Arts and culture : Innovation + Job News

Vehicles For Change, a nonprofit dedicated to providing vehicles to the disadvantaged in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia, is launching a new Art Van. The organization hopes the combination exhibit and ongoing art project on wheels will raise awareness for its program. 

The Art Van is a work in progress. Initial painting on the van's mural was done by the residents of the City Arts Apartments in Station North. After finding out about Vehicles For Change's desire to have an art car of their own, Danny Stuelpnagel, coordinator of the art cars exhibition at ArtScape, stepped in to coordinate the development of the Art Van.

Vehicles for Change will be taking the Art Van on tour this summer, visiting festivals and events around the state. The Art Van will be making appearances at the Annapolis Arts & Crafts Festival, Columbia Festival of the Arts, ROOTS Fest, and ArtScape.

At each stop, festival visitors will be encourages to explore the Art Van's interactive features. Festival goers will be encourages to contribute to the ongoing art project by taking up brushes to further embellish the Art Van. Visitors will also be able to interact with the Art Van by playing a game with the magnetic pieces attached to the van. The game is designed to raise awareness about the challenges faced by low-income families without cars.

Vehicles For Change has donated more than 3,500 vehicles to the disadvantaged in the area since its inception in 1999. The Art Van is being underwritten by Precision Tune and PNC Bank. The festivals at which the Art Van is appearing have waived exhibitor fees for the community outreach project, and local merchants have donated the prizes used in the game.

Author: Amy McNeal

Source: Robin Yasinow, Vehicles For Change

 

Sometimes scaling back one plan can mean expansion of others. In the case of the Senator Theatre, a North Baltimore landmark with a recent history often centering on uncertainty, a recent change of plans will shift the 1939 art-deco building from mixed-use entertainment site with one movie screen to a multi-screen movie house with a smaller amount of dedicated space for eating and drinking.

On Saturday, March 19, operators James "Buzz" Cusack and Kathleen Cusack announced that 307 new cinema seats will be spread among three new theaters in the building just south of the intersection of York Road and Northern Parkway. Instead of previous plans for a small-plates restaurant in the large contiguous space north of the current movie auditorium, the building will be segmented to allow for a variety of first-run movies with different target audiences to be shown. There is also potential for new screening technology to be rolled out in the smaller boutique theaters, following the Senator's selection for a THX audio overhaul in 2003 that never completely came to pass.

"We're trying to get our hands on a digital 3-D projector for the summer when we're still just a single screen, but they're hard to come by and they're expensive," Kathleen Cusack says. All of the Senator's new equipment will be digital, which marks a major change from its current 35 mm and 70 mm film equipment.

Despite scrapping plans for a full restaurant on the site, the Senator will still add a wine bar and Sofi's Crepes, which also has a location in the Charles Theatre in the Station North neighborhood. The Charles is also operated by the Cusacks, who hold a 40-year lease on the city-owned Senator Theatre.
 
Writer: Sam Hopkins
Source: Kathleen Cusack, Senator Theatre operator

Over the past few years Baltimore's reputation as a hub of creativity -- both artistic and technological -- has grown. But, while the work of the city's artists and techies has done much to help the city as it marches forward, the efforts of the two communities have largely been separate. What would happen if the two groups came together, sharing their strengths and ideas?

That's the question Andrew Hazlett and Scott Burkholder, J. Buck Jabaily and Dave Troy hope to begin answering this Saturday, Jan. 15 at CreateBaltimore, a conference for artists, coders, crafters, curators, designers, entrepreneurs, hackers, connectors, activists, makers, educators, museum staff, performers, tinkerers, writers, and others who want to work together to enrich life in Baltimore.

"We were at a Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance event, talking about futurism, networks and participatory cultural organizations, and it occurred to us simultaneously that a lot of these things were starting to sound familiar. We both are in the arts and culture sphere but had spent time hanging out with the tech and entrepreneurial community in Baltimore. We realized that there are a lot of ways in which these two communities are more alike than they realize, but at the same time have a lot to learn from each other," says Hazlett, co-organizer of CreateBaltimore.

"It's not just that museums and artists need to become more adept with social media. Or, that web designers need to understand art and design better, it's deeper than that. So many different topics came to us that we think people would like to talk about," he continues.

The two contacted J. Buck Jubaily, executive director of Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, and Dave Troy, an entrepreneur and leader in the local tech community who started TEDx Mid-Atlantic. The group decided that the best way to kickstart the conversation would be with a BarCamp or unConference-style event that allows participants to create the agenda, make presentations, and generate the discussions that interest them the most.

