Maryland Public Television (MPT) will highlight the 2023 Baker Artist Awards winners during its Jan. 19 MPT Artworks special.
The six winners of the 15th Baker Artist Awards Competition will be profiled in a celebration of the Baltimore region’s creativity. Each year, the competition recognizes talent from Baltimore City as well as Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, and Harford counties. Winners were announced by the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance and the William G. Baker Jr. Memorial Fund in June 2023.
The awards include prize money and are distributed to artists in one of six creative disciplines: visual arts, inter- and multi-disciplinary work, music, performance, film/video, and literary arts. Winners “exemplify a mastery of craft, commitment to excellence, and a unique and compelling vision,” reads the press release announcing the MPT special.
MPT has been broadcasting the annual Baker Artist Awards special for more than 10 years, according to its website.
The Baker Artist Portfolios were created to support artists in Baltimore city and Greater Baltimore, with the hopes of exposing them and their work to regional, national, and international audiences. The program serves artists of all disciplines, according to the website. The site and associated awards were established by the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, and are part of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.
This year, five of the six award winners hail from Baltimore City, and one is from Howard County. Each artist received a $10,000 Mary Sawyers Baker prize, and one of the six artists was also honored with an additional $30,000 Mary Sawyers Imboden Prize.
The 2023 Baker Artist Award winners include literary arts winner Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson, of Baltimore City; music winner Abdu Ali, of Baltimore City; inter- and multi-disciplinary work winner Oletha DeVane, of Howard County; performing arts winner Colette Krogol, of Baltimore City; film/video winner Margaret Rorison, of Baltimore City; and visual arts winner Jordan Tierney, of Baltimore City.
Individual artist profiles can be viewed by clicking this link.
The MPT Artworks special will air this Friday at 7:30 p.m. on MPT-HD and online at mpt.org/livestream. Viewers can also catch the program on the free PBS App and on MPT’s online video player.
An encore broadcast of the special will air on Saturday at 8 p.m. on MP2/Create and online at mpt.org/anywhere/live-stream-mpt2.
Submissions for the 2024 Baker Artist Awards are open until 5 p.m. on Jan. 26.
