Maryland Arts Day

Many Voices, One Song

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Maryland Arts Day was a HUGE success.  Thank you all for your support! Check back soon for photos, videos, and testimonials!

There is still work to be done! Keep checking the calendar for upcoming events and important details on budget hearings and decision meetings.

Further Information:

• Speakers & Presenters Bios

• Maryland Arts Day Shuttle Pass

• Schedule for the Day (Quick Glance - detailed schedules to be handed out at Maryland Arts Day)

• "Arts Day After Hour at The Circle Gallery" hosted by MCA's Emerging Arts Advocates

Check out some photos from last year's 2011 Arts Day event posted on this site's Photo Gallery and our Flickr page.

Maryland Arts Day is the most important arts advocacy event of the year in Maryland, bringing the many, varied voices of the artistic community together in support of state funding for the arts and the Maryland State Arts Council. In addition, Maryland Arts Day acts as the only state-wide annual meeting for the Maryland arts community and its supporters, and as such presents a unique networking opportunity and a platform to discuss issues specific to the arts. 

At Maryland Arts Day 2012:

• Speak with your Legislators and Elected Officials
• Network with 400 Arts Professionals, Board Members, Volunteers and Supporters
• Learn how to advocate for arts organizations in Maryland
• Professional development breakout sessions
• A post-Arts Day event hosted by MCA's Emerging Arts Advocates

Speakers/Presenters

Bashi Rose (Keynote Speaker)

MCA is proud to announce our keynote speaker for Maryland Arts Day 2012 – Mr. Bashi Rose.  Bashi Rose is a local theatre artist and filmmaker. He is also co-founder of Nommo Theatre/Film. His works have been produced in Baltimore, D.C., and New York City.  He has conducted drama workshops in Hagerstown prison and several prisons in Jessup, Maryland under the auspices of The Friend Of A Friend Mentoring Program founded by Marshall “Eddie" Conway and Dominique Stevenson. In 2007 Bashi partnered with his wife, Sharayna Christmas-Rose (founder of Muse 360) to form a youth arts program, Dancing Many Drums (DMD), where Baltimore youth have the opportunity to learn about themselves and the  African Diaspora using dance, theater, music and visual arts.  To further their study they have  traveled to Harlem, New York’s Schomburg Center for Black Research and Culture, Jamaica, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico.

Warner Williams and Jay Summerour (Performers)

We are honored to have Piedmont blues singer and guitarist Warner Williams and his musical partner and harmonica player Jay Summerour as our featured performers for Maryland Arts Day. Recently recognized as a 2011 NEA National Heritage Fellow, Warner Williams is a Takoma Park native who has been making music for more than 60 years. In “retirement,” Mr. Williams still brings the Piedmont blues to schools, blues clubs, and folk festivals.  

 Williams and Summerour began playing together during the early 1990s, sometimes calling themselves “Little Bit of Blues.” They have been featured in concerts, on television and radio, and at festivals across the country, including appearances on the National Public Radio series Folk Masters, at the National and Lowell folk festivals and on the National Mall during the American Roots Fourth of July celebration.

Schedule for the Day