TRACKA publication for Baltimore’s Station North Arts & Entertainment District About Design Advisors TRACK A publication for Baltimore’s Station North Arts & Entertainment District Track is a publication for Baltimore’s Station Ellen Lupton North Arts & Entertainment District. It was Jennifer Cole Phillips conceived and developed by Amanda Buck as Andrew Losowsky her thesis project in the Graphic Design MFA Abbott Miller program at Maryland Institute College of Art. Copy Editor Designer, Writer, Editor David Barringer Amanda Buck Illustration Contributors Contact Nan Cao [email protected] Aimee Chang Melissa Crowton Content Seo Kim All content copyright individual authors. Unat- Jia Liu SETTING tributed content is authored by Amanda Buck. Vivian Loh ’ / / © 2015 Qieer Wang Jackie Zhu Thank you This project was made possible by the people Poetry Contributor of Station North Arts & Entertainment District. Sheila Gaskins Sincere thanks goes to all of the interviewees and contributors. Your stories inspired this Other Contributors publication. Special thanks to Ben Stone for Renee Libby Beck providing direction when this project was just Silvia Mata-Marin a glimmer of a possibility. Thank you to Seo Kim for developing an editorial assignment Cover in the Advanced Digital Illustration class. It Photo by Amanda Buck allowed me to include a breadth of incredible illustration in this publication. Thank you to Printing my writing teachers and thesis advisors for Printed by Newspaper Club. CULTURE providing instrumental feedback. My deepest www.newspaperclub.com gratitude goes to Will for his support and faith / / / in me. Typefaces Balto by Type Supply Works Cited Chaparral Pro by Adobe Cullen, Pete. “Gentrification, Recycling, or Eubie Script by Dai Foldes Something Else? An Interview with Antero Ohm by Type Supply Pietila.” Baltimore Fishbowl. Posted on June 26, 2013. Maryland State Arts Council Press Release. “Station North Receives Arts & Entertainment District Outstanding Achievement Award.” March 30, 2011. Open Walls video, openwallsbaltimore.com, accessed February 2015. Jensen, Brennen. “Johns Hopkins, MICA put down roots in Station North Arts and STORIES Entertainment District.” JHU Gazette, 2014. / / ¡Woods, Baynard. “Can Station North Save the City?” City Paper, July 2013. ’ / / ¢Zaleski, Andrew. “Can a Baltimore Neighbor- : / hood Avoid the Pitfalls of Gentrification?” Next City Online Magazine, August 2014. : ¤Gross, Rebecca. “Signs of Life.” NEA Arts Magazine, 2012. ¦Judkis, Maura. “Open Walls Tags Baltimore’s Station North District as an ‘it’ Neighborhood” Washington Post, May 18, 2012. ©Serpick, Evan. Iglehart, Ken. “Hot ’Hoods!” Baltimore Magazine, April 2010. «Sherman, Natalie. “Station North looks for apartments.” Baltimore Sun, 2014. Sherman, Natalie. “Centre Theatre nears CHANGE reopening.” Baltimore Sun, March 2015. / / : -’ / TRACK CONTENTS GENTRIFICATION IS A LOADED TERM. THIS IS JUST RECYCLING. NEIGHBORHOODS COME AND GO. AND GO. COME NEIGHBORHOODS RECYCLING. TERM. THIS IS JUST IS A LOADED GENTRIFICATION ’ his whole thing began short-lived existence is, in itself, evidence of the out of sheer curiosity. volatility and vulnerability inherent in this kind of I have been a resident arts-based economic development. Ben provided of Baltimore for al- a list of names of artists and business owners for most two years, and I me to reach out to. I connected with Tara Megos, pay attention to the the force behind Hidden Harvest Farm (page ). chatter about the state- I met Lena Leone (page ), the President of the EDITOR’S anointed Station North New Greenmount West Community Association. Arts & Entertainment Each interview led to another. I saw the inside District. My school, of the Copycat during my interview with Brooks Maryland Institute College of Art (), has a Kossover (page ). I became acquainted with Trole in the Station North revitalization strategy, Stephen Towns (page ) in City Arts Apartments, and my husband works for a non-prot develop- and Hannah Brancato of (page ) in a mas- ment company that directly invests in the district. sive warehouse at Greenmount Avenue and Oliver e contrasts in this area in central Baltimore are Street—the future home of a makerspace. After – striking. Like the city as a whole, Station North months of interviews, I only wish I had more time has its beauty—majestic historic theaters, public to keep questioning. ANTERO PIETILA, AUTHOR OF PIETILA, AUTHOR ANTERO art projects, hip bars and restaurants—as well as As it turns out, nding the answers to many of its ugly—societal ills, rampant vacancy, civic disin- my initial questions about Station North was a lot vestment on public display. more complicated than I thought. I asked the ques- The state of Maryland created the Arts & tions but discovered they were too simplistic: the Entertainment District Program almost fteen answers are nuanced, fraught with contradictions. years ago to provide tax incentives that encour- Now in its thirteenth year as an Arts & Entertain- age arts-related investment in cities. e program ment District, Station North is still