Community Partner: Station North Arts and Entertainment District
Intern: Ryan Lucas
Site Supervisors: Rebecca Chan and Kimi Hanauaer
What is Station North?
By promoting and supporting artists and cultural organizations in the District, Station North Arts &
Entertainment, Inc. seeks to create a vibrant neighborhood where arts, artists and entertainment venues
flourish in the midst an economically diverse community with an abundance of healthy residential, retail and
commercial offerings.
Working at Station North Arts and Entertainment, Inc. this summer has provided me
the opportunity to explore Baltimore and immerse myself in the artistic community
of the city, where as a Hopkins student I am naturally an outsider. Every day posed a
new challenge and task, varying as widely as running to the Copycat to borrow a
generator from Gaia or handing out maps to the thousands of visitors at ArtScape.
I've met incredible people, including my fantastic coworkers, but also artists,
musicians, and other people at the forefront of Baltimore's creative scene who have
inspired me to test the waters with my own creative content. I've become a stronger
writer, communicator, and worker because of my placement this summer.
At the beginning of my placement I felt out of my element. Almost immediately I was
asked to assist in a grant application, something I had never done before, as well as
research potential sponsors. While intimidating at first, I can now confidently say I
can manage both of those tasks efficiently, and I have continued to improve in these
skills throughout the summer. Working in such a small office (full time staff of 3!)
ensured that there was always something that had to be done, allowing me to work
on several small projects throughout the summer.
One of the highlights of my time at Station North was the Alloverstreet block party
hosted in Greenmount West in collaboration with Earthseed, an art collective
including Abdu Ali. Handing out flyers for the event in the week leading up allowed
me to meet and talk with all kinds of people from the community. I wouldn’t be able
to fairly describe this summer without finally mentioning the mini‐golf project we’ve
been working on significantly this summer. I helped arrange meetings, research other
artist‐designed mini‐golf courses around the country, and helped write the Request
for Qualifications for artists. With a tentative opening of ArtScape 2017, it is
bittersweet to not stay on with Station North for the entirety of the project but I’m
happy with what I’ve contributed to the mini‐golf project and everything else I have
done this summer. Thank you CIIP ‐ Ryan
Tasks:
● Assisted with grant writing for funding at the
national, state, and local level
● Helped coordinate and run Station North
programming, including Power Brunch and
Alloverstreet
● Completed the Be Here: Baltimore project, an audio‐
visual tour of Station North highlighting the area's
cultural heritage and important sites by interviewing
long time residents and influential community
members
● Documented and catalogued murals in Station North
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from Open Walls 1 and 2