Bridging the Divide: Working Together, Working Forward
What makes Impact Hub’s physical space so unique? What brings organizations, nonprofits, art initiatives, and more to Impact Hub? Whether it is the space, the location, or even the art and education on the walls, I set out to find answers to these questions.
I spoke with Olu Butterfly Woods, Program Director of DewMore Baltimore; Ethan Abbott, Program Manager of Rails to Trails Conservancy; and Siobhan Hagan, President & CEO of The Mid-Atlantic Regional Moving Image Archive (MARMIA) — all of whom have offices within Impact Hub to get their perspective on what it means to work at and be a part of the Impact Hub community.
When someone first walks into Impact Hub, located centrally in the city on North Avenue, a host of things may catch their eye: maybe they’ll focus on people working at their desks or perhaps linger with the iconic geometric mural on the wall. Adorning the walls of Impact Hub is Designing the We’s “Undesign the Redline” exhibit, which traces redlining’s history and current-day consequences — the practice of denying services and discriminating against residents of predominantly black or brown neighborhoods. You simply can’t ignore the exhibit in the space; it’s all in the open.
This exhibit was installed in July 2018 and runs the perimeter of Impact Hub’s walls. As you walk through the space, you walk with the exhibit. On occasion, there have even been school visits to the Impact Hub space to discuss and interact with the exhibit. It activates the space in a way much beyond that of coworking.
Other art exhibitions have found a home at Impact Hub, for at least some time. Events and other programming by nonprofits, youth groups, and all sorts of organizations animate and activate the space. The physical space — with these exhibits, the bookcases in the open spaces, and even just the natural collision between individuals — serves as a container for passive education and spontaneous collaboration. Naturally, the members and office tenants become part of the space just as much as the space becomes a part of them.
Many members mention how they’re appreciative of the opportunities to build community at the hub. Of course, the free coffee also helps. DewMore Baltimore’s Program Director Olu Butterfly Woods, Rails to Trails’ Project Manager Ethan Abbott, and MARMIA’s CEO & President Siobhan Hagan share stories of how random conversations at the hub have catalyzed meaningful collaborations in the city.
Strengthening Platforms for Youth Voices
DewMore Baltimore is an organization that works with youth to use art to promote civic engagement in historically marginalized communities through purposeful partnership. Just this past June, they held a meet and greet in the Impact Hub space for twenty artivists involved in their summer program.
Olu Butterfly Woods, DewMore’s Program Director as well as talented artist and poet herself, explained that it was important for the participants to meet each other and have a few key moments together. The event involved a paint and sip led by one of DewMore’s youth artists.
“We discussed a few things together, got to know each other, and broke bread. Impact Hub was a big refuge. It was like the hottest day ever.”
DewMore did not have an office to escape Baltimore’s summer heat or serve as their homebase in the past. At other times in the organization’s history, they have had offices at various partnership organizations. For Olu, having an office at Impact Hub has been a natural evolution. With Impact Hub situated in the city’s geographic center and arts district, DewMore is now just around the corner from the Ynot Lot, which they gathered in for their June event. As an arts organization, Impact Hub’s central location makes standard operations more convenient, even for something as simple as passing off the keys to the office.
Being in the space also connected DewMore to other organizations. Olu recounts that being in the space connected her with Dent Education and, as both are youth-focused organizations, opened up discussion. She also mentioned that during the process of applying to a grant, she ran into an individual who is familiar with the process at the kitchen area of the hub. DewMore’s eventual reception of the grant has helped them put on the “So Fresh and So Clean Extravaganza ‘’ at Druid Hill Park; an event about poetry, art, youth, food, and holistic health.
“One major grant that we have right now I found out about through another avenue but I knew someone who was involved with it who is always at the bar. So, I was able to come and say, ‘Hey can you answer a couple questions for me?’ That zoomed me right along and because of that another big event is So Fresh and So Clean Extravaganza at Druid Hill park…. That was in a way enabled through some connections at Impact Hub.”
One other crucial connection that Impact Hub helped catalyze, Olu explained, was with Charm: Voices of Baltimore Youth, who often hold meetings in Impact Hub. This connection eventually transformed into a collaboration. DewMore is in a partnership with the youth poet laureate program where the chosen laureate publishes a book.
Originally, this was part of a national program, but the national partner pulled out. This left DewMore responsible for publishing the books on top of all their other work. Establishing a connection with Charm developed into the literary organization being the official youth poet laureate publisher.
DewMore and Olu do incredible work to empower and connect youth. While Impact Hub itself cannot claim credit for the work they do, being in the space has helped to catalyze relationships and open up new avenues of communication and connection, allowing Olu to focus on her mission.
“I take care of artists because they’re the Earth’s immune system, or at least part of the human’s Earth immune system. Artists should be at more tables.”
How Parks and Trails Connect Us
Ethan Abbott, Program Manager at Rails to Trails Conservancy, shares this mission-oriented approach to his work. A graduate of Towson University who studied environmental planning, and previously working with Baltimore City’s Parks and Recreation, Ethan turned to the nonprofit sector in what he describes as a seamless segway from his foundational studies and work:
“When you think of access, when you think about people, if you go to neighborhoods in East and West Baltimore, when you ask them when was the last time you rode the trail or kayaked in the water, they’d probably say never. It’s about showing people that these opportunities do exist, that they’re meant for it, and showing them through what the benefits for the city could be as well. My past experience literally all leads into the work we’re doing now.”
Rails to Trails Conservancy’s current project in Baltimore is to build a 35 mile trail network in the city, utilizing existing trail infrastructure between Gwynn’s Falls, Jones Falls, and the Herring Run trail. Especially given the recent boom in the usage of outdoor spaces as result of the pandemic, Ethan underscores the importance in increasing equity and access to green spaces in the city.
