In a day of shrinking budgets and multiplying leisure diversions, the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance — for advocacy as well as aesthetic reasons — likely subscribes to poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s definition of beauty as being multiplicity in unity.
It’s only through the close association of 95 diverse, Baltimore-area arts and cultural advancement organizations that the 7-seven-year-old nonprofit can effectively promote members’ individual programs, its efficacy and regional quality of life.
“There’s going to be quite a fight this year over resources,” said Nancy Haragan, executive director of GBCA, a regional trade association for the arts-and-culture community. “We serve our membership by being a unifying voice and bridge-builder.”
Calling GBCA a cultural “catalyst for regional livability and economic vitality,” Haragan noted that the two-employee, $105,000-a-year nonprofit networks with government agencies and other funders, disseminates regional arts and culture information, polls members for priorities and grant-related operational data and provides focused member services.
“It helps the entire arts community to work cooperatively and collaboratively to help promote ourselves and exchange ideas,” said Doreen Bolger, director of the Baltimore Museum of Arts.
Two initiatives in particular — baltimorefunguide.com and the Maryland Cultural Data Project — highlight GBCA’s service to members and the community.
One of 12 task force members of the cultural data project, GBCA also offers online means for cultural organizations to create organizational profiles that automatically populate grant application templates and provide statistical information used in cultural research, advocacy and public relations activities.
“The Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance is one of those organizations that, quietly and behind the scenes, has a huge impact on the cultural life of Baltimore,” said Peter Bruun, director of art-promoting nonprofit Art on Purpose.
“It’s been tremendously helpful because it helps us stay connected to all the other organizations — large and small — throughout the Baltimore metropolitan region,” added Tom Hall, artistic director of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance
113 W. North Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21201
410-230-0200; baltimoreculture.org
