Sandy Spring Museum

Sandy Spring Museum, the state-designated Regional Folklife Center of Montgomery County, Maryland, will fund staff to work directly with folk artists, sharing resources to help them build their capacity, sustain their folk traditions, and foster social cohesion in the challenging socioeconomic climate of the COVID-19 pandemic. The museum will continue work it began in 2014 to provide resources for activities developed and implemented by artists, as well as give artists a public venue for sharing their art. The collaborating folk artists are almost exclusively immigrants, people of color, and members of underserved communities, and none have paid staff or their own facility. The Sandy Spring Museum program allows these artists to share their cultural contributions with audiences who would not otherwise have access to them, foster cross-cultural relationships, and increase the museum’s impact in the community.