Emily Saneski
University of Maryland School of Nursing

“Congratulations, Dr. cutie! You worked so hard to get to this day, and now, after 5 years (and 2 kids!), it’s finally here! I’m so proud of you. Happy graduation! You have a doctorate! Your patients are lucky to have you. Let’s celebrate! Love, Your IT guy and biggest fan.” – Matthew Dudley

Jaela Morris
University of Maryland Baltimore School of Social work.

Young Elder, a 23-year-old emerging social worker, earned her BSW from Coppin State University (‘24) and her MSW from the University of Maryland School of Social Work. She combines her passion for barbering and community healing through “Leadership Through Barbering,” now in its second cohort at Achievement Academy. As a mental health therapist intern at Billie Holiday Elementary and Katherine Johnson, she supports students’ emotional well-being. She currently offers affordable haircuts at Baltimore Unity Hall. Known for leading with EXTRA love, Young Elder is committed to helping Baltimore youth define success on their own terms through purpose and passion.

The post Congratulations Class of 2025 appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

Baltimore Beat is excited to announce the Baltimore Beat Summer Jam Fundraiser, Third Edition. It will be held July 26 at Current Space, a gallery, studio, outdoor performance space, and bar (421 Tyson Street). Click here to buy tickets.

With your support, we’re able to capture the beauty of Baltimore’s neighborhoods, hold city and state officials accountable, shine a light on the city’s vibrant arts scene, and make the overwhelming national news cycle more personal and approachable.

Some of the coverage we’ve recently published: 

Photostory: The Start of Turnstile Summer

After 616 weeks protesting her brother’s death, Tawanda Jones is vindicated by OCME audit

Photostory: Sowebo Arts and Music Festival’s 42nd year

Finding Rapture and Refuge at Leon’s of Baltimore 

Reeta Hubbard: Baltimore basketball stars are rising to the occasion 

“I told him he would come back home”: Wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia presents court with emotional story of immigration, love, hope, and loss 

Have you visited Mama Koko’s? It’s a vibe.

All proceeds from this event go towards Baltimore Beat’s operating costs. Baltimore Beat fundraisers are how we keep news free and accessible for everyone in the city. The more money we raise, the more resources we can invest in covering our community.

Acts to be announced.

Ticket Prices

$25 early bird

$40 regular sale 

$75 super supporter – Get a free The Beat Goes On beer and a branded Baltimore Beat glass. These tickets are limited.

Sponsorship opportunity:

By purchasing a block of 30 tickets for $750, you’ll be listed as a Platinum Sponsor. By purchasing a block of 20 tickets for $500 we’ll list you as a Gold sponsor and contributing $250 will get your 10 tix to the Summer Jam Fundraiser and you will be listed as Silver Sponsor.

You must be 21 and up to attend.

Flyer courtesy Wide Angle Youth Media.

The post Baltimore Beat Summer Jam Fundraiser, Third Edition appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

As Baltimore commemorates the 50th anniversary of Pride, and in the spirit of the enduring declaration “We Will Not Be Erased,” Baltimore Beat is honored to dedicate this Pride issue to the diverse experiences and perspectives of our city’s vibrant LGBTQIA+ community. 

We invited our readers to share their reflections, stories, art, and insights on what Pride means to them this year. Here are some of the pieces we received.

Abby Higgs

Growing up, my family attended First Baptist Church in Richmond, Indiana — brick chapel, hellfire at nine and eleven. The minister, Reverend Moore, was a squat, silver-haired man with horn-rimmed glasses. He hated homosexuals – so much that when he wasn’t decrying “the gay agenda” from the pulpit, he was doing so via megaphone on street corners in his spare time. It was fun for him, I assumed; he clearly loved it. Which meant he hated me. Not that Rev. Moore ever looked in my direction at church – never spared me a glance – but his words settled into me when he preached like dust in the lungs, steadily making it harder for me to breathe in that otherwise calm — too calm — chapel. Eventually, I stopped going altogether.

