BLUEPRINT

FOR THE ARTS

_____________________________________________________________________

SUPPORTING THE BALTIMORE

ARTS COMMUNITY AND
CREATIVE ECONOMY

Executive Summary
The arts are part of the DNA of Baltimore. We have a remarkable cultural legacy, and a
more robust arts community now than at any other time in our history. To be a world leader in
innovation and entrepreneurship, we need the arts to contribute to a creative economy. To
educate our youth and strengthen our communities, we need the arts to know and value one
another, and to heal and unite us. As Mayor, Elizabeth will value the arts and integrate them
across city government, and she will engage the arts community in strategic planning to support
and build on what is already working, and create new opportunities to extend access to the arts
throughout our city.
To expand arts education for our youth, Elizabeth will:
Develop a comprehensive strategic plan for arts education and ensure its
implementation.
Invest in funding for arts education.
Guarantee equity of participation in arts education for all students.
Forge partnerships between the arts community and our schools.
To prioritize the arts across city government, Elizabeth will:

Commit to transparent and inclusive decision-making.

Develop a comprehensive arts and cultural plan.
Elevate arts positions within my administration.
Integrate design into city infrastructure planning.
Use her administration to showcase the arts.

To provide strong and fair resources for the arts, Elizabeth will:

Grow funding for the arts.

Actively implement the city public art program.
Ensure that arts resources are distributed in an equitable manner.
Advance policies that lead to affordable arts spaces.

To invest in and promote our creative economy, Elizabeth will:

Turn to our artists as the face and the voice of Baltimore.
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Provide support for entrepreneurs in the creative economy.

Promote the work of our artists to the public.
Support the economic success of creative and cultural producers.
Promote community arts partnerships.

Introduction
The arts have been a major part of my life. My mother is an artist and an advocate for
arts and arts education. I grew up spending time in her studio and, when I was old enough,
helping her move sculptures. She made certain that my sisters and I had arts experiences
whether visiting galleries and museums, going to the theater and concerts, or having dance and
piano lessons and Saturday classes at MICA.
Because she was concerned that we were not getting an adequate arts education in
Baltimore City Schools, she began to fight for arts education not only for us, but for all students
in our city and state. She founded the Arts Education in Maryland Schools (AEMS) Alliance, cochaired the Governors P20 Leadership Task Force on Arts Education in Maryland Schools, and
is on the Steering Committee of the Baltimore Arts Education Coalition. As a long time trustee
of Maryland Citizens for the Arts (MCA), she has helped win historic levels of funding for the
Maryland State Arts Council and passage of arts legislation such as the State Public Art bill.
I share her passion for the arts, and her belief that they are vital to our lives as individuals
and communities. In point of fact, this mayoral campaign has provided me with an opportunity
to meet and talk with people across the city, and some of the most inspiring conversations have
centered on peoples hopes for the arts and cultural life of the city, including through discussions
sponsored by the Citizen Artist initiative.
The arts are part of the DNA of Baltimore and an important lens through which to see,
understand and value our city and our citizens.
The arts in Baltimore contribute to a quality of life that attracts entrepreneurs to start and
build business and provide jobs and makes residents want to move to Baltimore and to stay here.
One of the most powerful factors in encouraging people to choose a place to live, work, and
locate businesses is the arts and culture sector. Research shows that millennials in particular
choose the place they want to live, and then find a job, and a vibrant arts scene is a major factor
for many of them. And of course it is of even greater importance to those in the creative
professions.
Beyond the messages about the economic impact of the arts are the social impacts and
community building benefits of the arts. Artists are creative problem solvers, and they are deeply
committed as individuals to our city in so many ways. At this moment in time, we have the
opportunity to join in rebuilding our city for our childrens future as a place of respect and
understanding and telling that story to ourselves and to the world. The arts tell our stories. And
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they imbue our civic lives with humanity and that is what makes our city great and will make it
greater.
We have a remarkable cultural legacy, and a more robust arts community now than at
any other time in our history. The arts are embedded across the city and that there are terrific
artists, institutions and programs here. But, it is also evident that there are great opportunities for
growth in the creative culture sector and that equity of access to and participation in the arts for
all of our citizens is a critical need. As Mayor, I will ensure that the arts are part of the education
of every child in our city. I will integrate them across city government, engaging the arts
community in strategic planning to support and build on what is already working. I will grow
resources for the arts, creating new opportunities to extend access to the arts throughout our city.
And I will invest in and cultivate the Citys creative economy.
This is my blueprint to lift their voices and their vision. I invite you to lend your own
voice and vision to these efforts, and send your thoughts and comments to
Elizabeth@embryforbaltimore.org, so together we can amplify the artistic pulse that beats
throughout our city.

