Click here for Part I & Part III

Supporting and advocating for Baltimore's diverse artistic community

Margaret Footner is executive director of the Creative Alliance. Founded by volunteers in 1995, the Creative Alliance is community-driven nonprofit organization that works with artists, educators, activists, and community members to host, support, and produce art and arts-based programs throughout Baltimore. Each year, the Creative Alliance organizes and presents hundreds of local events and exhibitions at its galleries and venues such as the historic Patterson Theater. Additionally, the organization is engaged in an array of youth education, residency, outreach, and workshop programming. Margaret spoke with citybizlist about expanding these programs, representing Baltimore’s diverse populations through art, and how opening her own restaurant led her to her position at the Creative Alliance.

EDWIN WARFIELD: At the time you started the Creative Alliance, many organizations in Maryland were embracing the “smart growth” strategy of development. In building the Creative Alliance, did you follow a similar tack?

MARGARET FOOTNER:We were very lucky to have our State Senator, Perry Sfikas, on our very small board of directors. Perry was really involved with the neighborhood of Highlandtown and its leaders like Steve George, the owner of Haussner's; the owner of the Baltimore Guide; the local churches; to try and figure out how they were going to save this neighborhood, which was on a steep and slippery slope. Residents were leaving, and the businesses had left or were leaving. They were really worried that the neighborhood would get to the point where it would be unrecoverable, so they were looking for developers for Eastern Avenue and they could not find any who were willing. They were practically giving away the abandoned commercial buildings along this main avenue.

Along our journey we met some people: Will Hipps, who was the curator at MICA at that time; who had been involved with renovating other buildings in other towns. The idea finally occurred to us that we could have our own space. So, we went to Perry and we said, “Well, what about the idea of an art center?” He said, “Let's go to the leadership group, the Eastern Avenue Coalition, and ask them what they think.” I remember that meeting really well, and I remember them saying, “Great! Let's do it!” I remember leaving the meeting going, “Are they serious?” And they were.

The neighborhood really got behind it, and most importantly, Perry got behind us and really saw the potential that we could bring to the neighborhood and to Baltimore. Smart growth, as you said, was an important idea at that time, and the reinvestment into our cities as opposed to expanding and consuming the countryside. We were pleased to be part of that and part of the opportunity to be supported by it.

We spent five years working as volunteers. I still had my restaurant, and we were partnered with what's now South East Community Development Corporation, which was an established nonprofit with a paid staff. Their mission was the redevelopment of this to assist this neighborhood. We came with our ideas, we worked with them four or five years, we designed the building, we toured the avenue, we picked the Patterson Theater as the cultural icon of the neighborhood. We fit our ideas in this building with the help of Cho Benn Holback. With the public funding that was coming in, the lucky coincidence that Richard Florida published his tome on the creative class—which really did influence the thinking of the foundation community at that time and gave a lot of credibility to our mission, to our statement that we could have this impact. Having barely any annual budget, and being unpaid ourselves, we did a very unconventional capital campaign, raised the money, built this, and opened in 2003.

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