Filmmaker John Waters says his first introduction to the world of fine art came when he was a boy and his parents took him to the Baltimore Museum of Art.
John Waters gives back to the BMA with pledge to donate art collection
OSI announces 2020 Community Fellows
Open Society Institute-Baltimore announced yesterday the 2020 OSI-Baltimore Community Fellows. Each fellow will receive $60,000 over 18 months to support local projects designed to address problems in Baltimore’s underserved communities.
Newly launched Philanthropy Tank invites Baltimore students to become social entrepreneurs
When she was in seventh grade, Ania McNair saw a presentation by an FBI Victims Specialist that stuck with her. The Victims Specialist relayed stories of human trafficking — many involving girls Ania’s age — and Ania immediately knew she wanted to do something about it.
Ania, now in twelfth grade at Reginald Lewis High School, has been involved with initiatives to combat human trafficking in Baltimore. According to the Victims Services Committee of the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, major interstates through the state and its position between several East Coast cities make it a hot spot for human trafficking. The task force’s latest data found 396 survivors of human trafficking — 124 of whom were trafficked as children — in Maryland in 2014.
Recently, while working with Baltimore nonprofit HeartSmiles, Ania gave a presentation on human trafficking entitled “Not for Sale.” When she saw an opportunity to apply for a grant to put her solutions to action from the newly launched Philanthropy Tank Baltimore, Ania applied.
Local Community Tackles Food Insecurity in Baltimore
It’s first thing on a Monday morning and the kitchen at Pearlstone is already buzzing. The Executive Chef Rebecca Pauvert, along with her culinary team, are hard at work preparing 150 quarts of tasty, nutritious soup. The soup will be picked up tomorrow – Tuesday– by the nonprofit, Baltimore Gift Economy, who will distribute it to individuals facing food insecurity who are living in the Irvington neighborhood of Baltimore City.
This week it looks like carrot soup on the menu.
Join MASKerade and help raise funds for the LGBTQ community
MASKerade
Submission Deadline EXTENDED
Application Deadline: Friday, October 30
Virtual Silent Auction and Exhibition
Launches November 7, 2020
Join MASKerade Baltimore – a virtual silent auction and exhibition hosted by the Baltimore Community Foundation’s LGBTQ Fund to raise awareness and funds for issues facing the LGBTQ community in Baltimore. Since launching in 2018, the LGBTQ Fund has awarded nearly $100,000 to organizations fighting discrimination, providing health services, producing arts and culture events, and supporting LGBTQ youth with anti-bullying and suicide prevention programs. Funds from MASKerade will be used to establish an endowment, ensuring vital support for LGBTQ youth programs in perpetuity.
To view the silent auction, LIVE on November 7, or to register to bid click HERE
More than 100 artists and non-artists picked up canvas masks in August and September and are now in the process of transforming them into works of art!
TIMELINE
Application Deadline: Friday, October 30
All participants must register a loan agreement (google form) with Maryland Art Place HERE
Saturday, November 7: Auction Launch 10am
Friday, November 13: Auction closes 10pm
The silent auction to view and bid on masks will be held November 7 from 10 a.m. – November 13 at 10 p.m. Register today HERE
Unified Community Connections to Hold 17th Annual Virtual Hoodstock Fundraiser
Unified Community Connections, a nonprofit agency supporting people with disabilities, will hold its signature concert fundraiser, Hoodstock XVII, virtually this year on Saturday, October 17. Starting at 8pm, this event will be streamed via YouTube. Get ready to rock online, enter a YETI Cooler of Cheer raffle and enjoy an online silent auction. This year’s event is sure to be VIRTUALLY the best Hoodstock EVER! For more information, to become a sponsor, donate or purchase event merchandise, click here.
In Northwest Baltimore, Live Chair is tackling health disparities for Black men in barbershops
Alongside scissors and clippers, Live Chair is bringing health screening tools like temperature scanners and blood pressure cuffs to barbershops in Baltimore.
Two years after moving to Baltimore, the startup is growing work with barbers to spread health awareness among Black men, who on average die five years earlier and stand at higher risk of hypertension than their white counterparts. Through a new partnership with LifeBridge Health, the company is adding a health provider to the mix and expanding to more than 20 new barbershops in the Northwest Baltimore area.
BMA receives $5 million to create center for prints, drawings and photographs
The Baltimore Museum of Art announced today that it has received a $5 million gift from longtime supporters Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff to establish a center dedicated to the presentation, study, and preservation of its 65,000-object collection of prints, drawings, and photographs.
Maryland SPCA Walkathon to Support Homeless Pets
September 9 to 26, join the Maryland SPCA for Virtual Festival for the Animals – a walkathon to support homeless pets! You can help unlock $65,000 in donations.
Here’s how it works. Register online at festivalfortheanimals.org. Every day during the Festival, take 3,000 steps by walking, running, or playing with your pet.
Every mile we complete together will unlock $100 in donations. Helps us reach our goal of 650 miles and we’ll unlock a total of $65,000 to support MD SPCA! You can submit your steps at festivalfortheanimals.org beginning September 9.
Baltimore agencies and shelters battle homelessness amid pandemic
When COVID 19 upended the country, forcing office workers to become remote workers, students into virtual learners, and the retailers who could into pickup and delivery services, some sectors of society had to keep the doors open: the health care industry and organizations that serve the homeless.
In the Baltimore-metropolitan area, COVID created a crisis-within-a-crisis at area shelters that serve the unhoused and those on the brink of homelessness. Service providers and advocates had to quickly devise plans that would encourage social distancing and find other ways to separate residents and clients, many of whom have pre-existing conditions that put them in the eye of the coronavirus storm.
