Arts & Culture - UMBC: University Of Maryland, Baltimore County Arts & Culture Calendar Explore UMBC's Arts Calendar All Events Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts Literary Arts Humanities Social Sciences Student Arts Events All Events Dance Music Theatre Visual Arts Literary Arts Humanities Social Sciences Student Arts Events Mon 1/26 Fri 5/22 Mary Ellen Mark: Ward 81 Ongoing Event Visual Arts All Day • Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery The Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery presents Mary Ellen Mark: Ward 81, a photography exhibition on display from January 26 through May 22. In 1976, American photographer Mary Ellen Mark and sociologist Karen Folger Jacobs spent thirty-six days living in the Oregon State Hospital, where they photographed the residents of Ward 81, the hospital’s all-female, high-security psychiatric unit. Their unprecedented access allowed them to create a deeply nuanced portrayal of women navigating psychiatric care in the mid-1970s. Mary Ellen Mark: Ward 81 brings together Mark’s photographs, Jacobs’s newly uncovered audio recordings, and rare archival materials, offering an intimate and expanded view of this landmark documentary project. View Event – Mary Ellen Mark: Ward 81, Monday, January 26, 2026 Tue 4/7 Fri 5/22 Bartleby 50+ Exhibition Ongoing Event Literary Arts All Day • Albin O. Kuhn Library Rotunda In celebration of a historic UMBC undergraduate publication and the university’s Arts+ initiative, the Bartleby 50+ exhibition presents a retrospective of works from the undergraduate creative arts journal, published since 1972. Bartleby remains a vital part of our campus community as a voice for undergraduate student creativity, including fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and art. View Event – Bartleby 50+ Exhibition, Tuesday, April 7, 2026 Tue 4/21 Thu 4/23 UMBC BookFest ’26 Ongoing Event Humanities Literary Arts All Day • Various Venues Join us on Tuesday, April 21 and Thursday, April 23 for UMBC BookFest ‘26, a celebration of writers, readers, makers, and advocates. Programs feature an outdoor market dedicated to bookishness, an evening focused on One Maryland, One Book, and a discussion on the dangers of censorship. View Event – UMBC BookFest ’26, Tuesday, April 21, 2026 Sun 4/26 The Soldiers’ Chorus Music 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm • Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall The Soldiers’ Chorus, the vocal complement of The United States Army Field Band of Washington, D.C., performs vocal works by Bellini, Bizet, Danielpour, Delibes, Donizetti, Handel, Massenet, Mozart, Puccini, Rossini, Strauss, and Verdi. View Event – The Soldiers’ Chorus, Sunday, April 26, 2026 Mon 4/27 Humanities Forum — Orianne Smith: Romanticism Bewitched: Witchcraft, Revolution and the Female Demonic Humanities 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm • Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery The Humanities Forum presents Orianne Smith, professor of English at UMBC, who will speak on Romanticism Bewitched: Witchcraft, Revolution and the Female Demonic. Smith embarks on an interdisciplinary reimagining of witchcraft, women’s writing, religion, and social reform, providing original insights on the history of witchcraft and its influence on public discourse, literature and art. View Event – Humanities Forum — Orianne Smith: Romanticism Bewitched: Witchcraft, Revolution and the Female Demonic, Monday, April 27, 2026 Wed 4/29 Guenet Abraham: Exploring and Bridging Ethiopia’s Indigenous Art, Design, and Innovation Visual Arts 11:45 am - 1:30 pm • 216 Performing Arts and Humanities Building The Center for Innovation, Research, and Creativity in Arts (CIRCA) presents Guenet Abraham, professor of visual arts at UMBC, who will speak on “Exploring and Bridging Ethiopia’s Indigenous Art, Design, and Innovation,” a multi-year project for which she was awarded a 2025 CIRCA Summer Fellowship. View Event – Guenet Abraham: Exploring and Bridging Ethiopia’s Indigenous Art, Design, and Innovation, Wednesday, April 29, 2026 Wed 4/29 UMBC Chamber Players Music 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm • Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall The Department of Music presents the UMBC Chamber Players under the direction of Airi Yoshioka. View Event – UMBC Chamber Players, Wednesday, April 29, 2026 Thu 4/30 Fri 5/1 Orange Grove Dance — Site/Unseen Ongoing Event Dance All Day • UMBC Arts District Join us for a special event with Site/Unseen, a production by Orange Grove Dance that brings ten performers into dynamic partnership with sidewalks, stairways, and the UMBC amphitheatre. Through shared weight, timing, and physical negotiation, bodies and architecture collide and collaborate, revealing the unseen choreography woven into the spaces we pass through every day. This outdoor performance, directed and choreographed by OGD Artistic Directors Colette Krogol and Matt Reeves, travels a short distance across campus, beginning at UMBC’s Performing Arts and Humanities Building and concluding at the Fine Arts Building Amphitheatre. View Event – Orange Grove Dance — Site/Unseen, Thursday, April 30, 2026 Thu 4/30 Sat 5/2 The Polar Ice Museum Ongoing Event Visual Arts All Day • Imaging Research Center The Imaging Research Center (IRC) presents The Polar Ice Museum, a series of artworks and immersive, data-driven installations that transform polar data into meaningful public engagement experiences on sea level, climate, and related environmental issues. The Polar Ice Museum will be open April 30 through May 2, with an Opening Reception on Thursday, April 30, from 4 to 6 p.m. View Event – The Polar Ice Museum, Thursday, April 30, 2026 Fri 5/1 Sun 5/3 User Agreement Ongoing Event Theatre All Day • Black Box Theatre UMBC Theatre presents User Agreeement by Ben Holbrook and directed by Sean DiGiorgio ’26. Set in the near future, Sy and Theo attempt to navigate their bond in a world enhanced by the wonders of artificial intelligence and the occasional talking octopus. Their budding romance is tested by an increasingly complex society driven by technology and capital, asking us to wonder if two simple souls can truly connect. View Event – User Agreement, Friday, May 1, 2026 April 2026 Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Arts & Culture News Apr 2, 2026 Six April arts events not to be missed at UMBC Mar 12, 2026 Author Kristina Gaddy ’09, collaborates with Rhiannon Giddens, Grammy Award-winning musician, on the history of Black American music Mar 12, 2026 Can anything be read as poetry? Keegan Cook Finberg, English, is opening students’ eyes to the poetic world Dec 16, 2025 Laughing in the dark—UMBC’s Erin Hogan writes about Spain’s cinema after Franco Don’t miss out on future events! Subscribe to UMBC’s Weekly Arts Newsletter indicates required © UMBC: A University System of Maryland Member Institution Accreditation Equal Opportunity Title IX Web Accessibility Consumer Information Search UMBC.edu