Baltimore mayor’s $3.6M in arts funding earns clapback and applause

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has announced the distribution of $3.6 million in pandemic relief funds to more than two dozen arts groups in the city, with a special emphasis on those that serve racial minorities and that historically have been under-represented.

“Public dollars have too often gone to just the big names and big players in town,” Scott said in an April 16 news release about the Diversity in Arts grants funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). “This investment…underscores our dedication to ensuring that all artists and communities, particularly those minority and historically underrepresented organizations, have equitable access to resources and opportunities.”

The announcement last week generated some pushback from at least one cultural group that didn’t make the cut.

Wally Pinkard, chairman of the Hippodrome Foundation that runs the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center where Baltimore’s touring Broadway shows are held, wrote in an emailed statement that over the years, his organization has provided “tens of thousands of Baltimore City children” with access to free summer camps, master classes with artists and live performances of Broadway shows.

“I believe that it is essential that future grant evaluations should also focus on the volume and demographics served by the cultural organizations,” Pinkard wrote.

“I would hope the enthusiasm around this week’s funding announcement, coupled with the frustration felt by arts organizations that were deliberately excluded from receiving an ARPA award will lead to discussion of more inclusive funding of the arts in the future.”

The mayor’s announcement last week is part of a nationwide trend that is shaking up the way cultural resources traditionally have been distributed. For instance, this year the Maryland State Arts Council, which will award more than $18 million to 291 arts groups statewide, is changing the formula it uses to disburse funds.

The new plan, which was adopted in 2021 by the state legislature and which began being phased in this year, will allow small arts groups to receive grants that cover a larger proportion of their operating expenses. Large-budget groups, which the council says have fundraising staffs and “greater access” to deep-pocketed donors, will receive grants covering a smaller slice of their yearly costs.

Unlike the city’s grants, the new formula doesn’t prioritize organizations run by members of racial minorities. But in practice, it’s not unusual for low-budget organizations to serve and to be run by people of color.

Arts groups have always competed fiercely for public grants and private donations, since ticket sales typically cover less than half of their annual costs. And as with any list, it’s possible to make a case either for or against any one of the 28 organizations that are receiving grants, as well as those that were left off.

For example, Baltimore Center Stage, which will receive $200,000 through the city’s ARPA funding, is not a small arts group, but the largest non-profit theater in Maryland, with an annual budget of $7 million. But, earlier this year, the company was forced to lay off four employees and to cut the pay of remaining staff members to trim $350,000 from its budget.

Nearly as large is the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, which this year has a $6.1 million annual budget and is scheduled to receive one of the largest sums awarded in the current round of grants.

The $500,000 in COVID-19 pandemic relief from the city is on top of the $2.7 million that the Lewis will receive this year from state taxpayers — a guaranteed annual appropriation because it is among the few cultural groups in Maryland classified as quasi-state agencies.

But museum President and CEO Terri L. Freeman wrote that the $500,000 grant “will allow us to build out a space dedicated to helping children better understand Maryland African American history.”

Similarly, while the Hippodrome didn’t receive pandemic relief funds from the city, it is one of the handful of Maryland live theaters that can qualify for up to $4 million annually in state tax credits for certain productions.

Scott noted in his news release that many of the large organizations excluded from the second round of American Relief grants, from the Baltimore Museum of Art to Everyman Theatre, previously had received sizable pandemic relief grants from his office.

Marissa LaRose, managing director of Everyman Theatre, said in an email that because her troupe received a $1 million grant in 2022 from the Mayor’s Office of Recovery to rebuild their audience, they weren’t eligible for a grant this go-around.

“We’re incredibly grateful for the ARPA funds we did receive from Mayor Scott’s office as the funds have been instrumental in helping us to rebuild audiences and deepen our impact,” LaRose wrote in an email.

Her words were echoed by Jalen Lee, a spokesman for Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, which also was left out of this round of pandemic funds.

“We are fortunate and thankful for the opportunity to serve thousands of students thanks to previous ARPA funding,” Lee said. The troupe was awarded $275,000 in 2022 to support its student matinee program.

“We are still putting that money to great use as over 3000 students from Baltimore City Public Schools have been given free admission and transportation to attend the student matinees at our theatre,” he said.

“It is such a joy to feel the energy of the students who walk through our doors most weekday mornings as they cheer, applaud, and engage with our actors after every show.”