The Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts: Arts Council

Hello, this form is for grantees of BOPA's inaugural Live! in the District grant. Please submit this form by October 31, 2024.

Application deadline – Friday, November 15, 2024

The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) is proud to announce the 20th edition of the Janet & Walter Sondheim Art Prize. The prize will award $30,000 to a visual artist or visual artist collaborators living and working in the Baltimore region. Approximately five finalists will be selected for the final review for the prizes; their work will be exhibited in the Walters Art Museum April to July 2025. All Sondheim Prize Finalists will be awarded an M&T Bank Finalist Award of $2,500 each, and each semifinalist will participate in a curated group exhibition at MICA’s Decker and Meyerhoff Galleries at Artscape 2025.

We will also be awarding a residency to finalists not selected for the Sondheim Prize at the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower.

The Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower (bromoseltzertower.com) has been a part of Baltimore’s skyline since 1911 and a beacon for innovation and the arts since 2007. The tower has been transformed into studio spaces for artists, writers, jewelers, architects, and more to create, exhibit, and sell their art. Located in the heart of the Bromo Arts & Entertainment District, this 15-story city landmark is the ideal location for artists to explore their practice. 

Jurors

Jaqueline Cedar

Jaqueline Cedar was born in Los Angeles, CA and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. In 2009 she received an MFA in Visual Arts from Columbia University. Recent exhibitions include Serious Topics, Los Angeles (2024), Shelter Gallery,  New York (2023), TV Projects, Brooklyn (2023), Long Story Short, New York (2023), Shin Haus, New York (2022), Smoke the Moon, Santa Fe (2022), Ladies' Room, Los Angeles (2021), 11 Newel, Brooklyn (2021), Peripheral Space, Los Angeles (2021), Hesse Flatow, New York (2020), Drawer NYC (2020), Field Projects, New York (2020), Underdonk, Brooklyn (2018), and David Risley Gallery Velvet Ropes, Copenhagen (2018). Press includes Artnet, Hyperallergic, Huffington Post, Two Coats of Paint, New American Paintings, Gorky's Granddaughter, Painters' Table, and The Boston Globe. Cedar's paintings and drawings address uncanny scenarios where characters engage themselves and one another with sincerity and purpose. Moments of desire, self-reflection, and lack of control motivate postures filled with bravado and vulnerability. In October 2019 Cedar launched the curatorial exhibition program Good Naked Gallery. Projects hover around the intimate and awkward with a focus on work that engages tactility, humor, movement, and play.

Mike Cloud

Mike Cloudis a Chicago-based artist whose work examines the conditions of painting in its contemporary life among countless reproductions, symbols and descriptions. After studying at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Cloud earned his MFA from Yale in 2003. His work has been extensively shown, at venues such asMoMA P.S.1,Marianne Boesky Gallery,White Columns,Max Protetch,Apexart,and has been included in group exhibitions, such asFrequencyat theStudio Museum in HarlemandHonor Fraser Gallery.In addition to numerous reviews, his work was part ofPainting Abstractionby Bob Nickas, Phaidon Press (2009). He has been awarded the inauguralChiaro Awardfrom the Headlands Center for the Arts, CA; a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and residencies at the Meulensteen Art Centre in the Netherlands as well as the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program in New York. Cloud is currently an Assistant Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Jennie Goldstein

Jennie Goldstein has worked in various positions at the Whitney Museum of Art, beginning as a Curatorial Assistant before pursuing a graduate degree. Most recently, as Assistant Curator, a position she has held since 2015, she has focused on collection building and collections-based and loan exhibitions. Goldstein has curated several prominent exhibitions, including the currently on-view In the Balance: Between Painting and Sculpture, 1965–1985. She also curated or co-curated Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019; Christine Sun Kim: Too Much Future; and An Incomplete History of Protest: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1940–2019. Goldstein recently served as a member of the Museum’s Equity and Inclusion Steering Group, which centered staff voices in the institution’s Equity and Inclusion Plan. Prior to her current role, she worked as a Joan Tisch Teaching Fellow at the Whitney. Goldstein holds a master’s degree in art history from Stony Brook University in New York.

