Cara Ober

Innovative Leader, Cultural Strategist,
Community Builder, & Storyteller

648 Regester Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21212
(443) 622-3542
cara@bmoreart.com
www.caraober.com
www.bmoreart.com

SKILLS

Cultural Leadership, Curatorial Expertise, Community Engagement, Team Management, Fundraising, Strategic Communications, Arts Administration, Entrepreneurial and Institutional Partnerships, Fiscal Management, Exhibition Design, Publication Design, Editorial and Critical Writing, Public Speaking, Art Acquisitions

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

BmoreArt, Baltimore, MD — Executive Director

JANUARY 2010 - PRESENT

Strategic Communications: Oversee daily operations with a team of five employees, three contractors, and fifty freelance contributors to produce compelling, informative, and transformative content via daily web stories at BmoreArt.com, semi-annual print journals, books, semi-monthly events of varying sizes including gallery receptions and artist talks, two magazine release parties for 300+ guests each year, monthly co-hosted partner events, twice weekly newsletters, and a growing social media presence across multiple platforms

Community Engagement: Designed and implemented community- building initiatives to attract 3000+ daily web visitors to BmoreArt.com, 800 paying subscriber-members, 6500 twice weekly newsletter subscribers with a 40% open rate, 46,600+ Instagram followers, and approximately 1200 individual visitors to in-person events each year

Tactical Partnerships: Develop and maintain relationships with regional cultural organizations, institutions, civic leaders, and businesses, through collaborative publications and programs; partners include the Baltimore Museum of Art, Walters Art Museum, Rubell Museum, Baltimore Museum of Industry, The Peale, Visit Baltimore, Baltimore Mayor’s Oce, Baltimore Oce of Promotion and the Arts, Central Baltimore Partnership, Creative Alliance, Arts & Entertainment Districts, Lewis Museum, The Banner Newspaper, WTMD Radio, Maryland Institute College of Art, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Morgan State University, Baltimore Development Corporation, and a variety of regional businesses

Fundraising and Relationship Cultivation: Present organizational values, operational objectives, and special projects to philanthropic organizations, individual donors, and a tiered community-based membership system to raise $525,000 in 2023, including the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, PNC Bank, T. Rowe Price, Johns Hopkins Oce of the President, BGE Energizing Grants, and with individual donors at varying levels listed in the Masthead of each BmoreArt Print Journal

Cultural Storytelling, Art Writing, and Public Speaking: Conduct collaborative research through interviews with hundreds of arts professionals over two decades leading to a diverse array of arts focused content including critical reviews, profiles, informational articles, print journals, books, lectures, and programs

Curatorial Expertise and Exhibition Design: Research, conception, production, installation, promotion, and collaborative programming for three exhibits each year at BmoreArt’s C+C Gallery featuring the region’s most successful artists including Oletha DeVane, Jackie Milad, René Treviňo, Phaan Howng, Paul Rucker, and many others

Financial Operations: Managed daily financial operations, implemented a $525,000 annual budget, and created processes, procedures, and sound practices to make our organization sustainable for multiple years in 2023-24

Consultation Services for Strategic Art Acquisition: Facilitated a collecting program for Johns Hopkins Oce of the President, in conjunction with JHU’s Diverse Names and Narratives Project to acquire art by Baltimore-based artists with an institutional investment of $500,000 in 2023 and 2024

Entrepreneurial Projects, Printed Media, and Distribution: Designed a sales and delivery structure for printed materials including online shop, community partners, museum shops, independent booksellers, arts nonprofits, and collaborative events to sell 6000 print journals and 1200 City of Artists books in 2023-24, with the larger goal of elevating the cultural reputation of Baltimore

Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, Baltimore, MD — Manager of Communications

JULY 2015 - DECEMBER 2016

Communications Strategy: Development and implementation of an original communications and branding strategy to enhance awareness and access to the foundation’s philosophy and practices

Branding and Web Design: Creation of a cross-platform redesign to include key mission and goals, branding, logo, website design, and outgoing communications to position the foundation as a local and global thought leader among philanthropic organizations

Best Philanthropic Practices: Conducted research and built relationships through professional conferences and workshops including Creative Capital Retreat in 2016 and 2015, Baltimore Data Day, MD Grantmakers in the Arts, and others

Creation of a Digital Archive: Organize and design a strategy to archive the foundation’s past projects and media coverage for two decades, leverage the power of press as a testimonial

