Community Day: Joyce J. Scott

Admission to Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams is free on Community Day. No tickets are required to see the exhibition on Sunday, March 24. 

Celebrate the public opening of Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams. An event for the entire family inspired by Baltimore-based visionary artist Joyce J. Scott.

The afternoon includes free access to Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams (no tickets required!) with a special in-gallery performance by Joyce J. Scott. Enjoy African drumming and an interactive performance art experience by WombWork Productions, Inc. Make dimensional jewelry and sculptures in the Joseph Education Center Studio with guest artists Espi Frazier, Pamela Li, and Randi Reiss-McCormack. Sample delicious food by H3irloom Food Group and connect with local arts and community groups during a meet and greet organized with guidance from the Gurlz of Baltimore.

Schedule

10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Free admission to Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams. No tickets required.
Special Exhibition Gallery

1–5 p.m.

Free Family Sundays art-making workshop
Make dimensional jewelry and sculptures with guest artists Espi Frazier, Pamela Li, and Randi Reiss-McCormack.
Joseph Education Center Studio

1 p.m.

African drum performance by WombWork Productions, Inc.
East Lobby

1–2:30 p.m.

Baltimore Family Alliance
East Lobby

1–5 p.m.

Meet and Greet featuring:
Baltimore Birthing Project
Black Arts District
Gurlz of Baltimore
Joshua Johnson Council
Santa Mamas
Wide Angle Youth Media
WombWork Productions, Inc.
Antioch Court

2–2:30 p.m.

The Threads That Unite My Seat to Knowledge
In-gallery performance by Joyce J. Scott. Space is limited!
Special Exhibition Gallery

3–4 p.m.

Food tastings by H3irloom Food Group
Antioch Court

4–4:30 p.m.

Take the Arts to the People, Take the People to the Arts!
Interactive performance art experience by WombWork Productions, Inc.
Fox Court

Participants

Baltimore Birthing Project

BB-Penda, the Baltimore Birthing Project, is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to improving birth outcomes especially for BIPOC. Since 2017, our doula services and art-infused movement centered workshops, ceremonies, and family gatherings activate the healing power of art throughout the perinatal period. In 2022, we were honored to receive a “Traditions” grant by the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC). Like our affiliate the Birthing Project USA, we adopt an extended family approach to perinatal care encouraging families to make art part of their wellness regimen. As artists, teachers, and healers we weave our skills and talents with a solid recognition of the role of art in culture and wellness. Family wellness is more than the science of health but the art of living. Experiencing art, music and dance together encourages a sense of belonging promoting health and wellbeing.

Baltimore Family Alliance

Baltimore Family Alliance is a convener of families who love Baltimore City and live here. We host various programs throughout the City at playgrounds, schools, and public spaces—all free for families with children to inspire them to fall in love with this great City.

Black Arts District

The Black Arts District through an anti-displacement framework empowers Black creatives and continues the community-based revitalization efforts in West Baltimore through culture, arts, and entertainment.

Gurlz of Baltimore

The Gurlz of Baltimore is an arts collective that became formalized during the Culture Wars of the 1990s. The need to establish a collective was essential to locate a social, political, spiritual, and aesthetic space, safe to exchange, share and vent frustrations and celebrations of mutual and individual concern. This initiative was inspired through the longtime friendship of Joyce J. Scott and Linda DePalma. The collective became a robust group of six women that included in its first generation: Ellen Burchenal, Oletha DeVane, Leslie King Hammond, and Patti Tronolone. In more recent years, Linda Day Clark, Amy Raehse, and Lowery Sims have become members through riotous initiations and laughter provoked by the relentlessness of Joyce J. Scott’s rascally persona. Gurlz of Baltimore continue to be active in the Baltimore community in support of emerging artists, social justice issues, and coordinate with the Santa Mamas initiatives to assist families in need.

H3irloom Food Group

Based in Baltimore, H3irloom Food Group cultivates meaningful culinary experiences that celebrate the region’s authentic foodways, culture, and community, led by Chefs David & Tonya Thomas, Linda Taliaferro (CEO), and Floyd Taliaferro IV (CFO). In addition to operating The Sinclair private event space, the company’s portfolio includes ticketed dinner experiences, catering, pop-ups, sustainable farming initiatives, and the award-winning H3 product line. H3irloom is a 100% Black-owned company with a mission to uplift the Black food narrative and provide a deeply personal approach to the Black food experience that’s rooted in history and culture. Built on a foundation of friendship and a passion for true hospitality, the three in H3irloom represents the familial bond between the founding partners as a nod to their past, present, and future together.

