This Week: Our Being is Being in Time at CCCC, Sweaty Eyeballs ANIMATION MIXTAPE at SNF Parkway, Rooted/Growing reception at MICA, absolute alternatives opening reception at UMBC CADVC, opening reception for Margaret Jacobs at BJC, David Page and Sara Dittrich opening reception at Red Giant, SACRAMENTS opening reception at Creative Alliance, “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life” panel discussion + performance at Lewis Museum, Wide Angle Youth Media Community Day, and a conversation with Wordsmith at The Peale — PLUS apply for The Bethesda Painting Awards and more featured opportunities!
BmoreArt’s Picks presents the best weekly art openings, events, and performances happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas. For a more comprehensive perspective, check the BmoreArt Calendar page, which includes ongoing exhibits and performances, and is updated on a daily basis.
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Tuesday, January 27 :: 6-8pm
@ Charm City Cultural Cultivation
Our Being is Being in Time is a diachronic sonic and visual journey that explores memory, self-determination, and social change. Drawing from a repeated mantra featured within the John Akomfrah: The Hour Of The Dog exhibition, “This is time. Our being is being in time,” this gathering, curated by Xavier Walker, prompts you to ask yourself: Who are we in the space between who we are and who we are becoming?
In dialogue with archival objects sourced from local and national Black archives, experience reflective prompts, herbal elixirs, and two curated, archive-based soundscape performances by Xavier Walker and MUSE(O)FIRE that invite the audience into active participation and collective presence.
John Akomfrah: The Hour Of The Dog is on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art through February 1, 2026. The exhibition features Akomfrah’s multi-channel film, which brings together multiple perspectives of young activists during the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Through a montage of archival footage, still photography, and newly filmed materials overlaid with an immersive sound design, Akomfrah’s work constructs a conversation between past and present, foregrounding questions of memory, time, and social change.
The BMA presentation of the film is accompanied by an illustrated timeline generated by the Museum in collaboration with community partners, exploring how civil rights activism in Baltimore and Maryland has sparked national change.
ANIMATION MIXTAPE presented with Sweaty Eyeballs
Wednesday, January 28 :: 7:30pm
@ SNF Parkway
Flying cows, mysterious gods and lyrical pandemonium: Don Hertzfeldt has made Animation Mixtape just for you. The dazzling 85-minute program features exciting, animated shorts from up-and-coming filmmakers, Academy Award nominees and classic pieces that originally inspired Don to start making his own iconic work. Including a new animated introduction from Don and never before seen work from famed underground animator Bruce Bickford.
Presented in partnership with Sweaty Eyeballs and introduced by Sweaty Eyeballs director Phil Davis. The screening will be preceded by an informal Sweaty Eyeballs mixer at 7pm in the Parkway Lounge with a cash bar.
Thursday, January 29 :: 5-8pm
@ MICA Decker Gallery, Fox Building
Celebrating two centuries of creativity, the Exhibition Development Seminar (EDS) Bicentennial Exhibition Rooted/Growing honors the intertwined histories of MICA and the city of Baltimore, whose relationship is defined by resilience and mutual transformation. MICA has long acted as a launchpad for creatives, providing students the support and opportunity to plant their practice. Here, the original seeds of an artist’s work are set in fertile ground, encouraged to rise and explore. EDS aims to highlight the memories, stories, and histories of all peoples that have contributed to the shared experience of the college and all of those to come.
As a city full of creatives, Baltimore is a hub for all different kinds of makers and movers, from sculpture to street art and everything in between–a beacon for students looking to develop their practice. It is no surprise that Baltimore is a garden in which artists thrive and continue to foster the arts more and more. Through exhibiting an array of selected artists, creatives, and community leaders, this exhibition has positioned itself as a vivid dialogue of the past, present, and future of MICA and the greater Baltimore community.
