This week’s news includes: Paws Out! at The Walters, The Stoop celebrates 20 years, the aftermath of fire at La Cuchara, Unavu dishes up Southern Indian cuisine, AVAM’s MLK Dare to Dream Day, Ruth Orkin exhibition at NMWA, Teri Henderson named Operations Manager at CCCC, Lisa Revlon shines on, FPCT auditions announced, and the 8×10 to close.
How a Mischievous Cat Left a Mark on Medieval Art—and Inspired a New Exhibition
by Margaret Carrigan
Published January 2 in Artnet News
In the 1470s, a Flemish scribe left some meticulously drafted pages of an illuminated manuscript out to dry, only to find out the next day that his cat had trod over them, leaving inky paw prints on the parchment. (Contemporary writers will know the similar pain of typos and elisions wrought by a feline friend’s frenzied scamper across a keyboard.)
Now, more than 500 years later, those pattered pages are the “cat”-alyst for an exhibition at Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum. Aptly titled “Paws on Parchment,” the show explores how medieval illustrators in Europe, Asia, and the Islamic world celebrated cats in the marginalia of their manuscripts and beyond. On view through February 22, 2026, it’s the first of three exhibitions over the next two years dedicated to the depiction of animals in art.
Twenty Years In, Stoop Storytelling Still Sets the Stage for Baltimoreans
by Janelle Erlichman Diamond
Published December 29 in Baltimore Magazine
Jessica Henkin and Laura Wexler are sitting at a sun-soaked table in Wexler’s Roland Park dining room on a Sunday afternoon, a binder stuffed with 20 years’ worth of memorabilia scattered around them from Stoop Storytelling.
There are programs, postcards, photographs, articles (including one from The Washington Post, when they hosted all of the Baltimore’s mayoral candidates), and even a neatly folded branded T-shirt that looks like it’s never been worn.
There’s also a thick folder full of consent forms—all storytellers need to sign them. Wexler reaches in, pulls a page out at random, immediately recognizes the name, and remembers the exact story they told. And then she does it again, and again.
Community showers La Cuchara with support as restaurant wrestles with uncertainty following Sunday’s fire
by Marcus Dieterle
Published January 7 in Baltimore Fishbowl
For over a decade, La Cuchara has served Basque cuisine to the people of Baltimore. But a fire Sunday has put the restaurant’s operations on an indefinite hold.
“We’ve had La Cuchara for almost 11 years now, and it’s extremely upsetting,” said chef and co-owner Ben Lefenfeld, who runs the restaurant with his wife Amy and brother Jake. “We’re just happy that nobody was hurt.”
The incident is still under investigation, but the Baltimore City Fire Department said they discovered a fire in the venting system. Firefighters brought it under control by 5:33 p.m. There were no injuries.
Restaurant La Cuchara closed for foreseeable future after fire
by Christina Tkacik
Published January 5 in The Baltimore Banner
A fire has shut down La Cuchara for the foreseeable future, its owners said Monday.
“Our staff and patrons did a good job in a very difficult situation and everybody left the building safe,” said co-owner Jake Lefenfeld of the blaze that sparked at the beginning of dinner service Sunday evening inside the Hampden-area restaurant.
His brother, chef and co-owner Ben Lefenfeld, said the fire was limited to the restaurant’s hood system, though he appeared stunned and baffled about what caused it. “We’ve been very judicious about getting our hoods cleaned once a month,” he said, and staff clean their filters daily.
The Dish: The ghost kitchen serving Indian food you won’t find in most restaurants
by Christina Tkacik
Published January 7 in The Baltimore Banner
One complaint I often hear about Baltimore’s dining scene is that there’s not enough good Indian food in the city.
Here’s one answer: Unavu, a new ghost kitchen in Charles Village serving Southern Indian cuisine for pickup or delivery.
On the menu are dishes you won’t find at many, if any, other Indian restaurants in the area. Look for ginormous golden dosas made from freshly ground lentils, and chicken kothu parotta featuring moist, flaky flatbread that’s been chopped into bits and transformed through alchemy and seasoning into one of southeast India’s favorite spicy street foods.
AVAM to Host Free MLK “Dare to Dream” Day Event!
Press Release :: January 6
Baltimore’s internationally-acclaimed museum for self-taught, intuitive artists will host its annual full-day celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—MLK Dare to Dream Day—on Monday, January 19 from 10 AM–5 PM. Featuring an engaging schedule of events and activities for visitors of all ages, MLK Dare to Dream Day will include live music and dance performances, an open mic and poetry slam, docent-led museum tours, art workshops, and more. All festivities and museum admission are FREE to the public.
