Arts and culture : Development News

Cirque du Soleil will be hiring 150 to 200 folks in Baltimore to help it put on its latest show, "Totem."

Jobs will include ushers, box office attendants, technicians, and supervisors prior to its April 7 debut in Baltimore at the Westport waterfront development, says Alyson Ling, Cirque's ticketing and customer service manager.  

It will take a lot of people to support the 17-day show. It takes 80 people to raise the big top, or Grand Chapiteau, and between seven and 10 days to set up the site. It takes another two-and-a-half days to tear down the 66-foot high tent, Ling says.

It's the fifth time the Montreal-based circus has come to Baltimore. It's last show, "Kooza," sold 60,000 tickets in 2009.
"Totem" traces the journey of the human species from its original amphibian state to its ultimate desire to fly. Baltimore is one of the first cities to host Cirque's newest touring production. "Totem" has played in Montreal, Quebec City, Amsterdam and London. It is currently running in Charlotte.

So how did Cirque choose developer Patrick Turner's Westport development � a $1.2 billion project that will include homes, offices and restaurants at a former industrial site? Its previous Baltimore shows have landed at Harbor East and near M&T Bank Stadium.

Ling says parking, the size of the site, public access and cost all factor into Cirque's decision when selecting a location.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Alyson Ling, Cirque du Soleil

The Maryland Institute College of Art wants residents to ask the question: Is Baltimore a place where they feel like they belong, or do bad public transportation and privatization of public space impede opportunities?

The Bolton Hill college has assembled a group of scholars, artists, and activists to host a series of art installations and lectures April1-May 15. The series, called "Baltimore: Open City," was planned to coincide with National Fair Housing Month. The events include a film series, author readings and an off-the-beaten-path tour of Baltimore.

Tourists, students and some Baltimore residents live in their respective "bubbles," says MICA Art History Professor Daniel D'Oca. He, along with MICA students enrolled in an exhibition development class at the college, organized the events.

Restrictive covenants have made it possible for developers to build walls around certain neighborhoods, D'Oca says. MICA officials hope event attendees walk away with ideas on how to create a more open city.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Daniel D'Oca, MICA

The Baltimore Museum of Art is now one step closer to beginning its $24 million capital renovation, the largest in its history.

The museum has narrowed its list of potential architectural firms for the project to five, spokesman Anne Mannix says. The museum received 11 requests for qualifications. It will now issue a request for proposal for the five firms, who will submit bids by early March.

After interviewing the firms and getting cost proposals, the BMA will select a firm by early May.

The firms on the shortlist are Ayers Saint Gross, Design Collective, Inc., GWWO, Inc./Architects, RTKL Associates Inc. and Ziger/Snead Architects LLP. All are based in Baltimore. Last month, the BMA appointed an architect selection committee comprised of Trustees and voted unanimously to award the project to an architect headquartered in Maryland.

The three-year capital renovation will enhance the galleries holding contemporary, American, and African art. It will also involve major infrastructure improvements, including two new roofs. Visitors will see the changes with an upgraded entrance, a new BMA shop, welcome desk, and coat check room.

The project will be funded in part by a $10 million multiyear commitment from the state and $2.5 million in bonds from Baltimore City.

Writer:Julekha Dash
Source: Anne Mannix, BMA

The Baltimore Museum of Art is looking for an architect to redesign its African and American art galleries as part of a $24 million, three-year renovation.

The museum issued a request for qualifications for architectural firms who want to be considered for the project. The BMA will select the winning proposal in April.

The selected firm will work with two different architectural styles. The work will include renovating the lobby, built in 1982, and the American wing, designed by John Russell Pope in 1929, BMA spokeswoman Anne Mannix says.

"I think I will be an interesting challenge."

 The renovation will also involve:
• Installing better lighting;
• Upgrading the visitor entrance, BMA shop, welcome desk, and coat check room;
• Revamping the work spaces and improving access to storage areas; and,
• Replacing the building automation system and other infrastructure improvements.

The BMA's $24 million capital renovation will be completed in 2014, the museum's 100th anniversary. It is the largest renovation in the museum's history.