"We're hoping there will be some really good connections made between people who have more in common than they realize. We want it to have both short and long term impact. Conversation is great, but you have to have concrete next steps that take place. We view this as the start of an ongoing process. We'd like to see some theoretical back and forth, but also have some specific ideas about how entrepreneurs and the DIY, Etsy, craftmaker community can collaborate to take advantage of the storefront offers the city government has been working on. That could result in some concrete economic activity in the city," says Hazlett.

The event, which will be held at the Maryland Institute of Art's Brown Center, is sold out, however, Hazlett encourages anyone who would like to attend to sign up for the waitlist.

Source: Andrew Hazlett, CreateBaltimore
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Hoping to strike gold once again, the team behind the "The Blair Witch Project"  has committed to filming an independent feature film, "The Possession," in Maryland next month at several locations in Washington County. The shoot will employ some of Maryland's film crews and help boost the local economy. The film's writer/director Eduardo Sanchez, producers Robin Cowie and Gregg Hale and their company Haxan Films' "The Blair Witch Project," which shot in Maryland on a micro budget more than a decade ago, went on to gross over $250 million worldwide. Haxan Films is making "The Possession" with Amber Entertainment, the production company of Mark Ordesky ("The Lord of the Rings" Trilogy) and Jane Fleming.

"We are excited to welcome Haxan Films and their talented team back to Maryland and are pleased that their positive experience here in 1999 is leading them to film their latest project here," says Gov. O'Malley. "We also welcome the opportunity to put some of our talented film crews back to work and positively impact the local economy."

"It feels great to finally shoot another film in my home state," says Sanchez, who lives in Maryland. "The last time went pretty well for us so we're hoping that Maryland brings us some luck again with "The Possession".

The movie's storyline begins as a simple horror film about things that go bump in the night but as it unfolds becomes a thriller about the evil power that exists inside one troubled young woman.

"The State of Maryland, the Maryland Film Office, the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau and local businesses have been extremely pro-active and supportive in bringing our film to Maryland," adds Cowie. "We look forward to creating jobs, hiring local cast and crew and a great production."

Source: Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development
Writer: Walaika Haskins

The Enoch Pratt Free Library has received a $15,000 award from Citi that will fund free outreach activities for its Summer Reading 2010 programs.

Summer Reading is an incentive and theme-based reading program offered at all Pratt locations throughout Baltimore. Every year, more than 15,000 children and teens register for the reading program and more than 35,000 participate in the free activities. The goal for registered participants is to read at least one book a week during the eight week session. Through branch-based activities and performances, such as musicians and storytellers, the program is designed to help children build a love for reading, promote family reading and help students continue to learn over the summer.

"Studies have shown that children who read over the summer are better prepared to continue their education when they return to school in the fall," says Carla D. Hayden, CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. "But it's important to emphasize that reading is fun. Sometimes students get so busy they forget that there's more to reading than just school texts."

An important component of Summer Reading is outreach Every year, the library extends its Summer Reading program to 65-70 non-library-branch outreach sites (day camps, recreation centers, faith-based camps, school and day care centers), to ensure that these children have the same opportunities for reading practice as those who attend Library branch programs.

"Our summer learning outreach efforts are our single most effective way to reach children that don't have access to libraries during the summer," says Ellen Riordan, Pratt's Children Services Coordinator. "This generous funding ensures that over 4,000 children in 70 sites across the city have books, a library connection and a positive learning experience."

"The impact of Pratt's Summer Reading program on the local community is immeasurable," says Sheldon Caplis, Citi Community Development Regional Director for South Atlantic. "The contribution to strengthening education and communities across Baltimore makes Pratt an obvious partner for us."

Source: Enoch Pratt Free Library
Writer: Walaika Haskins

There's a common perception that a fine line seperates the old from the new. Most people for instance wouldn't think that lovers of opera and users of social media like Twitter and Facebook would have anything in common. Brendan Cooke, general director for Baltimore Concert Opera (BCO), thinks its time to change the way people -- young and old -- think about opera and those who enjoy the centuries old art form.

"Opera isn't just about a fat lady wearing horns screaming at you. There's a lot of fantastic music. And if people give it a shot, we're pretty certain they'll be back soon," he says.

The mashup of opera and social media for the BCO came from a desire to get more people interested in opera.

"We realized that a lot of people running opera companies talk a great deal about bringing in a younger audience. I hate that idea. We just want to bring in a different audience. We realized that a lot of the people we want to bring in, the energetic people who can help spread the word about us are the social media users out there," he explains.

