Representatives from 20 Baltimore cultural organizations -- classical music ensembles, theaters, museums, etc. -- will gather at the University of Maryland Baltimore's SMC Campus Center Wednesday afternoon for the launch of a two-year project aimed at improving their prospects for the future.
The DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland in College Park is offering this arts management training and consultancy program. The opening seminar will be led by DeVos Institute chairman and all-around arts guru Michael Kaiser, former president of the Kennedy Center.
Kaiser and his colleagues will help guide the Baltimore organizations in long-term artistic planning. In addition to the opening session, there will be four more seminars covering such issues as board engagement, fund-raising and "institutional and programmatic marketing."
The Baltimore groups will be matched with DeVos advisers. Monthly consultations by phone, online master classes and periodic in-person meetings will be held during the course of the program to gauge results.
The groups whose applications for the program were accepted are:
Arts Every Day
Asian Arts & Culture Center
Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Inc.
Baltimore Clayworks
Baltimore Concert Opera
The Baltimore Museum of Art
Baltimore Talent Education Center
Chesapeake Arts Center
Chesapeake Shakespeare Company
Concert Artists of Baltimore
Creative Alliance
Jewish Museum of Maryland
Make Studio
Maryland Film Festival
Neighborhood Design Center
Performing Arts at CCBC
Port Discovery Children's Museum
Single Carrot Theatre
Station North Arts & Entertainment
Young Audiences/Arts for Learning of Maryland
The DeVos Institute has presented similar programs in Chicago, Detroit, Miami and other cities. The Institute, founded by Kaiser, was based at the Kennedy Center until relocating last September to the University of Maryland.