’m getting to the place where I can start to think about myself again. 

I have another project that is not music related, which is cataloging and publishing Cecil Hillary’s, my grandfather’s, paintings. He was also a Maryland artist, and I want to publish a book of his works. In my family, we often say that the creative gene came from Cecil. He really had a dark sense of humor and an influence on us all. There is also a bunch of writing, poetry, and musings that might go with the art, which ranges from realism to complete chaos abstraction. 

What sort of music are you guys listening to right now? 

AC: J.R.C.G., the new Washed Out album, and I have been revisiting some old Pinback albums just for fun. The new DIIV album is really good too. My former guitar player released an album called Hail the Traveler in 2021, which I’m on most of. I recorded those tracks in 2017, so I forgot that even happened until he released it in 2021. The tracks turned out pretty good and he (Gregory Rago) is an incredible guitarist.

CG: It’s Maggie Rogers for me right now, and I always have liked Menomena, that album is my running album. I’m in a pop girl era so I’m not going to fully disclose some of the music I have been listening to. That is just a guilty pleasure right now. I think summer is for the girls, I want to lean into my feminine energy and in the winter I’m more of like Wednesday Adam vibe. 

What are your current exhibits and projects?

AC: We have an exciting project that we are producing with the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance (GBCA), Full Circle Fine Art, and BmoreArt: a Baltimore Gallery & Museum Guide (BGMG). BmoreArt is a distribution partner, MAP is the data collection arm, and the GBCA is hosting the digital version on their website. 

For the BGMG, we are still working on securing funding for an official edition launch and have shared the guide with city and state leaders. I think it’s going to be a slow process getting it funded, but I believe in this publication and our collective ability to make it happen. There is a lot of relationship cultivation currently at play. BmoreArt obviously plays a big role in its success.

I’m also pretty excited for the relaunch of UNDER$500 as UNDER$2500 on November 22. We have been discussing elevating the price point for over a year to be more commensurate with artists needs and the actual price of affordable art. Our Call for Entry is currently out there with a Nov 1 deadline so there’s still time to apply!

And we are in the midst or working on the 3rd installment of Merkin Dream fall 2025. We will be working with Kenn Hall (OMRY) again for the fashion show and Caitlin has done a tremendous job cultivating a relationship with the Bureau of Queer Art to curate an exhibition here in September 2025.

Tell us about this new gorgeous mural on the outside of your building?

AC: Funded by The Downtown Partnership of Baltimore City, the new mural by Gaia plays on the Cheon/Kroiz diamonds, the 14Karat Cabaret and what Saratoga Street once was, mostly pawn brokers and gold dealers. All the writing on the mural says LOVE. Also, the diamonds have been refurbished and are being reinstalled next Tuesday, so we should be ALL LIT UP by UNDER$2500.

Is there something I haven’t asked, but that you would like to mention?

AC: Something that people might not know is that we source all the information and opportunities on the MSAC Resource Bulletin. Our partnership with MSAC has also been a big part of our identity and story.