SNAP! Civic Arts Series: The Progression to Covenants
Civic Arts Series
SNAP! engaged the community through a variety of educational, historical, and creative initiatives — all preserved in this online exhibit. Many events were produced by SNAP! alongside dedicated community partners, while others provided artistic inspiration and political education for the emerging SNAP! ensemble.
The Civic Arts Series spanned nearly 16 months leading up to the Covenants performance, followed by a post-performance series designed to establish a resident-led civic arts team dedicated to sustaining local creativity and learning. Both pre- and post-performance events fall into four core programmatic categories.
Housing History Forums
Examined Housing Legacy: Explored the history of racial covenants and discriminatory housing practices in Northwood, including historical resistance to "blockbusting."
Sparked Community Dialogue: Catalyzed conversation through Sheila Gaskins’ play Last House Standing and through the plays written and performed in Covenants.
Events
Last House Standing: A Play about the Highway to Nowhere
Performed at Faith Presbyterian Church, November 15, 2015.
This event included a performance of selections from Sheila Gaskins’ play. It also featured a panel of Antero Pietila, Professor Lawrence Brown, and Dominique Stanford Moore. Furthermore, participants shared stories about home to contribute to the development of Covenants.
Covenants Meeting about Northwood History
The meeting was led by Natalya Brusilovsky at Morgan State University on February 7, 2016.
Ensemble members and members of the community met to discuss Northwood history and brainstorm ideas for scenes.
Northwood History and Making Theater About It
The workshop was led by Natalya Brusilovsky at Faith Presbyterian Church on March 6, 2016.
This workshop was held to make progress on Covenants and to get new members involved. Three scenes were workshopped - “Steering,” “Crossing the Line,” and another about finding motivation to make change in a community after experiencing pain. These were the sessions led by Natalya Brusilovsky.
Covenants Scenes Workshop
The workshop was held at Faith Presbyterian Church on March 15, 2016.
Ensemble members gathered to workshop scenes from Covenants.
Public Dialogue and Storytelling
Documented Local Milestones: Captured everyday community experiences and pivotal history through storytelling classes and workshops.
Highlighted Civil Rights History: Researched and devised theatre around the historic 1963 integration of the Northwood Plaza movie theater, along with many other Civil Rights issues.
Responded to Current Events: Hosted neighborhood forums in response to current events taking place in Baltimore.
Events
The People’s State of the Union (A Story Circle)
January 30, 2015 at Morgan State University
Kicked off the Civic Arts series with a community story circle open to all of Baltimore.
Freddie Gray & You
May 14, 2015 hosted by Loch Raven Ministerium
An open conversation that SNAP! seed ensemble members participated in.
Reflections on Our Neighborhoods by Everyday People
June 27, 2015 led by Sheila Gaskins and Natalya Brusilovsky (Theatre Action Group)
“Inviting ALL adults and youth*: Give yourself permission and share your voice in a fun way. Creatively dialogue with your neighbors in Northwood and beyond. Imagine a shared future. En-act the issues that matter to you.” The workshop used “image theatre” among other techniques to engage residents.
Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race, A Talk with Debby Irving
Hosted at The Friends School of Baltimore on September 25, 2015.
SNAP’s “seed ensemble” members attended Debby Irving’s talk about her book Waking Up White, and Finding Myself in the Story of Race
Breaking the Fourth Wall
This event was held at the Faith Presbyterian Church on October 4, 2015.
The workshop was one of SNAP!’s Seed Ensemble Series, where the members participated in the workshop “Breaking the Fourth Wall,” and the performance “Express Yourself.” The workshop was hosted by Morgan State University as part of the Imagining America conference in Baltimore.
Show me a Hero
November 3, 2015 at Brian Francoise’s house.
SNAP! members watched and discussed the pilot of David Simon’s HBO series “Show me a Hero,” A mini-series about civil rights violations in Yonkers, New York (based on true events).
Share a Story, Sculpt an Image
December 12, 2015 at Faith Presbyterian Church.
Sheila Gaskins, Northwood residents, and members of the Baltimore community led this workshop to share stories and contribute to Covenants.
Poetry Workshop Series
Elevated Lived Experiences: Offered youth, adult, and intergenerational workshops centered on personal and collective reflection.
Partnered with Local Leaders: Co-led workshops and events with Northwood native Lady Brion (Brion Gill)—then Baltimore Grand Slam Champion, now Maryland Poet Laureate—with support from Dewmore Baltimore.
Commissioned Original Work: SNAP! commissioned Lady Brion to write a poem about growing up in Northwood, resulting in the poignant "Ode to Northwood."
Events
Sounds from on the Ground
A series of workshops (read below) hosted throughout 2015 and 2016.
Lady Brion hosted workshops for young adults and teens. They focused on community building through poetry.
First Sounds from on the Ground Workshop
July 11, 2015 at Northwood Branch Library (EPFL).
“A poetry-infused gathering of skill building, community building, youth building and art building led by Baltimore's new Grand Slam Champion -- Lady Brion. Open to all teens and young adults regardless of experience.”
Poetry in Northwood
March 19, 2016 at Northwood Library.
Lady Brion worked with youth at Northwood Branch library to write poetry about community, home, belonging, and loss.
Covenants Poetry Workshop
April 16, 2016 at Faith Presbyterian Church.
Lady Brion hosted the final Covenants workshop to discuss, workshop, and rehearse the poetry in the production.
Poetry and Pizza
Late 2016 (post-Covenants) at Northwood Library.
This workshop was led by SNAP’s teaching artists for Wide Angle Youth Media’s Northwood Program.
Arts-Based Response
Illuminated Community History: The production of Covenants itself served as an artistic response, shedding light on the legacy of racial covenants while celebrating resident creativity, joy, resilience, and connection to place.
Challenged Systemic Injustice: Devised digital stories, plays, poetry, and a pantomime piece to tell Baltimore stories and confront systemic, institutional, and interpersonal injustice within Baltimore and Northwood.
Events
Saving Our Streets: A Spoken Art Slam
October 16, 2015.
Seed ensemble members went to see the show, which included spoken word, drumming, dance, and visual art from Morgan State University and Baltimore communities.
Digital Storytelling Class
March 1 - April 9, Murphy Fine Arts Center, Morgan State University, 2016 at Morgan State University.
An intergenerational digital storytelling class for elders, residents, and youth.
Pantomime Research
March 2016 at All Saints Lutheran Church and Northwood Plaza.
The Covenants pantomime team interviewed Hillen Road Improvement Association (HRIA) leaders to conduct research for their performance. The performance was devised by an ensemble or Morgan alums, residents and physical theatre specialists led by Dody DiSanto.
Covenants, A theatrical Collage about Northwood
April 23, 2016 2:00pm and 7:00pm at Turpin-Lamb Theatre, Morgan State University.
A theatrical collage was performed to spark dialogue, discussion, and storytelling, centered around Northwood’s past, present, and future experiences confronting the legacy of racial covenants. After experiencing together the joy of collective action through the lead up events and performance itself, the goal was to form a standing “civic arts” team tasked with arts-based engagement with cross sector partners to respond to neighborhood priorities.
BeMore Community Sing
October 24, 2016 at Faith Presbyterian Church.
SNAP partnered with BeMore Community Sing, directed by Lea Gilmore, in this event centered around healing and the power of song. This event was part of the Art Awakening series - a post-Covenants series of events and workshops designed to solidify the members of the Northwood Civic Arts team.
