History

A Brief Timeline

1979
- Mid Atlantic States Arts Consortium is founded and includes the states of Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
- Incorporated as a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation, October 1979.

1980
- Consortium develops its first program, the regional performing arts touring program.
- First grant is given to College of Notre Dame of Maryland to support a production by the National Theatre for the Deaf.

1981
- Washington, DC joins the Consortium.

1982
- Virginia joins the Consortium.
- Consortium begins region-wide administration of the Meet the Composer program.

1983
- The Consortium begins administering Technical Assistance grants.
- Kitty Carlisle Hart agrees to serve as the Consortium’s Honorary Chair.

1984
- Consortium develops a regional media arts project.
- Consortium-Initiated grants and Special Projects are combined.

1985
- Consortium establishes Mid Atlantic States Residence Program in the Visual Arts which included four types of residencies: individual artist residencies, one-person shows, interactive residencies, and institutional development residencies.

1986
- Michael Braun is hired as the Executive Director of the Consortium.

1987
- Mid Atlantic State Arts Consortium changes its name to Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (MAAF).

1988
- U.S. Virgin Islands joins the Foundation.
- MAAF initiates Visual Arts Fellowship Program in partnership with the NEA offering grants of $5,000 to eligible artists living in the region.

1990
- MAAF’s ARTSInk magazine debuts.
- MAAF partners with NEA and the mid-Atlantic states arts agencies to host one of the first large-scale conferences in the nation addressing the issue of accessibility to the arts by older and disabled people--Access to the Arts: A Right Not a Privilege.
- MAAF introduces Visual Arts Travel Fund to offer financial assistance to administrators and curators for professional development.

1991
- MAAF assists VICA in obtaining a special NEA grant to assist artists who suffered uninsured losses due to Hurricane Hugo and its aftermath.

1993
- MAAF starts Performing Arts Planning Fund awarding planning grants to companies/artists or consortia of at least three presenters.
- Mid Atlantic Jazz Directory is published.

1994
- MAAF introduces Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Satellite Jazz Network which helps support a percentage of artists’ fees.
- Alan Cooper becomes new Executive Director of MAAF.
- Inaugural year of the Living Legacy Award - the first was presented to trumpeter Clark Terry in August.

1995
- Traditional Arts Coordinator hired by MAAF to build and manage a strong regional folk arts program.
- MAAF adopts long-range strategic plan to better serve artists and the arts industry by creating programs that meet specific needs.

1996
- ArtsEmerge program founded to nurture collaborative planning.
- ArtsCONNECT program launched to foster creative approaches to collaborative presenting.
- Jazz Satellite Touring Fund is started to support performing arts presenting.
- MAAF website goes live.

1997
- MAAF joins with Southern Arts Federation and New England Foundation for the Arts to offer the Appalachian Exhibits Touring Program.
- Delmarva Folklife Initiative (DFI) begins.

1998
- Artist as Catalyst program is established to promote artists working collaboratively with a host organization in a community.
- Foundation takes over administration of Pittsburgh Arts on Tour.
- Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour (PennPAT) is created through a unique public/private partnership administered by the Foundation. PennPAT increases the visibility of Pennsylvania performing artists and companies throughout the region.

1999
- MAAF creates Jazz Touring Network program to educate presenters about the unique factors involved with presenting jazz.

2000
- Artists & Communities: America Creates for the Millennium places some of the nation’s finest artists with a community organization in each of the 54 U.S. states and territories. One of the projects resulted in the creation of the country’s largest public mural located in Shreveport, Louisiana.
- The Delmarva Folklife Initiative (DFI) was completed.
- MAAF produces a set of six traveling folk art exhibitions called Appalachian Views.
- Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour expands to support the entire region.
- MAAF awards Dr. Billy Taylor a special Millennium Jazz Award.

2001
- MAAF presents its first Community Arts Institute with a goal of providing artists and organization with skills to implement successful community arts programming.
- MAAF partners with Southern Arts Federation to present American Traditions, a tour of folk and traditional artists in regions across the U.S.

2002
- The Foundation implements the Mid Atlantic Tours (MAT) program which selects high-quality performing arts tours to meet presenter needs and ensures that traditionally underserved areas in the region have the opportunity to participate.
- MAAF publishes new five-year strategic plan to better serve artists and audiences in the region by refining existing programs.

2003
- Creative Fellowships program is implemented placing one artist from each member state in residence at artist facilities throughout the region.
- MAAF publishes full-color Artists & Communities catalogue featuring information on all 54 residencies in the America Creates for the Millennium project.
- MAAF publishes Folk Arts & Cultural Traditions of the Delmarva Peninsula: An Interpretive Resource Guide which provides an overview of the Delmarva Folklife Project’s findings.

2004
- MAAF celebrates its 25th Anniversary year and the 10th Anniversary of the Living Legacy Jazz Award with a gala celebration at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts including a presentation of the Jazz Award to pianist Randy Weston.
- A 2-CD audio tour and 77 page book resulting from the Delmarva Folklife Initiative entitled From Bridge to Boardwalk: An Audio Journey Across Maryland’s Eastern Shore is published.
- Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation hosts 504 Regional Accessibility Conference in Baltimore. The theme was New Initiatives in Cultural Access.
- MAAF collaborates with arts agencies in the Washington, DC region to implement a multidisciplinary cultural exchange program with Mexico entitled Capital Region Cultural Exchange with Mexico (CAP/MEX/EX). The program featured short-term artist-residency projects in both Mexico and the National Capital region.
- National Council for the Traditional Arts and MAAF launch their first collaborative tour, Masters of Mexican Music as part of the Mid Atlantic Tours program.

2005
- MAAF, with help from the NEA, launches USArtists International which is committed to ensuring that the range of expression and creativity of U.S. performing arts is represented at international festivals abroad.
- MAAF partners with NEA to encourage youth to learn about great poetry by administering the Washington-area pilot of the National Poetry Recitation Contest. Washington Regional Finals were held April 19, 2005 at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC.

2006
- MAAF launches American Masterpieces, a new NEA program celebrating the American cultural and artistic legacy, with tours of the Martha Graham Dance Company, PHILADANCO, and Sweet Honey in the Rock.
- MAAF completes a major overhaul of its primary website - which now includes an extensive resource section for artists and organizations including an online database of community artists, residency host sites, jazz artists, traditional artists and practitioners, arts service organizations, and international festivals.