Joshua Johnson Council

Joshua Johnson Council (JJC) Members share a passion for African American and African art. Named after an 18th-century African American portrait painter who lived and worked in Maryland, the JJC is one of the oldest African American museum support groups in the U.S. Its mission is to forge meaningful connections between Baltimore’s African American communities and the Baltimore Museum of Art by promoting and highlighting the achievements of African American artists. JJC Membership offers a wide range of opportunities for active participation within a network of friends and colleagues dedicated to art, education, community, and family. JJC programs and meetings take place on the second Thursday of each month.

Muse 360/ New Generation Scholars

Muse 360 is a youth organization on a mission to radically develop Baltimore youth to use their voice and creative talents in pursuit of knowledge of self. New Generation Scholars (a program of Muse 360) is an intergenerational collective exploring the creative existence of the black diaspora. We provide a space to examine stories of love, migration, identity, marronage, and more. We seek to maintain a continuum of exploration and dialogue that honors the memory and circumstance of the black diaspora’s history.

Santa Mamas

The Santa Mamas, a diverse group of mostly Baltimore women with a passion for giving and uplifting the community, blossomed from a seed planted by Joyce J. Scott and numerous other women from the Baltimore community. Santa Mamas was informally started in 2013 and formally started when Joyce met a Baltimore City Public School teacher, Stacie Katori, who worked with families of infants and toddlers with disabilities. Through Santa Mamas, the connection between serving families, serving communities, serving children with special needs, and bridging communities was made. Each year, Santa Mamas donate gifts, gift cards, parties, and most importantly joy to Baltimore families who have hardships during the Christmas holiday. In past seasons, the group has gathered for shopping trips, gift-wrapping sessions, and door-to-door gift deliveries that later, through the generosity of a local restaurant, became a Christmas party for families. Undaunted by the challenges posed by COVID-19 restrictions, Santa Mamas persevered in their impactful mission to bring joy, hope, laughter, and love to families of children with special needs who faced additional hardships in the Baltimore community. Ignited by Joyce J. Scott’s infectious spirit of giving, the Santa Mamas are already planning for Christmas 2024.

Wide Angle Youth Media

Wide Angle Youth Media cultivates and amplifies the voices of Baltimore youth through media arts by providing Baltimore youth and communities with the media education and resources to represent themselves. Wide Angle’s programming is designed to create a meaningful pathway for Baltimore youth ages 10 to 24 starting with introductory community workshops and leading to advanced workforce development training. Our programs offer opportunities for students to explore their creative sides through various interactive activities led by skilled media instructors. Each class is developed to suit the academic and social-emotional needs of specific age groups, and to complement group sessions with independent learning. Our middle school program, Baltimore Speaks Out, introduces youth to the media arts through a wide variety of mediums, including photography, graphic design, and video production. Our high school classes are after-school programs offering students ages 14 to 21 the opportunity for free introductory and advanced media training.

WombWork Productions, Inc.

The mission of WombWork Productions is to provide healing and empowerment for youth, families, and communities, while preserving cultural legacies through the performing arts. WombWork’s healing processes occur through the utilization of performing arts and cultural expressions grounded in African and Indigenous philosophies. The organization is intentional about the explicit use of creative expressions to address the causes and impact of relevant social justice and public health issues that plague primarily Black and Brown communities that the organization serves. Specifically, WombWork is a nonprofit social justice theatre company that focuses on the incorporation of positive principles that give voice to those who feel unheard. Utilizing real life stories and factual information, WombWork presents riveting productions and programming that support the healing necessary to cultivate and improve social-emotional wellbeing, while supporting positive life outcomes for community members of all ages.

This event is generously sponsored by Transamerica.

Image: Joyce J. Scott. Coppers (Detail). 2023. Image courtesy of Goya Contemporary Gallery, Baltimore, © Joyce Scott courtesy Goya Contemporary. Photo: Mitro Hood