The ‘STATE’ OF BALTIMORE
When a Means to Information is Threatened: Documenting and Preserving History to Avert a Culture of Silence
11:30 am – 1:00 pm
Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Auditorium
PARKING
https://www.bsomusic.org/visit-joseph-meyerhoff-hall/
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This year’s ‘State’ of Baltimore invites media outlets to discuss the importance of their work in an age of uncertainty, where access to history and information is being widely questioned. Join this illustrious panel at the forefront of disseminating information in varying capacities – their charges, their challenges, and what happens when information is threatened, silenced, or removed, most especially in an election year or at a time when people need more than one resource for information that directly affects their lives. This panel, comprised of artists, scholars, journalists, and editors, will share the missions of their organizations, the importance and ‘culture’ of their work, their challenges with “distractions” and waning attention span, the dissolution of newsrooms, and the vast number of uncertainties at a time of global unrest. Expect a thought-provoking discussion designed to inform and enlighten you about these media outlets, what’s the threat to how they operate, including the rise of AI images and content, and why they deserve your support. They will share what they are doing to sustain themselves at a time when life happens on the screen in 30-second sound bites. LISA SNOWDEN is the Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of BALTIMORE BEAT, a digital and print-based news product based in Baltimore City, who has dedicated her life to journalism, seeking to elevate underrepresented voices and drive meaningful conversations around pressing societal issues. CARA OBER is an artist, curator, and the founding editor and publisher at BMOREART, Baltimore’s art and culture magazine, who writes regularly about artists, museums, and material culture, with emphasis on context and subtext in the art world. Artist and Executive Director of AFRO CHARITIES, SAVANNAH WOOD leads the charge to increase access to the 130+-year-old AFRO American Newspapers’ extensive archives. Like four generations of ancestors before her, she remains invested in sharing and preserving Black stories. Maynard 200 Fellow, JASMINE VAUGHN-HALL is the West Baltimore neighborhood and community reporter for The BALTIMORE BANNER who wrote a collection of inspiring quotes for her book Umbrella for Every Sh*tstorm. Local radio host of Morning Edition at WYPR, Baltimore’s NPR News Station, ASHLEY STERNER has been a familiar over-the-airwaves voice for nearly two decades. Historian and postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University, DR. LAUREN FELDMAN serves as the Project Coordinator of JHU HARD HISTORIES, a public history initiative that examines the histories of racism and discrimination at the university. Award-winning writer ALANAH NICHOLE DAVIS is a lead reporter for Technical.ly, a multi-market news organization that aims to connect a community of technologists, entrepreneurs, and other professionals, and will moderate the conversation.
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DR. LAUREN FELDMAN is a historian and postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University. She studies the history of the United States, particularly in the pre-1900 period, focusing on gender, race, slavery, and the law. She serves as the Project Coordinator of JHU Hard Histories, a public history initiative that examines the histories of racism and discrimination at the university. She was previously a predoctoral fellow in the history of the Civil War era at Penn State’s Richards Center for the academic year 2022-2023. Feldman’s work has been supported by multiple institutions, including the American Historical Association, American Society for Legal History, and New-York Historical Society, and has been published in the journal Law and History Review.
https://hardhistory.jhu.edu/
LISA SNOWDEN is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Baltimore Beat, a digital and print-based news product based in Baltimore City. Passionate about storytelling and community empowerment, Snowden has dedicated her life to journalism, seeking to elevate underrepresented voices and drive meaningful conversations around pressing societal issues. With over 15 years of rich experience in local journalism, she’s shaped Baltimore Beat into an innovative and inclusive platform, focusing on literary reportage and insightful, impactful reporting. Snowden’s mission is to foster civic participation, combat misinformation, and uphold journalistic integrity while contributing to the resilience and awareness of the diverse and vibrant communities of Baltimore. She aims to create a news ecosystem that reflects the lived experiences of Baltimoreans and serves as a catalyst for positive change and community empowerment.
https://baltimorebeat.com
Twitter: @LisaESnowden
Instagram: @lisamccray
CARA OBER is an artist, arts writer, curator, and the founding editor and publisher at BmoreArt, Baltimore’s art and culture magazine. She writes regularly about artists, museums, and material culture, with an emphasis on context and subtext in the art world. In 2022, Ober was named the winner of the Sue Hess Award at the MD Citizens for the Arts annual conference. In 2019, she was awarded a Rabkin Art Writers Grant and was commissioned by the Warhol Foundation to write “Artspeak and Audience” for Common Field’s Field Perspectives Series. In addition to her regular writing and editing for BmoreArt, Ober has published articles in Vulture: New York Magazine, Hyperallergic, Burnaway, Art Papers, ARTnews, and The Baltimore Sun. Cara has taught classes and lectured at MICA, Johns Hopkins, American University, UMBC, and Goucher College. She holds an MFA in painting from MICA and a degree in fine arts from American University.
https://bmoreart.com/
Twitter: @bmoreart1
Instagram: @bmoreart @caraober
SAVANNAH WOOD is an artist with deep roots in Baltimore and Los Angeles. As the Executive Director of Afro Charities, Wood is leading the charge to increase access to the 130+-year-old AFRO American Newspapers’ extensive archives. In this role, she has shepherded the organization through a period of historic growth, initiated new programming, and attracted support from national funders including the Mellon Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and The Ruth Foundation. Wood is a graduate cum laude of the University of Southern California. She is a member of the 2023 class of The Leadership Baltimore, a 2022 Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund fellow, a 2022 Creative Capital finalist, and a 2019 – 2021 Robert W. Deutsch Foundation fellow. Like four generations of ancestors before her, she lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland, sharing and preserving Black stories.
savannahwood.info / afrocharities.org
Instagram: @savannahinpublic / @afrocharities
JASMINE VAUGHN-HALL is the West Baltimore neighborhood and community reporter for The Baltimore Banner. She graduated from California State University Northridge in Los Angeles and is a 2023-2024 Poynter-Koch Fellow. Jasmine’s also been a Maynard 200 Fellow and wrote a collection of inspiring quotes for her book Umbrella for Every Sh*tstorm. When she’s not hunting for great taco spots, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two corgis.
https://www.jasminevaughn-hall.com/
Twitter: @jvaughn411
Instagram: @jasminevaughnhall
ASHLEY STERNER is the local radio host at Baltimore’s NPR News Station, WYPR. https://www.wypr.org/
Instagram: @offairashley
ALANAH NICHOLE DAVIS is a lead reporter for Technical.ly, a multi-market news organization that aims to connect a community of technologists, entrepreneurs, and other professionals. She covers business news primarily in Baltimore and DC. Alanah is an award-winning writer whose work can be seen in Maryland Matters, Baltimore Magazine, Baltimore Banner, Salon, BmoreArt, and more. Many of her written witticisms surrounding love, race, womanhood, and being a human have gone viral online in perfect millennial fashion and are also in print to match her old soul.
alanahnichole.com
Twitter: @reporteralanah
Instagram: @reporteralanah
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CityLit Project and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in partnership with Chesapeake Shakespeare Company present CityLit Festival: Dismantling the Culture of Silence. This celebration of the arts showcases a bevy of leading poets and writers on April 20, 2024. We’re talking fiction, nonfiction, poetry galore, and ways to up the ante on your craft.
Download the CityLit Festival: Dismantling the Culture of Silence flyer.