BOPA holds town hall as break up with City of Baltimore looms

By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com

The Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA) is addressing public concern following Mayor Brandon M. Scott’s move to sever ties with the quasi-governmental agency. The organization held a virtual town hall meeting on Oct. 29, enabling members of the arts community and other residents to ask questions about the path forward. 

BOPA has long been the producer of major Baltimore events, like Artscape and the Baltimore Book Festival, and a funder for arts and culture organizations and local creatives, delivering grants and other support. CEO Rachel D. Graham opened the forum, saying her team worked diligently to prevent the termination of the city contract.

“I and the new board were tasked by the administration and city council with taking a deep and, in some cases, difficult look at the governance, finances and mission of this organization and to reimagine this work that we do in light of what we learned,” said Graham. “To be clear, what BOPA currently faces is not the result of irresponsibility or mismanagement. It is the result of a cataclysmic mixture of the COVID cliff, years of perceived instability which have pulled interest from funders and, quite honestly, an unsustainable business model that has been documented as placing pressures on this organization for years now.” 

When the city announced its intention to cancel BOPA’s contract on Oct. 16, one of the burning questions was whether the organization’s financial troubles were a product of cash flow or budgeting issues. Angela Well-Sims, treasurer of the BOPA board, said it was the former.

“What was driving that cash flow issue was contractual delivery— the misalignment of the actual expenses of the services being delivered with the payments,” said Wilson. 

She used an analogy to describe the challenge. When an artist is commissioned to create something, and they finish the art work, sometimes payments can be received over time rather than immediately. 

“If you’re doing this work and the expenses come up front; however, you have that payment that’s lagging, there becomes this cash crunch,” said Wilson. “The interim board identified that pretty early as we got into the contract year.” 

BOPA has also faced trouble attracting private dollars. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wilson said the organization raised significant funds from private sponsors and donors. But a year into the public health crisis, there was a national decline in donations because of the widespread economic strain. 

Despite this, Wilson said BOPA has confidence in what it brings to the table. 

“I think that we will attract sponsorship that can be on par or even exceeding the levels that we’ve attracted with the city contract,” said Wilson. 

The end of the contract is subject to approval by the Baltimore Board of Estimates, which will make its decision on Nov. 6. If the relationship is terminated, the city will need to find a new producer for its events. It will also need to pick a new organization to distribute city-backed grants to the arts community. 

BOPA leadership said this will enable the organization to focus on curating individual artists for large-scale events and creating its own new events. 

One of BOPA’s main priorities in this transition period is safeguarding the organization’s status as Baltimore’s official arts council. At this point, the designation remains, but an end to the contract does allow other agencies to apply for the role. Graham noted that the process is laborious and lengthy, and the appointment would hinge on the Maryland State Arts Council’s (MSAC) approval. 

As an arts council, BOPA receives funding and technical assistance from the MSAC, which it uses to support local artists. Though without funding from the city, there is a concern regarding the security of the creative community as the transition of BOPA’s services takes place.

“This is a life or death matter. While we’re having these conversations, artists across the city are suffering. They are suffering from homelessness. They are suffering from inadequate health care. They are some of the prime sufferers in the opioid addiction crisis,” said Graham. “I believe that BOPA has a role that it can play no matter what life looks like after we deal with the contract with the City of Baltimore.” 

In the coming weeks, BOPA is set to hold a series of small group meetings centered on strategic pillars, including cultural economy development, arts tourism promotion and arts advocacy and grantmaking. 

It will develop a new strategic plan, timeline and key performance indicators to measure the organization’s transformation. 

Graham acknowledged that the recovery of the organization is not a small feat, but said BOPA is determined to get back on track. 

“Now, I know this is no small task, and I sound like a wide-eyed optimist to even suggest this as something that can be done considering recent challenges. The reality is that this is not something that is unusual for the sector or even for nonprofits,” said Graham. “What I’ll tell you is something that I shared when I first was being considered for this role. I am stubborn to a fault, especially when there are things that I believe in and feel passionately about. The Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts is one of those things I believe in.”

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