Small businesses and non-profits are especially hard hit during the coronavirus outbreak. We get it! Baltimore Fishbowl is a small business, too. To help small businesses and non-profits, we will provide regular updates to let you know how they are coping.
The following is an update from the Baltimore Architecture Foundation on how they are adapting and coping during these times.
How have you altered your business to adapt to the quarantine?
The Baltimore Architecture Foundation (BAF) has committed to re-imagining our programs for our audiences at home. Our team is using Youtube, Zoom, and Facebook Live to deliver our Spring Lecture Series, and have taken more time to connect to users through social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter.
While some of our in-person programs had to be postponed, we’re thinking creatively about engaging audiences virtually with programs like virtual architecture tours.
Are you doing something for the community or your employees that you want to share with our readers?
We are in the middle of our virtual Spring Lecture Series with AIA Baltimore, which brings world-renowned designers and thinkers to speak to relevant theme and encourage critical thinking about design. Despite social distancing, we’re seeing more engagement and attendance than ever before. It’s been fantastic to see so many people connecting and engaging with design from their homes. The next lecture is on April 29 and we’re excited to have Carla Swickerath from Studio Libeskind, Seema Iyer from University of Baltimore speaking about why certain architectural projects go unbuilt, and the unseen barriers that affect quality of life in neighborhoods. All the lectures are recorded and made available on Youtube.
We are also taking this time to promote our friends and partners in the arts and cultural fields, like Baltimore Heritage with their 5 minute histories or Open Works using their equipment to make masks for hospital workers. While apart, we find it important to stay engaged and celebrate community.
What is the status of your employees?
Our team of six is working seamlessly. We connect daily through various channels of communications: texts, Facebook messages, Slack messages, emails, and the occasional group messages filled with levity on everyone’s new daily routine. We know that we are lucky to be able to work this way and there are new moments of shared gratitude between all of us that wouldn’t have existed, if not for this unprecedented pandemic.
How can readers help you get through the crisis?
Staying connected by participating in our virtual programs, and engaging with us on Facebook, Instagram and through our monthly newsletter.
Arts and cultural organizations are hit hard by this and we are all trying to figure out how we can make it through the year. Baltimore is full of so many wonderful arts and cultural organizations, and we encourage readers to give where they can. Donations right now will go a long way.
How are you coping, personally?
Our staff is doing their best to make the most of it and adjust to this new reality. Check-ins during the week have been helpful, and the occasional virtual happy hour helps us stay connected and boost morale. We’ve all been sharing our hobbies, whether its gardening, knitting, baking bread, or working our way through cookbooks.
Reading past Love Letters to Baltimore Buildings has been uplifting. We encourage readers to take a look and submit their own. We love hearing about people’s favorite buildings.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Our big event annual event is Doors Open Baltimore, the citywide celebration of architecture and neighborhoods that invites the public to explore interesting buildings across the city. The event is scheduled on October 3 & 4, and we’re optimistic we’ll be able to host it this year.
In the meantime, we’ll be working on more virtual architecture tours and presentations. You can stay up to date by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on social media.
To learn more about the Baltimore Architecture Foundation, visit their website and stay up to date by following along on social media.
If you represent a local small business or non-profit and would like to share your update with our readers, contact Nicole Allen at nicole@baltimorefishbowl.com. During the crisis, we will offer these sponsored posts for free as a service to the community.
