Latest news with #BlackBaltimore
CBS News
26-02-2025
- Business
- CBS News
CIAA tournaments provide economic boosts for Baltimore businesses
A dozen HBCU men's and women's basketball teams, and thousands of fans, have flocked to Baltimore this week for the annual CIAA tournaments at CFG Bank Arena. However, it's the culture, the bands, and the influx of fans and alumni that make this a week-long celebration. "Folks can see the food scene, they can see our history," said Al Hutchinson, the President and CEO of Visit Baltimore. "There's no doubt we are a basketball mecca, right? We've got great basketball history, but as fans come in from all around the country, we want them to really appreciate the greatness of this city." Baltimore leaders look forward to the economic boost for local businesses. This is the fifth year Charm City has hosted the CIAA tournaments after it moved from Charlotte. During a time when business is usually slow downtown, Visit Baltimore created directories for hotels and small Black-owned businesses to cash in on the expected $1.4 million economic impact. "Get out into our neighborhoods, visit our attractions, everything we have to offer," Hutchinson said. "It's more than basketball, we really want to celebrate the greatness of Charm City." In 2024, the CIAA tournaments generated $32.5 million and created 1,315 part-time and full-time jobs, officials said. The event also generated $3.1 million in state and local taxes. Stay at the Lord Baltimore Hotel Fans will be staying at hotels across downtown Baltimore, many of which are already sold out, but at the Lord Baltimore Hotel, a set of fans will enjoy a curated room that brings Black Baltimore to life. "We are blessed here that we've got some alumni groups, and alumni groups are way fun," said Lee Johnson-Lowe, with the Lord Baltimore Hotel. "They really enjoy the hotel. We have a lot of elements here at the hotel with our theater where we do magic shows and murder mysteries."
CBS News
16-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Baltimore cultural center celebrates the late Tom Miller's bold and colorful artwork
You may have driven past Tom Miller's colorful murals on North Avenue and Harford Road in Baltimore. But this week, three institutions are honoring the late Baltimore artist, and you can learn more about his legacy. Miller was one of the first Black Baltimore artists to have a solo exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The Eubie Blake Cultural Center is showcasing Miller's art and explains how it brings vibrancy wherever it resides. Miller's unforgettable artwork has bold colors with an homage to Baltimore. "If you choose to go deeper, you'll see what Tom Miller is actually talking about," said Deyane Moses, the curator and founder of Tom Miller Week. The Eubie Blake Cultural Center is participating in Tom Miller Week to keep the breath of his work alive. "It's simply a reflection of some of the beautiful things in Baltimore," said Derek Price, the executive director of the Eubie Blake Cultural Center. Tom Miller's legacy The cultural center will display 70 works of Miller's art and artifacts of his life. This will give people a chance to bond and explore the past of the local artist who died from AIDS in 2000. In the center, Moses points out an art piece that Chase Brexton Health Care commissioned. Miller was in hospice care at that medical facility after he was diagnosed with HIV in the late 1980s. "He did this piece while he was sick and what also happened is he started a scholarship for people who had HIV and AIDS," Moses said. "And so that's just the type of man Tom Miller was. He was loving. He was caring. And he always wanted to give back to his community and people who were just like him." Fighting for social justice Price said Miller had a strong relationship with the Eubie Blake Cultural Center and one day they found a couple of Miller's art pieces in their basement. They now plan to have them in their archival program. "It was unexpected," Price said. "We didn't expect to come across them. But it was exhilarating to see." His murals, lively screen prints, and unique furniture captivate people's attention as Miller did not shy away from tackling social justice issues. "Seeing alligator teeth and an alligator painted on a child's chair, he's really talking about children being used as alligator bait," Moses said. Auctioning Miller's work This year, one of his screen prints will be auctioned online and it's a piece no one has ever seen before. Moses said an art collector found it while reviewing their collection. "You think these artists have passed on, but they're not," Moses said. The proceeds from the auction will then go to Moses' mission to preserve Miller's legacy. "Right now, those murals on Harford Road and North Avenue are crumbling down," she said. "One of them has also been defaced. So, my goal for next year and for the future is to start the Friends for Tom Miller group. And I want us to preserve his legacy together and restore those murals." Tom Miller Week This will be the fifth year celebrating Tom Miller Week. Tom Miller Day is on Tuesday, Feb 18. The Baltimore mayor declared this day back in 1995. The cultural center will host a celebration open to the public from 5 pm to 9 pm. There will be music and testimonials from Miller's family and friends.
CBS News
09-02-2025
- General
- CBS News
Baltimore church displays artwork that celebrates diversity, confronts tainted past
BALTIMORE -- Govans Presbyterian Church, founded in 1844, is one of Baltimore's oldest churches. On Sunday, the church dedicated an art display that celebrates its diversity and confronts its tainted past. In 2021, Govans Presbyterian Church underwent what they called a self-examination of its heritage and role in racial segregation across its 170 years of history. "Through research of the state archives, we discovered that William Govan, in the 18th century, had a plantation," said Myra Brosius, a church member who helped discover this history. "We then found someone who mapped the original land grants of Maryland, and discovered we were on our church on his plantation." Embracing the church's history Brosius is also a part of the church's Racial Justice Committee, which wanted to confront its past but also change the narrative of the church's history by embracing who they are now. In January 2024, the committee advertised a commission to a Black Baltimore artist to create and display two pieces of art in the church sanctuary to provide racially diverse images in the worship space. Their hope is for the artwork to be a permanent display at the front of the church behind the pulpit. The goal is to create images of people of color in Govans to communicate that all are welcome. "Confronting their past" The congregation wanted to incorporate artwork that is reflective of worship and their community. After reviewing proposals, the committee selected Ky Vassor, a Baltimore-based mixed media illustrator, muralist, educator, and curator. "It was so important to, quite literally, acknowledge the land that we're on, and even the enslaved individuals that, at one point, you know, forcibly had to take care of this land," said Vassor, the lead artist for the art display. Vassor and the church worked collaboratively for almost a year to create a piece of art that embodies who they are. "Govans is very upfront about confronting their past but also making strides to kind of create a new future for themselves," said Vassor. The new art display The new art display consists of two gothic arched panels titled Sanctuary City Part I & II. Its colorful acrylic panels depict 14 men, women and children. "Some of the folks that you'll see in the very forefront of the mural, or folks that have been affected by police brutality, such as Corinna Gaines and Freddie Gray," Vassor said. "I also wanted to highlight folks from that were civil rights leaders that were also other community leaders, such as Lillian Kim, who helped a lot of Chinese American immigrants first coming to Baltimore." The panels sit at 8 1/2 feet tall and 2 1/2 feet wide. Other faces honored on the art display include the road workers killed in the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, and the enslaved people who worked the plantation on the site of the church. "I wanted to acknowledge them, even past their labor, as humans, you know, as fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers," Vassor said. "So, each of their names are also described across the top of the mural. I also wanted to acknowledge even a non-binary person, Pauli Murray, who was a pretty large civil rights activist that was born here in Baltimore, but again, is seldom acknowledged." Now all their stories have a place where they will all be remembered, recognized, and honored for future generations to come. "I hope that this helps folks talk to one another about extraordinarily difficult topics that are happening in our communities," said Vassor.
