The Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance (GBCA), Maryland Citizens for the Arts (MCA), and the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation along with the Maryland Institute College of Art are excited to announce the first-ever Citizen Artist Baltimore Mayoral Forum on Arts and Culture. The forum is free and open to the public.

Please RSVP here: http://bit.ly/1RTl4Va

Confirmed attendees include:
Catherine Pugh, Elizabeth Embry, David Warnock, Joshua Harris, DeRay McKesson

All candidates have been invited, including: Sheila Dixon, Nick Mosby, Carl Stokes

GBCA Executive Director Jeannie Howe states:

“At this critical time for Baltimore, the region, and the country, the creative community can and is making an important contribution to political discourse and to building a strong, equitable, and successful Baltimore. The first-ever mayoral forum on arts and culture will also provide an excellent opportunity to for candidates to outline their positions and goals.”

MCA Executive Director John Schratweiser states:

“Baltimore is home to thousands of voters who care about the arts; theatre, concert, and museum-goers; and workers in creative fields. They value core issues like public safety and education, but they also care deeply about the candidates’ positions on arts and culture. ”

The arts and culture industry in Baltimore generates $388.2 million in total economic activity, supports 9,505 full-time equivalent jobs, generates $260.4 million in household income to local residents, and delivers $33.9 million in local and state government revenue. (Arts and Economic Prosperity IV/Americans for the Arts 2010) .

Citizen Artist Baltimore (CAB) is a nonpartisan advocacy effort that is helping to mobilize thousands of voters within Baltimore City’s creative communities by providing the opportunity for mayoral candidates to outline their positions and goals related to arts, culture and humanities. Throughout January 2016 CAB conducted a series of listening sessions in every corner of Baltimore City. From these sessions, CAB has synthesized the top priorities of the creative sector into a questionnaire and statement that will be shared with all mayoral candidates and on its website.

Citizen Artist Baltimore serves as a call to action for individuals, organizations, and institutions to work together to advance inclusion of these issues in the April 2016 Primary Mayoral Election and beyond. The initiative also encourages voter registration and long-term engagement in the democratic process.