Several programs, projects, and contributions 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.
See also our list of upcoming events.
Maryland Global Gateway
The state of Maryland offers several programs for Maryland businesses to expand abroad, and for foreign companies to expand to the US using Maryland as a gateway. More info
Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee collaborates with BHSEC-Baltimore high school (2023 -2024)
The Xiamen committee provides enrichment learning activities to the students from Bard High School Early College Baltimore (BHSEC-Baltimore) who are studying Chinese — including a calligraphy demonstration, lantern-making, a lunch at Orient Express in Charles Village, a field trip to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, and a Lunar New Year celebration.
Baltimore & Gbarnga: 50 years of Sister Cities (2023)
Baltimore-Gbarnga Sister City Committee (BGSCC)
Baltimore’s first sister city relationship was established 50 years ago in 1973 with Gbarnga in Liberia. There are several special events throughout the year to commemorate the 50th anniversary. More information
Training the Trainers is a Gift that Keeps on Giving (2023)
Baltimore-Luxor-Alexandria Sister City Committee (BLASCC)
The Baltimore-Luxor-Alexandria (Egypt) Sister City Committee (BLASCC) and the Alexandria Sister City Committee collaborated to strengthen emergency/trauma nurse preparedness in Alexandria, Egypt.
BLASCC recruited Nora Mady, RN and Emergency Medical Technician, to train a team of emergency room nurses at the Egyptian High Institute of Public Health in Alexandria. These emergency nurses received 25 hours of training, tools and additional one-on-one coaching for the treatment of shock as well as cardiac, respiratory, neurological traumas. The training sessions also addressed the challenges of emergency treatment for special populations (pregnancy, pediatrics, trauma, burns, choking).
Nora Mady is a Registered Nurse with Inova Health Systems. She was in Egypt from Nov 12 -17, 2023, providing 5 hours of intensive training daily for one week at Alexandria Medical University.
More information: Project announcement | Post-training recap
Changwon Mayoral delegation visits Baltimore (2023)
Baltimore-Changwon Sister City Committee (BCSCC)
Changwon’s Deputy Mayor visited Baltimore in May 2023 with a delegation from Baltimore’s sister city of Changwon, South Korea. More information
Sister Cities International Young Artists & Authors Program (YAAS) (2023)
Youth in Baltimore, our sister cities around the world, and other locales that are part of Sister Cities International were invited to join this annual contest. The 2023 theme was “Peace by Piece: Food Security in My Community”.
In August 2023, 16-year-old ZHANG Jingwu from Baltimore’s sister city of Xiamen was named the second-place winner of the photography category for his piece “On the Field of Hope”. Jingwu described his photo as portraying “A bountiful harvest and boundless hope. The yellow grains in the sun form a golden ocean, and the terraced fields transformed from the hills are layered on top of each other, showing the hope of thriving in the sunlight. The golden sunlight renders the banana trees in the field emerald and gold, and the rich colors show the joy of the harvest in the mountains.” Oleksandra Volekova from Kremenchuk, Ukraine won second place for her essay “Pulling Together – My Community Gains Back Food Security.” She was entered into the contest via her connection to the Baltimore-Odesa Sister City Committee.
See the corresponding Sister Cities International webpage, winners announcement, and Xiamen Foreign Affairs Office social media post (in Chinese) for more details, including depictions of the young artists and their work.
Special thanks to Nacoya (Coya) Villegas from Baltimore Sister Cities and to the Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee for coordinating Baltimore Sister Cities and Xiamen’s participation in the 2023 YAAS program. Thanks also to Baltimore-Odesa Sister City Committee for their contribution.
Architecture student trip to Rotterdam
Baltimore-Rotterdam Sister City Committee (BRSCC)
Students and faculty from Morgan State University School of Architecture + Planning (MSU SA+P) traveled to Baltimore’s sister city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands in March 2023.
Another exchange takes place in 2024, with Morgan students traveled to Baltimore’s sister city of Rotterdam in March 2024, and community organizers and city planners from Rotterdam and Amsterdam travel to Baltimore in October 2024
These exchanges are part of a growing ongoing collaboration that started as a joint studio by SA+P Professor Cristina Murphy and the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and Urban Design (RAvB) in 2019 around the theme of the Just City.
Blooming Rainbow Project (2021-2023)
Baltimore-Changwon Sister City Committee (BCSCC)
2021-2022
During 2021-2022, artists conducted “Blooming Rainbow” — a collaborative class with children, 5-15 years old, in Baltimore and South Korea to create abstract painting jointly together. In this program, children paint scribbles — they can express their feelings, impulsion or their favorite figures. The scribbles are then exchanged with the artists in Baltimore and Korea, who overlap color onto the scribbles. The children learn about the sister cities of Baltimore, Maryland USA and Changwon, South Korea, and learn about abstract art concepts and artists.
The program is coordinated by artists Ara Ko, Jack Koppert, and Huaqi Liu (graduate students in MICA’s LeRoy E. Hoffberger Painting MFA Program in Baltimore) and Chaeyeon Hong, Yongeun Kwon and Jaeeun Kim from Ewha University in Seoul, South Korea (who travel to Changwon to teach their group of students).
Learn more about the project here.
2023
The art exchange continues, with the Baltimore Changwon Youth Art Circle | BCYAC!
With the help of our partnerships, the workshops generated by this project serve to promote diversity and equal opportunity in both cities while gathering together artists and students in safe communal art spaces. Mentoring of historically underserved groups is crucial to develop a healthy feeling of self-worth and identity in our communities. Our participating artists seek to develop relationships with students based on mutual respect and affirmation of their self-worth, and maintain high expectations while using culturally responsive teaching practices.
The goal of this project is to establish the potential of growing fruit from small beginnings by illustrating and developing the innate ability of children through visual expression. By joining students with mature artists, it is hoped that the beauty of drawing with simple beginnings enhanced by artists will inspire students to realize their potential based on their own visual expression of their ideas.
Learn more about the project here.
