This week’s news includes: Susan Fisher Sterling will retire from NMWA at the end of 2026, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signs Protecting Artists’ Creative Expression (PACE) Act, Baltimore Pride is on the move, Nature Deficit Disorder at the BMA, Under the Mexican Sky photography exhibition at Academy Art Museum, Lady Brion’s Revolutionary Writers Poetry Festival, Katie Pumphrey’s new swimming non-profit, Coco Fusco and Jeffrey Gibson announced as JHU’s 2026 Sam Gilliam Lecture Series speakers, The Banner + Baltimore Fishbowl + Baltimore Beat + NGA win awards, honoring Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, and Beneath the Surface: Mining and American Photography opens at NGA.
National Museum of Women in the Arts Announces the Retirement of Director Susan Fisher Sterling After a Transformative, 37-year Tenure
Press Release :: May 8
The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) today announced that Susan Fisher Sterling, the Alice West Director, will retire at the close of 2026, after nearly four decades of service to the institution. Sterling’s leadership has been transformational, shepherding the museum from a founder’s vision into a globally respected museum. Her tenure marks a substantial period of growth and development, including a sweeping renovation that significantly updated the museum’s iconic building and extensive planning for the museum’s 40th anniversary in 2027.
Sterling joined NMWA in 1988 as an associate curator, just one year after the museum, founded by collector Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, opened as the world’s first institution solely dedicated to championing women through the arts. She rose steadily through the organization, serving as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Chief Curator, and Deputy Director, before being appointed Director in 2008. She holds a master’s degree and PhD in Art History from Princeton University.
“Susan has been a defining force in American cultural life, ” said Winton Holladay, Chair of the NMWA Board of Trustees. “Her commitment to women artists has shaped not only this museum but the broader conversation about representation and equity in the arts. We are profoundly grateful for her vision and leadership.”
‘Creativity Is Not a Confession’: Maryland Governor Signs Law to Keep Rap Out of Criminal Cases
by Bill Donahue
Published May 12 in Billboard Magazine
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed a new law Tuesday (May 12) restricting when prosecutors can rely on rap lyrics as criminal evidence, marking the latest legislative victory for opponents of the controversial practice.
At a signing ceremony in Annapolis, Moore formally greenlit the Protecting Artists’ Creative Expression (PACE) Act, a law passed last month that allows authorities to use rap lyrics and other “creative expression” as criminal evidence only in limited circumstances.
Baltimore Pride is changing its block party tradition. Here’s why.
by Sara Ruberg
Published May 9 in The Baltimore Banner
Facing new city restrictions tied to the growing size of Baltimore Pride celebrations, organizers are modifying this year’s festivities — moving the annual block party, expanding events into a full week and leaning on sponsors to keep the city’s 51st Pride celebration going.
Pride events will kick off June 8 and end with the highly attended Pride in the Park festival June 14 in Druid Hill Park, which will be headlined by En Vogue, said Tramour Wilson, one of the organizers with the Pride Center of Maryland.
Wilson said the changes came after city restrictions to its celebrations, but the organization is excited about the “continuously growing” and “successful” Pride week in Baltimore.
This BMA exhibit comes with a radical challenge: Give up your phone for 5 minutes
by Wesley Case
Published May 11 in The Baltimore Banner
Stepping into the dark, I breathed in deeply.
The earthy smell of pine trees instantly transported me to my days as a preteen, playing manhunt for hours in the woods with neighborhood kids — a time before doomscrolling, targeted ads and constant notifications. My shoulders slumped. I grinned.
This was no dream: I had entered “Nature Deficit Disorder,” conceptual artist Rachel Lee Hovnanian’s immersive room installation inside the Baltimore Museum of Art’s Spring House.
Academy Art Museum Presents Under the Mexican Sky: A Revolution in Modern Photography
The Academy Art Museum presents Under the Mexican Sky: A Revolution in Modern Photography, a major exhibition of 54 vintage prints capturing a defining moment in the evolution of modern photography. Opening May 23 and on view through Oct. 11, the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to experience these works as they were originally produced — objects that reshaped the visual language of the 20th century.
