Desmond Beach is an artist and educator. He earned his MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art's Rinehart School of Sculpture and his BFA from MICA. Desmond is an interdisciplinary artist, the middle son of three boys born in Baltimore, Maryland. He is a project artist, meaning that his work takes its point of departure from specific problems or tragedies. Desmond finds inspiration for his work from growing up in Baltimore during the 80s and 90s and his lived experience as a Black man.
Formstone Castle is a small team based out of Upper Fells Point, Baltimore, bringing together the enthusiasm and diverse skillsets of many different communities to make art for festivals and events, as well as simply for the joy of creation.
Baltimore based artist, James ALPHA Massaquoi Jr., is an emerging artist that works primarily with large drawings made with charcoal and pastels. Alpha was born in West African, Liberia, as the youngest of four to an upper middle-class family, where his father worked as a florist for the United States embassy to Liberia, and his mother was a Fashion designer with a small charcoal business. At age fourteen Alpha and his family moved to the U.S. seeking the "American dream".
Kevin Martin, the founder of Rockcreek Steel Drums, has been building, teaching, and performing on steel pan musical instruments of Trinidad since 1989. We have taught over 100,000 people in person the joy of performing music on the steel pan and the steel tongue drum.
As a teaching artist, Kevin has visited over 300 schools bringing large group steel pan workshops and steel pan residencies throughout MD and the east coast.