A list of upcoming events organized or supported by Baltimore Sister Cities and our sister city committees (Changwon, South Korea; Gbarnga, Liberia; Kawasaki, Japan; Luxor & Alexandria, Egypt; Odesa, Ukraine; Piraeus, Greece; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Xiamen, China) and our affiliates. Events include:
February 12 – May 17, 2025
‘HAUNTED KOREAS Dreaming Unification Protest Peace’ Exhibition
Artists: Mina Cheon with Kim Il Soon
Location: Asian Arts Gallery & Center for the Arts Atrium, Towson University, 1 Fine Arts Drive, Towson, MD 21204
On view: Monday – Saturday 11am – 4pm
Admission: Free (donations are welcome)
View the most extensive collection of global activist artist Mina Cheon’s series of “Unification Dream” paintings, a new perspective on the flags of a unified Korea. Each of these paintings, born from the artist’s stream of unconsciousness, is a powerful peace protest, shedding light on the intricacies of communication, love, and a shared vision of a harmonious future for North and South Korea. The call for unification within the Koreas is a concerted effort to desire peace on earth, because to dream for global peace is about healing and reconciliation of tempered worlds divided.
Hosted by the Asian Arts & Culture Center at Towson University.
Spring 2025
Egypt World of Spices event
The Baltimore-Luxor-Alexandria Sister City Committee is planning a special event in Baltimore where you can sample the flavors of Egypt! Date and more details to come.
March 2025
Architecture & urban design student trip to the Netherlands
Students and faculty from Morgan State University School of Architecture + Planning (SA+P), representatives from Baltimore Department of Planning, and design professionals travel to Baltimore’s sister city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands in March 2025. The trip includes design workshops, visits to design firms and architecture schools, architecture tours, lectures, the cities of Antwerp and Amsterdam, and more. Community-centered design, placekeeping, and social sustainability are the key themes for this year’s trip. Professor Cristina Murphy (SA+P) is the lead organizer/curator for this annual trip.
Baltimore-Rotterdam Sister City Committee (BRSCC) helps fundraise, promote, and plan these exchange activities.
March 29 – June 8, 2025
Walk On By exhibition and artists exchange
Walk On By is an exhibition and a cultural exchange that connects Black artists, their diverse experiences, and artwork, across the Atlantic. Explore the Black Atlantic through the diverse stories of local artists in the historical port cities of Baltimore and Rotterdam, through exhibitions in both countries and an exchange program. Featuring works by Schaun Champion (Baltimore), Charles Mason III (Baltimore), Naomi King (Rotterdam), kolpeace (Baltimore), Djon Seedorf (Rotterdam), and Tarona (Rotterdam). Curated by Joy Davis, Visual Arts Director at Creative Alliance and founder of Waller Gallery.
Mar 29 – June 8, 2025: The exhibition is at TENT in Rotterdam; the Baltimore artists and artwork travel to Rotterdam for community engagement activities in the week of the exhibition opening.
Sep 26 – Dec 7, 2024: The exhibition was at Creative Alliance in Baltimore; the Rotterdam artists and artwork traveled to Baltimore for community engagement activities in the week of the exhibition opening.
Baltimore-Rotterdam Sister City Committee (BRSCC) is collaborating with curator Joy Davis, Creative Alliance, and TENT Rotterdam to plan and fundraise for this project.
February 22, 2025
HAUNTED KOREAS Dreaming Unification Protest Peace: Artist Talk and Exhibition Opening
Time: 5:30pm
Location: Asian Arts Gallery & Center for the Arts Atrium, Towson University, 1 Fine Arts Drive, Towson, MD 21204
Admission: Free (donations are welcome)
More information and to RSVP: Reception Eventbrite page
Join Mina Cheon to explore the HAUNTED KOREAS: Dreaming Unification Protest Peace exhibition together and gain insights into how she creates art to advocate for positive change. Mina Cheon (PhD, MFA) is a global Korean new media artist, scholar, and educator who divides her time between Baltimore, New York, and Seoul, Korea. Born in Seoul to parents who were originally from the North, Cheon has never known a unified Korea. She has worked on North Korean awareness and global peace projects since 2004 and her specific focus on East Asia reflects the transgenerational trauma of Korea’s history, particularly division, war, and Japanese colonization.
This event is co-sponsored by the Korean American Foundation – Greater Washington and the Baltimore Changwon Sister City Committee.
April 2025
Dutch urban design delegation – Research trip to Baltimore
City planners, community organizers, and researchers from Amsterdam and Rotterdam will come to Baltimore in early April 2025 for a work week. Goals for this research trip: learning how community-led visioning and urban development happens in Baltimore, and alternatives to real-estate-developer-driven development; sharing examples of community-led initiatives in Amsterdam and Rotterdam; how city government can support community-led development; how to engage/empower youth in shaping the future of their neighborhood.
This trip is a follow-on to an earlier exchange when students and faculty from Morgan State University School of Architecture + Planning (SA+P), design professionals, and representatives from Baltimore City Department of Planning traveled to the Netherlands in March 2024, and also serves as a follow-on to the March 2025 trip to the Netherlands.
Baltimore-Rotterdam Sister City Committee (BRSCC) helps fundraise, promote, and plan these exchange activities.
May 30, 2025
The 2025 Baltimore Immigration Summit will take place May 30, 2025, and the theme this year will be Narratives of Hope and Healing: Transforming Immigrant Integration Through Local Initiatives. Registration begins in early April 2025. A call for proposals will happen in Fall 2024.
The Baltimore Immigration Summit is a free one-day event that brings together academics, policymakers, service providers, activists, community leaders, and others working with and for immigrants and refugees in our region. Baltimore and its surrounding suburbs represent an area with a growing and diverse immigrant population, and local governments view them as essential to the region’s ongoing resurgence. We invite you to join us in learning about and celebrating the empowered immigrant communities in our region and discovering new opportunities for collaboration!
For more information and to stay up to date with registration information, please visit the webpage on Towson University’s website.
June 8, 2025
Baltimore-Kawasaki Sister City Committee’s annual picnic.
Details to come.
