Artist Retreat.
Stay tuned for more info on the next Artist Retreat
The Contemporary’s Inaugural Artist Retreat took place at the Pearlstone Center from Thursday, August 4th to Sunday, August 7th, 2016. The Contemporary convened 50 Baltimore artists and 25 national arts consultants including critics, curators, gallerists, and collectors, for three days of intensive professional development, community building, and networking. The retreat was free for all selected artists and includes transportation to and from the center, lodging, and all meals.
- Keynote: by Ruby Lerner, Founder of Creative Capital
- Lecture: Heather Hart, The Black Lunch Table
- Lecture: Sean J Patrick Carney, Bruce High Quality Foundation
Panel: Project Grants: From the Rubys to Creative Capital
Lisa Dent (Creative Capital), Sonja Cendak (Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance)
Moderated by Deana Haggag
Panel: Galleries, Collectors, and Sales
Heather Bhandari (The Artist Project/LA + ART/WORK + Mixed Greens), Jackie Milad (The Delaware Contemporary), and Suzanne Seesman (Vox Populi + Nicola Midnight St. Claire); moderated by Joyce Yu-Jean Lee (The Contemporary)
Panel: Residences
George Scheer (Elsewhere), James McAnally (The Luminary + Temporary Art Review), and Shervone Neckles-Ortiz (Joan Mitchell Foundation); moderated by Lu Zhang (The Contemporary)
Panel: Financial Literacy: Budgeting and Taxes
Cara Ober (BmoreArt) and Jessica Lanzillotti (Everyman Theatre + The Contemporary)
Panel: Civics and the City
Jess Solomon (Art in Praxis + Bromo Arts District)
Workshop: Artists and Parenting
facilitated by Elissa Blount Moorhead (TNEG Films + The Contemporary)
Workshop: MFA?
Lu Zhang (The Contemporary)
Workshop: Real Estate: Buying and Renting
Priya Bhayana (Independent Cultural Organizer) and Ginevra Shay (The Contemporary)
Workshop: Talking About Your Work
Leslie Shepard (LS Consulting + Air.C) and Liz Lerman (Arizona State University)
Round Table Discussion: National Arts Organizing Network
Courtney Find (Common Field)
- Artist Presentations from 50 Baltimore artists
- Artist and Consultant One-on-One Conversations
- Bonfire with S'mores
- Dance Party
Attending Artists:
- Adam Holofcener
- Alice Valenti
- Antonio McAfee
- Audrey Gair
- Chanet Wallace
- Christina Haines
- Christina McCleary
- Colette Veasey-Cullors
- Curtis Miller
- D Watkins
- Dave Eassa
- Dirk Joseph
- Erin Fostel
- Hasani Claxton
- Hoesy Corona
- Jenné Afiya Matthews
- Jerrell Gibbs
- Joyce J. Scott
- Khadija Adell
- Kimi Hanauer
- Kyle Tata
- L. E. Doughtie
- Liz Donadio
- Laure Drogoul
- Lauren Frances Adams
- Leyla Rzayeva
- Lisa Dillin
- Magali Hebert-Huot
- Malcolm Peacock
- Margaret Rorison
- Margo Elsayd
- Marian April Glebes
- Markele Cullins
- Mary Anne Arntzen
- Megan Lewis
- Morgan Dowty
- Nick Peelor
- Phaan Howng
- Saida Agostini
- Sidney Hall
- Stephen Towns
- Stewart Watson
- Sydney Spann
- Tanya Garcia
- Theresa Chromati
- Tiffany Jones
- Travis Levasseur
- Ursula W Populoh
- Victor FM Torres
- Zoë Charlton
Kind Words
Attending the inaugural Contemporary Artist Retreat in 2016 was a transformative and invaluable experience for my practice! Thanks to The Contemporary's Artist Retreat I was able to strengthen both my local and national professional creative networks; My organization (Labbodies) joined the national Common Field network; I was featured in Defy/Define at Transformer DC in the Fall of 2016; I was awarded a Robert W Deutsch Foundation's Ruby’s Artist Grant in Visual Arts 2016-2017 to develop wearable sculptures for my project Alie[N]ation; Labbodies was a awarded an Andy Warhol Grit Fund Grant in Visual Arts 2017; In June 2017 I presented “Alien Nation” (my most ambitious performance to date with 24 performers) at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Shadow/Casters curated by Victoria Reis from Transformer DC; And this fall I am happy to report that I have been accepted to the inaugural 9 month Halcyon Arts Lab Fellowship 2017-2018 in Washington, DC. During my fellowship I will develop videos and soundscapes for Alie[N]ation.
The Contemporary's retreat in 2016 was my first point of access into an arts community in Baltimore. It gave me the opportunity to share my work with local and national artists, curators, and gallerists. The retreat created multiple speaking, showing, and curatorial opportunities for me immediately afterwards. Outside of professional development, I met individuals who are some of my closest friends today. Their support assures me that the work I make is needed and valued.
One of the rarest platforms in the art world are those in which artists, institutions and the constellations of supporters around them all work together to take care of one another. One of our foundational directives at The Luminary is that our programs should model a world we want to live in more broadly - an idea we unfortunately don't see enacted enough.
Thanks to The Contemporary in Baltimore for inviting me in as a guest consultant to contribute to (but mostly just witness) an authentic intersectional space emerging for their first Artist Retreat. It's the model of an art world more institutions should pursue (though I doubt they could pull it off better than Deana Haggag Lu Zhang Ginevra Shay et al).