Review Process

The selection process will occur in three phases:

First Review — Jurors will review applicants’ submissions independent of each other. They will complete score sheets that will be tabulated to select approximately 13–15 semifinalists. Submissions will consist of five (5) digital images of work or up to ten (10) minutes of time-based work and a resume.

Second Review — Semifinalists will be asked to submit an expanded submission including up to 30 images or time-based works along with an artist statement, resume and image description list. The jurors will convene to choose three finalists for the exhibition and final review. 

Works by the remaining semifinalists will be selected by BOPA Prizes and Competitions Manager Lou Joseph for an exhibition at MICA’s Decker and Meyerhoff galleries during Artscape 2025.

Final Review — The finalists will have their work exhibited in the Walters Art Museum. Each finalist will meet with the Walters Art Museum curators to determine installation requirements. 

Finalists will work collaboratively with the WAM curators to determine which artwork is to be included in the finalist exhibition; however, the final decision on what is exhibited and the decision regarding the feasibility of installation requirements is the responsibility of the WAM curators. The exhibit design and artwork placement within these galleries is at the sole discretion of the WAM curatorial and exhibition staff. On Saturday, June 7, 2025, the jurors will meet with each artist for up to 45 minutes in their exhibition space for a final interview. After all the interviews, the jurors will meet and decide the recipients for the Sondheim Art Prize and the residency at the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower. The award will be announced at the award ceremony and reception at the Walters Art Museum in late June 2025 (TBD).

Application Process

Image Submission Guidelines

• Artists may submit five (5) images of artwork for the first round of jury review.
• Images should be in jpeg format and be not larger than approximately 3MB.

Video Submission

• Artists submitting time-based works may submit up to ten (10) minutes of work. The 10 minutes may include excerpts from up to five (5) works as long as the combined time totals no more than 10 minutes.
• Artists wishing to submit still and time-based works, subtract two (2) minutes from the allowed 10-minute time-based total for every still image submitted.
• Videos should be in .mov or .mp4 format.

Please contact Lou Joseph at 443-263-4339 or ljoseph@promotionandarts.org with questions regarding the submission of sound-based works.

Information Sessions

BOPA will host two information sessions Tuesday, November 5, at 3:00 p.m. and Thursday, November 7 at 6:00 p.m. to help artists plan their applications and answer questions. Both sessions will take place over Zoom.

