THE 2010 JANET & WALTER SONDHEIM ARTSCAPE PRIZE APPLICATION DEADLINE – FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2009

THE 2010 JANET & WALTER SONDHEIM ARTSCAPE PRIZE

APPLICATION DEADLINE – FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2009

The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts presents the fifth annual Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize.  The $25,000 fellowship is awarded to a visual artist or visual artist collaborators working in the Greater Baltimore region.  The prize is in conjunction with the annual Artscape juried exhibition and is produced with The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).  Approximately six finalists will be reviewed for the prize.  Their work will be shown in the Alvin and Fanny B. Thalheimer Galleries of The Baltimore Museum of Art, located at 10 Art Museum Drive.  In addition, an exhibition of the semi-finalists’ work will be shown during the Artscape weekend in the Decker and Meyerhoff galleries of the Maryland Institute College of Art, located at 1303 W. Mount Royal Avenue.  Application deadline is Friday, December 18, 2009, and should be postmarked or hand delivered by 5pm.  The prize is part of Artscape, America’s largest free celebration of the arts, taking place Friday, July 16 through Sunday, July 19, 2010 on Mount Royal Avenue and North Charles Street.

The fellowship winner will be selected after a review of the art installed at the BMA and an interview with each finalist by the jurors.  The remaining finalists not selected for the fellowship will each receive a $1,000 honorarium.  Artist collaborators will receive a single $25,000 prize if chosen as the winner or a $1,000 honorarium that will be equally divided among the members of the group.  Jurors will be announced on Tuesday, December 1, 2009.

Applicants should include a CD-Rom containing five jpeg images of work, a one page resume, a signed and completed application and image description form along with the $25 application fee.  Image files on the CD should be labeled last name first, first name, and the number corresponding to the description sheet, last.  Each image should be sized at approximately 1024” x 768” pixels, no larger than 1Mb per image and must be compatible with both Mac and PC formats.  Artists submitting time based works should submit up to 10 minutes of work on a DVD.  The 10 minutes may include excerpts from up to five works as long as the combined time totals no more than 10 minutes.  No application materials will be returned.  Please send materials to The Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize, Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, 7 East Redwood Street, Suite 500, Baltimore, Maryland 21202.

deadlines/Dates

Announcement of jurors                Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Application deadline                      Friday, December 18, 2009

Announcement of semi-finalists      Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Announcement of finalists              Tuesday, April 13, 2010

BMA exhibition duration                 Saturday, June 19, 2010 through Sunday, August 1, 2010

Finalist interviews                         Saturday, July 10, 2010

Award announcement                   Saturday, July 10, 2010 at 7pm

Artscape                                    July 16-19, 2010

 Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize

The Artscape prize is named in honor of Janet and Walter Sondheim who have been instrumental in creating the Baltimore City that exists today.  Walter Sondheim, Jr. had been one of Baltimore’s most important civic leaders for over 50 years.  His accomplishments included oversight of the desegregation of the Baltimore City Public Schools in 1954 when he was president of the Board of School Commissioners of Baltimore City.  Later, he was deeply involved in the development of Charles Center and the Inner Harbor.  He continued to be active in civic and educational activities in the city and state and served as the senior advisor to the Greater Baltimore Committee until his death in February 2007.

Janet Sondheim danced with the pioneering Denishawn Dancers, a legendary dance troupe founded by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn.  Later, she turned to teaching where she spent 15 years at the Children’s Guild working with severely emotionally disturbed children.  After retirement, she was a volunteer tutor at Highlandtown Elementary School.  She married Walter in 1934, and they were together until her death in 1992.

The 2010 Janet & Walter Sondheim Prize is supported by The Abell Foundation, Alex. Brown Charitable Foundation, The Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Foundation, Charlesmead Foundation, Ellen Dankert, France-Merrick Foundation, Willard Hackerman, Legg Mason and anonymous.

For more information on the 2010 Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize, visit www.artscape.org or call 410-752-8632.