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Baltimore Informal Educators Roundtable (BIER)

Upholding our belief that our sector is stronger together, the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance (GBCA) is pleased to announce the creation of the Baltimore Informal Educators Roundtable (BIER).

Click here to sign-up for the BIER Email List

NEXT EVENT: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2024, 5:00PM - AT THE PEALE



What is Baltimore Informal Educators Roundtable (BIER)?

BIER is a community of informal educators affiliated individually or through their organization with GBCA. This community of practice will provide a space in which individual educators can network with each other, share ideas, grow their own practice, and explore areas of overlap in their work.

What does BIER do?

The group will meet approximately six times per year for networking and learning experiences, including workshops, informal lunch and talk sessions, and invitations to cultural events. With this group, GBCA will collect resources and make them available to all members through a shared Google Drive.

What are BIER's Principles?

  • Members of BIER are antiracist, and committed to principles of justice and equity, particularly as informal educators in our communities.

  • In the 21st century where we find so many instances of isolation, BIER works intentionally to create a meaningful sense of belonging.

  • The history, evolution, resilience, and aesthetics of Baltimore provide a context for and inform BIER's work. Members of BIER are committed to supporting rigor and excellence from all informal learning experiences, and building resilience and enrichment in our community.

  • Members of BIER are committed to accessibility and anti-ableism.

BIER Steering Committee:

Upcoming Events:



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2024, 5:00PM - AT THE PEALE

Increasing Accessibility as Educators – A BIER Learning and Networking Event

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This event will explore ways that we, as educators, can increase the accessibility of exhibits, performances, and programs. It will begin with a tour of the Founding Fossils exhibit at the Peale by the exhibit developer and accessibility expert, Dr. Cheryl Fogle-Hatch of MuseumSenses. This multisensory exhibit reproduces fossils collected by early American leaders in a 3D-printed format so that they can be touched. The tour will be followed by some thoughts by a few other accessibility experts from around Baltimore and small group activities and discussions that explore other ways to create accessible experiences. There will be opportunities to think through ways to make experiences at your site more accessible to all and identify experiences that you didn’t even know could be improved.

Please join us for some learning, some networking, and a drink if that’s your thing.

Accessibiliy information for the Peale: https://www.thepeale.org/accessibility/

RSVP Here



Previous Events:

Informal Educator Speed Dating: June 5, 2024, Motor House

Inspired by the American Alliance of Museum’s Annual Meeting taking place in Baltimore this May, this event will feature discussions of lessons from the field, speed dating style. Informal educators from museums, theaters, arts centers, and more will lead five-minute conversations about their recent learnings from conferences, articles, or experiences at their site before a buzzer sounds, prompting attendees to move to the next conversation. After rotating through each conversation, there will be time for informal networking and a round of BIER, if that’s your thing. Come as you are, or sign up to lead a conversation. Have you attended a great conference recently? Learned something new at a peer presentation? Heard an idea you can’t stop thinking about? Bring a prompt from recent experience or nugget of learning to lead a conversation with.

Visitor Feedback: February 15, 2024, Maryland Center for History & Culture

Baltimore Informal Educators Roundtable (BIER) hosted a conversation with staff from The Walters Art Museum and the Maryland Center for History in Culture (MCHC). The discussion focused on how to invite, capture, and learn from visitor feedback.

Tour or Vision & Spirit: October 17, 2023, Reginal F. Lewis Museum

We're delighted to host BIER tomorrow, Tuesday, October 17, 2023 for a tour of Vision & Spirit: African American Art from the Bank of America Collection, a viewing of Blacks in White: African American Health Professionals, and a dialogue about ethical interpretation. This email provides logistics information on joining us at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum tomorrow.

    Click here to sign-up for the BIER Email List

    Become a Member

    As a member of GBCA, you will not only gain access to wonderful benefits, but you will also become an active participant in a broader cultural community. Your organization and employees will directly benefit from opportunities to collaborate, connect, learn, network and share with your colleagues in the cultural community. Join our growing constituency of over 300 individual artists and organizations representing the region's extraordinary range of arts, culture, history, heritage, humanities, and attractions.

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