BmoreArt

This week’s news includes:  Catonsville Arts District announces public art project, Station North reacts to loss of Artscape, Goya Contemporary’s Thread Lines review in Artblog, DEI crackdowns affect arts funding, protecting arts funding in Maryland, Stevie Walker-Webb and Center Stage, the Governor’s dining guide and ICE effects at restaurants, news from the Eubie Blake Cultural Center, Elizabeth Catlett exhibition at NGA, Sophia Belkin at Hemphill, the new Jewish Museum, Culinary Archicture in Pigtown, and the BSO’s 2025-26 season — with reporting from Baltimore Magazine, Baltimore Fishbowl, The Baltimore Banner, and other local and independent news sources.

Header Image: Sonya Clark, “The Huest Eye,” 2023. Embroidered thread on Rives BFK paper Paper: 36 x 24 in. Frame: 38.5 x 26.13 in. Edition 9 of 12. Published by Goya Contemporary / Goya-Girl Press. Photo by Goya Contemporary Gallery

Catonsville Arts District to Celebrate History and Heritage in a New Public Art Project
Press Release :: February 24

The Baltimore County Arts Guild (BCAG) announces a major public art project — Signs of People — that will take shape during spring and summer 2025 in Baltimore County’s Catonsville Arts District (CAD). By early fall, visitors to the District, which stretches along the historic “Village” area of Frederick Road, can enjoy prominent and playful wayfinding and placemaking signs that will illuminate the cultural history of the area.

The signs were conceived by two artists — the internationally recognized team of Eva Salmerón and Ciro Márquez, already known to Baltimoreans through their interactive public artwork BUS, installed in the downtown Highlandtown Arts District — who were selected through a nationally competitive process.

“The highly engaging and eye-catching work of Eva Salmerón and Ciro Márquez will transform the visitor experience along Frederick Road,” says Monica Herber, executive director of the Baltimore County Arts Guild, which operates the Catonsville Arts District. “While the signs highlight historic sites, including some that have now vanished, they will also become their own destination points.”

The public art initiative is supported by a major grant from the former Catonsville Historical Society, with additional support from Baltimore County Government and the Maryland State Arts Council.

Public Launch Event

The conceptual designs will be revealed in a public information session on Thursday, March 6, 7 p.m., at the Catonsville Clubhouse, located at 10 St. Timothys Lane in Catonsville. At this event, the artists will discuss their artwork, their engagement with the community, and will participate in a question and answer session.

The Artwork

What makes the signs so remarkable is that each will feature not only a historic site, but also the enlarged silhouette of a Catonsville resident. At about 14 feet tall  — highly visible to both drivers and pedestrians — each sign will be topped with the bright yellow silhouette of a person who gestures toward the site; below the silhouettes are area maps and descriptive language that tells the stories of the sites, printed in braille on the reverse. A QR code will allow for audio descriptions and wayfinding guidance and lead to a website with more in-depth historical information.

The signs will feature the likenesses of Catonsville residents who have a special story to tell about these places, and a quote from their story will be printed on a text plate below their silhouette portrait. In this way, a neighbor might point out the now-vanished home of Victor Gustav Bloede, the inventor of postage stamp glue; or the location of the Greenwood Electric Park, a social center supported by Black entrepreneur Remus Adams in an era when African Americans were shut out of recreational spaces.

“The inspiration for this project came from our visit to Catonsville last October, from the passion of the various people who showed us around, from their excitement to tell all the stories of their town, and from their sense of welcome. Signs of People is a tribute to the locals, who are, after all, the ones who make the place what it is today,” shares Eva Salmerón.

The signs function on two scales: the eye-catching silhouette portraits will be seen by drivers, and more specific information will be accessible from the sidewalk for pedestrians. “The signs will be as clear as road signs, as conceptually powerful and synthetic. The organization of the information on the plates will be graphic and intuitive. People’s profiles will be drawn with a thick stroke that gives them expressiveness and makes them distinguishable from far away,” notes Ciro Márquez.

The Silhouettes

The general public will be invited to nominate current and former members of the Catonsville community (including themselves) to be featured on the portrait silhouettes. Nominations are being accepted through Thursday, March 27 at https://bit.ly/SignsofPeopleNominate.