The exhibition encourages everyone to both reflect on MICA’s legacy and continue the conversation about what it means to learn, create, and sustain art in Baltimore, as well as craft a future guided by a precedent of innovation and ingenuity. Viewers are encouraged to consider how the future of artists relies on the Baltimore community and in turn, how the community benefits from artists, posing a conversation of how their shared ecosystem has enriched the community as a whole. Each aspect of this exhibition invites viewers to encounter these histories not as static memories, but as cross-pollinations and active collaborations across generations and communities.
Location: Decker Gallery (Fox Building, Floor 1 )
On View: January 29 – March 8, 2026
Reception: Thursday, January 29th, 5:00-8:00pm
Participating Artists:
Devin Allen, REED Bmore, Phaan Howng, Joyce J. Scott, Ernest Shaw, Bria Sterling-Wilson, Jordan Tierney, René Treviño, Wickerham & Lomax, Jen White-Johnson
absolute alternatives, the 2026 Arts+ UMBC Faculty Exhibition | Opening Reception
Thursday, January 29 :: 6-9pm
@ UMBC CADVC
The Center for Art, Design, and Visual Culture presents absolute alternatives, the 2026 Arts+ UMBC Faculty Exhibition, on display from January 30 to February 28. Organized by guest curator Maleke Glee, absolute alternatives presents faculty from across UMBC whose interdisciplinary research is a form of creative practice, including Jude Agboada, Fiona Bell, Kelley Bell and the Cheeky Magpie Collective, Lynn Cazabon, Lisa Cella, Mayank Chugh, Cathy Cook, Arit Emmanuela Etukudo, Eva Grandoni, Tahira Chloe Mahdi, Phillip Mann, Steven McAlpine, Lisa Moren, Edgar Reyes, Julie Sayo, Sarah G. Sharp, and Airi Yoshioka.
Inspired by the boundary-pushing spirit of the Arts+ Initiative, the exhibition proposes alternatives to defining research through absolute disciplinary categories. According to Glee:
These scholar-artists meet the present moment directly with innovative tools, materials, and methods that explore, upend or resolve unsatisfactory conditions. Here, creativity means intervening, excavating, and expanding the possibilities of practice and production inside the classroom, studio, laboratory, and beyond. These projects demonstrate what can happen when research and imagination work hand in hand, highlighting individual creative curiosities as well as collaborations connecting the University, the broader Baltimore community, and global networks.
absolute alternatives brings together faculty from across the university, as well as their UMBC student, staff, and outside collaborators, with offerings from Visual Arts, Music, Biology, the Individualized Study Program, and other disciplines.
An Opening Reception, featuring a performance of Zosha Di Castri’s Dream Field, by flutist Lisa Cella and violinist Airi Yoshioka, will take place on Thursday, January 29, from 6 to 8 p.m., and the exhibition will open for regular hours the next day.
Margaret Jacobs:Gather And Grow | Opening Reception
Friday, January 30 :: 5-8pm
@ Baltimore Jewelry Center
Join us in the gallery from 5-8pm on January 30 for an opening reception for Gather and Grow, a solo exhibition of new works by Margaret Jacobs, a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) metalsmith.
The sculptures and powder coated jewelry in Gather and Grow reflect her connection with botanicals, medicinal plants, and the natural world. Rooted in relationships with land, plant relatives, and Kanien’kehá:ka ecological and cultural knowledge, Jacobs’ work references socially significant plant forms as living kin embedded in memory, history, and care. Drawing from both historical and contemporary Kanien’kehá:ka craft objects, Jacobs recontextualizes these forms and the beliefs they represent in metal, creating a dialogue between material traditions, memory, and the future. The work represented in this exhibition contains multiple layers of meaning as it explores the intersection of contemporary craft and art objects with Indigenous narratives, and Jacob’s own personal experiences.
The exhibition will be on view from January 30 through March 13.
The Bound and the Boundless | Opening Reception
Friday, January 30 :: 6-8pm
@ Red Giant
The Bound and the Boundless presents two solo exhibitions of recent work by Baltimore-based artists David Page and Sara Dittrich. For this presentation, the gallery divides into two distinct but related phases. The first phase is Displacement, a performance-activated sculpture by David Page that stages a restrained human figure. The second phase, We Continue to Rotate, is an interactive installation by Sara Dittrich featuring a projected cloudscape that examines the relationship between the body and time.