Urbanite Magazine, Baltimore, MD — Arts Editor

JULY 2010 - JUNE 2012

Communications: Designed and implemented a weekly digital e-zine format to expand the Urbante from monthly print journal to daily online source

Writing and Research: Wrote monthly print and weekly online art and culture stories, including critical reviews, interviews, and events promo featuring local artists, makers, businesses, and products

Marketing: Analyze digital engagement practices on the local and national market for art and culture with a team of editors and marketing and advertising teams

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD — Professor

SEPTEMBER 2005 - MAY 2015

Pedagogy: Designed and implemented Drawing, Watercolor, and Cultural Journalism courses for future brain surgeons, account executives, bankers, and social scientists

Communication: Translated art process and visual culture into a common vernacular and enhanced humanities and science major student’s understanding, appreciation, and engagement with contemporary visual art

Grant Funding: Received two Mellon Arts Innovation Grants to design and implement an Arts & Cultural Journalism Course to art, media, photography, and writing majors, facilitating a working online publications; empowering students to function as independent journalists and to engage creatively and professionally with the Baltimore’s cultural landscape

Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD — Professor

SEPTEMBER 2005 - MAY 2018

Pedagogy: Designed and implemented Painting, Drawing, and a Professional Practices in the Visual Arts Course for graduate and undergraduate students

Relationship Building: Employed digital technology in the classroom using online publications and social media to conduct research, as well as a series of collaborative action research initiatives and studio visits, in order to build community between students and professional colleagues in the arts

Unionization Eort: Worked successfully with faculty, sta, and union representatives to present a case for unionization for Adjunct Faculty at MICA

AWARDS

2024 T. Rowe Price Foundation Operating Grant

2024-2014: Robert W. Deutsch Foundation Organizational Grant

2024 BGE Energizing Grant Recipient, $20,000 Project-based grant

2024 Best in Baltimore Award, Baltimore Magazine recognition

2022 Sue Hess Legacy Award, Maryland Arts Advocate of the Year

2021 Thirty Women Shaping Baltimore’s Future, Baltimore Magazine recognition

2019 Rabkin Foundation Arts Writer Grant, Nomination based $50,000 national grant

2019 Commissioning Grant, Warhol Foundation, Common Field Series: Artspeak and Audience, Essay

2015, 14 Mellon Arts Innovation Grants, Johns Hopkins University

2015 Grit Fund Grant, Warhol Foundation sponsored project grant

BOARDS and MEMBERSHIPS

2024-23 Baltimore Mayor’s Advisory Council for Arts and Culture

2024 MD Jewish Museum Curatorial Initiative Advisory Committee

2024 American Alliance of Museum Professionals Member

2024-23 Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance Board Member

2024 Baltimore Museum of Art 110 Year Gala Committee

2024 National Museum of Women in the Arts, Explorer Member

2015-14 Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art (FOMACA) Baltimore Museum of Art Board Member

2014-10 Maryland Art Place Board Member

SELECT PUBLIC SPEAKING, PANEL DISCUSSIONS, LECTURES, AND RADIO

2024: Baltimore Together Summit: Cultural Strategy and Creative Placemaking

2024: WYPR, On the Record: Why Does Arts Coverage Matter? A Discussion about the Baltimore Sun’s announcement to end cultural coverage

2024: Baltimore Museum of Industry Art and Innovation Speaker Series: A Discussion with Fashion Designer Bishme Cromartie

2024: Salisbury University: BmoreArt as Case Study in Community Building and Publishing, Lecture with students, faculty, and staff with BmoreArt Publications Designer Dr. Raquel Castedo

2024: Walters Art Museum: Introduction to Artists Inspired by Place and the Past, Connecting to the Present

2024: Materiality at CPM Gallery, Baltimore: A Discussion with NY Times Critic and Guest Curator Seph Rodney with Gallery Director Vlad Smolkin

2024: CityLit Festival Panel: Dismantling the Culture of Silence, Joseph Meyerho Symphony Hall, with Lisa Snowden McCray, Alanah Nichole, and Ashley Sterner

2023: Enoch Pratt Library Central Branch: Panel Discussion and Book Launch for City of Artists Baltimore

2023: WYPR (radio), Midday with Tom Hall: Discussion of Baltimore Mayoral Portrait Commission Project with Tonya Miller Hall, Senior Advisor of Art and Culture, Baltimore Mayor’s Oce