Lacking a budget that would support a large marketing campaign, Cooke looked for no cost alternatives. "Opera can be a tough sell. We realized that we would have to reach these people where they wanted to be reached and find them on their iPhones, iPads in that environment and give them enough reason to want to find out more about what we're doing. We really found that these are the most effective outlets for us, in terms of growing our audience."

His efforts have paid off and captured the attention of a new audience that receives special offers through Twitter and Facebook.

Now, the BCO has taken its social media marketing to the next level with its first Social Media Scavenger Hunt. The event, running from July 9 to July 18 will help the opera company raise money to support its upcoming performance at Artscape. The winner of the scavenger hunt won't leave empty-handed, either. That person will win $1000.

Cooke has enlisted the help of local retailers and as with traditional scavenger hunts, participants will search the city for these shops and specific objects hidden there. Once they've located the object, that's when the social media aspect comes into play with participants tweeting, posting Facebook updates, and uploading videos.

Everyone involved, the BCO, retailers and participants will benefit from the experience. The BCO raises the money it needs and gets its name out to a larger audience, the vendors also get a marketing bump and the hunters get to have some fun and learn more about opera and the city.

"It's about sharing the love a little bit. We have vendors who joined Twitter because of this and others that have thriving followings. The motivation is to grow our networks. The relationships we're building now will continue to flourish. It's a community project, but ultimately its meant to bring people out to our free performance at Artscape and get more people interested in opera," he says.

Anyone interested in participating in the scavenger hunt should sign up sooner rather than later. The fee to play goes up with every 10 people who sign up. The first 10 people pay $1, the next 10 will pay $2 and so on up to $9.

Source: Brendan Cooke, Baltimore Opera Company
Writer: Walaika Haskins

CityLit Project, the Baltimore-based non-profit that aims to nurture the culture of literature in Baltimore and throughout Maryland, is going into the book publishing business.

The new publishings house, CityLit Press, will offer authors who might otherwise be overlooked by larger publishers due to the literary quality or regional focus of their projects an opportunity to have their work publsihed, says Gregg Wilhelm, founder of CityLit Project.

"[We'll] publish anything that has literary merit or regional purpose. At the end of the day I get to publish anything that strikes me," he continues.

Wilhelm expects to publish two chat books and three other books each year to start, but adds that as the organization grows he hopes to put out more books.

First of the presses is the just released "City Sages: Baltimore" edited by Jen Michalski, an anthology of fiction writing; a chat book (slim volume)from CityLit's first winner of the Clarinda Harriss Poetry Prize and a post-Katrina book from a New Orleans-based poet, according to Wilhelm.

Started in 2004, CityLit Project puts on the CityLit Festival in April and the CityLit stage at the Baltimore Book Festival in September. The organization also conducts a lot of outreach with CityLit Teens and workshops to help adults develop their craft. Wilhelm, who has worked in publishing since 1992, says starting a publishing house was always "in the back of his mind."

"Launching CityLit Press took six years. We had to get [CityLit Project's] feet on the ground and establish a reputation. I don't see CityLit Press any different from CityLit Project, it is part and parcel of that mission, but I knew that it would be a program that would have th emost expenses involved. So, we needed to have a good financial base before we took on those publishing expenses," he explains.

Wilhelm meets the expenses associated with both projects through a variety of city and state grants, and ecently recieved grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Private donations are also a major soruce of support. So, to that end, CityLit Press is hosting a fundraiser tonight, June 22 at Langermann's in Canton where guests will enjoy hors d'oeuvres, beer, wine, and nonalcoholic beverages. Tickets for the event are $40 and available at the door.

The CityLit Press publications will be available on Amazon.com, independent book stores throughout the region, and also at some area Barnes & Noble stores.

Source: Gregg Wilhelm, CityLit Project
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Getting around the Inner Harbor may test the patience of drivers most days, but a new deal approved by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the City Council will turn the streets of Downtown Baltimore into a world-class race track in August 2011.

The 5-year agreement will allow for an IndyCar® 'Baltimore Grand Prix' street-racing event around the Inner Harbor and Camden Yards. "This is a game-changer for Baltimore," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said after voting to approve the agreement.

The brainchild of Baltimore Racing Development (BRD), the Baltimore Grand Prix will be a three-day event that is expected to draw 100,000 indy racing enthusiasts from across the globe to Charm City and bring in some $80 million dollars to the local economy.Over five years, the race is expected to generate $11 million in direct city tax revenue, create nearly 2000 full-time equivalent jobs and $250 million in spending injected into the City's economy, according to the Economic Impact Report released by BRD.

