Nicknamed “Charm City,” Baltimore is nationally known for its history and arts scene, from the War of 1812 to Edgar Allan Poe to John Waters. However, the city is also known for high instances of violent crime, widespread economic hardship, and recent civil unrest. The many disconnects between various communities in the city have plagued Baltimore and its perceptions. How have local GLAM institutions engaged with the diverse Baltimore community? How have they ethically told difficult Baltimore stories with their collections or accounted for underrepresented groups in their collections? How are media professionals handling social justice and community outreach and engagement? What is the role of GLAMS in all of the communities they serve? How can GLAMS represent all constituents while telling stories in an ethical way that avoids appropriation? How can GLAMS best work together with the community while maintaining focus on their missions and existing collections? How can we encourage positive communications and foster partnerships with our communities?
Gabrielle Dean presenting "City People: Black Baltimore in the Photographs of John Clark Mayden," a recent exhibition at the George Peabody Library of Mayden's "street portraits," focusing on Baltimore's primarily black neighborhoods. The exhibition itself and the related "Neighborhood Stories Project" offered new opportunities for community engagement through an honest examination of our city's racial geography and an expanded concept of storytelling.
Ilene Dackman-Alon presenting “Personal Stories: PROJECTED,” a collaborative initiative between the Jewish Museum of Maryland (JMM) and Baltimore City Public Schools.
The initiative is intended to teach students about the benefits of learning and sharing their family histories in meaningful ways. By participating in this project, students understand that everyone has a story that can be valued and appreciated. By interviewing family and community members, middle school students gain insight into their own personal family stories and learn to tell their own stories by creating short film clips using smartphones. These short films are screened at the Jewish Museum of Maryland and other venues as a way of celebrating the diversity, culture and roots of the school community.
Katherine Cowan will talk about the work of Deyane Moses, a Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) student whose 2019 thesis project focused on racism in MICA' history. At the heart of the project was Moses' creation of Blackives (
https://www.miba.online), an online platform to document the experiences of black people at MICA from 1892 through the present. Moses continues to develop Blackives; she is now enrolled in MICA's MFA program for curatorial studies, and is working on a proposal to re-constitute and re-contextualize an exhibition on lynching that appeared at MICA in 1935.
