CityLit Project In Residence at the University of Baltimore
September 13, 2010
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
A strategic alignment between CityLit Project and the University of Baltimore will allow the six-year-old literary arts organization to serve in residence in UB's School of Communications Design. CityLit will retains its independence as a nonprofit while it collaborates with the school on a variety of literary projects, raising awareness of the potential for reading and writing to change lives.
"For a few years, we have been exploring ways to facilitate the organization's rapid expansion and pave the way for future growth," said Gregg Wilhelm, CityLit Project's executive director. "Several of our programs already involved literary artists on UB's faculty. The quality of students and technology resources at UB are excellent. So it made sense to explore the advantages of an alliance between us."
While the arrangement gives CityLit access to classroom and event space, Wilhelm said the organization will maintain important collaborations with other organizations, such as the Enoch Pratt Free Library, that have been critical to its success.
The collaboration began to take shape last fall when Wilhelm and then board chair Adrianna Amari approached Jonathan Shorr, executive director and division chair of the School of Communications Design, with a proposal that addressed aspects of both entities' strategic plans. CityLit's need for infrastructure to support the organization and advance its mission intersected with the University's vision of greater community engagement and regional stewardship.
"CityLit has for years been Baltimore's most visible advocate for the importance of literature and its local practitioners," Shorr said. "We're thrilled to have CityLit in residence, to have a living laboratory in which our students can work on a regular basis with event planning and publishing projects and also help CityLit continue moving their—and our—excitement about writing and literature into the community."
Through this collaboration, UB students will help youth and adults throughout the Baltimore metropolitan area develop a greater appreciation for literature as readers and also as writers. As they help organize and participate in CityLit events, students will come to understand the various roles played by literature not only in the classroom, but in the larger world. Their efforts alongside area schoolchildren and teachers also will develop these volunteers' sense of civic awareness and social responsibility. Finally, by working side by side with CityLit's professionals, UB students will have opportunities to develop their own job skills, from arts administration and project management to writing and publishing.
The CityLit-UB partnership enhances campus and community life by delivering cultural programs, service learning outreach to various populations, and forms the basis of a new model for institutional-nonprofit-community synergy.
Learn more about CityLit Project.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the School of Law, the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Public Affairs and the Merrick School of Business.