The artists will review the submissions, and will select ten residents whose stories about the sites establish an engaging link between the past and the present, keeping in mind a diversity of backgrounds, ages, and identities. Selected residents will be interviewed to acquire quotes for the signs, and photos will be taken for the silhouette portraits.

See also:

‘Signs of People’ art installation coming to Frederick Road in Catonsville
by Aliza Worthington
Published February 25 in Baltimore Fishbowl

Station North Community Reacts to Artscape’s New Downtown Footprint
by Mia Resnicow
Published February 26 in Baltimore Magazine

Excerpt: On a rainy June weekend in the summer of 1982—as residents awaited the highly anticipated opening of the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall—an arts fair was held in Midtown-Belvedere just down the street from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), to promote Baltimore’s creative community and economy. Ray Charles, Ethel Ennis, and musicians from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra were headliners.

Now, 43 years later, that gathering has transformed into Artscape—the largest free outdoor arts festival in the United States. Pre-pandemic attendance reached more than 350,000, but the festival has struggled to find stable footing ever since, partially due to COVID cancellations, weather conditions, and shakeups with longtime organizers at the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA).

Since 2008, Artscape’s home has been in the Station North Arts District, the city’s first officially designated Arts & Entertainment district, overseen by the Central Baltimore Partnership.

Goya Contemporary’s ‘Thread Lines’ – fiber works with personal as well as social commentary
by Susan Isaacs
Published February 8 in Artblog

Excerpt: Thread Lines at Baltimore’s Goya Contemporary Gallery is an elegantly installed exhibition typical of the gallery’s attention to detail and well worth a visit. The exhibit presents work by artists they represent who incorporate sewing techniques and fibers made from a variety of media ranging from textiles to hair and paper. Many of these artists ignore boundaries between craft and fine art, exploring the potential of combined media to seek both personal expression and even serve as a means for cultural commentary.

Several works by Sonya Clark are visually stunning and brilliantly conceived. “The Bluest, Twisted”, and “The Huest Eye,” (both 2023-2024) address issues of race. Clark presents two related and editioned images through which she examines the writer Toni Morrison’s first novel The Bluest Eye (1970). The artist has read and reread it over thirty times. In the book, Morrison challenges the constructed myths of beauty that privilege Whiteness over Blackness.

Show on Artists of African Descent Loses Funding Amid Trump DEI Crackdown
by Isa Farfan
Published February 24 in Hyperallergic

Excerpt: The Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, DC, has terminated an exhibition of works by Afro-Latino, Caribbean, and African American artists after the Trump administration allegedly withdrew the show’s funding amid crackdowns on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs.

Before The Americas, curated by Cheryl D. Edwards and four years in the making, was slated to open on March 21 and set to include 40 works exploring migration, colonial challenges, and interconnectivity in the African diaspora in the Americas. These included works by the late Alonzo Davis, who founded one of the first Black-owned contemporary art galleries in the United States, and Mexican-American sculptor Elizabeth Catlett.

“This would have been the first show that they would have had this many African American artists in their galleries at one time,” Edwards told Hyperallergic. 

Take Action to Protect Arts Funding in Maryland
Newsletter :: February 20

On Thursday, February 13, 2025, hundreds of artists, arts administrators, and advocates from every county in the state gathered in Annapolis for Maryland Arts Day. Most of the BOPA staff attended, along with many of our colleagues and fellow artists from Baltimore City.

Organized by Maryland Citizens for the Arts (MCA) in partnership with Arts Education in Maryland Schools, County Arts Agencies of Maryland, Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, Maryland Nonprofits, Maryland Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, and the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC), Maryland Arts Day is so much more than a networking event.

In addition to connecting with other arts professionals, Maryland Arts Day attendees learn lots of facts about the impact of the arts in our state and the proposed state budget for the arts. Armed with information for making a strong case in support of arts funding in Maryland, participants break up into smaller groups to go meet with legislators face-to-face and emphasize the importance of the arts on the economic and cultural vitality of the state.

The arts sector adds nearly $13 billion to the state economy, supports 80,000+ jobs, and provides $7.3 billion in worker compensation.