Museum leaders will choose between four to six firms by late January for its shortlist. Technical proposals will be due in late February and interviews with finalists will be conducted in March.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Anne Mannix, Baltimore Museum of Art

The Baltimore Museum of Art will close its contemporary wing Jan. 16 to prepare for its three-year, $24 million capital renovation.

Fans of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and other modern artists will have to wait until spring 2012 to see the masterpieces again.

When it reopens, the West Wing for Contemporary Art will include a greater variety of media, from prints and photography to video.

The contemporary wing's rotunda will host exhibitions from an artist commissioned by the museum, BMA spokeswoman Anne Mannix says. A black box media gallery will showcase film, video, and digital art. Contemporary prints, drawings, and photos will be displayed in a dedicated gallery.

Baltimore's Marshall Craft Associates will complete the renovations to the contemporary wing. New York's Renfro Design Group, which has worked for the Morgan Library & Museum in New York and Grand Central Station Terminal, is designing the new lighting system.

The BMA's capital renovation will be completed in 2014, the museum's 100th anniversary. The renovation will include upgrades to visitor amenities, infrastructure improvements, and better displays of the museum's 90,000 works of art.

The project will be funded in part by a $10 million multi-year commitment from the state and $2.5 million in bonds from Baltimore City.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Anne Mannix, Baltimore Museum of Art

An experimental theater in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District is on the hunt for a new stage.

The three-year old Baltimore Annex Theater is looking at spaces on the west side and downtown as its lease at 419 E. Oliver St. ends Jan. 1, says company member Rick Gerriets. Theater members are looking at the H&H building on the city's west side as a possible location as they seek a space of around 5,000 square feet, the size of the current location.

The theater troupe is looking for programs and grants that can help pay for the move. These include Healthy Neighborhoods, a nonprofit that supports initiatives that help strengthen Baltimore neighborhoods, and Downtown Partnership of Baltimore's initiative to provide grants to artists and businesses to fill vacant storefronts.

Unlike some other theater groups in town, the Baltimore Annex Theater has taken its show on the road. The theater troupe recently completed a six-week tour visiting 35 cities, including Detroit, Santa Fe, Houston and Nashville. Actors were performing "A Fistful of Flowers," a play by Evan Moritz about two modern-day cowboys who are ex lovers that chase each other around the desert trying to kill each other.

The theater got its start when five college classmates from James Madison University and the University of Virginia moved to Baltimore. The Baltimore City Paper named Moritz best director in its annual Best of Baltimore issue this year.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Rick Gerriets, Baltimore Annex Theater

After being shuttered for four months, the Senator Theatre will reopen Oct. 15 as the new operators plan a yearlong, $2 million renovation of the historic cinema in North Baltimore.

James and Kathleen Cusack, the owners of the Charles Theatre, will add a new restaurant, bar, and second screen to the Senator. Quyam Karzai, owner of b and Charles Theatre neighbor Tapas Teatro, will run the bar and small-plate restaurant. The 3,000-square-foot restaurant will seat 75.

The Cusacks took over the theater's lease in August after successfully submitting a bid to the city on redevelopment plans for the property. Baltimore City has owned the 71-year-old theater since last year, after paying $810,000 to keep the financially beleaguered business from going into foreclosure. The Senator was formerly owned by Tom Kiefaber and had been a family-run theater since its inception.

The new theater operators want to "return it to its glory days with 21st century amenities," says Clare Miller, a spokeswoman for the Cusacks.

The Cusacks' renovation includes replacing the seats, wall coverings, curtains, and painting the ceilings. They also plan to upgrade the electric systems, sprinklers, and roof. The theater will remain open during construction.

The Senator is located next to the Belvedere Square shopping center, whose tenants include furniture store Nouveau Contemporary Goods, wine bar Grand Cru and Daedalus Books and Music. Miller says the Cusacks want to invest in the "vibrant" Belvedere Square neighborhood because it's a "destination" attraction.

The Senator will show the movie "Red" starring Helen Mirren and Bruce Willis on opening day.
 
Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Clare Miller, Senator

Maryland Art Place is moving its office and gallery from Power Plant Live to Baltimore's west side as the nonprofit hopes to be an arts anchor for the neighborhood.

MAP has owned the 20,000-square-foot building at 218 W. Saratoga St. since 1988, but it has been renting out the space to other nonprofit tenants. Some of those will remain when MAP moves in January to the five-story building.