Expand Arts Education for Our Youth

The arts build valuable life skills and capacities. They are forms of literacy, they enable
full participation in all of our rich and diverse cultures and community life in Baltimore, and they
are a source of well-being and joy. Students who are deprived of the education in the arts to
which they are entitled are denied the enormous benefits of the arts to their intellectual, social,
emotional and creative development. Indeed, in the new book, Coming of Age in the Other America,
researchers studying youth trajectories of Baltimore youth living in concentrated poverty found
that those who were able to pursue passion or identity projects often involving the arts
significantly exceeded their peers in college and career outcomes. As Mayor, Elizabeth will:

Develop a comprehensive strategic plan for arts education and ensure its
implementation. As Mayor, Elizabeth will develop a comprehensive plan to address the
provision of instruction for all students by highly qualified arts teachers in dance, media arts,
music, theatre and the visual arts, as well as the integration of the arts across other subject
areas whether in STEM (STEAM), language arts, social studies, foreign language or other
subjects. Baltimore offers great resources in arts enrichment through in-school and out-ofschool programs, drawing on artists in residence, cultural institutions and community arts
organizations. The plan should ensure that all children should benefit from these resources.
In my role of appointing commissioners to the Baltimore City Board of School
Commissioners, I will ensure that all people whose nominations I move forward support the
policies described above as well as the fine arts strategic plan when it is completed.

Invest in funding for arts education. As Mayor, Elizabeth will make formal
recommendation to CEO and Board of School Commissioners that there be increased
funding for arts education, and increase the funding from the City budget to the school
system to include support of arts education.

Guarantee equity of participation in arts education for all students. While many
Maryland schools have excellent arts education programs, this is not the case in high poverty
areas of Baltimore City, where programs are often non-existent. As Mayor, Elizabeth will
track the progress of City Schools in providing arts education, and in partnership with City
Schools, monitor school-by-school data on arts programs collected by the Maryland State
Department of Education, making the information fully and widely available to the public.
Forge partnerships between the arts community and our schools. Research done
through the Any Given Child initiative a couple of years ago revealed gaps in access to youth
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programming offered in school settings. Not surprisingly, the gaps in arts enrichment
paralleled gaps in arts instruction by qualified arts teachers. Elizabeth will work with the
Baltimore Arts Education Coalition and the arts community to close those gaps; incentivize
cultural institutions to expand resources around youth; and give these partnerships much
deserved recognition, and facilitate their development with city agencies, and financial
support.

Prioritize the Arts Across City Government

The arts in Baltimore are a critical resource, and yet there is a sense across the arts
community that they are undervalued by city government that local artists are undervalued
because they are local, and that the arts are valued principally for their impact on tourism, while
the cultural needs and aspirations of our citizens are neglected. As Mayor, Elizabeth will
prioritize the arts as the important cultural resources they are. She will:
Commit to transparent and inclusive decision-making. Currently, decision-making
about setting priorities, delivering opportunities, and spending money in the arts is not open
and inclusive. And as a result, people are cynical about the citys decision making. The
process needs to be open and include meaningful community input to build trust.
Communities arent going to trust the city government if the city government doesnt trust
them enough to get their input. Programs should be developed with communities, not
for them. City government should recognize the artists and cultural programs in each of
our communities, and work with them in planning and implementing initiatives.
Develop a comprehensive arts and cultural plan. We need a collective and creative
vision for the arts and a set of agreed upon goals and strategies to meet those goals. Elizabeth
commits to engage our communities across the city in a comprehensive planning process to
discover our aspirations for what the arts can mean to Baltimore and what we can
accomplish in and through the arts to serve our city and our citizens. This cultural plan will
then guide arts policy across city government. One approach she will consider is creating a
Baltimore City Council for the Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy to oversee
implementation of the cultural plan. It will represent the diversity of the city and all of its
neighborhoods, and there will be an open process for soliciting nominations for the council.
Boston provides a helpful model for what a successful planning process looks like.
Elevate arts positions within my administration. As Mayor, Elizabeth will create a
cabinet level position for the cultural arts and will ensure that the perspective of the arts is
brought to city agencies so that the arts are embedded in city endeavors. she will also
appoint artists to City boards and commissions so that the arts are considered in planning
and decision-making. She will encourage city agencies to partner with community arts
organizations. The arts and culture are vital to city planning and community development
efforts and representatives of the cultural community will be at the table.

 Integrate design into city infrastructure planning. Esthetics matter in the context of
the natural and built environment. Elizabeth would like the cultural planning process to
address the physical qualities of our city. As Winston Churchill said, We shape our
buildings; thereafter they shape us. City agencies impact the quality of design in our city.
Artists can bring design thinking to overall planning of infrastructure as well as specific
projects like creating public art, and enhancements like the recently installed artist designed
and fabricated bus stops.
Use her administration to showcase the arts. As Mayor, from day one of her
administration, the city website will include artwork from Baltimore artists; Elizabeth will
send out an Artist Instagram of the Day from a Baltimore artist; there will be arts
performances at mayoral events, and we will include arts programming on the city channel.
And, this platform will not only showcase professional artists, but work by our city youth as
well.

