Baltimore’s arts scene both shines and struggles.
The work of local artists featured in street art projects, public art concepts, and in murals across the city. Arts serve as a regional and national draw, attracting patrons to events like Artscape and the historic Hippodrome Theatre, and to museums and symphonies. But some of these venues face financial woes. Supporting and nurturing the arts takes not only the love of audiences, but support from government leaders.
Baltimore’s next mayor must decide how to preserve and amplify the arts in Baltimore as other priorities demand attention.
Mayor Brandon Scott, running for reelection this year, designated a new Arts and Culture Advisory Committee to support the local arts scene. Baltimore Fishbowl reported in September that the Scott administration emphasized its support of the arts and culture in the city “through economic development, policy recommendations, community engagement, and education and outreach.”
Similarly, one of his leading opponents, former Mayor Sheila Dixon, said she “support(s) the arts 100 percent.” Describing her time in office between 2007 and 2010, she said “we did a lot of initiatives and created public murals throughout the city which I think is a great enhancement.”
Graffiti and public art
But Dixon said graffiti in the city has gotten “out of control” and it negatively affects local businesses because it’s costly to remove. She’d like the city to work with graffiti artists to leverage their talent in a different way.
“I’m not a fan of this graffiti that people are doing on private properties and on signage that exists in the city,” Dixon said. “I think that it takes away from the overall effort in the arts community, even though that’s a form of art. I just think it’s very destructive.”
She said she wanted to “potentially organize those individuals who are putting up this graffiti to figure out what we could do to help them and identify ways to utilize their art and their signature in a more constructive way.”
Thiru Vignarajah, also running for mayor, would like to see the city bolster efforts to add murals in communities across the city, pledging new projects every four to six months.
“I think one of the most amazing things about Baltimore are murals, but they kind-of sort-of get done ad-hoc,” he said. “It’s really important for communities to feel invested in the art that they call their own. The mayor shouldn’t be picking…what art installations make most sense for a particular community.”
Vignarajah would like to see a “mural-matching program,” connecting artists and their mural concepts with communities across the city and the patrons who want to support the development financially.
“You get all three. You get a patron, a community and a muralist. All of a sudden, they get matched together, and that mural goes up,” he said.
Businessman Bob Wallace, who ran and lost to Scott in 2020, said it’s also the mayor’s responsibility to “create pipelines of revenue into our art and culture community.”
Revenue from ticket sales is often not enough to support theatres, he said, and the mayor can act as a conduit to direct state, federal and private funds to support those efforts.
“You know, that’s one of the areas…that can bring people together, even when they may disagree on politics or policy,” Wallace said. “So that is a key component of my platform to enhance and to create an environment where our arts community can thrive.”
Scott last fall directed additional American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to supporting arts and cultural institutions in the city, for a combined total of $6.25 million, according to WJZ.
City services in service of the arts
Both Vignarajah and Wallace said the city can support the arts community by strengthening basic city services—including police—in areas where art is the draw.
“Arts districts, theaters are no different than other commercial districts,” Vignarajah said. “They need support. They need services. They need to make sure that the trash is picked up and that people feel safe going into those neighborhoods. So we need to double our patrols in those neighborhoods around the time that people have performances going on.”
Wallace plans to “change the risk equation,” for “these institutions to thrive.”
“One thing I have to do as mayor is to make sure that the space where they exist is safe. A lot of people don’t come because they’re afraid for their safety. So as mayor, I have to have systems in place where we have the presence of law enforcement but we have a culture of order and safety,” he said.
Art in schools
Vignarajah would also like to see the launch of an “artist in residence” program in the city, providing artists modest stipends to teach and showcase in our local schools.
Both Dixon and Baltimore educator Wendy Bozel, a Democrat also running for mayor, also plan to leverage the mayor’s office to expand art in Baltimore City Public Schools.
“We need to figure out how to keep it in our schools and bring our artists to be engaged and involved in what’s going on in our schools,” Dixon said.
For Bozel, street art is also an answer for addressing dangerous roads and intersections in Baltimore. Mayoral candidates sounded off last week on their plans to address issues related to multimodal transportation and bike lanes.
Bozel pointed to a street art project she helped facilitate in Upper Fells Point, which provided funds to artists to create artwork in the intersections to slow traffic down and curb accidents.
“People are actually slowing down, and we haven’t had any crashes since this has been implemented in our area of the city, so I hope to do that citywide,” she said.
Bozel also said she wants the city to organize another Artscape-like festival to run alongside the Preakness Stakes “where we can have showcase our artists and get national attention to it.”
Baltimore Fishbowl is examining issues important to voters in the 2024 mayoral contest, and is soliciting views of candidates who are running active campaigns as measured by contributions to campaign accounts and by maintaining a campaign website. Mayor Brandon Scott, former mayor Sheila Dixon, Thiru Vignarajah, Bob Wallace, and Wendy Bozel are candidates who meet that criteria. Scott did not respond to multiple interview requests for this article.
Full mayoral campaign issues coverage:
Mayoral candidates on bicycle transportation
Mayoral candidates on supporting art
Mayoral candidates on the environment
Mayoral candidates on vacant properties
Mayoral candidates on recycling, trash collection and public works
Mayoral candidates on graffiti, dumping and cleanliness
Mayoral candidates on jobs and the economy
Mayoral candidates on large development projects and special tax treatment
Mayoral candidates on squeegee workers and youth recreation
Mayoral candidates on crime and public safety