Eventually, leaders at the nonprofit would like to use the entire space for community arts projects, MAP Executive Director Cathy Byrd says. This could include artist studios, a dance studio and a small movie theater. To do that would take several years and require a thorough renovation of the building costing in the neighborhood of around $1.5 million, Byrd says.

The nonprofit is now applying for grants and planning a series of fundraisers to raise money for that effort. MAP plans to hold its fall fundraiser, Pop-Up Gala, Nov. 12 in the Saratoga St. building.

Byrd says the organization wanted to take part in what it sees as a burgeoning arts district on the west side. The area is home to the Hippodrome theater, the artist warehouse known as the H&H building, and Current Space art gallery, which recently moved to Howard St.

Next year, it will be home to Everyman Theatre once it moves from its Charles Street spot in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District.

The basement of the MAP building on Saratoga St. currently houses underground performance art series 14Karat Cabaret.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Cathy Byrd, Maryland Art Place

The Legg Mason building in Harbor East is home to the namesake financial behemoth, the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and a flurry of new retailers.

A contemporary art gallery will join the glass-encased 24-story building Sept. 6.

Clark Priftis Art will open a 2,400-square-foot gallery in a location that owner Ann Priftis hopes will give her access to the well-heeled residents, tourists and office workers in that part of town.

"It's an ideal location in terms of accessibility for tourists and residents," Priftis says.

With floor-to-ceiling windows, the gallery's pie-shaped space is located at the Harbor East traffic circle. That spot will hopefully get great visibility from pedestrians and drivers.

An art dealer and appraiser who has worked in New York, Priftis has been scouting Baltimore for years to find the perfect spot. Several years ago, she was close to opening an art gallery on the city's west side. But those plans fell through when the cost turned out higher than original estimates and she and her former business partner had different visions.

Priftis has long been interested in Harbor East, but when she approached the developers several years ago, the rent was out of her range.

She declined to say how much she is paying for her space in Harbor East. But in general, retail rents throughout Baltimore have come down as much as 30 percent from their highs in 2006 and many developers are offering a variety of incentives to lure tenants.

Priftis has signed a six-month lease with the option to extend her stay if things go well.

The gallery will feature modern painting, sculpture and photography.

"We're trying to bring high quality art from various parts of the world," she says.

The gallery will be open Tuesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. and from noon until 5 p.m. on Sundays.

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Ann Priftis, Clark Priftis Art

The University of Maryland Baltimore County has broken ground on a $170 million  performing arts and humanities building that will be the Catonsville school's largest building to date.

"We have vibrant arts and humanities [programs] here that don't have as high a visibility as science and engineering," UMBC spokesman Thomas Moore says.

"We're hoping this will provide an opportunity for people to get to know us better."

Known for its computer science and engineering programs, UMBC officials hope that the building will boost its reputation in these fields and get more locals involved with the school by showcasing performances and lectures.

The 167,000 square foot building will open in two phases. The first phase, the department of theater and English, will open in 2012.  It will also include the Dresher Center for the Humanities, which will host public lectures and events. The second phase, which houses the department of dance, music, philosophy and ancient studies, will open in 2016.

"We're confident that every student who begins here will end up taking classes in this building," Moore says. "It's a building that will touch of the lives of every student."

The bulk of the building's funding will come from the state's capital budget.

UMBC officials hope the Catonsville location will make it convenient for people from other areas to catch a performance or talk at the new building. The campus is close to Interstates 95 and 695 and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Boston's William Rawn Associates Inc. and Grimm + Parker Architects of Calverton designed the building. William Rawn's other projects include the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's Music Center at Strathmore and Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood.

Moore says the stainless steel and brick structure at 1000 Hilltop Circle will have a reflective quality that will display different hues at different times of the day.

"We hope it will be a very beautiful-looking building when it's done."

Source: Thomas Moore, UMBC
Writer: Julekha Dash

The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is opening a community arts center in East Baltimore that will expand its graduate programs and hopefully boost its relationship with the community.

The school is spending $1.2 million to renovate the 24,000-square-foot building at 814 N. Collington Avenue, funding for which came from the Rouse Co. Foundation, the Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation and an anonymous trustee. MICA expects the center, the former St. Wenceslaus School, to open mid-September.

