Mid Atlantic Arts

Mid Atlantic Arts Imagine a world where creativity transforms individuals and communities.

Mid Atlantic Arts is a nonprofit organization that serves as a creative and financial partner for artists and presenters looking to share their creative innovation throughout the region, the nation and beyond. Mid Atlantic Arts supports artists, presenters, and organizations through unique programming, grant support, partnerships, and information sharing. Created in 1979, Mid Atlantic Arts is ali

gned with the region’s state arts councils and the National Endowment for the Arts. We combine state and federal funding with private support from corporations, foundations, and individuals to nurture diverse artistic expression while connecting people to meaningful arts experiences within our region and beyond.

Mid Atlantic Arts is closed in observance of Memorial Day. We'll be back at our desks tomorrow!
05/25/2026

Mid Atlantic Arts is closed in observance of Memorial Day. We'll be back at our desks tomorrow!

Through arts festivals, workshops, and gatherings, Think!Chinatown celebrates the vibrancy of New York City's Chinatown....
04/27/2026

Through arts festivals, workshops, and gatherings, Think!Chinatown celebrates the vibrancy of New York City's Chinatown. Our latest illustrated grantee feature explores how Think!Chinatown addresses neighborhood issues with an artful, intergenerational approach.

Read our latest Mid Atlantic Story, Growing Roots, at: https://monkeylink.co/876eab

Written and illustrated by Yao Xiao
Edited by Dessane Lopez Cassell

04/23/2026

Meet the Cultural Sustainability grantees! Cultural Sustainability provides unrestricted operational funding to arts organizations founded by, with, and for communities of color. We asked each grantee: How do arts organizations founded by, for, and with communities of color create and activate strategies for enhancing the reciprocal well-being of their organization and community?

Here’s what they said (Part 4).

The grantees include:

Tidewater African Cultural Alliance
Podium RVA
Innovative Community Solutions
Multifest
SOLE Defined Live

Learn more about the Cultural Sustainability grantees at: https://monkeylink.co/ca66a7





Congratulations to all the 2026 National Endowment for the Arts' NEA National Heritage Fellows! This lifetime honor reco...
04/22/2026

Congratulations to all the 2026 National Endowment for the Arts' NEA National Heritage Fellows! This lifetime honor recognizes artists whose work reflects excellence, deep knowledge, and a lasting commitment to sustaining the US's cultural traditions.

Special shoutout to the Fellows of our region: Giovanni Hidalgo (PR), Gerry Milnes (Elkins, WV) and Patrick Olwell (Nellysford, VA).

Giovanni Hidalgo is a widely respected Latin percussionist who has expanded the possibilities of Afro-Caribbean rhythm while remaining grounded in the traditions passed down through his family.

Gerry Milnes is a folklorist and documentarian who has spent over 50 years sharing Appalachian culture through film, recordings, and public programs. His work has brought lasting attention to Appalachia's artists and cultural practices.

Patrick Olwell is a flutemaker who has spent over 30 years crafting wooden flutes. His work draws on decades of studying craftsmanship and historic designs, and has helped revive and redefine traditional Irish music.

Let's give a big round of applause for these Fellows!

What does Miles Davis have to do with Philadelphia? More than you might know! Miles Davis was born on May 26, 1926 in Al...
04/22/2026

What does Miles Davis have to do with Philadelphia? More than you might know!

Miles Davis was born on May 26, 1926 in Alton, Illinois. He began to play trumpet in his teens, and moved to New York City to study music at Juilliard. He soon dropped out to join Charlie Parker’s bebop quintet from 1944 to 1948, and began his professional career.

While Davis wasn’t native to Philadelphia, he played closely with several local jazz greats, including John Coltrane and Percy Heath. Davis and Coltrane played together in Davis’ first quintet. Davis and Heath played together in Davis’ Modern Jazz Quartet. Together, all of these musicians continued to influence and redefine jazz styles across the ages. Philly artists played a huge part in creating the iconic albums and styles largely attributed to Davis.