Emerging from Mexico City in the decades following the Mexican Revolution, the photographs reflect a period of profound artistic exchange, where questions of identity, place and social change converged. The exhibition situates photography within a broader cultural movement shaped by political transformation, creative experimentation and a reimagining of how everyday life could be seen and represented.
“Mexico City in the 1920s and 1930s was one of the great artistic centers of the modern era,” said Brian J. Lang, director of curatorial affairs at the Academy Art Museum. “What makes this exhibition so compelling is the immediacy of the prints themselves — these are not reproductions, but the very objects that helped redefine photography as a modern art form. At the same time, they reflect something larger: a moment when artists were grappling with identity, culture and place in ways that still resonate today.”
Maryland’s Poet Laureate Launches a Festival for Spoken Word Artists
by Alanah Nichole Davis
Published May 15 in Baltimore Magazine
Just after being named Maryland’s 11th State Poet Laureate, Brion Gill, also known as Lady Brion, made it clear she wanted to create a her own literary arts festival that united voices from throughout the entire state. This weekend, that vision comes to life with the inaugural Revolutionary Writers Poetry Festival happening May 15-17.
Featuring a dynamic lineup of workshops, panels, showcases, open mics, and poetry slams at The Voxel and Baltimore Unity Hall, the event is a return to Gill’s roots. Before becoming Poet Laureate and the director of the Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts & Entertainment District, she competed in high school debate, organized youth slams, and frequented the stages of local open mics.
Katie Pumphrey launches open-water swimming nonprofit and new One-Mile Swim event
by Aliza Worthington
Published May 11 in Baltimore Fishbowl
Katie Pumphrey’s inaugural Baltimore Harbor One-Mile Swim set for June 7, 2026, is the coolest ticket in town, but there are still a few spots left.
Baltimore’s own artist and ultra-marathon open water swimmer Pumphrey has launched a nonprofit, Baltimore Open Water Swimmers (BOWS), and with it, the One-Mile Swim. On Thursday, May 7, Pumphrey made her announcement in an Instagram video showing her jumping into the Inner Harbor, saying hello to her pal, Mr. Trash Wheel, and reminding viewers that she is the first person to swim the 24 miles from the Bay Bridge to the Inner Harbor. By Monday, registration was nearly filled.
Coco Fusco and Jeffrey Gibson to Deliver 2026 Sam Gilliam Lecture Series at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center
Press Release :: May 12
Johns Hopkins University today announced interdisciplinary artists Coco Fusco and Jeffrey Gibson as the speakers for the second annual Sam Gilliam Lecture Series at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C. Launched in 2025 and made possible by the Sam Gilliam Foundation, the free public series invites prominent artists and thinkers to the university’s Washington, D.C. hub to reflect on the intersections between contemporary art, academia, public policy, and the role art plays in advancing democracy. The series has previously featured art and cultural historian Sarah Lewis and artist Theaster Gates.
Coco Fusco, a Cuban American interdisciplinary artist, writer, and professor, whose work spans performance, video, and criticism, will lead the next lecture on June 8, 2026. Fusco will explore her practice of bridging art, activism, and anthropology to challenge traditional power structures.
Jeffrey Gibson is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and convener whose artistic approach combines contemporary and historical references, layered media, and Indigenous and Western influences to explore how meaning is made and understood. Gibson will take the Hopkins Bloomberg Center stage on November 12, 2026, to discuss how he engages with complex ideas of belonging and collectivity in his own practice and through collaboration.
The Banner wins Best News Organization of 2025 at MDDC Press Association awards
by Sara Ruberg
Published May 8 in The Baltimore Banner
The Banner was named News Organization of the Year by the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association for the third year in a row.
The honor was one of about 60 MDDC awards received by The Banner, a nonprofit, multiplatform news operation serving Greater Baltimore and Maryland.
The Banner won 15 Best in Show overall awards, 20 first-place awards among large news organizations and 23 second-place awards.
The winners included education reporter Liz Bowie and data editors Greg Morton, Ryan Little and Allan James Vestal for their reporting on the public transit woes that Baltimore students face getting to school. The investigation won top honors for both investigative reporting and news-driven multimedia storytelling. The multipart series, which has received several national awards, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in local reporting on Monday.