Called MICA Place, the space will host graduate courses in community arts and social design and community meetings. It will also contain art studios, a computer laboratory, exhibition space and graduate apartments.

The center will allow students to use their art in a way that engages the community, says Ray Allen vice president of academic affairs and provost.

For instance, students pursuing a Master's in Community Arts might work with youth in East Baltimore to learn photography and use the art as a medium for reflecting on the issues facing the neighborhood, Allen says.

"I had it in my head that art and design could be put at the service of increasing the quality of life in the community," Allen says. "We can engage the community is a much richer way."

MICA has had a stake in East Baltimore for a decade, as part of a collaboration called the MICA/JHU Design coalition. Johns Hopkins University researchers tap the design expertise of MICA students to create graphics to deliver public health messages.

MICA is leasing the building from nonprofit East Baltimore Development Inc., the nonprofit that oversees the massive biotechnology park and residential development near Johns Hopkins Hospital.

"It's a wonderful building in East Baltimore," Allen says. "It will be a great place where people in the community can brought in."

Having a physical presence in the community will give MICA visibility and credibility, Allen hopes.

"This will give us community trust, that we're not some elitist outside organization visiting," he says.  "At the end of the day, education is our mission. Art is our vehicle for doing it."

Read more of Bmore's education coverage.

Source: Ray Allen, Maryland Institute College of Art
Writer: Julekha Dash

An artist-run gallery has moved into new space on the city's west side. Current Space opened its doors to the public at 421 N. Howard Street this month after nearly six years at 30 S. Calvert Street.

The new spot is conveniently located near the Light Rail, and restaurants in Mount Vernon, Current Co-director Monique Crabb says. "Downtown closed down at night. It's nice to be in an area where there's an audience around us."

It's also close to the Enoch Pratt Library and the artist warehouse the H&H building, the site of many art shows and music events.

"We're really excited about the location," Crabb says.

Current artists pay just utilities and property taxes �  about $6,000 a year � and is getting the space free of rent from the city. Downtown Partnership of Baltimore Inc. and the Baltimore Development Corporation helped the artists find the new space. The move highlights how the city is encouraging artists to move into areas with vacant buildings with the hopes that it will jumpstart development.

Eventually, the artists will have to move if a developer takes an interest in the area. "It's a win-win situation except we will be asked to leave," Crabb says.

Right now, the artists expect to stay in the space for at least a year and a half.

The gallery displays the work of photographers, printmakers and videographers whose work is not very commercial. Most of the work is not sellable, because the work includes videos and major installations.

"We don't target the audience looking to buy art work," Crabb says. "We wish we sold more stuff and make more money. It's more about including the artists' community but not so much in a commercial way."

Source: Monique Crabb, Current Space
Writer: Julekha Dash

Leaders at the Maryland Women's Heritage Center are scouting locations in Baltimore and Annapolis for a permanent home for its exhibits that highlight the Free State's leading ladies. The site pays homage to accomplished Maryland women in a Hall of Fame display. Featured women include biotech pioneer Claire Fraser-Liggett, Harriet Tubman, environmentalist and "Silent Spring" author Rachel Carson and jazz great Billie Holiday.

Center leaders expect to open a 25,000-square-foot center within two years, and need to raise $5 million to open a permanent building, Executive Director Jill Moss Greenberg says.  

The center opens its temporary home June 19 at 39 W. Lexington St. Located in the former Baltimore Gas & Electric Building, the initial space was donated by David Hillman, CEO of Southern Management Corporation. Greenberg says the board is looking at half a dozen sites in downtown Baltimore and is zeroing in on Baltimore and Annapolis with the hope that the locales can attract conference attendees and students on school trips.

The permanent location will host more interactive exhibits, a library, women's history archive, arts and crafts display, meeting space and gift shop with books and gifts made by Maryland women.

Center officials will launch a capital campaign this year."I know it's terrible timing because of the economy but we're at the point where we need to do so," she says.

The center has an operating budget of about $100,000 and gets its funding from the state, corporations, foundations and individuals. Entrance is free.


