Local Arts

A new journal offering information about the arts - from opera reviews to critiques of lounge acts - is being tested in Baltimore. Called Radar, the free monthly publication is sponsored by the Greater Baltimore Community Foundation and can be found at businesses and arts venues from the Roots Cafe to the Walters Art Museum. "We are trying to create a local culture of criticism and an on-going dialogue between writers and artists," said David Crandall, co-editor of Radar and editor of Link: A Critical Journal on the Arts in Baltimore and the World, another local arts publication.

Free Fall Baltimore , which today kicks off its seventh year of spotlighting no-charge arts and cultural experiences in Charm City, has received a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The grant will be used to help promote and raise public awareness of the free programs and events being offered throughout the city, according to officials. The money will be used to help pay for print, online, television and radio spots, they said. Free Fall Baltimore is organized by the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts.

A new monthly tabloid newspaper devoted to the local arts scene is scheduled to be on the streets Tuesday.The initial issue of Art in Progress will have as its cover story a question-and-answer interview with artist and art benefactor Amalie Rothschild and will also contain several art and theater reviews, according to managing editor Bonnie North. There will also be columns on architecture, poetry and government and the arts, she added.The 20-page publication will have a press run of 6,000 and will be distributed free at art galleries, libraries, restaurants and bookstores, Ms. North said.

Baltimore City has been chosen as the next school district to receive a comprehensive arts-education program from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the organization and city officials announced Monday. The program, "Any Given Child," will create a long-range arts education plan for Baltimore students in grades kindergarten through eight, and will be tailored specially for Baltimore city students by incorporating resources from city schools and other local arts organizations, according to a release.  The Kennedy Center will begin devising Baltimore's plan--which aims to have little administrative costs by partnering with renowned arts organizations and the local Arts Every Day program--with a comprehensive audit of arts education in city schools, which its consultants will conduct in the next six to nine months.

Nancy Marie Haragan, founding executive director of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, died Sunday of metastatic melanoma at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Canton resident was 60. "Reflecting on all she's done for the arts community made me realize how transformative Nancy was. She was able to bring the arts community together in a collaborative effort and get them to sit around the same table," said Doreen Bolger, director of the Baltimore Museum of Art and a longtime friend.

What started as a restaurant owner's wish to create a little ambience for customers has, in eight years, morphed into a thriving grassroots arts organization with a major role to play in the revitalization of one of East Baltimore's most storied neighborhoods. It has been a long journey for the Creative Alliance -- from its early days as a gallery above Margaret's Cafe in Fells Point, through its relocation to an old Pep Boys store on Conkling Street in Highlandtown, to what promises to be its ultimate home, the former Patterson movie theater on Eastern Avenue.

The television industry has its Emmy, Broadway theater has its Tony and film has its Oscar, all awarded at ceremonies steeped in rivalry. Anne Arundel County has its Annie Award, bestowed on seven local arts contributors at a casual ceremony. In recent years this ceremony has been staged at Severn School's Price Auditorium, where local arts celebrities gather in camaraderie with their peers. At the 10th annual Annie Awards program, founding Arts Council member Cynthia McBride gave a brief history of how the award was designed, and the early decision to award Annies to a select few who had made lasting contributions to Anne Arundel arts.

Where: The Top Floor, 5440 Harford Road When: 5 p.m.-11 p.m. Sunday Why: What better (and more inexpensive) way to brush up on the local arts and culture scene? Watch several indie films on a projection screen and see spoken word, folk and reggae performances. Information: 410-963-7907. Admission: $5.

Baltimore City has been chosen as the next school district to receive a comprehensive arts-education program from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the organization and city officials announced Monday. The program, "Any Given Child," will create a long-range arts education plan for Baltimore students in grades kindergarten through eight, and will be tailored specially for Baltimore city students by incorporating resources from city schools and other local arts organizations, according to a release.  The Kennedy Center will begin devising Baltimore's plan--which aims to have little administrative costs by partnering with renowned arts organizations and the local Arts Every Day program--with a comprehensive audit of arts education in city schools, which its consultants will conduct in the next six to nine months.

