The Omicron variant has put a damper on our New Year’s celebrations, but amid all the challenges we have much to be grateful for. GBCA is extremely pleased to welcome (back) Lauren Saunders who joins us this week as Director of Development and Membership. From 2013 to 2017, Lauren was Assistant Program Manager at GBCA, until she left to successfully pursue a Master of Arts Management from Carnegie Mellon University. Most recently she served as Director of Individual Giving at Pittsburgh Public Theater. She returns to Baltimore with her husband Dustin Morris. Dustin and Lauren are both Graduates of Goucher College and later, members of the Single Carrot Theatre Ensemble. Join us in welcoming them home to Baltimore!
Lauren will be the key contact for GBCA members and may be reached at [email protected]. She is eager to hear your stories and learn more about how we can best support your organizations and artistic practices. GBCA is here to support you as you work through this new round of restrictions and closures due to Covid.
Are you interested in joining the GBCA team? We are on the hunt for a skilled Marketing Manager who embraces our mission and values and who has a deep commitment to the creative sector. Here’s the position description to view and share.
GBCA is also excited to announce that applications for Urban Arts Leadership opened on Monday, January 3. UAL is a tremendous opportunity for emerging leaders who are recent college graduates to learn about arts administration and equity from experts in the field, and to be awarded a fellowship placement with a leading cultural organization in the Baltimore region. Alumni have gone on to thriving professional positions at a variety of organizations including the National Museum for Women in the Arts, Maryland Citizens for the Arts, Arts Everyday, the Warhol Foundation, GBCA, and so many more!
In member news, the Baltimore Jazz Alliance (BJA) Board of Directors has announced Tyrone Crawley as their new president. Crawley has served on the Board since 2017 and says he looks forward to BJA bringing back the Baltimore Jazz Fest in-person for Juneteenth/Father’s Day 2022. Godspeed!
One of our best tools for mitigating the spread of the Omicron variant is properly wearing an effective mask. CNN Health reports that “as the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread, it's past time to reconsider your face mask options -- especially if you're still wearing the cloth variety.” Dr. Lena Wen is quoted as saying: "We need to be wearing at least a three-ply surgical mask…You can wear a
cloth mask on top of that, but do not just wear a cloth mask alone… [Ideally, in crowded places] you should be wearing a KN95 or N95 mask." Disposable surgical, KN95, and N95 masks can be found at most drugstores, some grocery and online retail stores, and can be as inexpensive as a few dollars each. Click through this link to read more.
Here’s to a healthy New Year,
Jeannie