Until I met another Reverend Moore nearly two decades later. At the Unitarian Church on West Franklin during Baltimore Pride. I’d stopped in to use the restroom, glitter clinging to my sweat-slick arms and legs. “Make sure you’re drinking enough water,” said a voice from the depths of the darkened sanctuary. A middle-aged, silver-haired man stepped into the light, smiling. He wore a nametag on his bright-green shirt — “Reverend Moore” — and carried a megaphone in one hand. “Gotta go tell God’s children how beautiful they are today,” he said, handing me a bottle of water. Then he walked out the front door of the church to the sidewalk, lifted his megaphone, and shouted at everybody and nobody nearby: “I love you and God loves you just the way you are!”

Kenneth Watson, Jr. JD

Growing up, I always felt different — though I didn’t yet have the words for it. My father would watch me, saying, “Look how big your eyes get when you’re paying attention.” And I was always paying attention — to the small shifts, the sideways glances, the words that said I was “sweet” but meant something else. My stutter felt like the fear in my chest, a silence I learned to carry.

Even in a house full of siblings, I felt like an island. I learned to make myself small, to quiet the parts of me that didn’t fit — because back then, safety meant not being seen.

But with time, I learned that those quiet parts of me — the parts I was told to tuck away — are the very pieces that make me whole. My queerness isn’t something to be hidden; it’s the truth of my being. It’s the light that refused to be snuffed out.

My birthday falls at the start of Pride Month, as if the universe itself was saying: you belong here. Today, I live as both that young boy and his protector — honoring his innocence, his grace, his unbroken spirit.

To any little Black boy who feels alone: you are not. You are seen, you are whole, and you are no less of a man because of who you love or who makes you feel safe. Your story matters—and it will not be erased.

Coraline Ismael Karim

From Oranges to Crabs

I moved here from the Sunshine State, from Tampa, a city for tech bros and tax-evading philanthropists, the haven of gentrifiers, if you will, where white and cis faces filled practically every space one enters, and growing up there as a Muslim trans woman taught me the essence of isolation. It was a very rare occurrence to see someone like me, if at all. At times, I felt like I had to dig through concrete with my bare hands just to even see a brown-skinned transgender woman.

And then I moved to Baltimore in January of 2025. I left that place I once called home out of fear of being beaten and removed from society, losing my autonomy in all spaces, once again, because calling me every derivative that their small minds can think of became appropriate once again.

The isolation that clung to my neck for so many years began to wither when I came here. Just down the street from home there’s a Yemeni restaurant full of Muslim faces making the best falafel and not once have they made me feel unwelcomed. They play the same Muslim prayers I grew up with and treat me like I’m their family, like habibti. There are black and brown trans faces everywhere here, and the separation of the self I once felt for twenty-five years of my life is now a passing memory. I am home. That’s what Pride is. It isn’t booths from corporations pretending they ever cared about us or another oil company acting like flaring a rainbow means they want to see my tribe in their spaces — no. Pride is about seeing your people out in public. It’s about laughing with those who call you their own. It’s about home.

Fern Aurelius

My works are homunculi; created from the anguish of expression and the decaying bibliosmia of my collage hoard, bound with non-toxic glue, and a few drops of my own blood. I’ve formed them to provoke the minds of all who view them.

Art is never only about the artist. My pieces are reflections of the niche that I occupy in this world: a tender, complicated space I share with a loving, vibrant, and resilient community.

Rahne Alexander

Pride is a place in time. It’s an emotion; it’s a sin. It’s a bunch of lions; it’s a fucking riot. It’s summer day, as it goeth before the fall. But the feeling, the swelling, that elusive warmth that escapes and perplexes me? The Pride of memes and commodity? Look, I love a quippy racerback as much as the next femme but even the best tanks fade. I have had my share of Prides where I’m too debauched or detached to focus on the fight immediately ahead of me. We all can’t possibly be always already on.  We need our beauty sleep. We need to dream. We need to watch out for each other. Without that, there is no Pride. 

Dani Lopez

This series was made as an ode to my older sibling Pili Lopez and his career practice as a Queer, Colombian tattoo artist at a local queer-owned Baltimore tattoo shop called Fruit Camp. We are both Queer Colombian artists living and working in Baltimore. 