The arts sector is vital – like education, like transportation, like public safety – and ought to be funded accordingly. For 30 years, Maryland has been a national model for arts funding, but this year that legacy is in danger.

The 2025 Budget Reconciliation and Financing Act (BRFA) could result in harmful cuts to Maryland’s arts budget. It calls for the elimination of the 1994 Arts Stabilization Act, which is a bipartisan funding model for MSAC ensuring predictable formula-based arts funding that is invested in hundreds of artists and arts organizations across Maryland.

Essentially, if the state budget goes up, arts funding increases proportionally, and vice versa. If this nationally-recognized funding formula is eliminated, Maryland’s arts sector will face drastic funding cuts, destabilizing this $13 billion-dollar economic engine.

Every $1 invested in the arts returns $3 or more to Maryland’s economy.

The BRFA is not a cost-saving measure; it is economically harmful to all Marylanders. Eliminating dedicated arts funding will lead to job losses, reduced tourism revenue, and fewer cultural programs that benefit Marylanders.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Your voice matters! We urge you to contact your legislators and ask them to oppose this proposal. Click here and fill in your information to generate an automatic email to your representatives. Then share that link with 10 other people and ask them to join you in contacting their legislators.

If you are affiliated with an arts organization, make sure your group has signed onto this letter. MCA is following up with lawmakers and will utilize the letter to show broad opposition to the elimination of the arts funding formula.

Next week, there are hearings scheduled for February 27th and 28th in the House and Senate respectively. Any Maryland resident can register to provide written testimony as well as testify in person. For information on how to register for in-person or written testimony, visit the following links:

• Testify in the Maryland House of Delegates
• Testify in the Maryland State Senate

Please note that in order to submit written testimony or testify in person, you have to have a MyMGA Account. If you don’t, it’s super easy to make one! Here’s a video page with short tutorials to help you create an account and navigate the MyMGA website.

Finally, it’s important to acknowledge the time and effort that goes into advocacy. We appreciate everyone who had a hand in preparing for and facilitating Maryland Arts Day. A huge thank you to Nicholas Cohen and the entire staff at MCA for spearheading. But the work isn’t finished.

Arts funding is critical, essential, and non-negotiable.

The arts makes for a more beautiful, more creative, more prosperous state. Contact your legislators today and help us stand up for arts funding in Maryland.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s Dining Guide to Annapolis and Baltimore
by Claudia Rosenbaum
Published February 21 in Eater

Excerpt: It’s been two years since Governor Wes Moore moved into the Government House in Annapolis, the official residence for the governor of Maryland. After having plenty of time to acclimate to the responsibilities of being the 63rd governor of the Chesapeake Bay State, he’s ready to dish on his favorite places to eat in Maryland’s capital and throughout the state.

In an exclusive interview with Eater DC, he also shares his thoughts on cooking (he finds it relaxing), his pick for ordering in (sushi), whether he feeds his rescue dog (Tucker Balti Moore) under the table, and why he thinks it’s high time for Marylanders to be able to purchase beer and wine in grocery stores. “In terms of convenience and eliminating food deserts, it makes a whole lot of sense,” says Moore. “I really am hoping that the legislature takes a real look at it.”

See also:

What Should You Do if ICE Comes to Your Restaurant?
by Jaya Saxena
Published February 12 in Eater

How one restaurant got caught up in Trump’s crackdown on immigration
by Matti Gellman
Published February 22 in The Baltimore Banner

Stevie Walker-Webb is Already Creating a Lasting Impact at Baltimore Center Stage
by Kerry Folan
Published February 26 in Baltimore Magazine

Excerpt: Stevie Walker-Webb claims to be an accidental theater director. With an undergraduate degree in sociology, he originally considered a career in public service. But his love of theater—its own kind of public service—won out. At only 38, the Texas native is already an internationally celebrated director with an Obie Award and a Tony nomination under his belt.

In his first full year as Baltimore Center Stage’s new artistic director, Walker-Webb has launched an electrifying lineup of productions, including the theater’s two best-selling shows since the 2020 pandemic, and introduced innovative community outreach programs. He’s just getting started.