Provide Strong and Fair Resources for the Arts

The Baltimore arts scene is home to a wide array of vibrant organizations, large and small.
There is amazing work being done in the arts across our city and to see the full spectrum from
individual artists working in after school settings, to drum circles and choirs in churches, to
treasures like Wombwork, Sankofa Dance Theater, Black Cherry Puppet Theater, Wide Angle
Youth Media and so many more. For this remarkable ecosystem to grow, the City needs to
create a nurturing environment, with robust and equitable investments. As Mayor, Elizabeth
will:
Grow funding for the arts. Under William Donald Schaefer, Baltimore spent
more per capita on the arts than any other city in the US. We should aspire to regain that
position. At the state level through the work of MCA, we benefit from the Arts Stabilization
Legislation, which is based on the principle of public funding reliably sustaining the arts so
that artists and arts organizations can serve communities while innovating and growing the
quality of their work. In concert with the comprehensive cultural planning process described
above, Elizabeth will set and achieve goals for overall growth in arts funding and the
implementation of a fair, sustainable grants process that builds stability and opportunity for
artists and audiences.

Actively implement the city public art program. The Public Art ordinance passed in
2007 provides that at least 1% of city construction funds be set aside for public art including
the commissioning of new work and the conservation and maintenance of existing work. The
implementation of this ordinance has been inadequate. Very few new projects have been
commissioned; there has not been a clear open and transparent process; and virtually no
maintenance or conservation has been done outside of the work done under the Adopt a
Monument program administered through CHAP and financed from private donations. As
a result, countless pieces including those by Baltimore artists have been destroyed, are
seriously damaged and/or totally compromised as works of art. As Mayor, Elizabeth will set
aside the full minimum of 1% funding pursuant to the ordinance, and use it for the
commissioning of new work and the conservation and maintenance of existing city owned
public art.

Ensure that arts resources are distributed in an equitable manner. Funding

through public interest bonds is also a strategy for capital funding for arts and cultural
development just as it is for other sectors. At the same time, we need to do far more to reach
out to those who may feel that they are undervalued, and do not have access to the resources
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the elite arts organizations do. The wealth of cultural traditions in our city should be
valued and the creators respected and supported particularly in regard to communities of
color. The forum, Art-Partheid: Bridging the Gap of Disparities in the Baltimore Arts Scene
began to address this issue; that discussion should continue. It is important to be conscious of
implicit and explicit values in how decisions are made, and ensure that there is equity for all,
so that the potential of the arts to connect and heal our communities is realized.
Advance policies that lead to affordable arts spaces. As discussed in her Blueprint for
Job Growth, Elizabeth will enact into law zoning reform for a modern city that will make it
easier to rehab old and unused spaces into live/work spaces for artists, among its other many
relevant provisions. Also, she will make the permitting process for performers and festivals
much more efficient and remove cost barriers, and arrange long-term leases for city owned
spaces. As Elizabeth revives Baltimores successful dollar housing model with low interest
loans, she will include artists live/work and related spaces.

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Invest in and Promote Our Creative Economy

The arts and culture industry in Baltimore generates hundreds of millions of dollars in
economic activity for the city, and supports thousands of full-time equivalent jobs. When cities
invest in the arts, they are investing in an industry that provides and supports jobs, generates
government revenue, promote tourism, and attracts and retains new residents. The arts and
cultural sector grows related businesses including restaurants, fashion, media and manufacturing.
The multiplier effect of having creative people in a community yields benefits in building tourism
as well. As Mayor, Elizabeth will:

Turn to our artists as the face and the voice of Baltimore. The arts are integral to
our understanding of who we are and as a vital asset in the fabric of our community and our
discourse. They heal us and reveal us to one another, whether in performance, on line, in
print, in media, and on billboards and murals welcoming people to the city and its
neighborhoods. As Mayor, Elizabeth will ensure that the economic development arm of the
city will work with artists to brand the city as an arts innovator/creative driven.

Provide support for entrepreneurs in the creative economy. As discussed in her

Blueprint for Job Growth, as Elizabeth builds platforms for entrepreneurship, and makes
them inclusive, touching every neighborhood in the city, she will include the creative
economy and arts entrepreneurship as a priority and work with existing organizations to
engage communities in planning and implementation.

Promote the work of our artists to the public. Elizabeth will market the value of the
art community of Baltimore to the business community, to the city and to visitors.
Baltimore has a wonderfully rich and exciting cultural community and it is growing in every
corner of the city, in our churches, schools, rec centers, and cultural venues. She looks
forward to revealing it in all of its diversity to more of our own citizens and the outside
world.

Support the economic success of creative and cultural producers. Artists should
be paid fairly for their work, whether they are working for the city or selling their work in
the private sector. At the listening session at the Baltimore Native American Center we
heard from performing and visual artists who are fairly paid for their work in other cities but
not in Baltimore. While this may be more of a private sector issue, the city can set a good
example of professional practice with artists. And, the city, the business and cultural
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communities should set the standard that youth are cultural producers contributing to our
economy and quality of life and deserve to be paid for their work.

Promote Community Arts Partnerships. Artists are working with our youth in after
school and out of school programs, they are creating arts venues in every neighborhood,
partnering with schools and enriching the lives of all. Our city government must respond in
kind and be a great partner to the cultural community, and Elizabeth will do that as Mayor.
Building on what is already emerging as a great strength in healing and unifying our city, we
should foster community arts partnerships so that Baltimore is seen as a place where social
innovation, community building and the arts are woven throughout

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