Some of my favorite memories from the previous 2024 Pride celebration were photographing Pili’s partner Santana Sankofa, my sister-in-law, performing at Baltimore Trans Pride. Seeing everyone dance and sing to songs from a loved one was healing. I am looking forward to taking photos at this year’s pride to document the abundance Queer joy in the city.

My-Azia Johnson

Sweating like a Whore at Church (Excerpt 1)

Our story followed the stars, charted by our placements which naturally brought us into this world dirty, wet, and fiery, predestined to leave us winded from committing the most unholy of acts. I’m watching you paint a self portrait, layering colors of depth and dimension. 

Together, we frequently craft our own beauty, sitting intertwined with silence and gratitude, we let each other in, rooting into deeper and deeper depths of enlightenment. The memories from last night, such a blessing. Then you interrupt my daylusting and encourage me to do more than just admire your secret project. I’ve been chosen to gently touch the sprouts and burrow through the dirt of your greenhouse that’s still mucky in thick, fleshy bands of fresh paint. My soul is resurrected with each chance I get to feel you wet and undone like this. Access to any part of you feels spiritual and sacred. 

I always ask what your artistic intent is when you display your work to me. We guide each other to feel where the spirit is moving, and our chapel-worthy artistry fogs out every single thought and window of doubt. We sometimes luxuriously take turns stroking paint-covered brushes made of silicone or bone, other times we’re inspired to move more hastily. I see your hand, and I’m becoming a fanatic for your craft. From above, our bodies present as undulating lines in different shades of brown, embossed with cotton pillows and cold sheets christened with sweat. Art possessed with breath and death.

Everett Patterson

Yasmine Bolden

Baltimore Pride Abcederian 

An ancestry of belonging to anyone but ourselves ends here.
Bends beneath my binder and swells into a syncopated
call and response that begins: all Black trans survival is improvizational jazz. Nearly
dies on my lips while I’m singing with sapphics
entering the Pink Pony Club. Is made a deer in headlights by
faces that can Anansi spider, sliding between boy
girl boy girl. Whatever we do, we know we
have to remember everything. We could be tipsy
indolent after sad twerking to Southern hip-hop or
joaning in a way that’s code for: I love you pink-soft and red-hot. Several
Konas and bisexual cocktails in, we’d still
look for the wide-eyed form of our
most hurting histories. Bless the homegirl whose purse pockets
naloxone, water, and grandma candies. Who
opens her palms, taking her
place on the right hand side of the road, waiting. Who takes being the
queer salt of the earth seriously. Whose
rage could rival God’s. Whose pride holds my
sweaty hand in the hospital where I misgender myself, at
the parade where everyone knows and
understands both of my names: the one I was given and the one I wasn’t allowed to have. Voracious is the only word to describe the
way my ancestors must’ve felt. I know it from the way I’ve got to be capital
X xtra as soon as May and June kiss again.
You can feel a hunger that ripples through my lineage. A
zest wild and horned and all our own.

Glori Mahammitt

Matt Hurd

Pride is finally feeling like you can be yourself after masking a significant part of who you are for a long time. It is a destination that I wasn’t sure I would make it to, honestly. There is often a gap between when you “know” and when you “come out” (for the first time – because I’ve learned it is continuous), and that period of discontent* can be hard. I am just grateful to be here now. Moving to Baltimore and finding the community here was the best thing to ever happen to me. 

I love you, Baltimore 💚

Barbara Perez Marquez

TACITURN

crawled into bed last night
your paced breathing a metronome
my heartbeat attempting to match it
lull myself into unconscious bliss

sleep eludes me and I turn
my hand finds your warm skin
your body existing in stasis
mine grasping at sleep like mist

the night goes on without me
moonlight shows me your silhouette
tracing it to memorize it
mind flooding with images of you

tasting our first kiss
insatiably wanting to domesticate
our bleeding hearts
urgently searching for home

John Graff

Thomas Alice Woronowicz

Peel

I want
The moon’s
Mouth
Inside my
Mouth
My Bodily
Confessions
Blue fucked
Up bangs
I have found myself
Some circular
Accident
The truth
Lies further
From it
Always half
Something
But
Round

Peach

It’s love that’s
The reason I care
What my hair
Looks like

When
I am
Alone

I want to be
My own rock-
Star

Removing
Just enough
To show

The post What Does Pride Mean to You? appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

Celebrate your graduating student in an upcoming print edition of Baltimore Beat. Click here to make a donation, then fill out this form.

