Creative Alliance
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Creative Alliance is a multi-faceted arts organization that hosts performances, exhibitions, artists in residence, festivals, education programs, and more!
Nine people on stage. One man conducting the whole room.
Joe Keyes & The Late Bloomer Band hit Creative Alliance on Fri, Jun 5 at 7:00 PM, and the vibe is big. Keyes moves like a front man and a conductor at once, cueing horns, calling solos, and steering the dynamics from epic crescendos to soft, intimate melodies, with deep vocals and stories pulled from six decades of love, family, and hard-won survival.
Think Miles Davis swagger, Gil Scott-Heron truth-telling, Sun Ra cosmic energy, and early Parliament-style bandleading. A collage of influences, remixed with original music into something that feels alive, present, and built for the stage.
Bring your ears. Bring your whole self.
Look closely at the molas featured in When The Butterflies Would Visit.
Molas are traditional Guna Yala textile panels made through intricate reverse appliqué, layering cloth, cutting through the top layers, and sewing to reveal colors and imagery beneath. They are part of the Guna Yala’s clothing traditions and carry a visual language that is both technically dazzling and culturally specific.
In this exhibition, the presence of molas is more than beauty. It is a reminder that knowledge lives in hands, in pattern, in time, and in practices passed down, even as modern extraction and pollution threaten the ecosystems and communities that sustain them.
On view through June 13, 2026
Tue–Sat | 12–5 PM | Free admission
06/03/2026
New voices. New forms. New work in the room.
Movies in the Lounge
Fri, Jun 5 | 6:30 PM
Movies in the Lounge showcases emerging filmmakers exploring new territory, with short and mid-length films (up to 60 minutes) across genres and styles. The best part: the filmmakers are in the room to talk process and answer questions after each screening. It’s informal, conversational, and a perfect way to discover artists you have not encountered yet.
On screen:
The Future of Us (Dalmar James, 22 min) — a mockumentary asking what happens when kids have to replace adults after everything shuts down. Funny, thoughtful, chaotic, and full of heart.
my love, my love: field notes (MD Vazhappilly, 5 min) — images, sounds, and summer walks through Baltimore parks, with an infatuation for the northern spicebush.
SqueeGee Boy (Chung-Wei Huang, 14 min) — a young trans Asian American teen searches for belonging among Baltimore’s squeegee boys, and learns what it really takes to survive and be seen.
Come watch. Stay for the conversation.
Baltimore’s got its own folk art, and you can learn it in an afternoon. 🪟🎨
Painted Screens: A Baltimore Folk Art
Sat, Jun 6 | 12:00–2:30 PM
📍Creativity Center, 3137 Eastern Ave
Painted screens are a one-of-a-kind Baltimore tradition, and this workshop is a fun, family-friendly way to jump in. We’ll start with a short film on the history of painted screens, watch a live demo of the technique, then you’ll paint your own small screen. Choose from multiple designs and make something truly special, a unique gift or a seasonal keepsake to hang with pride.
All supplies provided. Led by Baltimorean Michael Seipp, who fell in love with painted screens biking through East and Southeast Baltimore and has been helping fuel their resurgence ever since.
Bring the family. Leave with a little Baltimore in your hands.
06/01/2026
This Thursday, we’re back with The Many Americas and two films that will stay with you.
The Many Americas Series
Thu, Jun 4 | 7:00 PM
Screenings + Q&A with the filmmakers
On screen:
Agencia (May Santiago, 14 min)
An essay film that juxtaposes 20th-century government agency films about Puerto Rico with poetic documentation of Puerto Rican agency and strength, rejecting tired, mediated narratives of resilience and suffering.
Damn Y’all Fine (Ti Malik Coleman + Kalima Young, 41 min)
A journey into the self-stylings of Baltimore’s Black q***r artists and activists, and how living in Baltimore shapes the expression of gender and sexual identities.
Come watch, then stay for the conversation. Tickets on our site.
05/31/2026
If you like a bandleader who feels like a front man, a poet, and a conductor all at once, make plans for this one.
Joe Keyes & The Late Bloomer Band
Fri, Jun 5 | 7:00 PM
Joe Keyes draws from the spirit of Miles Davis, Gil Scott-Heron, Sun Ra, and early Parliament-Funkadelic, the era when bands were guided by almost otherworldly leaders. As this nine-piece band moves across the spectrum, Keyes cues the horns, calls the solos, and shapes the dynamics from epic crescendos to soft, intimate melodies, all anchored by his deep, commanding vocals and lived stories of love, family, and addiction.
It’s a collage in motion, horn lines from one place, guitar from another, rhythm from somewhere else, honoring the heroes while making something unmistakably his. Come catch it live.
On view now through June 13, 2026: When The Butterflies Would Visit 🦋
This exhibition brings together artists, activists, and scientists responding to the environmental struggle in Guna Yala, Panama, and asks what it looks like to practice ecological reciprocity instead of extraction. Seeded during a 2022 Indigenous ecological artist residency and created in partnership with Yar Burba, the work holds a clear truth: everything is alive, everything has energy, and our futures depend on how we live in relationship with the world around us.
Free admission
Tue–Sat | 12–5 PM
Come spend time with it.
05/29/2026
Food holds memory. Routes hold us.
Routes and Roux: The Stories We Serve
Sun, May 31 | 1–4 PM
Patterson Park (Corner of Eastern Ave + S Ellwood Ave)
As a roux slowly turns and deepens, it becomes a foundation you can feel. This gathering, an activation of Hope & Faith McCorkle’s exhibition You Can Always Come Back Home, invites us to reflect on the wisdom, tastes, and memories stored in food, and how meals become intimate tellings of our journeys.
Led by Garden of Nicola, expect intentional conversation starters, a live food demo, and an exploration of Southern African diasporic culinary roots, with flavors that transcend time and distance. Bring an optional dish of significance if you’d like.
The event starts promptly at 1 PM. Come hungry for story.
05/29/2026
Get your freak on. 🛰️🖤
Missy Elliott DJ Dance Party
Sat, May 30 | 7:00 PM
We’re turning the volume all the way up for a night dedicated to the icon, the innovator, the video-visionary: Missy Elliott. From “Work It” to “Lose Control,” expect nonstop hits, remixes, throwback anthems, and a dance floor that stays packed.
Come dressed in your boldest Y2K look, bring your crew, and dance to the music that changed hip hop, R&B, and club culture forever. Whether you know every lyric or you just want pure party energy, this one’s for you.
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