Eubie Blake Cultural Center Announces Collaboration with From Baltimore With Love
Press Release :: February 24

The Eubie Blake Cultural Center (EBCC) is thrilled to announce an meaningful collaboration with From Baltimore With Love (FBWL) to launch the With Love Creative Incubator, a groundbreaking collaborative media lab for podcasting and film production. This innovative initiative will be hosted at the Eubie Blake Cultural Center, continuing our commitment to fostering creativity, empowering youth, and supporting Baltimore’s vibrant arts community.

About the Collaboration

As a Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, EBCC strategically develops collaborative relationships aimed at advancing creative and educational initiatives. In collaboration with FBWL, a dynamic and multifaceted organization dedicated to authentically telling Baltimore’s story, this initiative will leverage our shared values of cultural preservation and community empowerment. Together, we look forward to amplifying local voices and creating a positive
About the With Love Creative Incubator

The With Love Creative Incubator is an inspiring space that provides underrepresented youth with access to state-of-the-art podcasting, film production, and editing facilities. The program is designed to foster creativity, bridge the digital skills gap, and equip participants with hands-on experience in media production. By cultivating a generation of aspiring creators, the incubator empowers youth to launch meaningful projects, share authentic stories, and explore careers in the media industry.

From Baltimore With Love’s Commitment

Since its inception, FBWL has been committed to protecting and promoting Baltimore’s cultural identity through impactful storytelling and digital media. This collaboration represents an extension of our dedication to creating spaces where creativity, education, and community come together.

Looking Ahead

This collaboration marks the beginning of a dynamic effort that will inspire new generations of creators while celebrating Baltimore’s unique identity. Stay tuned as we embark on this transformative journey together!

About the Eubie Blake Cultural Center

The Eubie Blake Cultural Center is dedicated to preserving and celebrating African American art, history, and culture. Through exhibitions, performances, and educational programs, the Center provides a platform for artists and scholars to share their work and engage with the community.

Follow Eubie Blake Cultural Center on Instagram @eubieblakecenter

About From Baltimore With Love™

FBWL is the perfect representation of the greatest city in America, Baltimore. As a business producing content, specialty apparel, and initiatives to engage with the community, we intentionally curate outcomes. We champion our city, with LOVE. At FBWL, we celebrate the positive impact that our leaders strive to make daily. From our general supporters, to traveling sports fans agreeing this brand is the Perfect Way to Represent, FBWL has become one the most traveled local clothing brands from Baltimore.

Follow From Baltimore With Love on Instagram @frombaltimorewithlove

Eubie Blake Cultural Center Receives Grant to Support Historic Renovations
Press Release :: February 24

February 24, 2025 – The Eubie Blake Cultural Center is proud to announce that it has received a generous grant from the France-Merrick Foundation to support critical renovations and restoration of its historic 125-year-old building, located in the heart of Baltimore’s Antique Row. This investment is part of a $2.5 million phased project to upgrade the building’s envelope and interiors, ensuring the long-term sustainability of this cultural landmark.

“For fifty years, Eubie Blake Center has served as a hub to foster African American art, culture, and expression, and preserve the legacy of Baltimore-native and jazz legend Eubie Blake,” said Derek Price, Executive Director at the Eubie Blake Cultural  Center. “This grant allows us to continue our mission of providing a space where Black artists and cultural heritage thrive, while also preserving the integrity of our historic home.”

“The @eubieblakecenter is an important hub for #BaltimoreArts and culture. We’re delighted to invest in renovating and restoring its 125 year old building to ensure long-term sustainability and continuation of this vital cultural center,” wrote the France-Merrick Foundation.

This funding marks another milestone in the ongoing renovation efforts, which have already included HVAC system upgrades, window and roof replacements, and elevator improvements. Subsequent phases will focus on preserving the building’s historic character while enhancing accessibility and safety, as well as increasing programming quality and capacity. These plans include improving Wi-Fi capacity, restoring the wood floors in Eubie Live!, our performance space and two art galleries, and installing sprung floors in the Lori Goodman Dance Studio.

