After Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott announced Wednesday that the city would cut ties with the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, the news reverberated throughout the local art world.
Turbulence over BOPA’s financial troubles had come to a head in recent weeks, but the announcement still appeared to be a surprise to some.
“This is frustrating and sad in many ways. BOPA did great things,” wrote X user Kimberly Lane.
“This latest iteration of BOPA was not set up for success from the start,” wrote Jess Solomon-DaCosta. “I feel for the staff.”
The Banner spoke with several community members, artists and stakeholders regarding BOPA’s split from the city to gauge their thoughts on the demise of the partnership — and what comes next.
Robyn Murphy
Robyn Murphy, who serves on BOPA’s board, is the chief executive of JRM Consultancy as well as a television host, reporter and anchor.
“While I fully understand the city’s position and the rationale behind the decision to terminate BOPA’s contract, I remain focused on ensuring that Baltimore’s commitment to arts and culture continues to thrive, and I know that is the mayor’s priority as well,” she said.
“What we all want — the city, BOPA, artists — is to have Baltimore be a place where artists can thrive and culture is celebrated. We all have that goal. Now is the time to facilitate getting that done and I am here for that,” Murphy added.
Ryan Haase
Ryan Haase, one of the co-owners of The Club Car, a queer cocktail bar and performance venue in Station North, is disappointed by the recent turn of events.
“It’s always easy to pull the plug on the arts. High school politics in the real world. Funding for the arts will always be cut first,” he said. “To lose BOPA as a funded entity will only do harm to our city and the artists who year after year rely on the funding from the nonprofit.”
Haase’s establishment regularly offers opportunities for local artists to showcase their work there, from gallery showings to conceptual nights centered on the arts community.
“We as a city should fix the problems at hand instead of just getting rid of it,” Haase said. “It’s a sad day when someone [the mayor] who has zero understanding of the arts is allowed to make such a large decision.”
Aaron Maybin
Former NFL linebacker Aaron Maybin is an artist, activist and teacher in the city. “I’ve seen the writing on the wall and understood that we were headed in this direction for some time now,” he said.
”Hopefully this will lead to more collaborations between the city, individual artists and our local creative community here that makes Baltimore what it is culturally,” he added.
Maybin was particularly unimpressed with the lack of exposure for local artists at events BOPA has organized.
”There is no reason for us not to be featuring local talent when we have so many creative geniuses that are already here,” he said. ”The opportunities for collaboration are endless if we would just take advantage. It just doesn’t seem like a priority for city leadership or the organizations that put these events on. We need more seats at the table when it comes to planning major city events set around the arts, and this presents us an opportunity to rectify that in the process of how we move forward.”
Adam David Bencomo
Adam David Bencomo, an adjunct professor in the visual arts department at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, said arts are always important because “they are consistently becoming the roots of culture” and provide “alternative ways of communication and vision.”
Bencomo has been a patron for every Artscape since 2016. The last three years he’s worked as a volunteer, helping other participating artists or exhibiting his own work.
BOPA has provided “arts in a city with little funding to have an opportunity to not only grow but flourish,” the East Midway resident said. “We see this in events like Artscape. Baltimore has a great arts scene, but like all great things, it needs continuous cultivation and care. With organizations like BOPA and Artscape, Baltimore can continue to evolve.”
Dapper Dan Midas
Emmanuel Williams, who goes by DDm or Dapper Dan Midas, said it is unfortunate both parties couldn’t come to a solution.
“That being said, there have been a lot of misfires from BOPA,” he added. “In order for Artscape to continue and evolve, changes have to be made. An outside company who specializes in large-scale festivals may be the shot in the arm the city needs to get back on track while BOPA gets its house in order.”
Cara Ober
Cara Ober, the editor in chief and publisher of BmoreArt, wrote in an email that “BOPA has been a supportive partner to me personally and to BmoreArt over many years.”
She pointed out the “huge impact” the Sondheim Prize (which is produced by BOPA) and its accompanying museum exhibition has had on artists in the city. But she also noted some of the art organization’s shortcomings and mistakes, such as the decision during the pandemic not to renew the full-time director position at School 33 Art Center, which had “long been a game-changer for artists’ careers in Baltimore.
Ober also acknowledged the “hard-working, smart, and dependable arts administrators” on BOPA’s staff. “It is unfortunate that things are ending up this way, but perhaps there will be a way forward that provides a better structure and functionality, with BOPA acting as an arts council and having other city agencies and organizations facilitating the ‘other’ things they have been asked to do by the city.”
Ideas for how to mete out those responsibilities have already started in the editor’s circles.
“One suggestion I have heard is for Baltimore City Parks and Rec to take over parades and fireworks,” Ober said. “After the most recent Baltimore Book Festival, there was a lot of frustration expressed to me by the primary participants over the sudden lack of funding, a city bailout, and confusion around that. Among those I talked to, Waverly Main Street seems interested and capable of running the Baltimore Book Festival as a city agency/partner with booksellers as primary organizers.”
Jennifer White-Johnson
Jennifer White-Johnson is a Baltimore-based artist and educator who has been a patron of Artscape since 2010.
“I definitely feel like it’ll leave a huge void as to what’s next and who will get support,” White-Johnson said of the break-up with BOPA. “Artists already don’t feel like they have a voice.”
The artist said she has “made so many beautiful connections at these events,” but emphasized that there needs to be more priority given to “how the artists actually want to plan and not how the mayor wants to plan and prioritize our perspectives.”
“If the mayor isn’t willing to support to help create a sustainable outcome,” she said, “then what is that saying to artists?”
“The movements in Baltimore have always been organically self-made.”
Anonymous
An artist with longtime times to BOPA who did not want to be named because of concerns about further entanglements with the organization and arts scene said they were disappointed but not surprised by the news.
”I feel like the way that BOPA has performed and engaged with the community has been quite unprofessional and disappointing to the arts community,” they said.
The artist said they weren’t sure what would come next, or what the alternative could be, for the role BOPA played. But the arts scene in Baltimore is bottom-up and driven by the people making art, they said.
”The arts in Baltimore are self-propelled and it’s disappointing that we’re not getting back the effort we’re putting in.”
The artist said Artscape is great for the city, but that it did not really serve the arts community.
”It’s become like a big carnival. It’s more of a citywide event for the general public than it is something that supports the art,” they said. “No one I know that’s an artist is sitting around waiting for Artscape.”
