BmoreArt’s Picks: April 7-13 This Week: 2026 Maryland Film Festival, Donald V. Bentley Memorial Lecture at the BMA, book signing and reception for Deborah Brown English at Creative Alliance, Alma Ross lecture + film screening at UMBC, Passion Plays festival at Baltimore Theatre Project, closi ng reception for Alternating Currents at Area 405, opening reception for Pharmaco/Liberation at Making Space Bmore, Out of Order and KIDOOO at MAP, Mixed Perception opening reception at Atrium Artspace, Everything Conceals Something Else opening reception at Gallery CA, 2026 Artist Open Studios Tour, CityLit Festival at MDCHC, Solarpunk opening reception at Crow’s Nest, and an opening reception for Roy Crosse at Eubie Blake — PLUS applications open for the JCC residency and more featured opportunities! BmoreArt’s Picks presents the best weekly art openings, events, and performances happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas. For a more comprehensive perspective, check the BmoreArt Calendar page, which includes ongoing exhibits and performances, and is updated on a daily basis. To submit your calendar event, email us at [email protected]! 2026 Maryland Film Fest Wednesday, April 8 – Sunday, April 12@ SNF Parkway Theatre Maryland Film Festival 2026 presents bold, independent cinema from emerging and established filmmakers whose work you won’t find anywhere else. From inventive debuts to singular voices from around the world — all Maryland premieres — this year’s slate reflects MdFF’s signature mix of quirkiness, craft, and strong local focus. Explore features, shorts, repertory screenings (16mm and 35mm), and special presentations that invite you somewhere new. The Freedom Bell: An Evening with Frances Harper at the BMA Thursday, April 9 :: 6-9pm@ The Baltimore Museum of Art Join us for the sixth annual Donald V. Bentley Memorial Lecture, an evening of art and history, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s birth, presented by the Billie Holiday Center for Liberation Arts. Food and drinks will be provided Silk Salt Boutique Catering and Revel Productions LLC Mobile Bartending Services. “The Freedom Bell” evening opens with an address by historian Dr. Martha S. Jones, who has evoked Harper in all of her published works. The audience will hear African American spirituals performed by Baltimore’s Jonathan Pettus Chorale, which includes many alumni of the celebrated Morgan State University Choir. With a backdrop of music by Peabody Institute cellists, a post-address reception will feature food, drinks, and a pop-up exhibit designed by Dr. Raynetta Wiggins-Jackson, lead curator of the BHCLA’s Curating and Archiving Black Baltimore project. Each year, the Center invites distinguished intellectuals and arts practitioners to address topical, historical, or philosophical issues connecting the work of the arts to the renewal and revitalization of civic life. The Donald Bentley Annual Memorial Lecture is a unique platform to drive debate and critical reflection on the role of the arts in our everyday lives and in our imagining of a future just world. Time’s Breath: An Odyssey in Words and Pictures | Book Signing and Reception Thursday, April 9 :: 7pm@ Creative Alliance Time’s Breath: An Odyssey in Words and Pictures, a new exhibition of paintings and works on paper by Deborah Brown English, will open at Creative Alliance in March. English’s debut illustrated novel, Time’s Breath: An Odyssey in Words and Pictures, which also serves as a catalogue for the exhibition, was published to rave reviews in September. Creative Alliance is located one block from the Southeast corner of Patterson Park, with the Main Gallery located inside the Patterson Building at 3134 Eastern Avenue. The exhibition will be on view to the public from Tuesday-Saturday, 12pm-5pm. Exhibition admission is free. Time’s Breath combines English’s paintings and works on paper with accompanying fiction, connected by an overarching narrative that resurfaces a mysterious island and a lost civilization. In a lighthouse off the coast of Norway, a book is found within the debris of a small boat. It contains pictures and stories, written in several hands. Together, they tell the tale of a volcanic island in the North Atlantic called Tokket Fall, lost a century before, and of the community that lived there—people, animals, and mythical beings.  Read more of this week’s picks at BmoreArt. ...read more read less