In We Continue to Rotate by Sara Dittrich, a seat at a small table invites viewers to place their hand on a heart pulse sensor. The sensor then controls the rate of the projection of a timelapse video of clouds passing by in the sky. The work moves between the conscious and the unconscious, linking the pulse to nebulous forms extending miles overhead. Within We Continue to Rotate, Dittrich provides a place for viewers to sit and meditate on the multitudes of loops and cyclical movements that surround us, from blood pumping through veins to Earth’s rotation around the sun. Looking towards the sky, the work asks a fundamental question: How do we fit within Earth’s rhythms? It reflects on the deep interconnection between the human body and the planet’s waters, contemplating how our circulatory system releases carbon dioxide, which plants and oceans absorb, giving back oxygen that sustains us. This continuous exchange reveals a shared, living cycle that binds body, land, and sea.
In Displacement by David Page, a water displacement system suspends a human figure, restrained in an elaborate leather and fabric harness. The harness echoes restraint technologies developed for use within the prison industrial complex, referencing the systematic dehumanization of individuals through institutional control of the body. The work draws on humanity’s deep evolutionary and cultural relationship to water as a force of migration and growth that shaped Homo erectus into Homo sapiens, enabling expanded cognition and the development of culture, alongside the arbitrary boundaries we now enforce. Page says of the work: “I contemplated our relationship with water, at once an elemental resource, a commodity, 60% of our physical bodies… We settle close to water because it nourishes us, or far from it because it might kill us… We fret over its scarcity and are terrified of its excess.” Increasingly wasted as collateral damage of the artificial intelligence boom, water is never neutral: it sustains, endangers, and dictates the terms of human life.
The works presented in The Bound and the Boundless investigate how water surrounds and informs human existence. Water operates as a natural boundary in the form of rivers and oceans, while also constituting clouds, vast formations that define a seemingly boundless sky. The exhibition draws on these conditions to explore how water’s dual nature mirrors human capacities for peace and harmony as well as violence and control. The scale of this inquiry ranges from crimes perpetrated against migrants traversing imagined borders to the quiet, ongoing work of the pulse.
Sacraments | Exhibition Opening
Friday, January 30 :: 6-9pm
@ Creative Alliance
Exhibition On View: January 30 – February 21, 2026
SACRAMENTS examines rites of passage through a feminist rather than secular lens. Historically, the rites ascribed to women have been socially constructed to demarcate specific, often biologically determined stages of life—most notably those associated with sexual maturity, fertility, and reproduction. SACRAMENTS deconstructs and reclaims these pivotal moments, situating them within the context of female subjectivity. By decentering inherited cultural and religious frameworks the featured artwork reimagines how women might define and experience their own rites of passage—on their own terms, and within their own symbolic vocabularies.
About the Goxxip Girl Collective:
The Goxxip Girl Collective is a free collaborative initiative formed by a group of Maryland artists. Our vision is to create an inclusive space that celebrates the distinct talents of every member. We’re dedicated to crafting a platform that nurtures creativity, sparks inspiration, and promotes collective progress. Through meaningful programming, advancing accessibility, and uplifting community, we strive to bring about positive change within Baltimore.
Saturday, January 31 :: 1-3:30pm
@ Reginald F. Lewis Museum
Spend the afternoon grooving with local Black radio DJs from Bmore and the DMV as they discuss the impact of Black radio in the community and the use of their platforms for advocacy. This conversation will highlight DJ legends from the past to today. A Short Kuts Storytelling Presentation featuring DJs personal stories will kick off the program.
Guest Speakers and Presenters include:
DJ Quicksilva (92Q) | Quicksilva is the host of the The Quicksilva Morning Show. Quicksilva has worked on-air at radio stations such as WKYS 93.9, X105.7, 92Q, and V-103. He is an award winning DJ who’s won 2 Global Spin Awards, East coast #1 at the MixShow Power Summit and Ranked DC #1 for the last 2 decades. When he’s not working he is a motivational speaker at schools.