As the Eubie Blake Cultural Center continues to evolve, it invites the community to support its efforts through donations, event participation, and advocacy. For more information about the Center visit www.eubieblake.org

About the Eubie Blake Cultural Center

The Eubie Blake Cultural Center is dedicated to preserving and celebrating African American art, history, and culture. Through exhibitions, performances, and educational programs, the center provides a platform for artists and scholars to share their work and engage with the community.

About the France-Merrick Foundation

The France-Merrick Foundation is dedicated to enriching the quality of life in Maryland, particularly within the Greater Baltimore area. It focuses on project-oriented requests that enhance organizational capacity across six main areas: civic and culture, community and economic development, education, environment, health and human services, and historic preservation. Emphasizing one-time funding for projects with defined timelines, the Foundation aims to support initiatives that have a lasting positive impact on communities.

Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist
Press Release :: Opens March 9 @ National Gallery of Art

The retrospective exhibition Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies showcases the enduring legacy of Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012) as a visionary artist and an unwavering activist. As the most comprehensive presentation devoted to Catlett in the United States, it features more than 150 works, including well-known sculpture and prints, rare paintings and drawings, and important ephemera. The exhibition is co-organized by the Brooklyn Museum and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and presented in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago.

Catlett was an avowed feminist, lifelong activist, and deft formalist. Coming of age as an artist during the 1930s and 1940s, an era marked by the Great Depression and global economic turmoil, she witnessed class inequality, racial violence, and U.S. expansionism, which continue to shape the world today. Catlett passionately addressed these injustices through her politically engaged art. Her prints and sculptures draw on organic abstraction, American and Mexican modernism, and African art, centering the trials and triumphs of Black American and Mexican women.

For nearly a century—from Jim Crow segregation to the McCarthy era and the Cold War to President Obama’s first term—Catlett dedicated her life to the pursuit of formal rigor and social justice, which she understood to be mutually reinforcing. A transnational artist, Catlett worked in Washington, DC, Chicago, and New York before settling in Mexico, where she lived and taught for more than sixty years. She embraced a political radicalism that merged the goals of the Black Left in the United States with the lessons of the Mexican Revolution. Through her dual practices in sculpture and printmaking, Catlett remained committed to depicting the strength and struggles of both Black American and Mexican communities.

Organized chronologically and thematically, the exhibition traces Catlett’s career of creative artistry and bold political activism. From protests she staged while in high school against lynchings in Washington, DC, to her academic pursuits at Howard University and the University of Iowa, Catlett’s path was marked by a dedication to developing rigorous formal excellence and progressive social politics that deftly brought together issues of race, gender, and class. After becoming the first-ever recipient of a master of fine arts degree at the University of Iowa, Catlett continued her education studying ceramics at the Art Institute of Chicago, and honing her practice in lithography at the South Side Community Art Center.

Catlett then spent four years in New York, where she studied the tenets of modernist European sculpture and became a part of a community of artists and intellectuals who coalesced around Popular Front politics. Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies includes a number of Catlett’s early paintings and sketches from this period, defying notions that she was exclusively a printmaker and sculptor and underscoring her versatility as an artist.

Catlett’s early interest in art and politics was cemented in 1946 when she went to Mexico City to pursue printmaking at the highly regarded Mexican artist collective Taller de Gráfica Popular. Catlett ultimately became a Mexican citizen and an active participant in leftist cultural circles in Mexico City and Cuernavaca. While raising a family and teaching in Mexico, Catlett never lost sight of the Black liberation struggle in the United States. As she told Ebony magazine in 1970, “I am inspired by Black people and Mexican people, my two peoples.”

Through bold line work in prints and voluptuous forms in sculpture, Catlett draws parallels between the female experience in the United States and Mexico. In Homage to My Young Black Sisters (1968) and her public monument, Floating Family (1996), Catlett examines intersectional feminism and familial bonds through the medium of sculpture, referencing Brancusi, Henry Moore, historical African and Mesoamerican sculpture. The exhibition includes a selection of Catlett’s most iconic prints, from the Sharecropper and Black Woman series of the 1940s and 1950s to works such as Watts/Detroit/Washington/Harlem/Newark, inspired by radical political activism of the 1960s and 1970s.