Howard County government has been recognized with a national award for its support of local arts and cultural organizations. The national, nonprofit Americans for the Arts, with the National Association of Counties, chose Howard County to receive its Award for County Arts Leadership. The award was established to recognize the role county government leaders play in funding, improving and ensuring the accessibility of arts programs. Howard County has consistently ranked as one of the top three in Maryland for per capita spending on operating funds for the arts and for providing a stable source of funding and significant in-kind services for local arts groups, according to the award announcement.

The Harford County Cultural Arts Board and the Harford County Commission on Disabilities are seeking submissions for a juried art exhibit, Art Without Boundaries. Interested artists, with and without disabilities, are invited to submit their pieces, both two and three dimensional, on Monday, July 9, from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Student Gallery in Joppa Hall, Harford Community College, 401 Thomas Run Road, Bel Air. For more information, please contact Harford County Cultural Arts Board Coordinator Natalie Weeks at 410-638-3578 or nfweeks@harfordcountymd.gov . The Art Without Boundaries exhibit will be held from Friday, July 13 through Aug. 31 in the Student Gallery in Joppa Hall.

Nancy Marie Haragan, founding executive director of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, died Sunday of metastatic melanoma at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The Canton resident was 60. "Reflecting on all she's done for the arts community made me realize how transformative Nancy was. She was able to bring the arts community together in a collaborative effort and get them to sit around the same table," said Doreen Bolger, director of the Baltimore Museum of Art and a longtime friend.

Curtain up! Artform has a new face and a new address, but it's the same good source for local cultural notes. Our staff of  arts writers — Mike Giuliano, Carolyn Kelemen and myself — are here to preview the worthy events you might want to keep in mind when planning your calendar.  

The television industry has its Emmy, Broadway theater has its Tony and film has its Oscar, all awarded at ceremonies steeped in rivalry. Anne Arundel County has its Annie Award, bestowed on seven local arts contributors at a casual ceremony. In recent years this ceremony has been staged at Severn School's Price Auditorium, where local arts celebrities gather in camaraderie with their peers. At the 10th annual Annie Awards program, founding Arts Council member Cynthia McBride gave a brief history of how the award was designed, and the early decision to award Annies to a select few who had made lasting contributions to Anne Arundel arts.

Elspeth M. Udvarhelyi, who had held important development roles with several Baltimore and Washington artistic and cultural organizations, and had been development director and interim CEO of the Globe Theatre in London, died Sunday of Merkel cell cancer, a rare skin disease, at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Roland Park Place resident was 79. Elspeth Mary Campbell, the daughter of a sheep farmer, was born in Dornoch, Scotland, and raised in Bonar Bridge, Scotland. She was a graduate of a private high school in Inverness, where she developed her lifelong interest in music, art and theater.

After 10 years of performing The Nutcracker at Jim Rouse Theatre in Columbia, the Howard County Ballet is moving its popular holiday tradition to Reservoir High School. The price tag was too high and funding too scarce to use the Rouse Theatre this year, said the ballet's director, Kathi Ferguson. She also has cut back on staffing and looked for ways to reduce overhead, and plans a smaller dance concert than usual in the spring. Like many other segments of society, local arts organizations are feeling the squeeze of the tough economy.

The audience at the Howard County Arts Council's 11th Celebration of the Arts decided that the youngest competitor in the annual Rising Star competition was the most promising. When the patrons' votes were tallied Saturday night at Jim Rouse Theatre, 18-year-old pianist Alexander Francis took home the $5,000 first prize out of 10 performers at the gala fundraiser. Francis, a home-schooled high school senior who just moved with his family from Ellicott City to Sykesville, played a medley of pop, jazz and rhythm-and-blues songs he arranged.

The audience at the Howard County Arts Council's 11th Celebration of the Arts decided that the youngest competitor in the annual Rising Star competition was the most promising. When the patrons' votes were tallied Saturday night at Jim Rouse Theatre, 18-year-old pianist Alexander Francis took home the $5,000 first prize out of 10 performers at the gala fundraiser. Francis, a home-schooled high school senior who just moved with his family from Ellicott City to Sykesville, played a medley of pop, jazz and rhythm-and-blues songs he arranged.