The Maryland Women's Heritage Center is an offshoot of the Maryland Women's History Project, collaboration between the Maryland Commission for Women and the Maryland State Department of Education.


Source: Jill Moss Greenberg, Maryland Women's Heritage Center
Writer: Julekha Dash

All the world's a stage for residents of Baltimore's Hamilton neighborhood. So, it may be no surprise that after 15 years in Federal Hill, Performance Theatre Workshop is moving to 5426 Harford Road in July.

Productions at the new space will begin Fall 2011, after theater staff have raised the $500,000 needed to purchase and refurbish the former Provident Bank building,  Marlyn Robinson, one of the company's artistic director says.

Leaders at the nonprofit will begin a capital campaign in the near future, raising money from individuals and foundations so they can move into the historic building, which dates to 1928. Baltimore architects Ziger/Snead LLC -- who have worked with MICA and Centerstage -- will design and restore the building.

The new space will give Performance Theatre 80 seats, versus 30 at its spot at 28 E. Ostend Street, near Cross Street Market. "We needed to serve more people," since at times, the theater was at capacity, Robinson says. The spot also offers ample parking and access for the disabled, something that was lacking in its Federal Hill space.

Robinson expects that the area's young families and throngs of artists will be interested in the theater's productions.
"It's an area that very much wants to develop and grow," Robinson says. "We think that is a welcoming and interested neighborhood."

Two neighborhood associations invited the theater troupe to move to the area, Marc Horwitz, also an artistic director for the company, says.

The Hamilton and nearby Lauraville neighborhoods have attracted a host of new restaurants and cafes in recent years, including Clementine, Hamilton Tavern and Red Canoe Bookstore Caf�.

Originally based in Pennsylvania, Performance Theatre Workshop has a strong educational mission and hosts workshops and post-theater discussions. Theater officials hope to help train Hamilton high school students. "I'd like the theater to grow into a magnet for the schools and receive training from professionals," Horwitz says.

The troupe's most recent production was the "Puppetmaster of Lodz," a play about a Holocaust survivor that the theater runs every seven years. Next season, it plans to hold its plays in various performance spots throughout the city until its new Hamilton space is ready.

Wanna know more? Read more about the area's Arts and Culture scene.

Sources: Marc Horwitz, Marlyn Robinson, Performance Theatre Workshop
Writer: Julekha Dash

When Daniel Cherky and Errez Segman bought the building in the 1100 block of West Baltimore Street, the idea was to renovate it and sell it. When the economy took a nose a dive, however, Cherky says their plans changed and Back Alley Jazz was born.

"I figured that I would do something to help the neighborhood. We want to make [this part of] Baltimore live again and bring a little bit of the feel of New Orleans to the city," he explains.

Familiar with Baltimore's illustrious musical history, Cherky and Segman decided to do something to help restore the city's reputation as a major player in the world of jazz.

"I said let's create something like back in the '20s because Baltimore used to be a real swinging place," Cherky says.

Just a few blocks west of University of Maryland's Biopark, Cherky says the neighborhood needs some help. "I have done a lot of the work on the building myself and in the beginning I would put my tools down [and go do something in another part of the building]. Five minutes later, the tools would be gone and ten minutes after that someone would be there selling me back my own tools," he laughingly recalls.

So far, the pair have spent more than $400,000 rehabbing the building, painting the facade, adding a rooftop deck and creating three floors were jazz lovers will enjoy national, regional and local jazz artists as well as amateur acts.

With the backing of the the city, which changed the name of the alley next to the building to Back Alley Jazz, Cherky says the upscale club will take visitors back to the days when speakeasys were the place to be. The clubs entrance will be located at the back of the building that is adjacent to Hollins Street Market. Valets will park guests' cars while security guards will ensure that both remain safe.

The staff will be dressed in 1920's era-style clothing. In addition to a variety of cocktails, the club will offer a light menu of New Orleans-style cuisine that will also include an homage to its Maryland location with some local favorites.

Back Alley Jazz will open around the end of April or beginning of May. The hope, says Segman is that the club will attract guests from Virginia, DC and the Greater Baltimore area. According to Cherky, eventually, the club will host a variety of street festivals on its parking lot.

Sources: Daniel Cherky and Errez Segman, Back Alley Jazz
Writer: Walaika Haskins