"Home is Where the HeART Is"
During the month of April the Baltimore City Office of Equity and Civil Rights will hold an arts and literature festival to commemorate the passage of the Fair Housing Act, featuring an outdoor gallery exhibition of student artwork at the Parks and People Foundation (2100 Liberty Heights Avenue; open dawn-dusk daily), as well as the online virtual gallery which features all of the student artwork and will host performances and readings by renowned authors, poets, and musicians. Click on "virtual gallery" to check out the work and to see who has joined the conversation about fair housing, home, and community!
Click here to visit the Virtual Gallery or take the video tour below
Every Friday new performances will be released in the virtual gallery, check it out above!
April 9 | 12 pm
Check out Simone Bee's performance here
Simone Bee embodies what it means to be a multi-talented artist - a soulful singer, songwriter, dancer, designer (to name a few); Simone Bee has a love for all things creative and a passion to connect with people through her gifts.
Simone Bee (Bianca Simone Mitchell) was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio and attended
highschool at Toledo School for the Arts. She studied music, dance and performed in multiple sold out shows, musicals, dance ensembles, choir recitals and competitions. In 2016 she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toledo and after dabbling in sales “ I hated sales. Too much micromanaging and manipulation.”, then working as a substitute teacher/part-time waitress, the emerging artist moved to Washington, D.C. on a mission to fulfill her dreams of becoming a professional recording artist.
Today, Simone Bee has been performing on several stages in the DMV area including the
Fillmore in Silver Spring, Maryland and is cooking up a catalogue of new music! Her debut
single “All Your Love” was released on Nov. 20, 2020 and highlights her sultry voice, old soul
and vibrant aura. Sign up for email newsletter to stay updated on all her upcoming projects!
Check out SHAN Wallace's talk here
SHAN Wallace (b. 1991) is a nomadic award-winning visual artist, photographer, and educator from East Baltimore, MD.
Inspired by the harsh racial, social and economic realities of her surroundings in Baltimore, SHAN learned about the importance of service, the power of collaboration and the effects of social change at an early age. Now, she uses her lens, collage and in situ installations as the basis of her work, demonstrating the cultural and political narratives of black life, confronting oppressive politics and histories within communities of the African diaspora, and challenging ideas surrounding existing collections, culture and archives of Blackness. Much of SHAN Wallace's work is focused on the Archive-- its history of development, challenges of the modern Archive, Archive as Artwork and how to ethically accumulate primary source documents.
SHAN has received recognition from publications like the Baltimore Beat for 'Best Solo Show', the City Paper for 'Best Photographer', and the Association of Health Care Journalists' awarded her '2nd Place - Small Outlet Feature' for her photojournalism piece “Losing Conner’s Mind” in the Atavist Magazine. Her work has received widespread support from publications like The Daily Beast, Essence Magazine, Black Entertainment Television (BET), the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Baltimore City Paper, VICE, Red Bull Amaphiko, The Charlotte Observer and The New York Times.
SHAN's work is in both public and private collections across the US. She has exhibited work internationally in galleries and museums including The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Annenberg Space For Photography in Los Angeles, CA, Elsewhere museum in Greensboro, NC, the New Gallery of Modern Art in Charlotte, NC, the Mariano Arts Center in Havana, Cuba and Maryland’s the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, The Contemporary and Prince George’s African American Museum and Cultural Center.
SHAN lives and works in many spaces between Los Angeles, CA and Baltimore, MD.
Check out Conjunto Bruja's performance here
An all-woman ensemble of cajón, guitar, charango, Irani setar, and ranchera-inspired vocals. Las Brujas explore folk traditions and verses from around Latin America. Their diverse cultural backgrounds influence the "corazón" of their music.
Check out Fearless Dance Empire's performance here
Fearless Dance Empire is a holistic dance program fully committed to teaching the art and discipline of dance, while encouraging all students to strive for their personal excellence.
We believe that all of our students possess the ability to evolve physically, mentally, and emotionally through dance and develop self-esteem, confidence, teamwork, and discipline. We will devote all of our time and energy into ensuring the success and betterment of our students because we see dance as an outlet that allows our students to artistically express their stories.
Our vision is to motivate our dancers to create dreams that transcends into inspirations for the community. We instill our students with the ability to dream so vast that their doubts have no choice but to believe. Here, at Fearless Dance Empire we do not to wait for opportunities, we create our own.