2024-2022: Bi-Monthly Salon Style Panel Discussion Series with BmoreArt Connect + Collect Gallery Exhibiting Artists in conversation with partnering organizations including AIA Baltimore, Baltimore Abortion Fund, and the Baltimore Ecological Design Collective

2023: Brown University, Professional Development for Visual Artists, Guest Lecturer

2023: Walters Art Museum, Museum PD for Artists with Dany Chan, Jerey Kent, and James Williams II

2023: Rubell Museum DC, with Mera Rubell, Sylvia Snowden, and Jerey Kent

2023: American University MFA Program Critic in Residence

2023: WBJC (radio) Book Notes with Judith Krummeck, a discussion of City of Artists book

2023: WYPR (radio) Tom Hall Midday, in discussion of new City of Artists book

2021: Art Seminar Group, Guest Lecture: An Introduction to Four Baltimore-based Artists with National Careers

2021: AIA Baltimore & BAF Spring Lecture Series: Art + Architecture: Cara Ober and Benjamin Gilmartin, AIA of Diller Scofido + Renfro

2020: Connect + Collect Speaker Series on Zoom: Featuring talks with Devin Allen, Kim Rice, Christopher Bathgate, Bill Gaskins, Ernest Shaw, Jerrell Gibbs, and the I. Henry Photo Project

2019: MICA Panel Discussion: Rethinking the Cannon with Lowery Stokes Sims, Leslie King-Hamond, and Deyane Moses

2019: Young Collector’s Contemporary, Memphis, TN: The Evolving Role of the Regional Arts Publication, lecture (video)

2019: Connect + Collect Speaker Series with Taha Heydari and Doreen Bolger at Motor House

2019: Connect + Collect Speaker Series with Dexter Wimberly and Darryl Atwell at Motor House

2019: Connect + Collect Speaker Series with Phillipa Hughes and Zoë Charlton at Motor House

2019: Connect + Collect Speaker Series with Schwanda Rountree and Mequitta Ahuja

2017: Center Stage Baltimore: A Creative Summit, Baltimore and the Arts with Kwame Kwei-Armah, Baltimore School for the Arts Director Chris Ford, and ABS Capital Partners General Partner Stephanie Carter

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

2024: Baltimore Magazine: Best of Baltimore, Best Cultural Resource: BmoreArt

2022: Baltimore Fishbowl: Big Fish: The Artful Work of Cara Ober, Founding Editor of BmoreArt by Marion Winik, December 7, 2022

2022: Modern Makers: Cara Ober, National Museum of Women in the Arts Online Series

2019: ArtForum: Rabkin Foundation Awards $400,000 to Arts Journalists

2019: Baltimore Magazine: Art/Life Balance: Cara Ober is the woman behind the longest running arts and culture magazine in the city by Lauren LaRocca, May Issue

2018: Fox 45 Morning News (television): Interview with Mary Louise Kelly

2018: Tiny Spark, an NPR Podcast Series: Interview on Best Practices for Artists

2017: Beyond the Studio: A Professional Development Podcast Series Episode 15

2017: Female Trouble, a Baltimore Sun Podcast: Cara Ober

2017: Glasstire: Book Review: “The Artist as Culture Producer” by Ayden Leroux 7/07

2017: Baltimore Sun (Cover Story): “Art Appreciation: Ten Years In Cara Ober and BmoreArt have a Created a Community for Baltimore’s Creatives” by Mary Carole McCaulay 3/11

2017: Baltimore Style Magazine: “Reality Star: Five Questions for Cara Ober” by Bret McCabe

2017: Baltimore Sun: Collector Mera Rubell, BMA Director Chris Bedford to Visit Studios of Baltimore Artists by Mary Carole McCaulay 2/14

2017: WJZ TV (television): Baltimore Artists Getting to Meet with ‘International Tastemaker

2016: Baltimore Magazine: “Space Makers” by Gabrielle Souza, September Issue

2015: Scroll: A Publication by The Contemporary, A Conversation with Art Writers

2014: Baltimore Magazine: “Best Cultural Resource” August Issue

2014: Washington Post: “Review: Words and Letters at The Athenaeum” by Michael O’Sullivan

2013: Baltimore Sun: “Westminster Native’s Art on Display at McDaniel College Gallery”

2013: MPT Artworks: Season 2 Guest Host with Rhea Feikin (television)

PUBLISHED WRITING

BOOKS

2023: Katzen Museum Catalog, essay for Steve Cusher Retrospective at the Katzen Museum, American University

