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More than 400 people assembled in Annapolis, Feb. 10, for Maryland Arts Day – the major advocacy event of the year for the state's arts community. Sponsored by Maryland Citizens for the Arts with support from the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC), the annual gathering at the Miller Senate Office Building featured opportunities for those who attended to meet with their legislative representatives to discuss arts funding. Christian S. Johansson, DBED's newly appointed secretary, addressed the group. He said Maryland is in a better position than many states to weather the current economic downturn and that the arts industry is certainly feeling the effects of tighter budgets. Johansson applauded the group's advocacy efforts, while adding that future goals must be tempered by today's fiscal realities. He urged his audience to demonstrate how the arts can be "part of the recovery solution" through the creation of jobs, attracting new business and building the state's tax base. Theresa Colvin, MSAC director, and Steve Raabe, of OpinionWorks, presented results of a fall statewide survey on the arts, which showed how Maryland citizens value and participate in the arts. Marin Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, was the featured speaker at the event. Various political officials also spoke, including Senate President Mike Miller and MSAC members Del. Melanie Griffith and Sen. Richard S. Madealeno. Legislative updates: CBGN, Tubman bills introduced in Congress On Feb. 10, Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) introduced HR 965, a bill that would "provide for the continuing authorization of the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network." This legislation provides funding and technical assistance to CBGN sites for educational programs, restoration plans and accessibility projects. On Feb. 13, Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-N.Y.) introduced HR 1078, a bill that establishes "the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn, New York, and the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park in (Maryland's) Caroline, Dorchester and Talbot counties." A Senate version of this bill was introduced last summer. High-tech treasure hunt promotes tourism in state Imagine a scavenger hunt using a GPS device. That's the essence of geocaching – a high-tech search for hidden containers called geocaches. It's also a new way to boost tourism. The Maryland Municipal League (MML) has become the first municipal association in the nation to launch a geocache trail program. Maryland's goecache trail, which hinges to a "Celebrating Maryland's Cities and Towns" theme, includes 79 caches that are located in a network of 78 municipalities in the state. MML has divided the network into 11 districts. Geocachers who find at least two caches in each of the 11 districts are eligible to receive collectable geo coins. To find the caches, geocachers must visit the official geocache web site, then go to the MML account and obtain map coordinates for each cache. They must also pick up a passport at a participating visitor center and have their passports validated to receive the coins. The latest issue of the Maryland Tourism Monitor – the Tourism Office's monthly report measuring visitor activity, advertising response and state travel trends – is now available online. This issue highlights December 2008 activity. During December, the Tourism Office continued to expand its presence on the Internet. Web advertising prompted more consumer inquiries, as the number of unique web users who navigated to visitmaryland.org increased. Maryland's travel indicators also continue to show resilience. The state's lodging industry outperformed the rest of the nation for the calendar year. Tourism sales taxes still outperform all other sales tax categories. And, Welcome Center visitation has grown 2.5 percent this year when excluding the three Welcome Center locations that were closed for renovations last spring. Gilbert earns travel industry designation at ABA convention A native of Perryville, Gilbert joined the Tourism Office in 1987. He currently works with tour operators, reunion planners, meeting planners and group leaders to bring their travel business to Maryland. In 2008, Gilbert was named Associate of the Year by the Virginia Motorcoach Association. The American Bus Association is a trade group for more than 1,000 motorcoach owners and tour company operators in the U.S. and Canada, along with 2,300 travel and tourism organizations and suppliers of bus products and services. Maryland artist's song now part of Grammy-winning album Juno's director Jason Reitman had discovered Polisar's "All I Want is You," while searching for music to accompany his production. Polisar, who was profiled in the Winter 2009 issue of the Arts Council newsletter, recorded the song in 1977. "If you hang around the store long enough," said Polisar a few months ago, "eventually they give you something"… like Grammy nominations and lifetime achievement awards." In November, Polisar accepted a Children's Music Web award for lifetime achievement. He has also received two Individual Artist Awards from the Arts Council. New DMOs settle in with plans to promote their counties Three new Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) leaders have emerged recently in Baltimore, Calvert and Caroline counties – Jill Feinberg, Joyce Baki and Kathleen Mackel.
Arts Council award winners among Sondheim semifinalists They include: Seth Adelsberger; Alzaruba (also known as Al Zaruba); Jessica Braiterman; Alyssa Dennis; Leslie Furlong; Lisa Moren and Karen Yasinsky. All are Baltimore residents, except Braiterman, who is from Beltsville. (Yasinsky has work on display in the Arts Council's current exhibit.) The Sondheim prize includes a $25,000 fellowship to a visual artist or a visual-artist collaborative working in the Baltimore region. About six finalists will be selected in the spring. Their work will be exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art during the summer. A winner will be announced July 11, a week prior to Artscape weekend.
Backas Gallery presents new multi-discipline exhibit The exhibit, which runs through April 30, features the work of Jeffrey Kent, Nino Leselidze, Hadieh Shafie and Karen Yasinksy. Symmes Gardner – director of UMBC's Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture – is the curator. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Maryland State Arts Council grants: Application deadline for Arts & Entertainment Districts Technical Assistance Grant, March 19. Application deadlines for Maryland Traditions, a partnership of the Arts Council and the Maryland Historical Trust. Attention stewards of Maryland cultural heritage resources: National Scenic Byways Program Funding Maryland Heritage Areas Authority Maryland Historical Trust Preserve America Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network Save America's Treasures
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