Note: All announcements are subject to approval. You are solely responsible for the content of the announcement you post, and agree not to post anything derogatory, hateful, or otherwise inappropriate. By proceeding, you agree that any photos or video posted were shot by you and are owned exclusively by you. You accept all resp onsibility for any copyright infringing materials you may post.

The post Get your graduation announcement in Baltimore Beat! appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

Come to Current Space Garden Bar every other Thursday at 6 p.m. to talk to our writers, learn more about the journalism we do, or suggest story ideas.

“I love the idea of using these gatherings to discuss the work we do with folks face-to-face,” said Editor-in-Chief Lisa Snowden. “This is our chance to connect with readers and give people a chance to learn how community-focused journalism works.”

After the talk, stick around for Garden Hours with JaySwann at 8 p.m. Named Best Dance Party by Baltimore Beat, Garden Hours is a bi-weekly series with JaySwann spinning some of the best deep-cut house, tech, and amapiano you’ve ever heard. Each time, he brings new special guests.

2025 Season:

Thursday, 6/5: Baltimore Beat Arts and Culture Editor Teri Henderson in conversation with DJs Jay Swann and Amy Reid.

Thursday, 6/19: Baltimore Beat Arts and Culture Editor Teri Henderson in conversation with DJ Black Relish.

July–October Dates coming soon!

The post Conversations with The Beat appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

Baltimore Beat partnered with the Baltimore Museum of Art to talk about the 10 years that have passed since Freddie Gray’s death and the unrest that followed. From February 28 until April 4, we stationed ourselves at the museum’s space at Lexington Market to have conversations with anyone who was willing about these very important events, and what they meant to city residents. We didn’t do it alone. Artists and experts like Devin Allen, Ray Kelly of the Citizens Policing Project, and members of the Arch Social Club stopped by, too.

Here are a few of the stories we gathered during our time at the market.

Name: Michael Barnes

Neighborhood: Upton

Where were you when Freddie Gray’s death occurred? Lock-up in Jessup, Md.

What did the Baltimore Uprising change about your neighborhood? To start talking to the city about cleaning up the hood.

How old were you when the Uprising happened, and how were you changed by Freddie Gray’s death and the Uprising? I was 40 at the time and it [caused] me to take a look at the hood and the people in it and…never [take] any of it for granted.

In your opinion, has policing changed in Baltimore since the Baltimore Uprising? Yes it has a whole lot on both levels, positive and negative.

What would you like to see for the future of Baltimore? I would like all the people in our city to get along with each other. Police need to crack down on drug selling and using.

Name: Brandon Hatcher

Neighborhood: Baltimore City

Where were you when Freddie Gray’s death occurred? Baltimore City watching the news on television of this tragedy.

What did the Baltimore Uprising change about your neighborhood? It brought communities and organizations closer together.

How old were you when the Uprising happened, and how were you changed by Freddie Gray’s death and the Uprising? 25, and it showed how life can be taken for granted where we should all do our best to achieve all of our dreams and to never stop believing in yourself.

In your opinion, has policing changed in Baltimore since the Baltimore Uprising? Yes, it has changed tremendously.

What would you like to see for the future of Baltimore? More Uprising [education] events and activities.

Name: Nia Parks

Neighborhood: I lived on Braddish and North Ave.

Where were you when Freddie Gray’s death occurred? I heard about it from my family. I don’t remember my exact location, but I do remember what I felt and the almost immediate silence after I saw it on my phone.

What did the Baltimore Uprising change about your neighborhood? There was more fear. Less people came outside to play or sit on [their] porch for a while.

How old were you when the Uprising happened, and how were you changed by Freddie Gray’s death and the Uprising? I was a senior at Western High School. That was my first time thinking about the system and media to portray a certain viewpoint. I only thought about racism in terms of slavery I thought more about how media is created and how it is essential to understanding who it comes from.

