Category: Partners

Announcing the 2023 Doors Open Baltimore Kickoff Lecture: Jessica Henkin

The evening of October 5, join the Baltimore Architecture Foundation and Baltimore Heritage for the Doors Open Baltimore 10th Anniversary kick-off with guest Jessica Henkin, Co-Founder, Producer, and Host of “Stoop Story Telling.” The Stoop’s motto is “Everyone has a story. What’s yours?”

The Baltimore Architecture Foundation believes that, not only does everyone have a story, but every building has a story too and that, by opening doors and connecting people, we can inspire creativity, foster inclusivity, and contribute to the continued growth and success of Baltimore’s artistic and cultural landscape.

Doors Open Baltimore is an annual event that celebrates Baltimore’s diverse cultural tapestry by highlighting its vibrant neighborhoods, captivating architecture, and distinctive spaces, both grand and intimate, that contribute to the city’s exceptional charm. In this 10th anniversary year, Doors Open Baltimore invites you to be a tourist in your own backyard, exploring new areas, meeting different people, and finding out what goes on inside some of Baltimore’s most interesting buildings.

 

About the Speaker

Jessica Henkin co-created the Stoop Storytelling Series with her friend Laura Wexler in 2006. The Stoop is a Baltimore-based live show and podcast that has featured the tales of more than 3000 people onstage. It’s featured weekly on WYPR, 88.1.

She is a first-generation college student and has a Masters in Education from Johns Hopkins University, allowing for a robust career in special education that has ultimately allowed her to become the Coordinator for Baltimore City Public School’s Office of Early Learning Program.

Jessica moved to Baltimore in 2004 and became a founding member of the Baltimore Improv Group. She’s passionate about her family (husband Aaron Henkin and children Charlie and Abby), special education, Baltimore City, storytelling, keeping her house clean, rescuing strays (both animal and human), and finding most things funny.

 

Lecture Schedule:

Doors Open at 5:30pm, Wheeler Auditorium – Enoch Pratt Free Library – Central Library – 400 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201

6:00, Guest speaker, Jessica Henkin

7:30pm, Reception at Pratt Hall, First Unitarian Church, 12 W. Franklin Street

Call for Microgrant Applications & Preservation Award Nominations

Do you have a good idea to help preserve Baltimore’s heritage and revitalize our historic neighborhoods? Do you know a great Bmore preservation/history project, organization, or person that needs to be recognized for their hard work?

At our 2023 Preservation Celebration on October 19, we will be giving out four micro-grants to help launch preservation work in the city. We will also be honoring people and organizations that have been doing great work for our city’s historic places and communities.

Apply for a microgrant here: https://forms.gle/kNWmmGDrYMkhZdo86

To submit an award suggestion, email us at info@baltimoreheritage.org!

Save the Date! Bmore Historic 2023 is September 22

Baltimore’s annual unconference on people, places, and the past will be at the Baltimore Museum of Industry on Friday, September 22, 2023! Students are free this year.

What is Bmore Historic?

Bmore Historic is a participant-led unconference for people who care about public history and historic preservation in and around Baltimore. Learn more about Bmore Historic or read our introduction to unconferences.

What do we do at Bmore Historic?

Past, in-person unconferences have been structured around four session blocks: two in the morning and two in the afternoon. We usually have between four to six sessions in each of the time blocks for a total of twenty sessions throughout the day.

The Historic West Preston Street Rowhouses: Our Newest Five Minute Histories Video

Today’s Five Minute Histories video is a bit different! The historic block we are featuring on West Preston Street in Mount Vernon showcases one of the city’s grandest Victorian buildings, the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation, as well as Baltimore’s very earliest switch away from Victorian architecture to a new NeoColonial style. This block was also the home of three pioneering women of science in the early 20th Century, as well as Baltimore’s mayor during the great 1904 Fire. The Greek Cathedral has begun seeking authorization to demolish five of the historic rowhouses on the block and we are sharing this video in hopes that it will help convey why we think this block and these particular rowhouses are important and should be reused rather than demolished. Watch the video here:

 

This is our series called “Five Minute Histories.” We record short videos about different historic places all over Baltimore and post them on our Facebook page, YouTube channel, and website.

Join Us for Baltimore Heritage Night at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

The Meyerhoff Symphony Hall is turning 40 this year and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is shaking things up with a new conductor and a season of innovative music from around the world. To help the BSO usher in this new era, we hope you can join us for a Baltimore Heritage night on Saturday, June 3 to see Latin Fire.

Plan to arrive early on Saturday June 3 to celebrate Latinx heritage in the lobby with food for purchase from local food vendors, live music, and cultural performances! Also, BSO oboist and historian Michael Lisicky will chat with us before the show. 

Stay late on June 3rd for the final BSO Late Night Trivia of the season! BSO violist Helen Hess returns as your host to test your knowledge of Latinx influence on classical music and the history of our city, with an appearance from Baltimore Heritage’s Executive Director, John W. Hopkins. You’ll want to study up, because the first-place prize is a doozy – two tickets to the Season 23-24 Gala Celebration on Saturday September 22, 2023, featuring Music Director, Jonathon Heyward, and Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Use this link to the BSO’s website for tickets or enter the code BALTHERIT at checkout for the Baltimore Heritage 20% discount.

Here’s what the BSO says about the show:

The scintillating young conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez, already Principal Pops Conductor with the Nashville Symphony, makes his Baltimore Symphony Orchestra debut. Drawing on his Mexican-American heritage, in collaboration with the Costa Rican trumpeter Josè Sibaja and the Mexican soprano Mónica Abrego, Lopez-Yañez presents his own sparkling arrangements of Latin hits like “Tico-Tico no Fubá” along with classical gems rooted in the Spanish-speaking world, including a sultry suite from Bizet’s Carmen.