From the coastal delights of sea-faring Annapolis to the densely forested mountains beyond Frederick, Maryland’s diverse landscape resonates with its wealth of cultural offerings. As a destination, this jewel of the Eastern Seaboard is ever ready to engage visitors with a satisfying mixture of human interest, historical insight and captivating intrigue.
Baltimore
Celebrated for its history- and culture-spanning collections, including more Matisse than anywhere else in the world, the Baltimore Museum of Art continues to delight visitors with every aspect of the museum experience.
Completed in 2015, the venue’s $28 million renovation updated several galleries, redesigned the East Lobby, and reopened the building’s original entrance in all its historic grandeur.
Imagining Home, the inaugural exhibition for the Patricia and Mark Joseph Education Center, brings together several works from the museum’s collection in an intriguing examination of how the places we live inform our identity.
The dapper gallery space opens into the Joseph Education Center, a series of multifunction rooms that add to the venue’s existing options for meeting and event spaces. General admission and many of the museum’s events are free of charge.
“The response has been very positive,” said Gamynne Guillotte, director of interpretation and public engagement for the BMA. “Visitors are pleased to see the return of the much-beloved Cheney Miniature Rooms and are enjoying seeing the breadth of the BMA’s holdings at a glance.”
“They are even becoming a part of the show through digital visitor response activities that enliven the exhibition space,” Guillotte said. Imagining Home runs through July 2018.
In spring 2016, Baltimore added Light City to its already burgeoning repertoire of free city festivals, including July’s Artscape and September’s Book Festival. America’s much-anticipated premiere festival of lights lit up the city with immersive, interactive exhibits created by multimedia artists from all over the world. Though centered at the Inner Harbor, the Neighborhood Lights program set up installations throughout the city. Specialized mobile apps helped festivalgoers get the most out of the experience.
“It was amazing,” said Kathy Hornig, festival director for BOPA, the Baltimore Office of Promotion of the Arts. “For a first year event, essentially a start up, with limited timeline planning runway and budget, it turned out even better than I thought it would.”
“Whenever you throw a party, it’s nerve wracking to wonder if people are going to come, but it was as crowded on Monday as I’d expected it to be on Saturday,” Hornig said. “Every night from there, the crowds just grew. By Saturday night, I hadn’t seen downtown that crowded since the Raven’s Super Bowl parade.”
During the day, four innovation conferences highlighted leaders from multiple industries to examine the question: “How do we become a more responsible and equitable society?”
“The daytime programming sold out,” said Amy Calvert, senior vice president of convention sales and service. “We brought in our customer advisory board for Light City and took them to the conferences. It was a fantastic opportunity to showcase our destination to this core group of constituents. Not only did we do that, but a lot of the corporations that invested in the festival used the opportunity to build community within their respective organizations and showcase the city as the great place we know it is.”
Light City 2017 will take place from March 31st through Saturday, April 8th.
Annapolis
A visit to Maryland’s capital is a cultural event unto itself. Brimming with centuries of American history, authentic experiences can be found simply treading the same brick sidewalks as our nation’s founders, breathing in the wealth of atmosphere in this scenic maritime destination.
More than just a pretty waterfront, Annapolis prides itself on always having something different to offer. Whether it’s the fancy-dress croquet showdown between St. John’s College and the US Naval Academy; the new Annapolis Shakespeare Company performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the gardens of colonial Carroll House; or a “Last Saturday Open Studio” event at Gallery 3976, there’s truly an opportunity for every sensibility—and every return visit.
The Annapolis Design District, home to a range of arts-related professionals from interior designers to cabinetmakers, has been gradually moving into the public eye. Last year the up-and-coming community orchestrated the inaugural Art in Action Annapolis Design District Street Festival, opening events by unveiling five building-sized murals created by artists from Brazil.