What would you like to see for the future of Baltimore? Reparations — created by ourselves, continually using our voices and creativity to change/reframe the mainstream Baltimore narrative.

Name: Kristan Appel

Neighborhood: Canton

Where were you when Freddie Gray’s death occurred? Home alone and listen to TV and radio and social media.

What did the Baltimore Uprising change about your neighborhood? More diversity in Canton. Efforts to remove vestiges of Captain O’Donnell, slave owner.

How old were you when the Uprising happened, and how were you changed by Freddie Gray’s death and the Uprising? 54 years old. I was elated that so much changed. So many barriers were broken. The police department got a lesson that took centuries to learn.

In your opinion, has policing changed in Baltimore since the Baltimore Uprising? Yes. I am a member of the Police Trial Board. I am seeing lots of change. It will take at least a generation to see major changes, however.

What would you like to see for the future of Baltimore? Equity in jobs, housing, schooling, healthcare. Fewer billionaires buying up our TV stations, newspapers, and office buildings.

Name: Jeremy Collins

Neighborhood: Dorchester

Where were you when Freddie Gray’s death occurred? I was a student at the illustrious Morgan State University.

What did the Baltimore Uprising change about your neighborhood? It shook the campus community. Many of us were already dismayed by Mke Brown and Ferguson, but to witness the brutality in our own city felt even more surreal.

How old were you when the Uprising happened, and how were you changed by Freddie Gray’s death and the Uprising? I was 19 going on 20. It radicalized me for sure. Pushed me into the Green Party when I was disgusted by the response from liberals/Democrats. I ultimately became a militant communist.

In your opinion, has policing changed in Baltimore since the Baltimore Uprising? Donnell Rochester was murdered recently. I’m unsure if I care much about policing when poverty is still an issue in this city. Crime and poverty are a bigger issue than policing. Has that changed im Baltimore? Not to a degree that matters.

What would you like to see for the future of Baltimore? A political revolution that centers people and care. Regardless of someone’s ability to pay or class status. The ghetto should be destroyed. Quality housing should be built. Dignified jobs. Healthcare.

The post Looking Back, Moving Forward: Ten years after the Baltimore Uprising appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

Captain Eric Stacharowski, Baltimore County Fire Department, Dundalk, Station #6

…The bells went off at 1:30, and it said to investigate a “possible cruise ship hit the Key Bridge,” and that’s all they said. We got up. Sounded like nonsense. Sounded completely, you know…we get a lot of calls that don’t necessarily lead to anything. So that’s kind of what I thought it was going to be…

…As we’re pulling up, I remember the driver saying something and the specialist in the back went “Cap, do you see that? Do you see that?” And at that point, I realized everything was dark.

Normally, everything under the bridge was still lit up, as it always was. But as we got closer, everything was dark. And I’m looking. And as my eyes adjusted, that’s when I saw that the bridge was completely down. And that’s when it was like, a wow moment, like just took a second to really comprehend what had happened.

A police officer pulled up and he said that there was a crew on the bridge and when it hit, they weren’t able to get that crew off. So I got on the radio and I gave my transmission basically saying that — and he said a cruise ship as well — I couldn’t see. It was dark. So he said cruise ship, so I said “Cruise ship apparently hit the Key Bridge. There’s an unknown number of workers in the water. But be advised, the Key Bridge is gone.”

And, at that point, dispatch was like, “Repeat.” And I repeated it. Somebody on another unit said something on the radio, and I verified that the Key Bridge was completely collapsed…

…When I got out of the engine, to talk to the police officer, I just remember it being eerily quiet. You didn’t hear anybody yelling. You didn’t hear anybody screaming. So at that point, you kind of, you kind of knew that this was a major, major event…

Scott Ambrose, longshoreman and main character of documentary short, “Echoes from the Key Bridge: A Baltimore Longshoreman”

…I was ordered to the Dali at 7 p.m. I arrived at the Dali, and they were short a foreman that night… We finished our work at 11:00, which is great because I’m used to working at least ‘til midnight, if not 3 a.m. or even later 6 a.m., when I start a 7 p.m. shift. So, you know, I took that as a nice little treat for the day, and I went home… It was a nice night. I had the window open… 

…My cat jumped up on the end table there by the window and was sound asleep and I was just, you know, spacing out, doing my thing, and, you know, next thing you know, it’s almost 1:00 am, and that’s when it happened. 

