Baltimore's Station North neighborhood was recently voted onto a list of the top 10 arts districts in the United States by CBS. Despite this recognition, Baltimore's art scene still has some work to do. When you talk to the leaders of local arts organizations, large and small, they will all tell you that they wish that their audiences, their staffs, and their boards of directors were more diverse.
Only one of Baltimore’s four major arts organizations, Center Stage, is headed by a person of African descent. The Reginald F. Lewis Museum and the Great Blacks in Wax Museum are run by African Americans, but after those, you’ll have a difficult time finding organizations whose leadership, governance, and constituencies include significant participation by people of color. David Mitchell is out to change that. Under the auspices of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, he has founded the Urban Arts Leadership Program, which offers training and networking to young minority professionals so that they’re positioned to be the next generation of leaders in the arts sector. David Mitchell joins host Tom Hall in the studio, accompanied by Amanda Morrell. She is a recent graduate of the University of Baltimore, and one of ten 2015 fellows in the Urban Arts Leadership Program.