“Elizabeth Catlett’s artistry and activism resonate powerfully in today’s world, reminding us of ongoing national and international struggles against inequality and injustice. The exhibition not only celebrates Catlett’s contributions to the art world but also brings a historical voice into the present—showing how generations of Black feminists continue to inspire us to fight for a more equitable and just society,” says Catherine Morris, Sackler Senior Curator, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum.

“In honoring Elizabeth Catlett’s legacy, we hope that her work will resonate as a poignant reminder of art’s power to ignite change and unite communities in the ongoing struggle for equality and liberation. A Black revolutionary artist, Catlett made real, material sacrifices—including nine years of political exile—to speak truth to power and to make art for all. Her political conviction was matched by her aesthetic principles. She was capacious in her artistic influences, and while she loved abstraction, she loved her people more,” says Dalila Scruggs, Augusta Savage Curator of African American Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The exhibition title takes inspiration from a talk Catlett gave in 1970, following a decade of exile from the United States in response to her political activism in Mexico. Catlett said: “I have been, and am currently, and always hope to be a Black Revolutionary Artist and all that it implies.” Her impassioned speech highlights the exhibition’s core themes: a commitment to formal rigor, Black empowerment through progressive activism, and a belief that everyday people deserve access to fine art. The works throughout the presentation are evidence of Catlett’s enduring legacy of driving social change, both through her contributions to the art world and the movements she championed.

East City Art Reviews—Sophia Belkin at Hemphill
by Claudia Rousseau, Ph.D.
Published February 19 in East City Art

Excerpt: It probably took a couple of generations of women needleworkers to sew the magnificent embroidered narrative scroll known as the Bayeux Tapestry in the last quarter of the 11th century. Viewing Sophia Belkin’s first solo show at Hemphill Gallery brought this to mind as her glowing works are pieced together by stem stitching, not made by the hands of nuns, but by an amazing machine that makes it more perfectly and in an instant of the time. The issue of mechanical help in creating works of art is one that has been recently in focus, but there is an enormous difference between enlisting a CNC embroidery machine to carry out your complicated and detailed designs and using AI to originate a work. And the results shown in this exhibit are fascinating.

It probably took a couple of generations of women needleworkers to sew the magnificent embroidered narrative scroll known as the Bayeux Tapestry in the last quarter of the 11th century. Viewing Sophia Belkin’s first solo show at Hemphill Gallery brought this to mind as her glowing works are pieced together by stem stitching, not made by the hands of nuns, but by an amazing machine that makes it more perfectly and in an instant of the time. The issue of mechanical help in creating works of art is one that has been recently in focus, but there is an enormous difference between enlisting a CNC embroidery machine to carry out your complicated and detailed designs and using AI to originate a work. And the results shown in this exhibit are fascinating.

The Newly Renovated Jewish Museum of Maryland is Ready for its Close-Up
by Janelle Erlichman Diamond
Published February 24 in Baltimore Magazine

Excerpt: It’s a cold day in January as Sol Davis, director of the Jewish Museum of Maryland, walks through the newly renovated building just days before it reopens to the public. Sunshine pours into the renovated lobby. Printed signs are taped to the walls. The new podcast studio is stuffed with boxes waiting to be unpacked. One of the galleries hums with construction as sawdust fills the air.

Davis is unhurried—he knows everything will get finished and he’s eager for the empty spaces to be filled with community again: “There’s been a lot of anticipation.”

For centuries, Baltimore has been home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the United States, and to this day, it remains incredibly diverse and active. The museum, the successor to the Jewish Historical Society of Maryland, which was established in 1960, is nestled between two historic synagogues—Lloyd Street, housed in a Greek Revival-style building and the third-oldest synagogue in the United States, and the nearly-as-old B’nai Israel, with its more Gothic look—in historic Jonestown.

A Pigtown food shop earns national recognition for its scope
by Jenna Mattern
Published February 21 in Baltimore Fishbowl

Excerpt: With shelves lined with freshly baked bread, vibrant fruits and vegetables, international ingredients, and home decor, shopping at Culinary Architecture is anything but ordinary.

The storefront operates as a miniature grocery store, catering kitchen, bakery, bar, and private indoor/outdoor event space. Founded in 2015 by Sylva Lin, Culinary Architecture has become a catch-all for all things food and community, and one of the locally owned businesses that is breathing life into the Pigtown neighborhood in Southwest Baltimore.