Mayor Rawlings-Blake says that in addition to filling City hotel rooms and restaurants, the street race will "change the way the world sees Baltimore," as a result of global media exposure to millions of Indy Racing League (IRL) fans who attend similar events in Monte Carlo, San Paulo, Long Beach, and St. Petersburg. The race will be broadcast on national television to more than 3.5 million domestic viewers. Related media and marketing exposure is valued at an estimated $27.5 million over five years, according to the economic report.

As part of the agreement, Baltimore Racing Development will:

• Share event revenues with the City and pay an annual event fee.
• Comply with the City's Minority/Women Business Enterprise Program (MBE/WBE).
• Spend $12 to $14 million on race preparations, using primarily local businesses and labor.
• Create a 'Community Benefit Fund' of no less than $500 thousand over five years to make grants to community organizations in neighborhoods impacted by the event.

"BRD is deeply committed to Baltimore City. For us, making sure that all City residents, businesses, and communities benefit from this event was a top priority," says Jay Davidson, president of BRD. With the approval of today's agreement, the final sanction agreement between BRD and IRL is expected to be completed in the next two weeks, according to both organizations.

BRD and the City have already begun developing an Event Management Plan to address construction, public safety, traffic, parking, and other community impact issues. The event has already received letters of support from surrounding community associations eager to prepare for the event.

The agreement is an important milestone in making the Baltimore Grand Prix a reality. The event is a three day racing festival with many related events which will be free and open to the public. The race will include several ancillary events including a parade, fireworks, concerts, charity receptions, and celebrity races.

According to the BRD, the next step is for the Indy Racing League (IRL) to sign a sanctioning agreement. That should happen by May 31.

"The Indy Race is a huge event for Baltimore. People travel from around the world to attend and spend money in our hotels, restaurants, and attractions while they are here," says Visit Baltimore President and CEO Tom Noonan. "The national media coverage alone is worth millions of dollars in free advertising for the city that will generate new awareness of Baltimore with convention planners and leisure travelers."

Under the terms of the agreement, the City must modify and improve certain streets and sidewalks and other transportation-related infrastructure to comply the standards of the Indy Racing League.

Funds to improve roadways for the 2011 � 2016 Baltimore Grand Prix will come from two sources: Federal Highway Aid under the Surface Transportation program (STP) and a grant repayment agreement based on the City's share of state Highway User Revenues (HUR). The total estimated cost of improvements is $7.75 million comprised of $5 million STP funds and $2.75 in repayable HUR grants. In accordance with federal and state rules, these funds may only be used transportation-related expenses, and may not be diverted to other City programs.

Source: Baltimore City Mayor's Office
Writer: Walaika Haskins

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has granted the Walters Art Museum $315,000 for a 2 1/2 year project to digitize, catalog and distribute 105 illuminated medieval manuscripts. Representing diverse Byzantine, Greek, Armenian, Ethiopian, Dutch, English and Central European cultures, this project, entitled Parchment to Pixel: Creating a Digital Resource of Medieval Manuscripts, will allow for the digitization of approximately 38,000 pages of ancient text and 3,500 pages of illumination.

"The aim of this project is to allow access to the museum's collections, free of charge, mirroring in the virtual world what the Walters has achieved at our physical location through free admission," says Walters Director Gary Vikan. "This project further fulfills the museum's mission to bring art and people together."

The resulting digital catalog and library of images will conform to internationally accepted standards and will be distributed to diverse audiences through scholarly and public databases worldwide under a Creative Commons 3.0 license.

"This unparalleled access to little-seen treasures will enable close collaborative study of the materials from locations around the world and across disciplines as well as reduce wear and tear on the codices," says Curator of Manuscripts and Rare Books Will Noel. "The NEH has provided another extraordinary opportunity for the Walters to share its resources."

This grant allows the museum to continue its ambitious initiative to create, preserve and make accessible fully cataloged digital surrogates of its manuscripts, an initiative that began in 2008 with an NEH Preservation and Access Grant to digitize its Islamic manuscripts. The museum is digitizing the entire collection of Islamic manuscripts and single pages, which amounts to approximately 53,000 images to be available for public access.

