Baltimore community arts activist and UMBC’s curator of collections and outreach for the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, Sandra Abbott, was sworn in to the board of the Baltimore City Public Art Commission on Monday, June 10, 2013 by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
As a member of the board of the Public Art Commission, Abbott juries public art projects along with eight other members under the City’s 1% for Art Program. The program enhances the cityscape, quality of life, and artistic and creative climate in Baltimore. The 1%-for-Art Ordinance requires at least one percent of the City's capital construction project's eligible funds be used for the selection, acquisition, commissioning, fabrication, placement, installation, display, and maintenance of public fine artwork. The program is administered through the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA).
With her experience on the steering committee of the Highlandtown Arts and Entertainment District since 2008, Abbott will be well-positioned to work with BOPA and the other city arts districts on the recent $200K ArtPlace America grant for the City’s three arts districts in partnership with the European Union. The Grant will fund Transit, a project that brings together European and Baltimore artists, arts organizations, city planners, and transportation officials to strategically transform transit environments within the city’s A&E districts. The project was chosen from more than 1,200 applications as an exceptional example of creative placemaking.
Abbott is co-author of the chapter on museum internships in A Life in Museums (American Alliance of Museums, 2012), and serves as the Maryland representative to the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries. She often speaks at national conferences and most recently won the Collegetown Network’s Staff Award for outstanding service at the 6th annual Service-Learning and & Civic Engagement Conference.