Governor Larry Hogan today announced the formation of the Maryland Department of Commerce and appointed Mike Gill the state’s first Secretary of Commerce.

Formerly known as the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED), the new Department of Commerce will focus on attracting, retaining, expanding businesses and creating jobs.

The department will place a renewed focus on better serving the diverse industries and geographic regions of the state, while marketing Maryland’s’ many assets to companies across the nation and abroad.

Secretary Gill, who has led DBED since January, will oversee a newly created multi-state-agency Commerce Subcabinet, consisting of the Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs; Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation; Department of Transportation; Department of the Environment; Department of Planning; and Department of Housing and Community Development.

The Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) will remain under the Division of Tourism, Film and the Arts with the Department of Commerce. Read more.

In keeping with her commitment to support the arts, Maryland’s First Lady Yumi Hogan, will host a special exhibition of artwork by Maryland students in the House of Delegates Office Building gallery space, now named “The First Lady’s Art Gallery.”

The First Lady started the gallery this year and the October exhibition will be the first of many. This will be a bi-annual event – with shows in the fall and in spring. 

The juried Inaugural Student Artwork Exhibition, will include three awards for outstanding accomplishment in visual art. A private reception is planned on Oct. 23. The exhibition will run through November 13.

The Maryland State Department of Education Fine Arts Office and the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) are working in partnership on this event.

The First Lady at the recent Arts Alive fundraiser at Maryland Hall, photo by Joe Andrucyk

Governor Larry Hogan visited the 9/11 Memorial of Maryland at Baltimore’s World Trade Center to pay his respects to, and honor the extraordinary heroism, commitment and sacrifice of Maryland’s victims, rescuers, first responders and their families during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. While there, he laid a ceremonial wreath at the base of the Memorial. Learn more about the memorial.

Pictured above, On September 11 Governor Larry Hogan visited the 9/11 Memorial of Maryland. Photo by Tom Nappi

The MSAC FY 2015 Annual Report is here! We are pleased to share our activities with our many stakeholders and supporters.

Thanks to the leadership of Governor Larry Hogan and First Lady Yumi Hogan, along with the Maryland General Assembly’s appreciation for a robust arts sector, the Arts Council’s general fund appropriation for FY 2015 exceeded $15 million. This level of support allowed the Arts Council to advance several key initiatives and programs guided by the strategic plan, Imagine Maryland.

Photograph by John H. Ruppert “Glacier with Pink Sky"

After 21 years with Maryland State Arts Council, Carla Dunlap retired on October 1, 2015.

Dunlap served as Senior Program Director in the Grants for Organization Program where she administered grants in the Visual Arts/Media and Multidiscipline categories.

Pictured above, L to R: Commerce Secretary Mike Gill, retiring Carla Dunlap receives Secretary’s citation for 21 years of service, and MSAC Executive Director Theresa Colvin. Photo by Dean Storm

Above, poster art for “Inbound,” to be performed at the Round House Theater in Bethesda, MD.

Theater Festival Celebrates Female Playwrights
Ordinarily, plays written by men dominate the stages in the nation’s capital, just as they do in the rest of the country — an imbalance that female playwrights have wanted to change. However, for the next couple of months, the usual rules will not apply.

While some writers noted that, no one wants to be produced simply because she is a woman, Maryland playwright Martyna Majok said the most important thing was to be invited into the room in the first place. If such access comes because of her gender, that is O.K. “I’ll play whatever card I need to play,” she said. “I’m not bothered. I like being a lady.” Majok’s play “Ironbound” will run at Round House Theater in Bethesda, before an Off Broadway production in March 2016.  Read more.

Cary Announces Retirement from AMES; Synder becomes new Executive Director
Mary Cary, executive director of Arts Education in Maryland Schools Alliance (AEMS), has stepped down as of September 24. On November 2, AEMS' new Executive Director Lori Snyder will begin her tenure.

