2010 Individual Artist Awards artwork

Traditional artists in spotlight at Creative Alliance
Maryland Traditions presents its annual Gathering and Maryland Masters Showcase , June 10 at the Creative Alliance in Baltimore. During the Gathering, 3 to 6 p.m., a collection of Maryland traditional artists demonstrate their skills. Taste of Traditions, 6 to 7 p.m., gives attendees a chance to sample food items from an array of cultures.

Then, at 7:30 p.m., master musicians take the stage with their apprentices. Performers include: Donna Long, traditional Irish musician; Lafayette Gilchrist , Baltimore jazz pianist; Burton DeBusk, Appalachian gospel singer; Ali Analouei, a Persian daf (drum) master; Samia Ahmad, Hindustani vocalist; and Gustavo Nieto, Colombian accordionist.

• Uncle Nace's Day has been celebrated in Talbot County yearly since 1867. Nathanial “Uncle Nace” Hopkins started the tradition as Maryland Emancipation Day. After Hopkins died in 1900, his descendants and the town of Trappe changed the name.
  
  
• Located in the Fells Point section of Baltimore, Globe Poster produced posters for vaudeville and burlesque shows, carnivals, and movie theaters. The Cicero family has run the company since 1935. Globe has continued to create posters – for elections, festivals and entertainment events – for the past 65 years.
  
  
• Representatives of the state's two longest-running jousting tournaments – the St. Joseph's Jousting Tournament and Horse Show at St. Joseph's Church in Cordova (held annually since 1868), and the Calvert County Jousting Tournament at Christ Episcopal Church in Port Republic (held annually since 1866), along with a representative of the Maryland Jousting Tournament Association (founded in 1963) – accepted the award.

AFTA conference comes to Baltimore in three weeks
Americans for the Arts presents its annual conference June 25-27 in Baltimore. This year the national arts advocacy organization celebrates its Half-Century Summit. The conference is the nation's largest gathering of arts leaders and their partners in business, education and government. All sessions and presentations will be at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel.

• Robert Redford will address the conference on Friday, June 25. The line-up of featured guests includes 150 speakers, presenters and panel participants. Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor of The Huffington Post, will be the first keynote speaker Friday. Rocco Landesman, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, will deliver a Saturday morning keynote address.
  
  
• Explore Baltimore and surrounding areas while you're attending the summit. Ten ARTventure tours that provide off-site educational opportunities are scheduled for Saturday, June 26. Tours will provide out-of-towners with a look at many of the area's arts institutions and communities. Advance sign-up is required. Check online for a description of each tour and registration information.
  
  
• Start the summit at An Evening with John Waters at Baltimore's Center Stage Theatre, June 24. Waters performs his part-confession, part-Vaudeville one-man show – This Filthy World.
  
  
  

Arts Council salutes award-winning state artists
The Maryland State Arts Council presented its 2010 Individual Artist Awards to 98 Maryland artists at a reception, May 20 at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. About 150 guests attended. The event featured welcoming remarks by Rebecca Alban Hoffberger, founder and director of AVAM, and E. Scott Johnson, chair of the Arts Council, along with music by the Amadou Kouyate Group. Theresa Colvin, executive director of the Arts Council, introduced the winning artists.

Each artist received an individual grant in the amount of $1,000, $3,000 or $6,000. The Arts Council distributed a total of $250,000 in awards to the artists. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation administers a review process, which looked at the work of 619 artist-applicants in eight categories: digital/electronic arts; fiction; media; solo dance performance; solo musical performance; solo theatrical performance; visual arts (painting); and visual arts (works on paper).

Applications for the 2011 awards – which will be given in eight different categories – must be submitted to the Arts Council by Aug. 4. Competition categories alternate each year. For details, check the Arts Council web site. (Pictured: Johnson, Hoffberger and Councilor Bill Mandicott.)

One of the communities that the festival will spotlight this year is the U.S. population of Asian-Pacific Americans. A cluster of 350,000 Asian-Pacific Americans reside in the Washington, D.C., area – a microcosm of the approximately 30 Asian American and 24 Pacific Island groups in the nation.

Cliff Murphy, co-director of Maryland Traditions and folklorist with the Maryland State Arts Council, and Mark Puryear, a folklorist with the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, have both been working with the festival's programming committee. Many of the Maryland-based groups at the festival have either been associated with the Maryland Traditions apprenticeship program or the Arts Council's Grants for Organizations program.

Four Maryland cities named top arts destinations
Frederick , Cumberland and Annapolis are among the nation's top 25 small-city arts destinations, according to an annual list that American Style magazine assembles. The magazine also compiles the top 25 arts destinations for mid-sized cities and large cities. Both Baltimore and Washington, D.C., are among the large-city destinations.

The winners “are perfect examples of how art, culture, and tourism can make great things happen,” says Hope Daniels, American Style's editor. The magazine also spotlighted an assortment of places where visitors can dine, visit, stay at and explore in Baltimore in a related online feature, “The Best of Baltimore.”