Ninth season of Maryland Public TV series Artworks premieres May 19

Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) original series Artworks returns for its ninth season beginning Friday, May 19 with the first of nine new half-hour episodes. A preview of the season premiere is available for viewing at https://youtu.be/XQqzD2v06E4.

New episodes of Artworks air Fridays at 7:30 p.m. on MPT-HD and the MPT livestream. Episodes are also made available to view on-demand using MPT’s online video player and the PBS App.

Artworks celebrates local and regional artists working in a wide range of disciplines. Episodes in the series’ ninth season dive deep into topics including theater, curation, comedy, folk art, fine art, animation, and jazz.

“Artworks is back with a new look and feel,” states MPT’s Patrick Keegan, executive producer. “The immersive, cinematic approach of this season brings viewers into the creative process and promotes connections between audience and artist. We are excited to continue showcasing the enormous talent of artists in our region.”

The first three episodes in Artworks’ new season explore topics in theater production and museum curation. Those episodes are:

• The Art of Theater (May 19): Investigate the inner workings of Baltimore’s Everyman Theatre and Washington, D.C.’s Mosaic Theater. Through interviews with Everyman Founder and Artistic Director Vincent Lancisi, Mosaic Artistic Director Reginald L. Douglas, and several members of each company’s staff and talent, this in-depth episode explores the work required to make a theater production come alive and showcases how theater has emerged from the coronavirus pandemic with a newfound energy.
• The Art of Curation – Conception (May 26). Go behind the scenes with curators and artists at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) to discover how they conceive, plan, design, develop, and create museum exhibitions through the example of “The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century,” a new BMA exhibition that is upending conventions. A preview of the episode is available at https://youtu.be/UlCnL4caYd0.
• The Art of Curation – Execution (June 2). Join renowned artists and BMA curators to explore the new exhibition “The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century.” Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop music, the exhibition captures the extraordinary influence hip hop has had on contemporary society through more than 90 works of art and fashion by some of today’s most celebrated artists and iconic brands.

Encore broadcasts of Artworks episodes air on Saturdays at 8 p.m. on MPT2/Create® and on Sundays at 6:30 a.m. on MPT-HD.

Artworks’ ninth season is produced for MPT by T.L. Benton of MECCA Filmworks.

Major Funding for Artworks is provided by the citizens of Baltimore County. Additional funding is provided by the Ruth R. Marder Arts Endowment Fund; The Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker Endowment for the Arts; The E.T. Robert B. Rocklin Fund; and The Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Foundation Arts Endowment in Memory of Ruth Marder.