Lin’s efforts gained national recognition when she was recently named to the inaugural list of the SPARK 10, a new honor bestowed on women who are sparking change through small-scale community-based manufacturing.

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Announces 2025-26 Season Featuring World Premieres, Rich Thematic Programs and Collections Designed to Help Guide Extraordinary Experiences
Press Release :: February 27

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) announces its 2025-26 concert season featuring a blend of beloved classics, groundbreaking new commissions, dynamic collaborations, and a lineup of popular music, films, and celebrations that offer something for every taste.

Season Opening Gala

The two-night Season Opening Gala will feature acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell. The concerts, held on September 19 at The Music Center at Strathmore and September 20 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, will showcase a colorful and alluring bouquet of French masterpieces, including Saint-Saëns’s Violin Concerto No. 3, Massenet’s Méditation from Thaïs, and orchestral selections from Bizet’s Carmen. These evenings promise unforgettable performances, including collaborations with the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestras and BSO OrchKids, setting a celebratory tone for the season.

New BSO Collections

The 2025-26 season launches BSO Collections, a new approach to BSO programming designed to guide listeners to music they know and love while also inviting them to try new experiences.  Through BSO Collections, the BSO’s annual season of many beloved series is segmented into three distinct collections:

•Classical Collection | Including Classical Series, Casual Conversations, and Recitals: Featuring awe-inspiring performances of international talent and timeless music, this collection blends tradition, innovation, and artistry, offering profound experiences through classical masterworks. Look forward to highlights including Beethoven Symphonies No. 6 and 7, Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5, Brahms Symphony No. 3, Elgar Enigma Variations, Shostakovich Symphony No. 4, and much more. A signature element of each Classical program, each concert blends well-known works with new or lesser-known pieces to create inspiring and delightful thematic throughlines.
• Popular Collection | Including Pops Series, Film Series, Fusion Series, and Special Presentations: Includes lively performances integrating music from the iconic artists, genres, and films that define popular culture. Expect dynamic events that bridge orchestral music with mainstream hits in unique, exciting formats including the film with live orchestra series featuring Disney’s Encanto in Concert, Jurassic Park in Concert, and Elf in Concert, and the return of the genre merging BSO Fusion series with Beethoven Symphony No. 7 woven together with 15 of Beyoncé’s chart-topping hits and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons reimagined with jazz, hip-hop, and pop.
• Celebrations Collection | Including Holiday Series, Gala, and Special Events: These concerts and special events honor cultural traditions and create memorable musical moments. From the joy of the BSO holiday offerings to festive gatherings like Lunar New Year and BSO GospelFest, this series enriches the community’s cultural landscape.”These collections invite both seasoned concertgoers and new audiences to explore a season filled with discovery and excitement,” said Mark C. Hanson. “This season we are forging connections between tradition and innovation, community and orchestra, creating experiences that inspire and engage.”Season Festivals and Highlights 
• EARTH|Songs: Four concerts in Spring, 2026 explore humanity’s relationship with nature through music inspired by its beauty, power, and fragility, featuring Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, conducted by Music Director Jonathon Heyward in collaboration with local arts partners. The Nu Deco Ensemble kicks off the series with Reimagined: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, as part of the Fusion Series, and Music Director Laureate Marin Alsop leads Copland’s Suite from Appalachian Spring.
• Tales of Poe: Two chilling programs and a spooky family day inspired by Baltimore’s own Edgar Allan Poe, featuring the U.S. premiere of Simpson’s Israfel (based on Poe’s work of the same name), are ideal for the Halloween season. The Haunted Hall Pops Series concert and Symphonic Poetry: Magic, Fire & Light Classical Series concerts will add a hint of spookiness to the festival, held in October 2025.
• BSO Opera Initiative – Verdi’s Rigoletto: Closing the season, this enhanced concert performance of Verdi’s masterpiece marks a highlight of Heyward’s ongoing Verdi Opera Initiative, the second of four season-ending concerts to feature a full-length opera by this beloved composer with Quinn Kelsey in the role of Rigoletto.
• League of American Orchestras National Conference: In June 2026, the BSO hosts over 1,000 musical peers from around the country for the first annual convening in Baltimore since 2016. In addition to a special concert at the Meyerhoff open to all that kicks off the BSO’s America 250 celebration of the distinct American voice, the conference will also highlight student talents and the next generation of musicians and audiences.

