Category: Uncategorized

Communities for Immunity Project

Two teal-colored bandaids in the shape of a heart.

In 2021, a coalition of national museum and library associations announced the recipients of the second round of funding for Communities for Immunity, and the Peale was among the awardees, following on from its Round 1 work with this initiative.

Supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), Communities for Immunity provides funding awards and support to museums and libraries engaging their communities to boost COVID-19 vaccine confidence. As trusted community partners, museums and libraries play a critical role in building vaccine confidence and fighting the pandemic.

“Through this unprecedented partnership, Communities for Immunity is providing nearly 100 museums, libraries, and tribal organizations across the country with over $1.6 million over two rounds of funding to help their community members make well-informed decisions about COVID-19 and vaccinations,” said Laura Lott, President and CEO of the American Alliance of Museums. “These organizations are linchpins in helping bring an end to the pandemic and leading their communities into a brighter, healthier future.”

Submit your own story!

We are working with our friends at The Stoop Storytelling Series, DiscoverME/RecoverME, and other community partners to do our part, particularly to gather stories about people’s experiences with COVID and how they felt about being vaccinated. We’ll share your stories with our online audiences.

This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. Our vision is a nation where museums and libraries work together to transform the lives of individuals and communities. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in the recordings for this project do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. If you have any question about whether your product requires this statement, please contact the Office of Communications at 202-653-4757.

The IMLS logo features bold, black type and a burst of green dots on the left of the words.

 

COVID-19 Protocols for In-Person Events

A close-up view of the novel corona virus.

Following the lead of many cultural organizations around the world, the Peale has decided to require a proof of vaccination to attend in-person events. Learn more below:

To ensure the health and wellbeing of our visitors and staff, the Peale has implemented the following protocols to help reduce the transmission of COVID-19: 

*Effective October 1, 2021, proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 will be required to attend all in person, indoor events, including Peale exhibitions and programs that take place at the Carroll Mansion. In keeping with public health and local government guidelines, facemasks, worn properly over the nose and mouth, will be required at all times for indoor Peale events until further notice. We encourage visitors to wear masks while outside as well.  Proof of a negative COVID-19 test will not be acceptable for entry at Peale events at either venue. 

  • Outdoor events do not require proof vaccination, but masks are strongly encouraged.  
  • Reservations are required to confirm attendance. Peale uses Eventbrite to manage event reservations. Registration information will be posted with the event details on our website. 
  • Help us protect everyone! If you feel sick on the day of your scheduled event, please stay at home. 

Vaccine Requirements 

All visitors, staff, volunteers, and on-site personnel must be fully vaccinated to attend indoor events at the Peale or Carroll Mansion. You are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after you have received a second dose in a two-dose vaccine series or two weeks after you have received a single-dose vaccine. 

The Peale will need to see proof of vaccination against Covid-19 with a vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or by the World Health Organization (WHO). 

All audience members must provide in-person verification of vaccination. Prior to entering the Peale or its affiliated sites (such as the Carroll Mansion), you will be asked to provide proof of vaccination via an original physical vaccination card or photograph of it on your mobile device, or through a MyIR.net QR Code. You must present photo ID along with your vaccine proof. Peale staff or affiliates will review your proof of vaccination as you arrive at the Peale or its affiliated sites. 

In recognition of the great uncertainty created by the current health situation and the fact that some participants may arrive unaware of our vaccine policies, we have reviewed our ticket policies to make sure we are as flexible and accommodating as possible in the event you are unable to attend an in-person performance because of vaccine status. As such, many events will include components or elements that will be posted online. We will make every effort to help visitors experience Peale-related programs, regardless of vaccination status. 

Ticket Flexibility 

In recognition of the great uncertainty created by the current health situation and the fact that some participants may arrive unaware of our vaccine policies, we have reviewed our ticket policies to make sure we are as flexible and accommodating as possible in the event you are unable to attend an in-person performance because of vaccine status. As such, many events will include components or elements that will be posted online. We will make every effort to help visitors experience Peale-related programs, regardless of vaccination status. 