Konan (95.9 Magic) | Konan is a 36-year veteran in the radio and music industry. He started his career with Cathy Hughes at WOL-1450AM in 1985. He quickly became a household name in the DC area for his community work outside of radio.
LaDawn Black (Media Personality/Moderator) | LaDawn is an author, relationship expert and media personality. The LaDawn Black Show has been heard on New York’s 107.5 WBLS and Baltimore’s Magic 95.9 and 92Q for over 13 years. LaDawn has been named Best Guilty Pleasure Radio Show by Baltimore Magazine.
The Short Kuts Show | The Short Kuts Show is a live short storytelling series that draws inspiration from the rich traditions of Black American barbershops and beauty salons. These spaces, echoing the West African griot and African-American oral storytelling traditions, have long been essential to the Black American community. Inspired by the dynamic tales told daily in these cherished establishments, The Short Kuts Show honors the voices and experiences of those within these communities.
In conjunction with iWitness: Media & the Movement.
Wide Angle Youth Media January 2026 Community Day
Saturday, January 31 :: 1:30-3:30pm
@ Wide Angle Youth Media
Join us for a fun and creative Community Day at Wide Angle Youth Media!
Experience our new work from Make Studio artists, try your hand at new media activities, and tour through Wide Angle’s new headquarters. Families and children are welcome.
Cost: FREE
Directions & Parking: Visit our website
*Snow date: Saturday, 2/7, same time
Accessibility:
- Entrance is outfitted with an access ramp and ADA push button
- 2 designated handicap parking spaces are available in front of our entrance
- All gender and ADA bathrooms are available
Youth under 14 must be accompanied by an adult, please note that childcare is not provided.
Tickets are available to reserve your spot (1 ticket per attendee, please include all members of your group). All registered attendees with a ticket will be eligible for a Wide Angle merchandise raffle.
Have questions: For information, reach out to [email protected] or call us at 443-759-6700.
We can’t wait to see you there!
Wordsmith – Bridging Worlds: Hip-Hop Meets Chamber Music
Sunday, February 1 :: 2-4pm
@ The Peale
Chamber Music Maryland returns to The Peale with Wordsmith – Bridging Worlds: Hip-Hop Meets Chamber Music
Join us on Sunday, February 1, 2026 at 2:00 PM at The Peale for an engaging, genre-blending conversation with Baltimore’s own Wordsmith. In this lively talk, Wordsmith will explore the evolving intersection of hip-hop and chamber music, sharing how artists today are remixing tradition, challenging assumptions, and building new space for storytelling through sound.
You’ll learn about how current artists are briging the gap between traditional and contemporary genres. Come curious – Wordsmith will open the floor for an interactive Q&A, so bring your questions and ideas about the future of genre-crossing art.
Held in partnership with Chamber Music Maryland to bring amazing chamber music artists to an intimate setting in the heart of Baltimore City. This series features three exceptional chamber music recitals, each followed by an exciting Meet-the-Artists reception.
Featured Opportunities
Sound Patterns: An Art Exhibition During SXSW 2026
deadline January 29
posted by Shaolin Jazz
SOUND PATTERNS is a multidisciplinary art exhibition, founded by the creators of SHAOLIN JAZZ, that explores the themes of hip-hop, jazz, and martial arts.
Taking place during SXSW in Austin, Texas, SOUND PATTERNS invites area artists whose work reflects the above mentioned themes or any combination of all three; through the mediums of mixed media, photography, illustration, sculpture, design, and installation.
Call for Submissions: Frame & Frequency X
deadline January 30
posted by VisArts
Frame + Frequency is an ongoing International film and video art screening series presented by VisArts in Rockville, Maryland (just outside Washington, DC) that highlights artists whose new media, experimental film, and video works explore contemporary visual culture, and presents an intimate panorama of the variety and breadth of video art in artistic practice today.
This edition will take place in the Kaplan Gallery from May 22–July 19, 2026.
