UMBC's visual arts faculty received six of the seven Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards in the New Genre category, which honors artists whose visual-based work goes beyond traditional disciplines, and includes work in which the computer is central to the creation, presentation, or understanding of the work. Recipients are Colin Ives, Timothy Nohe, David Crandall, Davina Grunstein, Terry Nauheim and Department Chair John Sturgeon.

In the Media category, which cites excellence in film, video and audio, four of the twelve awards were presented to UMBC faculty: Holly Lavenstein, Amie Siegel, Jill Johnston-Price and Jorge Castro.

Granted biennially, the Maryland State Arts Council's Individual Artist Awards are highly competitive and are adjudicated by peer review panels. Other UMBC faculty who received Individual Artist Awards include Barbara Simon (Fiction), Cathy Paine (Solo Dance Performance), Sandra Lacy (Solo Dance Performance), Hamid Hossain (Solo Instrumental Performance) and Susan B. McCully (Solo Theatrical Performance).