African Art Museum Expands

By Melissa Arnold



Having made its home in Columbia for nearly 25 years, the African Art Museum of Maryland is expanding to Baltimore. While keeping its Columbia location in the historic Oakland mansion active, the museum will now also be at the 1840s Plaza at 29 S. Front Street east of the Inner Harbor.

This new-to-Baltimore attraction is expecting to debut in April. Projected premier exhibits include "African Art: A New Home," "Africa's Useful Arts," "Exquisite! The Art of Africa," and "The Maryland-Liberia Connection."

Both locations of the African Art Museum of Maryland (AAMM) offer exhibits with video and hands-on art experiences, tours to Africa, youth and adult workshops, academic courses, and dance and music performances. Themed exhibits of art objects, antique and contemporary, are periodically changed with opening receptions. One of the many goals of the AAMM is to "exhibit African art in its diversity and in relation to the cultures that create it for enhanced knowledge and viewing pleasure."

Reflecting on nearly 25 years of service, founder Doris Ligon stated, "The museum welcomes the opportunity to address all ages, but finds it significant to note that presentations on African art and culture have been made by the African Art Museum of Maryland to two generations of youth with the intent of aiding in their educational quests to become more global citizens."

AAMM today is one of only three known museums in the United States devoted solely to African art. Of those three, this is the first one founded by a woman and the only one founded by a black.

Ligon said, "The museum is excited about its growth and new location in Baltimore and looks forward to becoming a partner with the educational pursuits of the Greater Baltimore Area." She went on to encourage visitors: "A visit to the African Art Museum of Maryland serves to further enlighten all of the majesty of the art and culture of the continent of Africa."

Even with the addition of a Baltimore site, the Columbia location of the AAMM will still be a vibrant, valuable part of the Howard County community. Locals and out-of-town visitors are welcome at events throughout the year, including the popular Baltimore-Washington JazzFest and an upcoming exhibit about railroading in Africa, part of the local "Sidetrack Celebration" coinciding with the 175th anniversary of the B&O Railroad.



Melissa Arnold is director of marketing for the Howard County Tourism Council. She can be reached at 410-313-1900. For more information about the African Art Museum, call 410-730-7105.



Montgomery Executive Criticizes Transportation Cuts

Montgomery County "businesses don't really see [the airport] as an asset to them because they can't get to it," County Executive Doug Duncan told a BWI Business Partnership breakfast last month.

As head of Maryland's largest jurisdiction with its largest workforce (900,000 people and 500,000 jobs), Duncan said traffic congestion was so bad "you can't count on getting there on time," and he criticized plans by Gov. Robert Ehrlich Jr. to take $418 million of the state Transportation Trust Fund to balance next year's budget.

"It's very disconcerting, it's very upsetting," Duncan said. It threatens Montgomery County's future as a biotechnology center and his own promises to fund major road and transit improvements with $10 billion in new county revenues from tax hikes.

"Now I have to raise things just to close the gap" left by cuts in state transportation aid, he said.

Duncan's most pressing concern is the Inter-County Connector, the east-west highway that would link routes I-95 and 29 in Laurel with I-270 near Rockville. First proposed in the 1960s to prevent sprawl, the highway would significantly cut travel time between Rockville and destinations like the airport, Columbia and Baltimore. Environmental groups oppose the road, and Gov. Parris Glendening blocked its construction.

"We're using the trust fund as a bank," Duncan said. "The trust fund is not as healthy as you think." State legislators have discussed the need to increase transportation funding for several years.

Deputy Maryland Transportation Secretary Trent Kittleman, a new Ehrlich appointee serving as acting secretary until Howard County Del. Robert Flanagan is confirmed, defended the Ehrlich budget moves after the breakfast. "This is really a budget for right now," said Kittleman, wife of Howard County state Sen. Robert Kittleman. "It works for this year."

The Inter-County Connector is "going to be on the fast track," she said. "We're all on the same team."

Duncan "knows my commitment to the ICC," said Kittleman. As a government relations attorney for Marriott International Inc., she represented the company on a county planning task force and said she was an advocate there of the ICC.

"Obviously funding transportation is a high priority" for Ehrlich, Kittleman said, despite this year's shift in funds. "I would certainly not say it's a setup for a gas tax increase."

Ehrlich and other administration spokesmen, like transition team head James Brady speaking to business leaders in Columbia last month, have said a gas tax hike is a possibility, while the new governor has promised to veto other tax increases.

Even with increased transportation revenues in place, Duncan said, "the ICC, I'm sure, will be a toll road."

Without the ICC, "if you think it's tough to get to BWI now, don't even think about it in the future," Duncan said.