Frame + Frequency aims to present a diverse group of artists representing multigenerational and cultural backgrounds, nationalities, and personal histories, while demonstrating the artists’ impressive command of video and new media technologies.
Emerging Curator Program 2026
deadline January 30
posted by VisArts
VisArts invites applications from emerging curators to work with an experienced mentoring curator to develop and present an exhibition at VisArts in the Kaplan Gallery in the fall of 2026.
The VisArts Emerging Curator Program offers a unique opportunity for an emerging curator or artist with an interest in exhibition-making or curating to work with an experienced mentoring curator to develop and present an exhibition and to assist in the presentation of the mentor’s exhibition. To develop expanded education programming and enhanced visitor experiences, the 2026 Emerging Curator and the 2026 Mentoring Curator will also focus on developing tools to support public programming that promotes social interaction, creative exchange, and audience engagement.
VisArts will provide the Emerging Curator with a $10,000 budget to cover exhibition costs and curatorial fees. Additional staff support for printing, promotions, and execution of exhibition programming is available. The program is one year and will begin in February 2026.
Grant Wood Fellowship Program
deadline February 1
posted by University of Iowa School of Art
The University of Iowa School of Art, Art History, and Design seeks applications from emerging to mid-career artists in painting/drawing for the Grant Wood Fellowship Program for the 2026-27 academic year. The applicant will have received an MFA in painting/drawing at the time of application or have an equivalent combination of education and experience. Fellows receive $40,000 salary and health/retirement benefits and a materials stipend as well as a furnished apartment and a private studio. Fellows are required to teach one class per semester.
Access for All Grants
deadline February 2
posted by Arts for Learning
Access for All grants help cover the costs of bringing teaching artists to your school or early childhood center. These grants subsidize between 50% and 80% of the total expenses for residencies, workshops, assemblies, and professional development for students aged birth to grade 12. Schools are responsible for the remaining costs. Additional funding sources (Arts Every Day, MSAC AiE, local arts council funding, etc.) can be utilized to cover the remaining costs.
All Maryland public schools serving PreK-12 students and early childhood sites, including Judy Centers and licensed childcare centers, are invited to apply. View the Scoring Rubric.
Grassroots DesignFest 2026 – Volunteer Designer Form
deadline February 6
Ready to volunteer on a design team for Grassroots DesignFest 2026?
You’re in the right place!
By signing up for Grassroots DesignFest, you are agreeing to donate your time at the event, which will take place on MICA’s campus on Saturday, April 11th, 2026. This is a full day (8:30-4:30), in-person event.
You are committing to the event itself, and while you are welcome to follow up with your nonprofit partner afterward, it is not expected. Please note that participating nonprofits understand that many projects will be prototypes, outlines, or drafts and may not be fully completed during the event.
We are committed to respecting your time, creating a dynamic and engaging event, and providing a thoughtful framework for these projects.
Important: All participants must sign an intellectual property agreement and photo release form, which will be sent by email prior to the event.
The Young Playwrights Festival
deadline February 8
posted by Baltimore Center Stage
The Young Playwrights Festival is our longest running learning program that encourages expression and creativity in students across the state. Each spring, we invite and receive hundreds of play submissions from participants in our residencies, and many more from students across Maryland. Playwrights in grades K-12 submit their short plays, and each year up to six plays are chosen to receive a professional production produced by Baltimore Center Stage. All YPF playwrights whose work is chosen for a full production will receive dramaturgical mentorship to help them refine and edit their scripts before the plays are performed onstage.
This year’s theme is Hear the World, Heal the World: a hopeful imagination on the current world we live in, the many worlds we create, and the hope of a better future. This is a call for young writers in Maryland to take note of the world around them (or the ones they imagine) and write out their stories imagining ways to respond to what they hear. When you listen to the world, is it screaming, crying, whispering, or singing? Who do you think is listening? What elements would you identify as essential in the recipe for healing the world? What does healing look like to you?