young; the “ is roughly premised on Richard Florida’s Creative experiment is a work in progress. Large develop- NOT IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD NOT Class theory, which posits that creative residents ment projects, backed by investors like Johns can spur economic development. Station North Hopkins University, are slated to open within the is a case study in this kind of creative placemak- next two years. is growth raises more questions: ing—described by the National Endowment for Does this make the Arts & Entertainment District the Arts as a strategy to “shape the physical and a success? Could the progress spiral and gentrify social character of a neighborhood around arts and the neighborhoods? Is this development the tip- cultural activities.” But is it working? I wondered ping point for ongoing investment? ” what could be discovered about Station North if I My goal for this publication is to create a NOTE started asking questions. portrait of the district at this moment in time—a I wanted to measure the “cultural vitality” pivotal juncture in the Station North story. e of the ad-hoc creative placemaking occurring in people I interviewed are truly invested in this Station North. I wanted to know what kind of place, and this publication is a platform for them. Illustration by Nan Cao. impact the designation has had on the neighbor- I add context to the content throughout the pub- hoods in the district, with data to back it up. I lication by integrating a range of voices along the wanted to uncover whether residents thought the edges of the pages. My intent is not to judge, but Arts & Entertainment designation was positive to document. I hope the publication adds a deeper or negative. I wanted to use design to tell stories understanding and a more sustained engagement about people and their relationship to place. to the conversation about Station North. T First, I met with Ben Stone, the Executive Director of Station North Arts & Entertainment, Inc. (page ). We chatted in small café called Can- teen (page ­ ), which has since closed. Canteen’s Designer, Writer, and Editor, Track TRACK SETTING STATION NORTH DEMONSTRATES THE POWER OF MARYLAND THE POWER DEMONSTRATES NORTH STATION C Barclay Ale House BALTIMORE SCHOOL BARCLAY THE E WAREHOUSE ALLEY M O T E L Y BOARD CROWN & RED EMMA’S NOT N FORMER LOT BALTI KAGROKAGROKAGROKAGRO T Designated A&E District LO A D OF FU N MORE DD CENTER CENTER by state of Maryland in FUTURE MOTOR HOUSE PRINT R STUDIOS W Nancy Pearson’s STATION NORTH Florist SERGIO JOE SQUARED E Dallas F. 20022002 AND Historic MARTINEZ ARTS Nicholas Sr. PARKWAY STRAND NORTH AVE ENTERTAINMENT Elementary NORTH THEATRE STUDIO DISTRICT, INC. School MANTA RAY RECORDS THEATER CO. CORRIDOR ’ S GREATEST ASSET: THE TALENTS, SKILLS, INGENUITY, EDUCATION, AND CREATIVITY OF OUR PEOPLE. OF OUR PEOPLE. AND CREATIVITY EDUCATION, INGENUITY, SKILLS, THE TALENTS, ASSET: S GREATEST AVENUE A CONTEMPORARY People’s STRUCTURE The JERRY SOLID ROCK MARKET The Chicken Box FOR FREE WILL Homesteading × CARRYOUT Group THIS × BAPTIST CHURCH RedParrot institute LOST CIT Y Caribbean asian bistro creative of SNAC CANTEEN PARADISE WINE DINER PLACE- contemporary × St. Paul Compro-Tax- art Churches Rite Pharmacy MAKING baltimore Balto the LIQUORS Aid × THE BEER ART Depot P × YOUR STOP FOR THE ECLECTIC SPACE WALBERT & E TAPAS N TEATRO Q IS THE PROJECT U I Schuler HIDDEN CLUB L PLASE L SCHOOL OF CHARLES CREPES FINE ARTS GREENMOUNT ROW BY ROW WEST Bo ega metro gallery C H HARVEST A BALTIMORE NEW GREENMOUNT WEST STATION NORTH STATION PLACE GB R IMP ROV CENTRAL TOWNHOMES ca L GROUP BALTIMORE NGWCA CHARLES E COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION THEATRE 2012 & 2014 BALTIMORE & ENTER- NORTH S at Mercury FARM TAINMENT Theater FUTURE ’ CITY ARTS MURALS AND INSTALLATIONS is located Baltimore TWO! in the heart of the city. e district spans g Montessori YOUR1 OF 22 STOP A&E FOR DISTRICTS THE ECLECTIC IN MARYLAND three neighborhoods: Barclay, Charles PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL North, and Greenmount West. CORK D BALTIMORE DESIGN GREENMOUNT NEW DOOR B B CEMETERY R FACTORY SCHOOL creative O S Maryland’s Arts & Entertainment (A&E) Districts help SERVICES S develop and promote community involvement, tourism, and baltimore STATION NORTH TOOL revitalization through tax-related incentives that attract THE BELL LIBRARY artists, arts organizations, and other creative enterprises. PENN FOUNDRY STATION ARTS CITY ARTS CIT – CITY ARTS CITY ARTS GOVERNOR MARTIN O’MALLEY MARTIN GOVERNOR RAILWAY EXPRESS CopyCat Building GALLERY In , the state of Maryland designated this LOFTS area in central Baltimore as an official “art and FORCE entertainment district,” the rst of three in the AKIMBO COPY Upsetting Rape Culture city. ere are twenty-two Arts & Entertainment case[werks] CAT districts across the state. ese districts en- annex FUTURE courage arts-related activities to spur economic Station North development in cities. T Tool Library Open Works TRACK SOURCE msac.org/programs/arts-entertainment-districts, accessed February 2015.