Check out D. Watkins' talk here
D. Watkins is Editor at Large for Salon. His work has been published in the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and other publications. He holds a Master’s in Education from Johns Hopkins University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Baltimore.
He is a college lecturer at the University of Baltimore and founder of the BMORE Writers Project, and has also been the recipient of numerous awards including the BMe Genius Grant, and the Ford’s Men of Courage. Watkins was also a finalist for the Hurston Wright Legacy Award and Books for A Better Life. He has lectured at countless universities, and events, around the world. Watkins has been featured as a guest and commentator on NBC’s Meet the Press, CNN’s The Erin Burnett Show, Democracy Now and NPR’s Monday Morning, among other shows.
Watkins is from and lives in Baltimore. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Beast Side: Living (and Dying) While Black in America and The Cook Up: A Crack Rock Memoir and We Speak for Ourselves: A Word from Forgotten Black America.
Check out Lady Brion's performance here
Lady Brion is an international spoken word artist, poetry coach, activist, organizer, educator and the executive director of the Pennsylvania Avenue Black Arts and Entertainment District. She received her B.A. in Communication and Culture from Howard University and her MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Design from the University of Baltimore. During her slam career she has won the 2016 National Poetry Slam, the 2017/2019 Southern Fried Regional Slam, and the 2019 Rustbelt Regional Slam. She was most recently ranked 3rd in
the Women of the World Poetry Slam in March 2020. In 2018, she published a book and accompanying album called With My Head Unbowed. Lady Brion also serves on the board for DewMore Baltimore and as the Cultural Curator for a grassroots political think-tank called Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle in Baltimore.
See ArtsCentric's performance here
ArtsCentric started with a dream in 2003, when the founders dreamed of creating more performance opportunities for young African-American artists like themselves. What began as a dream slowly morphed into an experiment: a core group of young artists armed with talent and fresh ideas, committed to producing and performing. ArtsCentric forged partnerships and relationships with Baltimore/D.C. area organizations which paved the way for what would become the fiber of ArtsCentric’s mission and model: providing entertainment that is color-conscious, community-oriented, educational and enriching.
Today, ArtsCentric emerges as a 501(c)3 nonprofit theater company. We produce four to five innovative productions of traditional, contemporary and original musicals, plays, and concert works per season. In addition to our main stage productions, ArtsCentric holds two summer institutes for aspiring young artists, and offers arts training courses through ArtsCentric Academy's virtual and in-person classes. Ultimately, ArtsCentric strives to positively impact a broad and diverse audience base, and uphold high standards of quality entertainment, while using the arts to inform, change, and enhance lives, one audience at a time.
Check out Kondwani Fidel's performance here
Kondwani Fidel, has used the power of storytelling to confront education reform and civil rights all over the world. Fidel was honored in the "Best of Baltimore" issue of the Baltimore Sun for his courage, innovative thinking, and leadership in local schools and communities. Fidel is the author of The Antiracist: How to Start the Conversation about Race and Take Action, Hummingbirds in the Trenches and Raw Wounds. He received his BA in English from Virginia State University, and his MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore. Fidel was honored with the Baltimore City 2018 Civil Rights Literary Award, and his bio-film Hummingbirds in The Trenches was nominated for Amazon’s 2019 All Voices Film Festival.
Check out the performance and conversation here
An excerpt from The House That Holds Us curated by Everyman Theatre in partnership with The Baltimore Office of Equity and Civil Rights
"Joann" by Angelica Chéri
Performed by Resident Company Member, Dawn Ursula
In Conversation with Genna Styles Lyas, Education and Engagement Program Manager
The House That Holds Us brought stories from interviews with Baltimore citizens to life through original monologues written by renowned playwrights. Here is Miss Angela Kilson's story. This year, we shared the dynamic performance of Miss Kilson's story and then had the opportunity to hear from Miss Kilson herself. Join us for a community conversation centered on the personal journey of one woman's reckoning with housing in Baltimore City.
Everyman Theatre is a professional theatre celebrating the actor, with a Resident Company of artists from the Baltimore/Washington, DC area. The theatre is dedicated to engaging the audience through a shared experience between actor and audience seeking connection and emotional truth in performance.
The Office of Equity and Civil Rights is a city agency devoted to advancing equity and upholding the federal and local civil rights laws, the local living and prevailing wage laws ensuring access and equal opportunities for persons with disabilities, and providing oversight of local law enforcement. The mission of the Office of Equity and Civil Rights is to carry out activities to eliminate inequity, inequality, and discrimination.
