Baker Artist Awards

The annual wall of noise known as Maryland Death Fest is right around the corner, and we present for the discerning public radio listener, “Death Metal 101:  A Primer”

We visit with three Baltimore artists who just found themselves 25 thousand dollars richer, thanks to the annual Mary Sawyers Baker Prize:  installation sculptor Jonathan Latiano, photographer Lynne Parks, and classical cellist Dariusz Skoraczewski

On May 2nd, the 2013 Mary Sawyers Baker Prizes were announced, and three Baltimore artists suddenly found themselves each 25 thousand dollars richer.

Marcia Woolfson Ray builds sculpture from Dog Fennel and cornstalks; Ellen Durkan forges tempered steel into sci-fi meta-fashion; and Ed Hough strums the guitar in the band Smooth Kentucky.  These three artists are as different as can be, but they’ve got one thing in common:  This week, they each earned a thousand-dollar B Grant from the Baker Artist Award website, and we pay them a congratulatory visit.

A preview of the upcoming Charm City LGBT Film Festival, a showcase of the best and newest queer films from Baltimore and around the world

• Three local art-makers are each 25 thousand dollars richer, thanks to the 2011 Baker Artist Awards, and we catch up with the newly announced winners – vocal percussionist Shodekeh, experimental musician Audrey Chen, and visual artist Gary Kachadourian.
• The Baltimore-based poetry journal, Smartish Pace, has an uncanny knack for publishing Pulitzer-Prize winning poets, and we talk with Editor Stephen Reichert about how he manages to calculate poetic genius.
• Plus:  A late great Maryland statesman is remembered lovingly by the political cartoonist who made him lo

For many Charm City locals, there’s a seedy stretch of Baltimore Street that might as well not exist, but this week guest producer Baynard Woods gives us a look at what life really is like for the people who make their living in the city’s red-light district, The Block.
We pay a visit to the Baltimore Free Farm, where community activists are working to promote sustainable living and urban agriculture in a once-vacant lot in Hampden.