This season, we are expanding our submission categories for the Young Playwrights Festival program so that young writers of different mediums can express their creativity in response to our open call. Young writers are called to respond to this year’s Open Call by submitting either an original 10-page/minute play OR an original 3-5 minute poem/spoken word piece responding to this theme. In addition to our 6 winning plays, 4 young poets will be selected to read/perform their winning poem during our festival.
Call for Fête of Lights Wearable Art Parade and Contest
deadline February 9
posted by MICA
s part of MICA’s Bicentennial celebration, The Fête of Lights returns with a curated wearable art parade showcasing the creativity of the MICA community. Students, alumni, faculty, and staff are invited to submit wearable art or costumes inspired by the theme of light. Selected looks will be featured during the event on February 21, and will receive complimentary tickets and cash prizes. Click the link for full details and to apply by February 9.
“ICE Out of Baltimore” Fundraiser Art Exhibit
deadline February 9
posted by Baltimore Artists Against Apartheid
As nationwide opposition grows against violent ICE raids and deportations – and as the Trump administration responds with military force to silence protests – we’re calling on artists and designers to create work that speaks to this urgent moment.
From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go! As Baltimore Artists Against Apartheid, we know the fight for a Free Palestine is deeply connected to the struggle against violence toward immigrant communities here in the U.S. As artists, we have a responsibility to speak out against the brutality of this administration and the racist system driving deportations at home and genocide abroad.
People across the country are refusing to be silent as ICE terrorizes our communities. This art call invites artists of Baltimore to submit artwork that uplifts the fight for immigrant rights and demands: ICE OUT OF BALTIMORE!
We are accepting submissions of artworks of all mediums for the ICE Out of Baltimore fundraiser art exhibit, which will be at Waller Gallery for a month-long exhibition featuring the visual art submissions and poetry. The exhibition starts on March 6th and will include a reception on March 13th. In the lead-up, there will also be a pop-up event at Making Space Baltimore on Saturday, February 21st, with performances and workshops.
Select Artscape 2026 applications are now open
deadline February 20
Want in on the magic that is Artscape 2026? Artscape is Memorial Day Weekend, May 23 & 24, 2026. Apply now to be a featured performing artist, vendor, or exhibitor at this year’s festival. Applications are open for the Artists’ Market, Food & Beverage Vendors (Early Bird application), Kidscape, Community Impact Zone (nonprofits), an RFP for temporary public art, and festival volunteers. More applications will open in the coming weeks.
The Bethesda Painting Awards
deadline February 26
The Bethesda Painting Awards, founded in 2005, is downtown Bethesda’s annual juried art competition that exclusively honors painters from Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Eight artists will be selected by the panel of judges to exhibit their artwork June 2026 at Gallery B. The deadline to apply for consideration is Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.
The Bethesda Painting Awards was established by Carol Trawick in 2005. Ms. Trawick has served as a community activist for more than 25 years in downtown Bethesda. She is past Chair of the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District, past Chair of the Bethesda Urban Partnership, Inc. and Founder of The Trawick Prize. Additionally, the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation was established in 2007 after the Trawicks sold their successful information technology company.
The Enoch Pratt Free Library Poetry Contest
deadline March 1
The Enoch Pratt Free Library Poetry Contest is an annual event open to Maryland poets age 18 and older. The winning poem, to be announced in mid-April, will be published in “Poet Lore” and celebrated at a public reading hosted by the Pratt Library and Poet Lore. It may also be displayed at the Central Library or turned into a collectible broadside. Entries must be original and not exceed 100 lines.
ArtWorks in Progress
posted by Nosreme Baltimore
In 2026, Nosreme Baltimore will launch the pilot cycle of ArtWorks in Progress, commissioning 2–3 Baltimore artists to create large-scale original works for display at a prominent construction site. The exhibition will open with a curator-led tour and artist talk, creating opportunities for deeper public engagement.
We are currently seeking anchor partners, sponsors, artists and supporters to help launch ArtWorks in Progress to secure a long-term city—wide construction projects into cultural opportunities and elevating Baltimore’s artists to new audiences.