On the other side of the Spa Creek Bridge, the Maritime Republic of Eastport offers its own distinctive brand of quirk; civic tradition is no exception. To herald spring, there’s an oyster roast and sock burning event at the Annapolis Maritime Museum. In the fall, there’s a tug of war between Eastport and Annapolis using a 1,700 rope purported to be the longest tug-of-war rope in the world.
The less athletically ambitious may want to attempt Eastport’s .05K Bridge Run, the “least challenging athletic event ever conceived” according to Runner’s World magazine in 2005.
“It’s an extreme sports event,” quipped Susan Seifried, vice president of communications for Visit Annapolis. “A grueling test of mental and physical toughness. Some competitors have taken as long as five minutes to complete the course.”
The City of Annapolis’s Art in Public Places Commissions recently released a 60-page catalogue and self-tour guide inviting visitors to explore public art in and around the destination. Booklets are available at the 26 West Street Visitors Center.
First Folio, arguably one of the most historically significant publications in the world as it was the first to collect Shakespeare’s plays, will be on display at the Mitchell Gallery at St. John’s College from Nov. 1 to Dec. 4 2016. The Annapolis Shakespeare Company will offer performances, workshops and other public events for the duration of the exhibit.
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Frederick
Nestled in the foothills of verdant Catoctin Mountain Park, the crossroads community of Frederick offers visitors an enticing blend of history, small town atmosphere, and a thriving commitment to the arts. Designated as an Arts and Entertainment district by the state, the city prides itself on a wealth of varied and evolving offerings.
“Frederick has had a strong arts community for a long time,” said Melissa Joseph Muntz, marketing and communications coordinator for Visit Frederick. “The community here is very engaged in the scene.”
Visitors seeking an authentic Frederick experience won’t want to miss Carroll Creek Park, in many ways the destination’s cultural hub. Along the creek, shops and eateries are interspersed with gardens and public art. During the warmer months, live music from the Carroll Creek amphitheater provides ambiance to spare.
Of special note is Community Bridge. Originally a utilitarian concrete bridge at the heart of the city, muralist William M. Cochran transformed it with a variety of hand painted trompe L’oeil techniques to give the appearance of old world stonework. Several features of the bridge only reveal themselves upon closer inspection, such as symbols elected by Frederick citizens to depict the spirit of community painted into the mural as photorealistic stone carvings. An anamorphic projection, Archangel, changes dramatically depending on the viewer’s perspective, appearing from some angles to emerge from the side of the bridge.
The Weinberg Center for the Arts, a historic performance venue situated downtown, offers a range of entertainment, from movies to music and live comedians.
Visitors in the first weekend of June can delve in to the Frederick Festival of the Arts, which draws upward of 20,000 attendees yearly. The juried festival brings together artists from all over the country with live music and regional cuisine.
Ocean City
The Ocean City Center for the Arts curates a rotating exhibition of work by local and regional artists in the Visitor Center of the 214,000 square feet Roland E. Powell Convention Center. Recently, the Center opened doors on a 94th street facility featuring a two-story gallery and several working studios.
According to Norma Dobrowolski, group sales manager for the Ocean City CVB, “The shining star of recent is the Performing Arts Center,” the state-of-the-art theater that recently opened inside of the convention center.
“Many meetings and conventions are using this space for keynote speeches and presentations,” Dobrowolski said. “All of the region is energized by the prospect of upcoming presentations, seasonal offerings as well as continued use of the space as an integral convention component.”
Factor in the vibrant arts community of nearby historic Berlin, lauded as “The Coolest Small Town In America” by Budget Travel in 2014. Meeting attendees craving culture will certainly find it—along with two centuries of architectural history.
On the festival front, Ocean City’s annual Sunfest draws upwards of 200,000 attendees to the destination every September. The four-day festival features music, crafts, food and free admission.
“This is consummate Ocean City,” Dobrowolski emphasized. “With the backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean, one can browse big-top tents with arts and crafters galore. Almost any item you can imagine is available, each with a unique theme or crafting that you would not find commercially. It is a true end-of-summer delight to relax and browse by the sea.”