In the western hemisphere, the Walters' holdings of illuminated manuscripts are second in number only to the Morgan Library and Museum and are of a level of quality matched only by the Morgan and a smaller collection at the J. Paul Getty Museum. At the time of his death in 1931, the museum's founder, Henry Walters, left to the city of Baltimore his entire collection of art, including a legendary collection of illuminated medieval manuscripts that is a major national treasure. Between 1895 and 1931, Walters collected around 730 codices. Today, the collection includes some 850 illuminated and illustrated manuscripts and 150 single leaves, ranging in date from the ninth to the 19th century and constituting one of the most significant collections of its kind in the country.


Source: The Walters Art Museum
Writer: Walaika Haskins

For the second year, the Kresge Foundation is offering some $80,000 in grant money for community art programs. The Foundation believes that a thriving arts and cultural community enriches the quality of life for residents, and in doing so, encourages civic dialogue, inspires new thinking, spurs innovation, and promotes neighborhood transformation.

The monies are part of the $200,000 the Foundation will invest in Baltimore In 2009 and 2010 in order to test its premise that community arts projects can effectively address community challenges. The Baltimore Community Foundation (BCF) is the local intermediary and administrator of this program.

According to the BCF, projects must be creative, well-conceived and compelling to be competitive. In 2009, over 130 applications were received; but only 12 grants were awarded with an average grant amount of $7,375.

Grants typically range from $2,500 to as much as $10,000.

Eligibility

• Kresge Arts in Baltimore is open to nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations and municipal agencies or individuals and organizations with a tax-exempt fiscal sponsor.
• Projects must take place in Baltimore City.
• Grant awards are for projects only-- no operating or capital requests will be considered.
• Applicants must include a letter of community or neighborhood support specific to the proposed project.
• Projects must occur between June 1, 2010 and May 31, 2011.
• No applicant can receive more than one grant per year.

Current Kresge grantees are not eligible to apply unless their project is complete and their final report received by the Baltimore Community Foundation before March 31, 2010.

Priority will be given to proposals with the following components:

• Engaging arts and cultural activities, especially those that are designed and implemented with (not for) participants.
• Projects that connect participants to specific and recognizable community issues, for example high school graduation rate, truancy, youth violence, literacy, parenting skills, recycling, litter, obesity, hypertension, job training, neighborhood safety, negative stereotypes, etc. (Lack of exposure to the arts, art as therapy, or in-school art experiences are not eligible for consideration.)
• Projects that provide arts experiences in non-traditional spaces such as in after-school programs, low-income housing developments, juvenile detention facilities, women's shelters, community health centers, and empty storefronts, the temporary use or re-purposing of a space to facilitate arts activities occurring within communities.
• New or expanded projects, rather than on-going initiatives.
• Reasonable and appropriate costs to execute the project�keeping costs for equipment, materials and food to a minimum. Note: Total project budget may exceed Kresge grant range of $2,500 � $10,000 but other cash or in-kind revenue equal to the extra expense must be identified in the application.
• Appropriate oversight and management to ensure a well designed and implemented project.
• Collaborative projects that include other service providers.

A tax exempt IRS determination letter from the applicant organization or fiscal sponsor is required.

A letter of support from a community organization acknowledging the proposed project and its value to the supporting organization and the proposed target audience is required.

Applications will be declined based on the following criteria: not following application guidelines; incomplete application materials; no arts and cultural component; no connection to community issues; no planned resident participation.

Source: Baltimore Community Foundation
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Grace Hartigan, a celebrated Abstract Expressionist painter who served as director of the Hoffberger School of Painting at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) since its inception in 1965, has left more than $1 million in paintings to MICA and Maryland Art Place (MAP).

Hartigan, who died last November at 86, had deep connections to MICA and MAP for many years.
 
"MICA was an integral part of her life for the last 40-plus years," says MICA faculty Rex Stevens, Hartigan's former student, longtime friend, studio assistant and personal representative. "She loved the students and fondly remembered how the school welcomed her with open arms when she arrived in Baltimore from New York during the 1960s. She learned on the job how to develop a give and take of knowledge with the graduate students that benefited both parties.

"Grace had a terrific relationship and friendship with former President Eugene "Bud" Leake and current President Fred Lazarus, and was given a great deal of freedom by both to develop over the years a top rated graduate school of painting. She had appreciated the support and knew the door to their office was always opened for a stimulating conversation."

Hartigan bequeathed a total of 12 oil on linen works made between 1987 and 2004 to MICA for the benefit of students after she could no longer personally mentor them.

"She also realized how hard it is to afford a great education and hoped the paintings would benefit the students through scholarships," Stevens says.