2023: Liberty and Injustice: Kim Rice and Paul Rucker, Essay and collaborative publication design, Limited Edition Art Book produced by BmoreArt Books

2023: Arcadia Futura: TlaLoC and Alyssa Dennis, Essay and collaborative publication design, Limited Edition Art Book produced by BmoreArt Books

2023: Post-Consumption Benediction: Adam Stab and Jordan Tierney, Essay and collaborative publication design, Limited Edition Art Book produced by BmoreArt Books

2017: Artist as Culture Producer: 40 Essays by 40 Working Artists (book): Essay Contribution, Edited by Sharon Louden and printed by Chicago University Press

Articles, Essays, Critical Reviews (Select)

2024 - 2015: BmoreArt Journal of Art + Ideas, BmoreArt Online Magazine: Monthly authorship of a variety of articles, essays, and reviews at Contributor Page (Archive Link)

2024: Baltimore Banner Newspaper: February - October art reviews, ongoing monthly column

2024: American Craft Magazine, Introduction to Baltimore: The Scene, Winter Issue

2019: NY Magazine: John Waters is the Godfather of the Baltimore Art Scene

Hyperallergic (Archive Link), Published Writing

2024: Dereck Stafford Mangus, Beloved Baltimore Artist and Museum Guard, Dies at 46
2019: Revisiting Carolee Schneemann’s Candor and Intellect in a Previously Unpublished Interview
2018: The Relentless Eorts of Maren Hassinger Result in an Overdue Retrospective
2018: Jack Whitten’s Secret Self, Baltimore Museum of Art Survey
2018: Titus Kaphar and Ken Gonzales-Day Reveal the Fictions in Depictions at the National Portrait Gallery
2018: Artists and Curators Weigh In on Baltimore Museum’s Move to Deaccession Works by White Men to Diversity Its Collection
2018: Required Reading: The Female Monster
2018: Baltimore’s Confederate History Seen Through the Lens of Intersectional Feminism
2017: Best National Exhibitions of 2017
2017: Provocative Nat Turner-Inspired Portraits Fuel Debate After Their Removal
2017: Guston and the Poets in Venice
2017: Democracy's Dark Side and a Glimmer of Hope in Mark Bradford's Venice Biennale Show
2017: Queer Interiors at the Baltimore Museum of Art
2016: The Uneasy Beauty of Joyce J. Scott’s Seductive Forms
2016: The Seduction of Screens and Neon at Night: Victoria Fu at The Contemporary
2014: Unemployment as Artwork: Paul Short at Pleasant Plains Workshop DC

ARTnews (print), Published Writing

2013: Behind Walls at Grimaldis Gallery
2009: Sublime Structure at Grimaldis Gallery
2009: Manon Cleary at Addison-Ripley Gallery
2009: Moira Hecht at The Ralls Collection
2009: Leo Rubenfein at the Corcoran Gallery of Art
2009: Emerging Forces DC
2009: Nick and Sheila Pye at Curator’s Office and Kendall Messick at Hemphill Gallery
2008: Chul-Hyun Ahn: Visual Echo at Grimaldis Gallery

Art Papers magazine, Published Writing

2013: Sarah Oppenheimer at the Baltimore Museum of Art
2005: Artscape at the Baltimore Museum of Art
2005: Transmodern Age

CURATORIAL PRACTICE / JURYING (SELECT)

2024: City of Artists I featuring Erin Fostel, Phaan Howng, and JM Giordano at BmoreArt Connect+Collect Gallery

2024: City of Artists II featuring Schroeder Cherry, SeJong Cho, and Oletha DeVane at BmoreArt Connect+Collect Gallery

2024: City of Artists III featuring Rene Trevino, Jackie Milad, and Edgar Reyes at BmoreArt Connect+Collect Gallery

2023: Color Speaks: A Group Exhibition at Delaware Contemporary, Co Curator with Josh Hollingsworth

2023: POST-CONSUMPTION BENEDICTION: Adam Stab and Jordan Tierney at BmoreArt Connect+Collect Gallery, includes a companion limited edition book

2023: Arcadia Futura: TLaLoc and Alyssa Dennis at BmoreArt Connect+Collect Gallery, includes a companion limited edition book

2023: Liberty and Injustice featuring Kim Rice and Paul Rucker at BmoreArt Connect+Collect Gallery, includes a companion limited edition book

2022: Dynamic Range: An Featuring Eight Baltimore-based Photographers at BmoreArt Connect+Collect Gallery, includes a companion limited edition book