“I’m excited for audiences to experience the incredible range of music we’ve put together, from bold new works to the operatic grandeur of Verdi and the immersive world of Edgar Allan Poe,” said BSO Music Director Jonathon Heyward. “We want to take listeners on a journey that is as thought-provoking as it is exhilarating.”

Other Season Collaborations and Commissions 

The 2025-26 Season continues the BSO tradition of championing contemporary composers with major world and U.S. premieres including:

•Grace-Evangeline Mason – A world premiere commission for Heyward’s EARTH | Songs festival, co-commissioned with the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
•Billy Childs – A world premiere written for brothers Anthony McGill (clarinet) and Demarre McGill (flute), co-commissioned with the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center.
•Brett Dean’s Fire Music (East Coast premiere) and Andreia Pinto Correia’s Cortejo (East Coast premiere).
•New arrangements for jazz luminary Cécile McLorin Salvant.
•Superstar collaborations are in store with concertos featuring soloists like cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason; pianists Inon Barnatan, Denis Kozhukhin, George Li, Francesco Piemontesi, and Javier Perianes; and violinists Francesca Dego, Simone Lamsma, Nemanja Radulović, and Elena Urioste. Conductors include Marin Alsop, Eun Sun Kim, Hannu Lintu, Jun Märkl, John Storgårds, Mario Venzago, Anthony Parnther, Joana Carneiro, and Kristiina Poska.

For the first ever recital on the BSO’s Classical season, pianist Seong-Jin Cho takes center stage at the Meyerhoff in April for a special performance. (Note: The Orchestra does not appear on this program.)

The genre-defying band, Pink Martini celebrates 30 years of globe-spanning performances in a special Live at the Meyerhoff event in October. (Note: The Orchestra does not appear on this program.)

BSO musicians take the stage as soloists, in concerts with Concertmaster Jonathan Carney, who performs Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, Edouard Beyens in Tan Dun’s percussion concerto, The Tears of Nature, and Katherine Needleman in Martinů’s Oboe Concerto.

The BSO continues to spotlight diverse composers and artists, including living composers Reena Esmail, Anna Clyne, Wynton Marsalis, Valerie Coleman, and Baltimore-based Jonathan Leshnoff.

>Engagement Beyond the Stage
Audiences can also get closer to the music with the return of programs like pre-concert Inside the Classics talks, AfterWords with Heyward and Casual Conversations, each on the main stage. Each program extends the musical journey beyond the stage and allows guests to ask questions, hear from music experts and guest artists, and connect with Music Director Jonathon Heyward.

Learn more about the BSO’s 2025-26 season by visiting BSOmusic.org/Subscribe.

Tickets and Subscription Information

Subscriptions for the 2025-26 season are now available. Single tickets for all concerts go on sale in August 2025. For more information, visit BSOmusic.org or call 410-783-8000. For press comps, additional artist bios, or media materials, please contact the Communications Department at [email protected].

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra:

Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Meyerhoff)
1212 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201

The Music Center at Strathmore (Strathmore)
5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD, 20852

About the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

For over a century, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has been recognized as one of America’s leading orchestras and one of Maryland’s most significant cultural institutions. The orchestra is internationally renowned and locally admired for its innovation, performances, recordings, and educational outreach initiatives including OrchKids.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs annually for more than 275,000 people throughout the State of Maryland. Since 1982, the BSO has performed at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, and since 2005, with the opening of The Music enter at Strathmore in North Bethesda, MD, the BSO became the nation’s first orchestra performing its full season of classical and pops concerts in two metropolitan areas.

In September 2023, Jonathon Heyward officially launched his tenure as Music Director, bringing fresh energy and vision to the BSO. His appointment marked a historic moment as he became the first African American to lead the orchestra, following Music Director Laureate and OrchKids Founder Marin Alsop.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is a proud member of the League of American Orchestras.

More information about the BSO can be found at BSOmusic.org.