This roar came in, the house started shimmying a little bit, and, you know, it sounded like….the cat flew off of the end table, flew off, into the air, took off, and I pushed the screen out of the window, put my whole body out, looking out for what this noise….because as fast as it happened, I don’t even know if the cat hit the ground by the time it was down. It was so much sound so fast…

…the best way I can describe the sound is like a giant fork stuck in a giant garbage disposal…it was over as soon as it began…

…I got dressed and walked down to the shoreline. The best way to do that is to walk through Turner Station and even past Turner Station, across Broening Highway. I get close to the shoreline — well it’s all houses over there, there’s really no public access, but that didn’t matter. There was already 30 people standing on the waterfront property of all these people’s homes, so I just joined them. And sure enough, the bridge was in pieces. And there was the Dali, and then, that’s when panic set in. I experienced a panic attack that lasted 48 hours. I didn’t sleep for two days…

…During the salvage operations, and the rescue operations, there was a time in the middle there where it really dried up. I had to go on unemployment for a little while, and I was happy to have it, I was happy to have it as an option…We all went into survival mode, and just did what we had to do…I was waiting in line for food banks some weeks…

…It was this — it wasn’t the World Trade Center, it wasn’t any of these recessions, it wasn’t covid, or anything else I’ve experienced — it was this that really opened my eyes to the fact that nothing is guaranteed…

…I’d like to see something for the victims, definitely, immortalized on that bridge for certain.

The post The Key Bridge Collapse: Oral Histories appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

“Every human being deserves dignity”: Baltimore Activists Fight Against Inhumane ICE Detentions

Detainees at the Baltimore Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office are reportedly being held for a week or longer in an office building never designed for long-term detention, according to immigration attorneys who have spoken with former detainees and their families.

As the number of immigrants being detained has skyrocketed due to the Trump administration’s push for mass arrests, facilities around the country are faced with overcrowding and inhumane conditions. In Baltimore, detainees have been forced to sleep on the floor, denied access to showers, and refused critical medical care, according to immigration advocacy organizations CASA and Amica Center for Immigrants Rights. 

“People are being thrown into cages for prolonged periods and denied basic necessities, including medical care,” Ama S. Frimpong, CASA’s legal director, told Baltimore Beat. “We are hearing from families who say their loved ones were held incommunicado, without access to medication, and forced to sleep on the floor in overcrowded conditions.”

Read more of our reporting online at: baltimorebeat.com/every-human-being-deserves-dignity-baltimore-activists-fight-against-inhumane-ice-detentions/

New York Senator Senator Chuck Schumer Cancels on Baltimore

Just a few days after his controversial decision to vote with Republicans on their budget bill, Chuck Schumer pulled out of a planned visit to the Enoch Pratt Free Library on March 17, where he was to kick off his book tour. 

“Schumer’s decision has been widely criticized as a strategic blunder, with some House Democrats reportedly supporting a primary challenge against him and some senators questioning whether he should remain in leadership,” we reported.

“Before the vote, House Democrats urged Schumer to vote against the bill, writing that the ‘American people sent Democrats to Congress to fight against Republican dysfunction and chaos’ and that the party should not be ‘capitulating to their obstruction.’”

Activists from the Baltimore chapter of the organization Jewish Voice for Peace still held a protest and town hall as originally planned. 

Read more of our reporting online at: baltimorebeat.com/u-s-senator-schumers-baltimore-book-talk-indefinitely-postponed-after-planned-protests/

“Hearing Things” on Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals 

Ahead of the April 4 release of Baltimore producer-rapper duo Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals’s third album, “A City Drowned In God’s Black Tears,” the two got a write-up from worker-owned music and culture platform Hearing Things.

