Guided by MICA’s institutional commitment to Thrive with Baltimore, the Center for Student Engagement and the Community Arts and Service program have made it a priority to foster more structured and robust opportunities for the MICA community to engage with the city and aid the multiple organizations and initiatives that are making significant change in the city of Baltimore. These efforts are supported by various departments across MICA's Campus.
Spring 2024 Day of Service
After a 2-year hiatus, we saw the return of the MICA Day of Service, which took place on Thursday, March 14, 2024, between 9am and 2pm. Over 40 MICA staff, faculty, students—both undergraduate and graduate— participated! MICA alumni, and Community Art Collaborative members joined in to lend a helping hand as well! Three Baltimore organizations generously welcomed members of the MICA community to their locations to support their mission work, including Jubilee Arts, No Boundaries Coalition, and the Pride Center! Our efforts included:
• Organizing clothing and material donations at the Pride Center
• Canvasing from MICA's Campus to Fresh on the Ave to get the word out about No Boundaries' various community programs and opportunities for civic engagement.
• Cutting and preparing organic fruits and veggies at Fresh on the Ave to help get produce to local neighbors.
• Assisting with a deep spring cleaning at Jubilee Arts, including organizing supplies, scrubbing the clay studio, cleaning Jubilee's performance lot, and more!
Fall 2021 Day of Service
Fall 2021 saw the return of the MICA community back on-campus for in-person classes as well as the Day of Service, which took place on Monday, October 18, 2021. Over 60 MICA staff, faculty, students—both undergraduate and graduate—and even some MICA alumni participated in this year’s Day of Service. With a couple of shuttles, a rented pickup truck, a hoard of snacks, and a gaggle of tools from our local tool library, MICA’s community poured their hearts into...
• Painting sidewalk murals in the Johnston Square Elementary community
• Tending trees with Tree Baltimore at Druid Hill Park
• Pulling weeds and raking leaves at St. Katherine’s Episcopal Church and Dorothy L. Heights Elementary
• Cleaning and clearing rooms and tending to the community garden at The Mount Royal School
• Assisting with museum archiving at The National Slavic Museum in Fells Point
Spring 2021 Day of Service
2020 truly challenged our sense of community as we were all away from one another and the MICA campus for so long, and although we still had and have some stretch to go before recovering to a level of normalcy. MICA still decided to gather safely and support local organizations at yet another MICA Day Of Service in Spring of 2021 which took place on Saturday, May 1st from 9:30 a.m.– 12:00 p.m. Service projects were be assigned to each volunteer like usual but was capped at about 20 volunteers + all outdoor activities to guarantee a safe environment. Our faces were masked but our hearts were open.
Fall 2019 Day of Service
The first MICA Day of Service took place on October 22nd, 2019 between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm, which included check-in time, time working on-site, lunch, and a closing reflection as a group. At this event, members of the MICA community volunteered their time and efforts to advance the mission of six grassroots organizations across Baltimore.
To provide maximum engagement from all stakeholders at MICA, the event took place on the last day of fall break, during a workday (Tuesday). This made it easier for staff, faculty and alumni to join; additionally, the fact of it happening during spring break guaranteed that students wouldn’t have any conflict with their class schedule.
76 individuals (staff, undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and alumni) volunteered at six organizations across Baltimore: Midtown Baltimore, The 6th Branch, Union Baptist Head Start, Jubilee Arts, Duncan Street Miracle Garden, and McElderry Park Community Association. Throughout the day, the volunteers cleaned a community garden, planted trees, facilitated art activities with Headstart children, created unique postcard designs to support fundraising efforts, and led a neighborhood cleaning day in East Baltimore.
Spring 2019 Day of Service
For the Spring 2019 Day of Service, 41 individuals between staff, undergraduate and graduate students volunteered at four organizations across Baltimore: Catholic Charities of Baltimore, Duncan Street Miracle Garden, Bolton North Senior Apartments and FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture. Throughout the day the volunteers cleaned a community garden, painted a mural designed by seniors, cooked and distributed meals to under-served community members in West Baltimore, and helped round up the final touches on the Monument Quilt, a project co-led by MICA faculty member Hannah Brancato.