Because of his office in Impact Hub, Ethan ran into Impact Hub’s Community Manager Sam Novak and had a conversation which led to a hike co-led by Ethan, Sam, and Bikemore’s team.
“Impact Hub is great for me; a lot of the work that Rails to Trails does is working with local communities but working with local partners too. For Impact Hub, that’s really what Impact Hub is; it’s this communal space. You have a bunch of different organizations, a bunch of different entities that work in and around Baltimore City, all based out of this one location. Case in point, the Connect & Trek that we recently did with Sam over at Herring Run Park. That came about because of a random conversation we happened to have as we were passing in the hallway.”
For Ethan, this communal space and the give-and-take between different partners is essential. Because Rails to Trails is an outside entity, he stressed how crucial it is to embed one’s work into the community, to listen to those who actually live in the neighborhoods, and to respond to the needs and desires they articulate. This way, the project adapts and morphs to serve the community first and foremost.
On that note, Ethan believes that people are resources. Impact Hub serves as a space to cultivate and sustain these lines of discourse and resources. Being in the hub for Ethan is to be in community with other people, to learn from others, and ultimately to support the work of people doing similar or completely different work just by being in the same space as them.
“All of us are mission-driven. That’s the thing about Baltimore city too. It’s who you know and who you talk to as well. People are definitely resources so having people, having multiple organizations centered in one area — that’s the definition of having people as resources too. That’s what’s beneficial for me. It’s a great office setting, it’s very open and it’s inviting as well, but when you come there you have the potential to meet other organizations, other people who do similar work. It really is a hub for making an impact.”
Preserving and Amplifying Our Past through Archival Digitization
For Siobhan Hagan, President & CEO of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Moving Image Archive (MARMIA), being in community is always a priority. MARMIA’s mission is to preserve moving images and recorded sounds created by, in, or about the Mid-Atlantic region. One of their largest collections includes recordings of the WJZ local news. All digitized recordings are available to view and download on the MARMIA website.
While several moving image archives exist across the country, Siobhan noticed the absence of such an archive in either Baltimore or Washington D.C. A Baltimore native who left the city for several years to study filmmaking and history, she eventually returned to Baltimore upon acceptance of a job offer and decided to form MARMIA as a passion project. It was important for her to work in and for the region where she grew up.
“Individual voices deserve preservation. Being in Baltimore in general is important to me. Preserving the city’s history and especially those who aren’t part of those official big institutions. A local activist is just as important to preserve, and for us even more important to preserve because no one else is doing [digital archiving] here. It’s more about those who usually don’t get a voice.”
Siobhan got connected to Impact Hub through an event the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History did in the hub where they digitized people’s home movie and video collections for free. Siobhan found the space exciting and welcoming, appreciated that it was within walking distance from Penn Station, and thought that her missions aligned with Impact Hub. She subsequently decided to rent an office space.
For her, Impact Hub provides an office space that allows her to work in solitude on intense creative and technical work while also having access to the entire community right outside her office door. Although the physical space is important for MARMIA to securely house their technical equipment, Siobhan explains that being at Impact Hub also provides her with a stable homebase that is welcoming and inviting. The dualism between having a private space and open space helps MARMIA in both function and creative endeavors.
“You get the best of both worlds in that way. I also get more ideas, more thinking outside of the box when I’m in collaborative environments. Though, not to devalue the focus-centered work; I like having both options. It just opens up a different way of thinking and different perspectives.”
With all this in mind, MARMIA has just hired its first part-time employee and is looking to the future of their initiatives and programming. Siobhan explains that she wants to use the Impact Hub open spaces more often moving forward to hold screenings, digitization events, and other programming. Since the digitization of the archives takes a lot of time, MARMIA’s workers and volunteers do not have the opportunity to watch everything. As such, they want to encourage individuals to peruse their collections, remix the videos, study them, create art, and more.
“It would be really cool to have local artists, local filmmakers, activists, academics, whoever download, remix, edit and we could have a screening here where we talk about their work, whatever their topic is, and why it’s important to them. I’d love to see people reuse our stuff more.”
Ultimately, this returns to Siobhan’s own priorities with MARMIA — to give individuals the power to create their own stories and to have those stories preserved and remembered.
A Path Forward
Whether through empowering and mobilizing young people through the immense power of art, or building upon existing infrastructure to strengthen community ties in the city, or preserving the voices, stories, and histories of our past, DewMore, Rails to Trails, and MARMIA — among other offices at Impact Hub — are all working to create a new path forward for a better Baltimore.
The Impact Hub physical space is not just a space; it is also a catalyst for education, art, collaboration, meaningful relationships, among other priorities. It creates and catalyzes the opportunity to do more, to be more, and ultimately, connect more. We’ll all be stronger because of that.
Reflection Questions & Additional Reading
- Wanting to get to know what artists are doing in Baltimore, or even start creating yourself? Plug into one of DewMore’s events or workshops.
- Get outdoors and plan a hike with friends and family at a local Baltimore green space. Not sure where to start? Check out Herring Run Park, Cylburn Arboretum, and Gwynns Falls.
- Take a deep-dive through the Mid-Atlantic Region’s history by perusing MARMIA’s WJZ Archive.
Enjoyed this piece?
This story is the second installment of the Designed to Be Connected Series created by Ryan Aghamohammadi, Impact Hub’s talented JHU Community Impact Intern.
The five stories making up the series cover topics ranging from member spotlights, to Impact Hub’s origins, to what it means to do ecosystem work. They can be read in order or as standalone pieces. We hope these stories serve as an introduction (or re-introduction) to Impact Hub and the people who make it up.