“They’re known for Ennals’s shockingly direct lyrics, which read more like unfiltered and passionate thoughts on everything from racism and overcoming mental illness to rape culture and politics,” writes journalist Dylan Green. “It also helps that Ennals is one of just a handful of modern rappers willing to take a public stand against Israel’s war on Gaza and Palestinians without a shred of cowardice.”

In the piece, the two discuss how they found each other, what they’ve been up to since the 2022 release of “King Cobra,” and their battles with post-tour comedown.

“There’s power and catharsis in naming your demons,” Green writes about the upcoming album. “For all the blood and sweat that went into its creation, God’s Black Tears put love on full display. It tackles calamities and setbacks both personal and grand; from the constant newsfeed of atrocities in Gaza to the Trump administration’s dismantling of marginalized Americans’ rights to eviction notices, mass layoffs, and life-altering illnesses.”

“Malcolm Peacock: a signal, a sprout” opens at Baltimore Museum of Art

“Malcolm Peacock: a signal, a sprout” just opened at the Baltimore Museum of Art as part of their “Turn Again to the Earth” initiative. Peacock is an artist, long-distance runner, and Studio Museum of Harlem resident, based in New York. However, he grew up in Baltimore. “A signal, a sprout” is Peacock’s first solo museum show. It opened on March 19 and will be on view through August 2025. 

The centerpiece of the exhibition is a monumental, eight-foot-tall tree-like sculpture inspired by the redwood forests of the Pacific Northwest. What makes this piece so compelling is its construction: it’s covered in thousands of strands of hand-braided synthetic hair, a process that speaks to both endurance (in running and hair braiding) and care. 

This is actually the second time the artist has shown his work at the BMA. His first time was in 2003 when he was a student at Summit Park Elementary School. A watercolor painting he made was shown as part of “Art is for Everyone,” an annual Baltimore City Public Schools student exhibition.

Unveiling of Zoë Charlton’s “Third Watch” Installation

Zoë Charlton’s “Third Watch,” a multimedia art installation, will illuminate North Avenue beginning March 28 at its public unveiling at North Avenue Market. This installation launches “Inviting Light,” a year-long public art initiative in Baltimore’s Station North Arts District, commissioned by Bloomberg Philanthropies and facilitated by Central Baltimore Partnership. 

The event, hosted by Currency Studio, will feature remarks from Zoë Charlton, artist Derrick Adams, and curator and community coordinator José Ruiz. Attendees can also experience Ada Pinkston’s durational performance, “More than Four Women for Four Hours,” with Black women performers including Ada Pinkston, Noelle Tolbert, Amorous Ebony, Sheila Gaskins, and Tracey Beale (with Konjur Collective) exploring themes of confinement, kinship, and healing. 

Additional programming will be provided by Dreamseeds, a socially engaged artist project focused on creating transformative space for visionary and more just futures, Baltimore Youth Arts, and more! This event is free and open to all. It will be held this Friday, March 28, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at North Avenue Market, 30 W. North Avenue.

The post Around Baltimore: ICE detentions, a new Infinity Knives and Brian Ennals album, and art exhibitions opening soon appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

Brandon Scott talks Trump

At a press conference held on March 5, just a day after President Donald Trump’s joint address, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott told reporters that the time for Democrats to play nice is over.

Congressman Al Green, a member of the House of Representatives from Houston, Texas, was ejected from Trump’s speech after he interrupted it to address Republicans’ plans for drastic cuts to Medicaid. While some Democrats stood and left with Green, Scott said they all should have.

“That should be a message, really, not just to the country but really to the leadership of the Democratic party that the time to play the old game — the status quo and having decorum — that’s over,” Scott said. 

“What’s happening before our very own eyes each and every day is the destruction of American democracy… and every moment that they think that we can fight that with the old way is a moment that the democracy gets turned down even further.”

Lawmakers in the House (including 10 Democrats) censured Green for his actions and, as of press time, Republican members of the House Freedom Caucus said they were considering removing Green from his committees, The Hill reported. Scott pointed out that the lawmaker who interrupted former President Barack Obama’s joint address during his time in office didn’t face the same retribution.