Ensuring Your Safety 

The Peale has made a number of changes to make sure its building sites are as safe and welcoming as possible when we reopen. As health and safety conditions and recommendations change, we will update our policies accordingly and keep our audiences informed. 

  • We have enhanced our cleaning procedures and will offer hand sanitizer to visitors. 
  • We will be offering e-tickets/contactless entry options. 
  • All ticket buyers will be sent a pre-performance email with specific health and safety protocols relating to the performance they are attending. 

Peale Trivia: What did Rembrandt Peale demonstrate in the galleries?

Image courtesy of the Baltimore Museum of Industry Archives, BGE 36T

What did Rembrandt Peale demonstrate in the museum galleries?

Correct Answer: Peale demonstrated gas light! (Sure, he probably embalmed turkeys too, but we don’t have any documentation for that!)

> Find out how you can support innovation at the Peale!

In addition to being an artist, natural scientist, and museum director, Rembrandt Peale shared his family’s talent for innovation and entrepreneurship. He demonstrated gas light in his galleries, using the new energy technology of the day as an attraction to sell evening tickets to visit the museum.

It has been said that people would stand on Holliday Street in front of the Peale Museum marveling at the brightness of the light coming from its windows – an unprecedented sight in a world of candles and oil lamps. By 1817, Peale had started the Baltimore Gas Company and secured the contract to supply gas street lights throughout Baltimore – the first city in America, and among the first in the world, to be lit by gas – hence its nickname, “Light City.” Peale manufactured the gas in a shed at the back of the museum, and it was supplied to the city in wooden pipes made from hollowed out logs. Two hundred years later, the business Rembrandt Peale founded at his Museum is one of the oldest in the world: Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), an Exelon Company.

You did it! $50,000 matching goal achieved!

Ty aka “Savage” helped the Peale pilot our “artsforce” development program in Summer 2020.

Thanks to your generosity, we were able to make our $50,000 fundraising goal and double all donations to the Peale’s renovations since April 6 for a total of more than $100,000 contributed to our Capital Campaign! Thank you!! Your support means we will be able to reopen the Peale by early 2022!

Your response to the matching challenge was so inspiring that new donors have offered an additional $15,000 to double donations through June 30. These funds will go towards equipping the Moses Williams Center, the teaching gallery for the Accomplished Arts Apprentices “artsforce” development program at the Peale. Several Peale descendants and others have already contributed to the Moses Williams Center: find out how you can join this “family” of supporters!

This #GivingTuesday, we’re helping Baltimore artists, storytellers, and creators do what they do best . . . keep on creating!

Daisy Brown, 2020.

One fine Sunday two years ago, Baltimore resident Daisy Brown happened upon the Peale after visiting the Farmers’ Market on Holliday Street. She fell in love with the place, and we fell in love with her! Today Daisy is the Peale’s staff photographer, and has recently started the “Stoop Shoots” program shooting portraits of her neighbors and East Baltimore residents from a safe social distance while taking her dog on daily walks. She’s also showing them how they can record their stories during the pandemic – even if they don’t have internet access at home – so we can share them with you and help people everywhere know Baltimore as the storied city it is!

Your gift to the Baltimore Stories Fund helps Daisy and the Peale ensure that all the voices of our communities are heard and preserved in this historic time. This community fund is designed to provide micro-grants, capacity-building, and production support to help creators like Daisy share authentic Baltimore stories.

  • $50 Sponsors one year of Peale promotional and capacity-building support for a Baltimore storyteller
  • $250 Provides a stipend to a storyteller for producing a Baltimore story
  • $500 Publishes one complete Baltimore story across 6 or more digital platforms

Got an idea for a new program at the Peale? We want to hear from you!

