Create Baltimore, formerly known as the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA), has been authorized to work with the city on arts-related events and programs for another year.
Baltimore’s Board of Estimates on Wednesday approved a request from Mayor Brandon Scott’s office to amend Create Baltimore’s previous contract with the city to cover the period from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027.
The previous contract, approved by the spending panel on June 18, 2025, called for Create Baltimore to serve as the “City Arts agency” and to provide certain services to Baltimore’s “creative community” from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026.
The one-year extension was approved without discussion as part of the board’s routine agenda. It represents a vote of confidence from the Mayor’s Office in the agency, its board and its CEO, Robyn Murphy. Without the extension approved this week, Create Baltimore’s contract with the city would have ended.
BOPA began working with the city in 2002, when Martin O’Malley was mayor, and was renamed Create Baltimore last year. Its roots go back to an organization formed four decades ago by former Mayor William Donald Schaefer, the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Art and Culture.
“In 2002, BOPA assumed responsibility for programs formerly under the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Art & Culture purview,” noted a memo from the Mayor’s Office to the Board of Estimates on its Sept. 2 agenda.
“BOPA assumed responsibility for…Artscape, School 33 Art Center, The Cloisters, Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower and a school/community-based arts education program, in addition to continued management of the Farmer’s Market & Bazaar and other City events, festivals, fireworks, and parades,” the memo continued, noting the one year-agreement that had an end date of June 30, 2026. For the coming year, the memo said, “the parties desire to enter into an amendment to extend the term of the Original Agreement and update the Program.”
Create Baltimore’s office is located at 7 St. Paul St. According to its website, it’s a non-profit cultural organization that “serves as the city’s arts council, inspires and engages audiences of all ages and backgrounds, and cultivates the city’s creative economy through the arts, and events.”
By providing funding and support to artists and arts organizations and producing cultural events across the city, its website says, the agency’s goal is “to make Baltimore a more vibrant and creative place to live and work.”