Baltimore Fishbowl wins 27 MDDC awards, including Best of Show for ‘General Website Excellence’
by Marcus Dieterle
Published May 8 in Baltimore Fishbowl
Baltimore Fishbowl won 27 awards for its work in 2025, including a Best of Show award for “General Website Excellence,” in the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. (MDDC) Press Association Contest.
This was Baltimore Fishbowl’s seventh year participating in MDDC’s contest, and our third year competing in Division C with news publications of a similar audience size, including Capital Gazette, Carroll County Times, Catholic Review, Daily State News, Daily Times, and Maryland Matters.
First- and second-place awards were distributed within each division, while Best of Show honors were bestowed upon each category’s top winner overall across all divisions.
Baltimore Beat wins more than 20 awards at 2025 Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association Awards
by Baltimore Beat
Published May 9
Baltimore Beat won 23 awards at the 2025 MDDC Press Association Awards, including Best of Show Awards for editorial design and reporting; a number of first place awards for reporting, photography, and business innovation; and News Organization of the Year.
The Beat was recognized for its in-depth investigative reporting, strong feature writing, and stellar photography.
“The voice of the author and the subject are so resonant–and the transitions and lead so clever,” judges wrote about our story on Nikkia Rowe, a South Baltimore beekeeper bringing local honey, healing, and community to the masses.
National Gallery of Art Wins Seven Webby Awards Following Viral Success of “Museum Rizzler” Social Media Series
Press Release :: May 11
The National Gallery of Art has been awarded seven 2026 Webby Awards in recognition of its innovative approach to engaging new audiences through compelling digital content across its social media and website. The National Gallery has won a total of 12 Webby Awards since 2022.
Nominated among a range of prominent creators and brands, the museum won awards across these categories:
“The Museum Rizzler” Series
Webby Award for Best Use of Vertical Video
Webby Award for Best Social Content Series, Arts, Culture, and Lifestyle
National Gallery of Art Instagram Account
Webby Award for Best Social Media Account, Arts and Culture
People’s Voice Award for Best Social Media Account, Arts and Culture
National Gallery of Art Stories
Webby Award for Best Cultural Blog/Website
People’s Voice Award for Best Cultural Blog/Website
National Gallery of Art Website
People’s Voice Award for Best Website or Mobile Site, Cultural Institutions
National campaign launch and mural featuring Chinese American suffragist
Mabel Ping-Hua Lee was a Chinese American suffragist, scholar, and community leader who believed that democracy depends on equal opportunity for all.
She attended Barnard College and later earned a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University in 1921, becoming one of the first Chinese women to earn a doctorate in economics.
Her academic work and public advocacy reflected her belief that education and civic participation were essential to a thriving democracy.
She championed women’s education and civic engagement, urging young people to become leaders in the fight for equal rights and human potential.
In 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified, granting American women the right to vote. Yet Mabel herself could not vote —barred from citizenship under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
More than a century later, we have the opportunity to finally give her story the recognition it deserves.
First Exhibition to Explore Photography’s Relationship with Resource Extraction Opening at the National Gallery of Art
Press Release :: Updated April 29
The National Gallery of Art presents Beneath the Surface: Mining and American Photography, the first exhibition to exclusively examine the relationship between resource extraction and American photography throughout its history. Spanning nearly 200 years, the exhibition examines how photographers have approached the challenge of capturing the significant but often hidden processes and impacts of the extraction of minerals, coal, and fossil fuels and its associated industries.
Featuring 150 photographs by more than 100 artists, including Richard Avedon, Walker Evans, Lewis Hine, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Dorothea Lange, David Maisel, Gordon Parks, Mitch Epstein, Carleton Watkins, Will Wilson, and more, Beneath the Surface reveals how generations of photographers have utilized evolving technologies and distinctive visual strategies to document the industries that power and shape modern life. Beneath the Surface will be on view at the National Gallery of Art from May 23 to August 23, 2026, before traveling to the Milwaukee Art Museum in Wisconsin and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas.
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