G300 t-shirts and photographs by Daisy Brown for sale!

Now you can get G300 t-shirts and Daisy Brown’s photos of the “G300 Squeegee Boys” from the filming of By Any Means Necessary: Stories of Survival online!

T-shirts

Logo of the "G300 Squeegee Boys": white text on a black background reads "Support your Baltimore Squeegee Squad" with a fist holding a squeegee in silhouette. The image resembles a fist holding a hammer from the tradition of Marxist and labor logos.

 

 

Unisex black t-shirts in a range of sizes, $20
(Link goes to direct purchase from the G300’s online sales page.)

Photos

Order large (20″x30″) or small (11″x14″) photographs by Daisy Brown below. Proceeds excluding shipping costs are shared 50/50 between the photographer and the G300.

N.B. delivery by mail is available only for the smaller size prints. Large prints can be picked up from the Peale at Carroll Mansion: 800 E. Lombard St., Baltimore, MD 21202 by appointment only. Email us to make arrangements: info@old.thepealecenter.org

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G300 photo small 11″x14″ (with shipping)

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G300 photo small 11″x14″ (pick-up only)

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G300 photo large 20″x30″ (pick-up only)

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Night of Light Wednesday, April 24 5:30-8:30

Rembrandt Peale’s 1816 “Ring of Fire” reinterpreted for the 21st century by light artist Sean Michael Kenny at the Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture

Ceremonial lighting Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 5:30-8:30 p.m.

Kenny’s “Ring of Fire” will be inaugurated at a special open house

FREE, but RSVP encouraged: http://bit.ly/Peale24April2019

RSVP: http://bit.ly/Peale24April2019

Web: https://old.thepealecenter.org/events/night-of-light

Sean Kenny’s “Ring of Fire” under construction

The Night of Light will also include:

  • Demonstrations of Rembrandt Peale’s Magic Ring of Fire, invented in 1816
  • ILLUMINATED Exhibition on the history and safety of gas & light in Baltimore and beyond…
  • Time Travel Tours to Rembrandt Peale’s study in 1819
  • Performances & Presentations from local artists and experts
  • ‘historically hysterical’ exhibition by Maryland Institute College of Art’s (MICA) Exhibition Development Seminar (EDS)

Light artist Sean Michael Kenny (SMKLight) is collaborating with the Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture to help people “see Baltimore in a new light” by illuminating Baltimore’s 19th origins as “Light City” and bringing greater visibility to the city’s diverse cultural stories and voices today. Kenny’s latest work for the front porch of the historic Peale Museum building on Holliday Street in downtown Baltimore reimagines the “Magic Ring of Fire” gaslights that Rembrandt Peale first demonstrated in his museum in 1816. The new technology so enthralled audiences of the day that Peale and his partners won the contract to supply gas streetlights throughout the city of Baltimore, making it the first city in America to be lit by gas and earning it the nickname, “Light City.” The Baltimore Gas Light Company that Peale founded is now known as Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), an Exelon company and, at 202 years old, one of the oldest continually-operating companies in the world.

A metal ring rests on a table in a workshop.  Inspired by Peale’s gaslight innovations, the “Ring of Fire” artwork by Sean Michael Kenny aims to capture the curiosity and wonder that was first experienced by viewers marveling at the original chandeliers that illuminated the Peale Museum more than 200 years ago. Using contemporary green and bird-friendly LED technology, Kenny’s modern chandelier also plays authentic Baltimore stories from the Peale Center’s Be Here: Baltimore program, turning the historic museum into a “talking building” that helps new narratives of the city be heard. Kenny’s interpretation of “Ring of Fire” begins with a metal rim, illuminated by individual LED lights flanking both the inside and outside to echo the openings in the original hoop where Peale’s “pearls” of gas light burned. Finally, the work features a speaker that plays stories of the city told by the people who know it best, as well as stories from the history of the Peale and its many innovations as the first purpose-built museum in the U.S., as the birthplace of BGE, as Baltimore’s first City Hall, and as the first public school to offer a secondary school education to African Americans in the state of Maryland.