Under Cary, AEMS spearheaded and published the P-20 Leadership Council Task Force on Arts Education in Maryland Schools to establish a statewide approach to increasing students' access to quality arts education. As a result, Maryland now has a guide for coherent and consistent action to bring equity, quality, and access in arts education to all students.

Snyder also was a part of the P-20 Leadership Council Task Force on Arts Education in Maryland Schools. She has garnered national and local awards, including the Maryland Art Educator of the Year in 2011 by the National Arts Education Association.

She was instrumental in the development and implementation of the Performing & Visual Arts Magnet Programs in Anne Arundel County Public Schools and most recently served as Senior Manager of the PVA Magnet Programs.

New Executive Directors Announced In Frederick and Chestertown
Louise Kennelly is the new executive director of the Frederick Arts Council FAC). Kennelly joins FAC after nearly five years as executive director of the DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative, dedicated to providing access to world-class arts for all public school students.

The Collaborative functioned as the formal arts education partner of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Prior to that, she was a director at the federally funded National High School Center at the American Institutes for Research.

Kay MacIntosh is now the manager of the new Chestertown Arts & Entertainment (A&E) District. In addition to overseeing the A&E District – covering a 51-acre section of downtown Chestertown – MacIntosh will be the town's economic development director, with responsibility for the entire town.

MacIntosh, who has worked as a newspaper and magazine editor, has been director of media relations at Washington College since 2010. She is also a board member of Horizons of Kent and Queen Anne's County. A Chestertown resident since 2002, she will begin her new job Oct. 19.

New MSAC Councilor Joan M.G. Lyon.

Joan Lyon is an active supporter of the arts; she is a member of the Garrett County Arts Council and is currently serving her second term as President of its Board of Directors. Lyon also volunteers as a ceramics assistant/mentor in the Art Department at Garrett College.

MSAC: As a child, were you interested in the arts?

Joan Lyon: Yes, I was fortunate, my parents were educators and artists in their own right; the arts were constant companions in our home and life.  Beyond that, some of my earliest and most memorable art-related experiences were in my 1st grade class in Charleston, WV. Once a week, our teacher would tune into the local classical radio station for a special student-oriented musical presentation. The format was a brief discussion about the history of a piece of music and its composer, followed by the performance. My favorite times were the sessions when we listened to the performance and drew or painted what the music inspired.

MSAC: What has it meant to you, to see the arts become a bigger part of Maryland's livelihood?

Joan Lyon: The arts express the history, culture, spirit, experiences and aspirations of communities, towns, regions and their people. The arts are key components of the successful transformation and revitalization of communities.  As a “recurring” resident of Silver Spring over nearly three decades (1980 to 2005), I witnessed first-hand its gradual decline in the ‘80s and 90’s, as well as its remarkable recovery in the new millennium; the latter in large part due to the tireless dedication, commitment and investment of numerous arts organizations, artistic entrepreneurs, and arts-minded residents.

Read the full interview.

Dominie Nash constructs collage-like art quilts using fabrics she has patterned with a variety of surface design processes, including emersion dying, painting with dyes and pigments; screen – mono and Inko-printing.

The Bethesda resident, layers the quilt surface with dyed organza, which enhances/changes the color beneath it. Quilts are finished with machine stitching and/or embroidery. Primarily self-taught, Nash is a full-time studio art quilter. She’s spent the past 20 years learning and practicing her art. Nash received an MSAC Individual Artist Award in 2012.

She and Travis Childers, who creates collages from found images, are displaying their works at Gallery II at the Howard County Center for the Arts, in Ellicott City, through October 16, 2015.  Learn more.

Quilt "Peculiar Poetry," 1993

Through October 17

Plein Air Show & Members Gallery Open
Stevensville
Queen Anne's County

October 2

Daryl Davis Presents Music Concerts
The Chuck Brown Band
Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club

October 3, 2015-September 4, 2016

The Big Hope Show
American Visionary Art Museum
Baltimore City

October 9-10

MD Banjo, Fiddle & Mandolin Championships
Oakland
Garrett County

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