The Office of Equity and Civil Rights consists of the Civilian Review Board, the Community Relations Commission, the Mayor's Commission on Disabilities, the Equity Office and the Wage Commission.
The Community Relations Commission investigates complaints of housing discrimination under Article 4 of the Baltimore City Code.
Learn more about your right to live free from housing discrimination and find several helpful resources on our website
There are several ways you can file a complaint with the Baltimore City Community Relations Commission
File a complaint online
Call us at 410-396-3143
or email CRCintake@baltimorecity.gov
The mission of the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) is to eliminate housing discrimination, promote economic opportunity, and achieve diverse, inclusive communities by leading the nation in the enforcement, administration, development, and public understanding of federal fair housing policies and laws.
Heritage areas are regions where historic structures, landscapes, cultural traditions, and other resources (such as parks and museums) work together to tell patterns of history unique to the location.
The Baltimore National Heritage Area (BNHA) is one of 13 certified heritage areas in Maryland and one of 55 Congressionally designated national heritage areas across the country.
BNHA works to accomplish its mission through a variety of products and programs, including hosting guided walking tours, developing new heritage tourism products, and providing grants that encourage tourism and historic preservation.
The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) is a standalone 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that serves as the arts council, events producer and film office for the City of Baltimore. In addition to organizing almost every fun, free city-wide event, BOPA uplifts Baltimore’s creative community through funding and support to artists, arts programs and organizations across the City. BOPA is the primary advocate for the arts within the City of Baltimore, and BOPA’s annual economic impact for special events and festivals is $111.1 million.
Hot Sauce Artists Collective is an artist-run organization. Our mission is to give opportunities to emerging and establish artists by showing their artwork in untraditional gallery spaces. We bring the gallery environment to parking lots, city parks, trails, and what not so artists, community and art can be together in a positive and inspiring environment.
The Maryland Center for History and Culture (MCHC) collects, preserves, and interprets the history, art, and culture of Maryland. Originally founded as the Maryland Historical Society in 1844, MCHC inspires critical thinking, creativity, and community by exploring multiple perspectives and sharing national stories through the lens of Maryland. Your history lives here.
The MCHC serves as a leading center of Maryland history education for people of all ages. For students and teachers, our education programming includes onsite museum field trips, Traveling Trunks, Virtual Field Trips, and professional development workshops. For adults, we host lectures, tours, workshops, and Virtual Field Trips to inspire lifelong learning and spark curiosity in history.
With a mission to unite Baltimore through parks. Parks & People Foundation (Parks & People) believes that everyone, particularly every child, deserves a park as ‘their place’ to learn, play, grow and enjoy.
Since 1984, Parks & People has been at the forefront of environmental community development and out-of-school time programming. We create and revitalize parks within a 10-minute walk of residents who lack access to quality green space and offer out-of-school time programs that encourage healthy lifestyles, academic success and an appreciation for the natural environment in youth
As a creative team, Pocholo and Ilhan come together as individuals with complementary work ethics and ambitions. Collaborating on various projects from college film sets to professional jobs, the pair have developed a unique creative style. Combining Ilhan’s resourcefulness and attention to detail with Pocholo’s versatility and technical proficiency, this team has identified its strengths and created a blossoming partnership.
Landscape design, landscape construction, environmental education and consultation
Specializing in storm water solutions and green infrastructure construction
Cultivating a reputation for creating meditative spaces out of previously problematic places
The approach to each project is rooted in understanding the existing conditions of a site and adapting a layout or design to enhance the space with nature based solutions. We keep what is working and enhance the rest. The goal is to create landscapes that remind us (and the birds, bees and butterflies) of nature's allure with texture, color and smells. Re-introducing nature to clients as a big picture problem solver is a sheer joy.
Nuestras Raices Inc, is a 501 C-3 nonprofit Hispanic/Latino community based cultural organization, founded by Angelo Solera in Baltimore City on February 19, 2019
Our mission
Contribute to the education preservation and promotion of the richness and diversity of the Hispanic/Latino culture, art, and heritage throughout the Baltimore Metropolitan Region.
“The work that provided the basis for this event was supported by a grant from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The substance and findings of the work are dedicated to the public. The author and publisher are solely responsible for the accuracy of the statements and interpretations documented. Such interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views of the federal government.”