Scott told reporters that he didn’t watch Trump’s speech, which was a sentiment echoed by many Democrats including Maryland Congressman Kweisi Mfume. 

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk are destroying the state of the union. I don’t need to be there to watch him claim otherwise,” Mfume said in a press release.

Speed enforcement and ticketing news

The automated enforcement cameras that have been positioned on I-83 since 2022 will be moved to two new locations. Those locations are Northbound Jones Falls Expressway / I-83 at Smith Avenue and Southbound Jones Falls Expressway / I-83 at W. North Avenue.

Mayor Brandon Scott, along with Baltimore City Department of Transportation (BCDOT) Director Veronica P. McBeth said that the city would begin issuing speed enforcement citations on March 25. The fine for an automated speed citation is $40.

This month the city also began 24-hour parking enforcement. They encouraged city residents to report parking violations to 311 either online or by phone. 

“The 24-hour enforcement plan will help to improve parking compliance, reduce traffic congestion, allow for a better utilization of agency resources, and provide overnight enforcement operations,” city officials said in a press release.

Maryland may soon have a reparations committee

Has the time come to discuss reparations? Some lawmakers think so. Maryland Matters reports that some elected officials in Annapolis feel optimistic about legislation that would allow for the study of how anti-Black racism has affected Black Marylanders historically. 

They say it has less to do with Trump’s assault on initiatives aimed at addressing historic inequality overall (also known as DEI), and more to do with the fact that this is a plan that’s long overdue. 

Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery) is quoted in the piece saying, “We do events all across the state, and one of the themes has always come back from Black Marylanders that it’s past time for Maryland to address the issue of reparations.”

The Eubie Blake Cultural Center announces collaborative media lab with From Baltimore With Love

The Eubie Blake Cultural Center is teaming up with From Baltimore With Love to launch the With Love Creative Incubator, a new collaborative media lab for podcasting and film production. The program will be hosted at the Eubie Blake Cultural Center and aims to foster creativity, empower youth, and support Baltimore’s arts community. 

The With Love Creative Incubator will provide underrepresented youth with access to state-of-the-art podcasting and film production equipment. The program is designed to encourage creativity, bridge the digital skills gap, and give participants hands-on experience in media production. The goal is to empower young people to launch projects, share stories, and explore careers in media.

The Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center offers exhibitions, performances, and educational programs, creating a space for artists and scholars to connect with the community and share their work. FBWL was founded in August 2018 by Brian Dawkins and specializes in content creation, unique apparel, and community engagement initiatives. Through their work, they deliberately cultivate positive outcomes and actively promote our city with love.

For more information contact Derek Price, press@eubieblake.org, call 410-618-3130, or visit www.eubieblake.org. 

The post Around Baltimore: All night long ticketing, a Eubie Blake and From Baltimore With Love collab, reparations, and more appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

On Fridays between February 28th and April 4th, the BMA Lexington Market will host staff from Baltimore Beat and local activists for a story-gathering series to mark 10 years since the death of Freddie Gray and the Baltimore Uprising.

BMA Lexington Market guests are invited to share their stories and recollections through conversations and interviews led by journalists from the Beat. Your stories will be digitally archived and some will be shared in the April issue of the publication.

Schedule

February 28, 1–3 p.m.
Stories of the Uprising
Baltimore Beat staff

March 7, 10–12 p.m.
Police Reform
Baltimore Beat staff, Ray Kelly

March 14, 1–3 p.m.
Knowing the History
Baltimore Beat staff, Arch Social Club

March 21, 10–12 p.m.
Looking Forward
Baltimore Beat staff, Wanda Best

March 28, 1–3 p.m.
Art & Uprising
Baltimore Beat staff, Devin Allen& Black Arts District

April 4, 10–12 p.m.
Collaging the Future
Workshop with Teri Henderson

Location: BMA Lexington Market

BMA Lexington Market is located in the Upper Market near the Baltimore Room at 112 N. Eutaw Street. View a map.

The post Looking Back, Moving Forward: Ten Years after the Baltimore Uprising appeared first on Baltimore Beat.