“Few individuals in our nation’s history possessed a more expansive and compelling vision than Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” said AVAM Executive Director Ellen Owens. “In honoring Dr. King through our Dare to Dream Day celebration, we recommit to the ideals he advanced to bring about a more equitable and just society, engaging participants of all ages in the ongoing work to fully realize his vision in our own day and time.”
Visitors will be able to create a tangible symbol of hope and healing at the Peace Birds Art Workshop; imagine a new world transformed by love and creativity at the read-along and workshop led by the author of A City Dream, B. Sharise Moore; take the stage at the Open Mic and Poetry Slam; and enjoy lively performances by Divine Anointing Choir and—returning for another year—the Keur Khaleyi African Dancers.
Now Open: Women on the Move
NWMA News :: January 6
This exhibition of 21 vintage photographs drawn from the museum’s collection of works by Ruth Orkin (b. 1921, Boston; d. 1985, New York City), explores women’s lives in the mid-20th century. The daughter of a film star, Orkin took glamour shots of Hollywood celebrities and also brought her camera into classrooms, homes, parks, and urban neighborhoods to capture a rich perspective on women who were forging new paths in postwar America.
Orkin had a passion for capturing people as they were. Her photographs of tourists in Europe, Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps members, stars on Broadway, and a family in an Israeli kibbutz capture confident women in public and private spaces. The artist’s affirming images, often developed in collaboration with her subjects, reflect her purposeful inversion of the conventional “male gaze.”
Charm City Cultural Cultivation welcomes Teri Henderson as Operations Manager
CCCC Instagram Post :: January 6
Charm City Cultural Cultivation welcomes Teri Henderson @terimhenderson as our Operations Manager focusing on day to day operations, identifying resources and achieving the organization’s goals/mission. The operations manager’s responsibility is to work collectively with founder, program director and development consultants to identify potential funding sources as well as work collectively on fundraising events. Directing the organization’s resources where they are most needed within the organization, such as programming and immediate needs. In addition to this role Henderson will also be involved in the creative endeavors aligned with working across programs when needed; The Last Resort Artist Retreat, Zora’s Den and Black Baltimore Digital Database.
Baltimore ballroom ‘icon’ survives a life of grit with glamour
by Alissa Zhu
Published December 30 in The Baltimore Banner
On one recent evening, competitors in scandalously sheer and outrageously bedazzled outfits shimmied for cash prizes in a West Baltimore community center.
Moving to a thumping bass beat, the dancers vogued, twisting their bodies into backbends before acrobatically falling to the floor. But the audience saved some of their loudest cheers of the night for one.
It was the woman with the sharp cheekbones and willowy height of a supermodel who simply strutted to the judge’s table, pausing only to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
“The iconic one, Lisa Revlon!”
Fells Point Corner Theatre Announces Auditions for Miss Holmes Returns
Press Release :: January 7
Fells Point Corner Theatre announces open auditions for Miss Holmes Returns, the thrilling continuation of one of FPCT’s most popular productions. Auditions will be held Wednesday January 14 2026 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM at Fells Point Corner Theatre located at 251 S Ann Street in Baltimore. Callbacks will take place Saturday January 17 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
Director Brad Norris will also be attending the Baltimore Small Stages Auditions at The Voxel on January 10 and 11. Performers with Small Stages audition slots do not need to sign up again to be considered for callbacks or casting. Information about those auditions can be found at: www.bmoresmallstages.org/generalinformation
Actors auditioning at FPCT should prepare one or two monologues not to exceed three minutes total and be prepared for cold reading and or improvisation. Rehearsal conflicts from February through April should be brought to the audition.
Baltimore’s storied 8×10 music venue to shut down this summer
by Wesley Case
Published January 2 in The Baltimore Banner
For a beloved live music venue in Baltimore, the goodbye tour begins now.
After decades of operation, the 8×10 in Federal Hill will close on June 30, said Brian Shupe, who co-owns the venue with Abigail Janssens.
The husband and wife duo are retiring, shifting focus to taking care of their aging parents. Shupe said 20 years at the helm of the business was always the plan, describing it as their “stewardship” of a venue that first opened in 1983 as Joe’s Organic Juice Bar.
Become a Member
Print Journals, Invitations, and Newsletter – Oh My!