Miles Davis remains one of the most notable jazz musicians of all time. He pioneered so many styles of jazz between the 1940s and 1990s, from hard bop to funk, from cool jazz to fusion.

There's still one week left to celebrate Philadelphia's jazz legacy! Find a Philly Jazz Month event near you at the Philly Jazz Month website: https://monkeylink.co/bbcc35

The CALT Emerging Traditional Artists Program deadline is just about a week away! This program supports Central Appalach...
04/21/2026

The CALT Emerging Traditional Artists Program deadline is just about a week away! This program supports Central Appalachian traditional artists looking to take their practice to the next level. Artists should be in the early stages of their practice and demonstrate a strong commitment to their traditional art form.

Apply by Thursday, April 30, 2026.

Learn more at: https://monkeylink.co/7b9f75

The deadline for the Folk and Traditional Arts Community Projects Grants is coming up soon! These grants support communi...
04/20/2026

The deadline for the Folk and Traditional Arts Community Projects Grants is coming up soon! These grants support community-based projects that engage folk and traditional artists, practitioners, and culture bearers.

Apply by Thursday, April 30, 2026.

Learn more at: https://monkeylink.co/edf920

It's a big year for Philly Jazz musicians! This year, we celebrate 100 years of Jimmy Heath. Jimmy Heath was born in Phi...
04/15/2026

It's a big year for Philly Jazz musicians! This year, we celebrate 100 years of Jimmy Heath.

Jimmy Heath was born in Philadelphia on October 25, 1926. He had a very musical family. His father played clarinet, his mother sang, his sister played piano, and his brothers played bass and drums. Jimmy played saxophone. He and his family played big band records throughout his childhood.

Jimmy Heath quickly became a fixture in Philadelphia’s jazz scene. He played in Nat Towles group before forming his own band with other Philly jazz giants: John Coltrane, Benny Golson, Specs Wright, and more. In 1959, he even joined Miles Davis’s group, replacing John Coltrane. In 1975, Jimmy and his brothers Albert and Percy formed the Heath Brothers trio.

Jimmy Heath was honored at Mid Atlantic Arts’ Living Legacy Jazz Award in 2002. The following year, he also received the NEA Jazz Masters Award. He continued to perform and teach until his death in 2020. Heath is immortalized in his music and in the way he put Philadelphia on the map as a jazz city.

Celebrate Philadelphia's jazz past and present all April at Philly Jazz Month events!

Find the full schedule of programming at the Philly Jazz Month website: https://monkeylink.co/bbcc35

This year marks the John Coltrane Centennial! Join us in celebrating 100 years of John Coltrane, and how he shaped Phila...
04/08/2026

This year marks the John Coltrane Centennial! Join us in celebrating 100 years of John Coltrane, and how he shaped Philadelphia's jazz legacy.

John Coltrane was born on September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina. After graduating from high school, he moved to Philadelphia with his family. On his 17th birthday, his mother gifted him his very first saxophone. Coltrane saw Charlie Parker play live for the first time in 1945, which influenced his own musical style for years to come.

In a 1960 DownBeat article, he recalls, “the first time I heard Bird play, it hit me right between the eyes.” After a brief military service, where Coltrane continued to play in jazz bands, he moved back to Philly and attended the Granoff School of Music. He played in several groups, led by musicians like Jimmy Heath and Dizzy Gillespie. In 1955, he teamed up with Miles Davis for the first time, and joined Davis for the iconic album, Kind of Blue.

While he relocated to New York in 1958, he kept a strong connection to Philly until his death in 1967. His home still stands at 1511 North 33rd Street. Coltrane’s signature “sheets of sound” rapid glissandos and arpeggiations innovated hard bop and jazz styles to come. Come see how Coltrane's legacy lives on in Philly's jazz scene at a Philly Jazz Month event near you!

View the full calendar of events at the Philly Jazz Month website: https://monkeylink.co/bbcc35

Address

201 N Charles Street, Ste 401
Baltimore, MD
21201

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+14105396656

Website

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