About Sean Michael Kenny

As a light artist, Sean Michael Kenny utilizes various optics to create multi-dimensional work which is described as “The Modality,” referring to a particular mode in which something is expressed or experienced. This expression creates a new universe as light dances throughout the space, seemingly out of nowhere, extracting what is unseen and making it visible. Kenny’s work was featured in Light City’s 2018 Neighborhood Lights for the Bromo Arts District at the iconic Bromo Seltzer Tower. He will also display his “Trinity – Light Chimes” project at Burning Man 2019 at the Whiskey and Dust camp. Learn more at http://www.smklight.com/

About the Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture

In 1816, Rembrandt Peale began illuminating his Baltimore museum’s galleries with gaslight chandeliers. Up to 100 “gems of light” burned in a metal circle suspended overhead and fueled by gas made from burning pitch. The new technology both enabled Peale to keep his doors open at night, attracting more visitors and revenue after dark, and also served as an attraction itself. People had never seen such bright interior lights before. Those who could not afford the price of admission gathered outside to gawk at the brilliance of the light spilling out of the windows. Excitement about Peale’s “Magic Ring of Fire” led to his founding the Baltimore Gas Company, which by 1817 had begun installing gas street lights throughout the city. Thanks to Peale’s pioneering efforts, Baltimore was the first city in the U.S., and among the first in the world, to be lit by gas, earning it the nickname, “Light City.” The company Peale founded is now known as BGE, one of the oldest continuously-operating companies in the world.

Currently renovating the historic Peale museum building, the mission of the Peale Center for Baltimore History and Architecture is to help people see Baltimore in a new light by working with the city’s culture keepers and storytellers to create a more inclusive cultural record of the city. To date, more than 1400 authentic stories of the city have been recorded and shared on a range of free and open platforms, including the “Be Here Stories” app and live storytelling programs at the Peale Center and other partner sites around the city. With these efforts, the Peale aims to help change the narrative about Baltimore and enable it to become known and appreciated worldwide for its rich history and the full range of its diverse people and places today.

Last chance to get your tickets to the Nov 28 Storytelling Showcase!

Nate Couse of The Artist Exchange Radio Show and Aaron Henkin, producer of WYPR’s Out of the Blocks

Support the Peale and celebrate the close of our Fall capital campaign initiative with a special evening of authentic Baltimore stories hosted by WYPR’s Aaron Henkin, producer of the award-winning Out of the Blocks series, and Nate Couser of The Artist Exchange Radio Show.

Tickets $50 to benefit the Peale’s Fall 2018 Campaign: Your purchase helps us make the Peale safer and more accessible for all! 

Free parking is graciously provided by Zion Church. Drinks and light refreshments from Ida B’s Table will be on offer at the Peale, and you can enjoy a complimentary Peale cocktail when you dine at Ida B’s before the show!

More info & program updates here.

Your donation to the Peale is matched on #GivingTuesday!

Today is #GivingTuesday. Facebook is matching up to $7 million dollars of donations made to non-profits like ours. 

The historic “Picture Gallery” at the Peale.

The Peale urgently requires upgrades to key facilities in order to meet modern standards and ensure the safety of the building and those in it.

We have already raised more than $43,000 toward our $50,000 Fall campaign goal from generous supporters like you! We are so close to being able to add a secondary exit and staircase to the Peale’s Picture Gallery: the room that makes the building architecturally unique and serves as our main events space, hosting ground-breaking theater, dance, music, film, talks, storytelling, and exhibitions. Your donation today can help put us over the finish line!

How you can help the Peale:
Give to our Fall 2018 Campaign or give through Facebook
Join our Nov 28th Storytelling Showcase (see below)
Donate your time, skills and gently used items
Attend an upcoming program or event