2022: Re-emergence featuring Chris Bathgate, Oletha DeVane, Elliot Doughtie, Erin Fostel, Taha Heydari, Phaan Howng, Antonio McAfee, and René Treviño

2022: Roots Need Water: The Photography of I. Henry Phillips Sr. curated with C+C Gallery Coordinator Teri Henderson

2021: Geopolitical Games: Miguel Braceli at BmoreArt Connect+Collect Digital Window Gallery, curated with C+C Gallery Coordinator Teri Henderson

2021: Haitian Waves for Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange by Strikeware Collective at BmoreArt Connect+Collect Digital Window Gallery, curated with C+C Gallery Coordinator Teri Henderson

2021: Miranda Javid’s Two Truths Mixtape and Ilana Harris-Babou’s Long Con, a partnership with Goucher College at BmoreArt Connect+Collect Digital Window Gallery

2020: Close Read: Savannah Wood, Shan Wallace, and Akea Brione at BmoreArt Connect+Collect Digital Window Gallery [physical gallery closed for the rest of 2020 because of COVID 19 Pandemic]

2020: Inaugural Connect+Collect Group Exhibition, BmoreArt Gallery at 2519 N. Charles Street, group show featuring Oletha DeVane, Amy Boone-McCreesh, Rene Trevino, and Zoë Charlton

2018: Inaugural Juror of the CIRCA Mina Cheon Award for UMBC IMDA MFA Graduates

2017: Juror for MICA Undergraduate Juried Exhibition, Fox Gallery Maryland Institute College of Art

2017: Dog and Pony Show: A Decade of Sondheim Finalists, at Area 405

2016: Juror for MICA Graduate Travel Prize with Zoë Charlton

2015: Juror for Artscape Festival Artists, Baltimore Oce of Promotion and the Arts

2015: Visiting Critic / Juror for Towson University Undergraduate Student Exhibition

2015: Visiting Critic / Juror for Gettysburg College Undergraduate Student Exhibition

2014: Curator of Test Patterns: Robby Rackle, Jessie Underhalter, and Katey Truhn at WTMD Studios

2014: Curator of Everything On It: Andrew Liang and Zoë Friedman at WTMD Studios.

2014: Juror for B!NGO, Platform Gallery Juried Show, with Deana Haggag 2014: Juror for Towson Art Collective’s 8th Anniversary Exhibit

2013: Juror for ImpArtIal, the Undergraduate Exhibition at Harford Community College,

2013: Juror for On Loan: Formality, a regional exhibit of college students at Area 405

2013: Juror for Undergraduate Student Exhibit at Goucher College, Rosenberg Gallery

2012: Curator of ArtNOW: Baltimore at Kohl Gallery at Washington College

2010: Curator of Departures & Arrivals, an Artscape Exhibition at Towson University Center for the Arts Gallery, a Group Exhibition featuring Jiha Moon, Laura Amussen, Isabel Manalo, and Soledad Salame

2009-07: Founder and Co-Director of Paperwork Gallery with Dana Reifler, awarded “Best in Baltimore” award by the Baltimore City Paper in 2008

2008: Curator of Quasi-Painting at Randall Scott Gallery, A Group Exhibition featuring Amy Sherald, Patrick McDonough, Katherine Tsu-Lan Mann, Nikki Painter, Sarah Gamble, Julie Simon, and Alex Roulette

2007: Curator of The Jolly Cowboy at the DC Arts Center, Warhol Grant

2004: Curator of Inward Gazes at Rosenberg Gallery, Goucher College

EDUCATION

Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore — MFA in Studio Art
MAY 20OO - MAY 2005
Surdna Foundation Merit-based Scholarship Recipient; Studies at MICA emphasized painting and mixed media contemporary practices, color photography and darkroom process, publication design, and professional partnerships within cultural communities

McDaniel College, Westminster, Md — MS in Art Education
SEPTEMBER 1996 - MAY 1998
Certification in K-12 Art Education for public schools in Maryland with emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the arts

American University, Washington, DC — BA in Fine Art, Art History Concentration, Phi Beta Kappa
SEPTEMBER 1992 - MAY 1996
Studies emphasized figurative painting, drawing, and sculpture with focus on contemporary figurative artists, Renaissance and Contemporary Feminist art history, Ancient Greek and Roman art, and Black and White Darkroom Photography
• Ellen Van Swinderen Award for Outstanding Senior in the Arts
• Art historical studies at American University of Rome, Italy