Guidelines

1. Artists living and working in Maryland; Washington, D.C.; Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties and the city of Alexandria in Virginia; Delaware and Adams, Chester, Franklin, Lancaster, and York counties in Pennsylvania are eligible to submit for this award.
2. Artists may not be full-time students at the time of the exhibition and during the granting period. Students who will have graduated by the time of the exhibition and granting period may apply.
3. Artists must live and work in one of the geographic areas listed above during time of application and during the entire granting period.
4. Artists who work in collaboration may apply as a group. Each artist’s name and contact information should be listed on the application form. A one-page resume for the collaborative group and a single set of support materials should be submitted. Each individual member of the collaborative group must meet all other guidelines.
5. Artists who apply as individuals must submit original artwork that is principally created by them. It is understood that sometimes individual artists may employ the work of another artist to complete a larger scale project. For example, an artist who works in video may choose to include sound in the video that is composed by another artist. In such cases, the individual artist applying to the Sondheim Prize must be the primary creator of the work, they must disclose any assistance received on artwork submitted for consideration and they must obtain permission from the contributor to submit the work for consideration. Failure to disclose this support will disqualify application, and the artist will be required to return any prize monies awarded.
6. Upon www.submittable.com’s receipt of application materials, artists will be sent an automatic email confirmation. If an artist does not receive this confirmation within 48 hours, please contact Lou Joseph at ljoseph@promotionandarts.org.
7. The award will be paid in monthly installments: $8,000 will be paid for the first month and $2,000 will be paid for each of the following 11 months. If artist collaborators are selected the above payments will be equally divided between the collaborating artists.
8. Winners of the Sondheim Prize will be responsible for paying all applicable federal, state, and local taxes.
9. Artists’ work included in the Semifinalist Exhibition will be insured during the exhibition duration by BOPA; artists’ work included in the Finalists exhibition at the Walters Art Museum will be insured by that organization while the artwork is on the premises of the Walters Art Museum.
10. Winners of the Sondheim Prize will be required to file a final report by June 30, 2026, before the final payment. This report should include an explanation of how winning this prize has enabled the artist or artist collaborative group to further develop their work, as well as an explanation of any additional opportunities that may have arisen as a result of winning this prize.
11. BOPA reserves the right to reproduce images of applicants’ work for printed or internet publicity, catalogue, or marketing purposes. The Walters Art Museum also will have the right to reproduce work relating to the 2025 Sondheim Prize.
12. The decisions of the jurors are final. Jurors may change without notification.
13. Finalists will be required to meet with Walters Art Museum curators to finalize their installation needs; these needs must meet the exhibition guidelines set forth by the Walters Art Museum. If required by the installation of the artwork or its intended interaction with the public, the Walters Art Museum may choose to issue waivers of liability to be signed by the artist. Otherwise, the Walters Art Museum will insure the artwork while in its possession.
14. Artists chosen as finalists will be required to take primary responsibility for installing and deinstalling their work at the Walters Art Museum. Artists must be present on the Walters Art Museum premises for the installation and deinstallation of their work, which will occur Monday through Friday, between the hours of 9am and 4pm. If artists cannot personally be present for installation, their work will not be exhibited. While artists may bring assistants to help them with installation, they cannot serve as substitutes for the artists.
15. Artists chosen as finalists must provide a complete list of materials used in artworks at the time of the initial site visit by Walters Art Museum curators and staff. Artists’ materials will be reviewed by the Walters Art Museum’s Conservation Department. Artists will additionally accommodate requests by Conservation team members to inspect work in person. Any material (including but not limited to salvaged lumber, food stuffs, other unstable organic materials, objects that off-gas fumes, and objects stored outdoors) that may introduce insects or present a risk to the Museum’s environment and collection will not be permitted inside of the Museum. It is the responsibility of each artist to suggest alternative works suitable for exhibition to the Walters Art Museum curators. If no acceptable alternatives are identified, the artist’s work will not be included in the exhibition but may be represented by photographic or video documentation to be provided by the artist.
16. Finalists are strongly encouraged to attend the press preview for the Finalist exhibition, tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, April 15, 2025, at 6:00 p.m.
17. Finalists may be required to make presentations at the Walters Art Museum at some time during the duration of the exhibition, including during the awards ceremony.
18. Photography by the public will be allowed in the Finalist Exhibition at the Walters Art Museum and in the Semifinalist Exhibition.
19. Previous winners of the Sondheim Prize are not eligible to apply. Previous finalists and semifinalists may apply.
20. BOPA and BFAI Board members, employees and/or relatives (defined as children, spouse, domestic partner, or parents) are not eligible to apply for the Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize.

Estimated Timeline

• Application open: mid October 2024
• Application deadline: November 15, 2024
• Announcement of semifinalists: early December 2024
• Announcement of finalists: mid-January 2025
• Finalist studio visits with Walters exhibition team: February 2025
• Finalist exhibition installation: April 7-11 2025 (Wed-Fri, 9am-4pm)
• Finalist exhibition Press Preview: tentatively Tuesday, April 15, 6pm
• Finalist exhibition duration: April 19 – July 20, 2025
• Finalist interviews: June 7, 2025
• Finalist exhibition deinstallation: July 21-22, 2025
• Award announcement: TBD in late June, at 7pm, galleries open at 6pm

For more information, contact: Lou Joseph at 443-263-4339 or ljoseph@promotionandarts.org