MICA has formed an executive committee to decide how best to maximize the value of the bequest in the spirit of Hartigan's intentions for it, according to MICA President Fred Lazarus.

Source: Rex Stevens, MICA
Writer: Walaika Haskins

Amazon.com announced that it is launching same-day delivery service in seven cities just in time for the upcoming holiday season. 

"Local Express Delivery" will offer customers same-day delivery in Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Las Vegas, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

"Now, if a customer needs a last-minute present for a birthday or wants a copy of their book club book before the weekend starts, they can order from Amazon instead of the hassle of a last-minute trip to the mall," Girish Lakshman, Amazon's vice president of transportation, says.

Thousands of items are now available for Local Express Delivery. Amazon Prime* members pay just $5.99 per item for the service. 

Orders in Baltimore placed before the 10:30 a.m. local cut-off time will be delivered the same day.

"We want to make online shopping as convenient as possible," says Lakshman. "We're continuously working to speed up delivery times and customers receiving items on the same day as ordered is an exciting step."

Amazon has also expanded Saturday Delivery options. Now, items ordered before the cut-off time on Thursday using Two-Day Shipping will be delivered on Saturday instead of Monday. For Prime members, Thursday-to-Saturday delivery is free using Two-Day Shipping. For all other customers, the service is offered at the current Two-Day Shipping rates. Saturday Delivery is also available for orders placed before the cut-off on Fridays for $6.99 per item for Prime members and an additional charge for all other customers.

Source: Girish Lakshman, Amazon.com
Writer: Walaika Haskins

In an effort to boost the profile of Baltimore's screenwriters, The Baltimore Film Office, in conjunction with Morgan State University's Film and Television Writing Program, and Johns Hopkins' Film and Media Studies Program  has launched a search for aspiring film writers for itsfifth annual Baltimore Screenwriters Competition. 

Designed to create awareness of screenplays as a literary art form and to encourage new screenwriters into the entertainment industry the contest offers applicants the opportunity to win prizes including cash and all access passes to the Maryland Film Festival.

Early submission begins Thursday, October 1 through Monday, November 30, 2009 with a $35 application fee. The final deadline is Friday, January 29, 2010 with a $50 application fee.

Writers interested in participating in the contest can submit applications and original feature length screenplays that must be set in or around Baltimore. Materials can be mailed or delivered to the Baltimore Film Office, Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, 7 East Redwood Street, Suite 500, Baltimore, Maryland 21202. The Baltimore Screenwriting Competition is a project of Mayor Sheila Dixon and the Baltimore Film Office at the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts and sponsored by Municipal Employees Credit Union of Baltimore (MECU), Maryland Film Festival, NEXTCAR and Visit Baltimore.

All eligible scripts will receive coverage by local screenwriters. Additionally, film industry professionals will judge final scripts. Participating judges will be announced at a later date. Competition winners will be announced during the Maryland Film Festival on May 6-9, 2010.

To download the 2010 Baltimore Screenwriters Competition application, visit Baltimore Film or call 410-752-8632.

Source: Baltimore Film Office
Writer: Walaika Haskins

In an effort to assist with job retention for members of Baltimore's cultural community, the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts (BOPA) are seeking applications for the new National Endowment for the Arts/Baltimore City Job Retention Grant.

Funded by a $250,000 award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and matched by Mayor Sheila Dixon and the Baltimore City Council, the grant program offers $5,000 to $25,000 to support full-time, part-time or contractual positions in the arts.

Non-profit 501(c)3 cultural organizations serving the Baltimore City community that have not received economic stimulus awards through the Maryland State Arts Council, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation or directly through the NEA are eligible to apply.

Applications or the grants are available at the BOPAwebsite. The deadline for applications is Friday, September 25, 2009.

Writer: Walaika Haskins
Source: Baltimore Office of Promotions and the Arts

RIP Les Paul, inventor of the solid body electric guitar, but a University of Maryland professor thinks he has the goods to be this century's guitar guru.

Bruce Jacob, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at University of Maryland, College Park, says that the new technology used in his so-called coil guitars enables the instruments to produce more sounds than any other guitar currently on store shelves.

Using his background in electrical and computer engineering to develop the guitar, Jacob launched Coil, LLC in 2006. With a list of the sounds he wanted to the guitars to produce, Jacob with the help of five of his students was able to create Coil guitars that according to the company feature an innovative circuitry unlike anything else available.

The guitars are available on the Coil Web site (www.coil-guitars.com) , starting at $999.