The aim of the event is to invite everyone who would like to be involved in or know more about Accomplished Arts Apprenticeships to meet the program’s leaders and sponsors at the Peale. In particular, we hope prospective apprentices, instructors, and supporters of the program will come to the Peale to find out how they can be part of this game-changing program. At the fair, the program’s leaders will be actively recruiting apprentices to participate in AAA’s second cohort to start work at the Peale on November 1. Apprentices are paid $20/hour for a minimum of 15 hours/week while they learn over the course of the 32-week program.

The Accomplished Arts Apprentices (AAA) program aims to increase equity and inclusion in the arts, creative and preservation trades with specific focus on people from marginalized communities in Baltimore. Launched in 2020 by Jeffrey Kent, the Peale’s Chief Curator, the program is now recruiting its second cohort of apprentices. Apprentices receive hands-on training in exhibition installation, art handling, historic preservation, and related trades, as well as greater involvement in and appreciation of the arts lifelong. The program teaches professional as well as life skills that will be useful to any future employment the apprentices may pursue, including how to identify and secure fulfilling lifetime work opportunities. Importantly for people from economic disadvantage, the trades skills being taught in this program lead to well-paid, meaningful careers that don’t require the up-front investment of a college degree but are both financially and creatively rewarding, helping strengthen and preserve communities and their cultural heritage.

Jeffrey Kent will be on hand at the fair, as well as Shauntee Daniels, Executive Director of the Baltimore National Heritage Area. David Gibney, the historic preservation artisan teaching as part of the program, will demonstrate some of the skills that apprentices will learn. Graduates from the AAA program’s first cohort will be available to answer questions about their experiences of the program.