Highlights of My Work at The Peale
When I joined The Peale as Executive Director, I stepped into a museum with an extraordinary legacy and a wide-open opportunity: to strengthen Baltimore’s Community Museum as a home for creativity, storytelling, and collaborative civic culture.
Over the past year, that vision has taken shape across programs, partnerships, facilities, and the very way The Peale welcomes the city into its historic spaces.
Completing the Campus Experience
The upcoming Silhouettes Café will enhance The Peale’s current visitor experience by complementing our existing shop, refreshing our garden spaces, and restoring alley access that will allow smoother entry into the museum grounds.
These improvements are timed to support major upcoming events—including Artscape 2026, Sondheim, Spark!, and expanded Peale programming that will activate the museum’s indoor and outdoor spaces for artists, performers, and visitors.
The café will strengthen The Peale as a destination where people gather, linger, and participate in creative life.
Expanding Community Exhibitions and Programs
The Peale continues to champion exhibitions shaped with and by Baltimore communities. Building on our legacy, we are developing more juried art exhibitions that explore Life in Baltimore, amplifying the city’s many voices—artists, activists, students, storytellers, and neighborhood historians.
Our performance and concert programming is also growing, anchored by our baby Steinway piano and partnerships with Chamber Music Maryland, among others.
These programs reinforce The Peale’s position as a space where Baltimore’s creative diversity can flourish.
Building Workforce Pathways
The Guild @ The Peale—our restoration arts and museum trades apprenticeship program—has become a cornerstone of our work. Through hands-on experience inside Baltimore’s oldest museum building, apprentices develop skills in preservation, gallery work, and the restorative arts while supporting real projects throughout the facility.
The Guild’s partnerships continue expanding across Maryland, connecting apprentices to meaningful career pathways and ensuring that Baltimore’s heritage trades reflect the community they serve.
Innovation, Storytelling, and Digital Creativity
This year also marked the growth of The Lab @ The Peale, co-led with Nancy Proctor. The Lab experiments with emerging media—AR and VR tools, immersive audio, digital timelines, influencer-driven storytelling, and experiential interpretation.
Whether developing new digital and accessibility strategies, The Lab ensures The Peale remains at the forefront of museum storytelling and community-centered media creation.
Partnerships & Vision for Baltimore’s Creative Future
This year we have deepened relationships across the city and state, securing grants and collaborations with organizations that share our commitment to community-driven cultural work. Whether through preservation apprenticeships, digital storytelling initiatives, or expanded public programs, these partnerships ensure that The Peale continues to thrive as a cultural anchor.
Looking ahead, the museum is preparing to play a major role in:
- Sondheim Semifinalist during Artscape 2026, with accessible indoor and outdoor programming
- New community juried exhibitions about Baltimore
- Digital storytelling projects through The Lab
- Expanded apprenticeship training through The Guild
- Activation of garden and alley spaces through Silhouettes Café
Together, these initiatives build a Peale that is future-facing while deeply rooted in Baltimore.
The Work Continues
The Peale remains Baltimore’s Community Museum because the people of Baltimore continue to shape it. My role has been to strengthen the financial foundations, complete the infrastructure, further the vision, and strengthen and increase partnerships that help the institution serve as a platform for creativity, storytelling, and civic pride.
