Life in Baltimore
Art, Storytelling, and the City as It Is Lived
Life in Baltimore is The Peale’s long-term storytelling initiative dedicated to documenting Baltimore through contemporary art, oral history, and public dialogue. Reviving a historic Peale exhibition tradition from the mid-20th century, the program creates space for artists and community members to reflect on the people, places, and lived experiences that define Baltimore today. Life in Baltimore brings together exhibitions, oral histories, media projects, and public programs to document the city as it is lived today.
What is Life in Baltimore?
Life in Baltimore is an umbrella initiative that brings together exhibitions, oral histories, media projects, and public programs to document Baltimore’s contemporary cultural life.
Rooted in The Peale’s historic role as a museum of the present, the initiative expands that legacy through contemporary curatorial practice and community-centered storytelling—preserving Baltimore’s stories as they are lived, not only as they are remembered.
The exhibitions below are core components of this broader initiative, each offering artists a distinct curatorial context.
Two Annual Exhibits
At the core of Life in Baltimore are two distinct juried exhibitions presented annually, each with its own curatorial focus and submission cycle. Together, they offer artists multiple entry points to engage with Baltimore through both place and lived experience.
Built to Last
The Physical City
Built to Last is a juried exhibition examining Baltimore through its built environment—architecture, infrastructure, neighborhoods, and public space. The exhibition invites artists to explore how the physical city shapes identity, memory, power, and resilience, and how buildings and systems both reflect and influence Baltimore’s social history.a
Exhibition cycle:
- Call for Artists: August
- Exhibition Opens: April
- Duration: 1–2 months
Built to Last is part of the broader Life in Baltimore initiative, but is juried and curated independently.
Life in Baltimore
Lived Experience & Everyday Life
The Life in Baltimore exhibition focuses on the human experience of the city—its people, communities, labor, rituals, relationships, joys, and struggles.
Open to artists across disciplines, the exhibition welcomes documentary, conceptual, and experimental work that reflects daily life in Baltimore as it is lived today.
Exhibition cycle:
- Call for Artists: February
- Exhibition Opens: October
Duration: 1–2 months
Together, the Life in Baltimore and Built to Last exhibitions form an annual rhythm that documents the city through both lived experience and the physical environment.
Submission Pathways for Artists
Built to Last and Life in Baltimore are juried separately and serve different curatorial goals. While Built to Last prioritizes work centered on the physical city, Life in Baltimore prioritizes work that reflects lived experience, social context, and community life. Many strong submissions may align more naturally with one exhibition than the other.
Artists whose work was not selected for Built to Last are strongly encouraged to submit to Life in Baltimore. Select artists invited to resubmit will receive a waived entry fee.
Curatorial Approach
Both exhibitions are juried by curators from Baltimore, Maryland, Delaware, and Washington, DC art museums and cultural institutions. Jurors are selected for their expertise in contemporary art, public history, and community-centered practice, ensuring professional rigor while remaining grounded in regional context.
Beyond the Gallery: Oral History & Media
Life in Baltimore extends beyond the exhibition period. Selected artists may be invited to participate in recorded conversations, interviews, or short-form audio and digital storytelling projects developed through The Peale’s oral history and media initiatives. These efforts amplify artists’ voices, expand public access, and preserve contemporary perspectives as part of The Peale’s growing digital archive of Baltimore life.
Partners & Participation
Life in Baltimore is built through collaboration. The Peale works with artists, media organizations, educators, cultural institutions, and community partners to expand how Baltimore’s stories are shared, preserved, and understood. Partnerships support exhibitions, storytelling projects, public programs, and long-term digital preservation.
Supported in Part by
Community Partners
