Creative energy zooms through a room in West Baltimore where some 30 members of WombWork Productions high step, spin and dance with arms outstretched in a series of African dance moves, all to the beat of live drums. In the far corner, Sean Keelan, the only white guy present, does his best to keep pace with the Park Heights-based troupe, gathered on a Wednesday night to rehearse performance pieces that deliver a potent HIV-prevention message to city audiences.
Keelan is a candidate in a new graduate degree program at the Maryland Institute College of Art. The yearlong master of arts in community arts pairs students with city nonprofit groups to learn how to use art as a catalyst for social justice and how to see the community, itself, as a medium for their own artwork.
