Skip to Content List

  • Skip to primary content
  • Skip to footer content

Site Navigation Lists

  • Fellowship Application
  • Grantmaking Process
  • Contact Us
  • About
    • Mission and Vision
    • Staff
    • Board
    • Leadership Council
    • Impact Reports
    • Impact Photo Series
  • Programs and Impact
    • Our Programs and Impact
    • Education and Youth Development
    • Criminal and Juvenile Justice
    • Addiction and Health Equity
    • Community Fellowships
  • Grantees and Fellows
    • Grantee Database
    • Grantmaking Process
    • Community Fellows
    • How to Apply
  • News and Reports
    • Baltimore Justice Report
    • Newsletters
    • Reports
    • Impact Reports
    • Blueprint for Baltimore
    • OSI in the News
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
    • 20th Anniversary Speaker Series
    • Talking About Race Series
    • Talking About Addiction Series
  • Privacy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Community Guidelines
  • Terms & Conditions
Open Society Institute – Baltimore

Open Society Institute – Baltimore

Open Society Institute (OSI) – Baltimore : Audacious Thinking For Lasting Change

  • Fellowship Application
  • Grantmaking Process
  • Contact Us
  • EN
    • EN
    • ES
  • About
    • Mission and Vision
    • Staff
    • Board
    • Leadership Council
    • Impact Reports
    • Impact Photo Series
  • Programs and Impact
    • Our Programs and Impact
    • Education and Youth Development
    • Criminal and Juvenile Justice
    • Addiction and Health Equity
    • Community Fellowships
  • Grantees and Fellows
    • Grantee Database
    • Grantmaking Process
    • Community Fellows
    • How to Apply
  • News and Reports
    • Baltimore Justice Report
    • Newsletters
    • Reports
    • Impact Reports
    • Blueprint for Baltimore
    • OSI in the News
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
    • 20th Anniversary Speaker Series
    • Talking About Race Series
    • Talking About Addiction Series
Anna Deavere Smith Sparks Conversations with “Notes from the Field”

Featured in
Baltimore Justice Report

Next Article
Baltimore's eviction crisis

Baltimore Justice Report

Anna Deavere Smith Sparks Conversations with “Notes from the Field”

Tuesday, December 08, 2015

Content Social Share Links

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter

On Saturday and Sunday, Anna Deavere Smith presented the latest incarnation of her production, “Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education, the Baltimore Chapter,” which focuses on the way the education system grooms some kids for life in the criminal justice system. Smith had performed an earlier version of “Notes” in Berkeley, but for the Baltimore Chapter she added monologues from her interviews with various Baltimore folks, including students, academics, Kevin Moore – who recorded the now-infamous video of Freddie Gray being arrested – and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. During “Act 2” of the show, the audience broke into small groups with facilitators to discuss ways we can work together to stop the school-to-prison pipeline.

Before the performances, the show earned attention from the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun and Baltimore City Paper, among others. In the days since, the Baltimore Sun posted a review by Tim Smith, and City Paper posted one by editor Karen Houppert. NPR’s Michelle Norris interviewed Smith about the project.

Baltimore City College teacher Mark Miazga posted a review on his blog, Epiphany in Baltimore, which seemed to sum up the feelings of many in the theater: “It was one of those ‘I love Baltimore’ nights overall. I was in a discussion group with my school district’s superintendent, Dr. Thornton, as well as a bunch of diverse, concerned citizens of Baltimore, eager to change and to help. Smith’s play can get us talking, let’s hope it can get us acting as well.”

To that end, the program for the event was actually a “Toolkit For Action,” including background and context on the idea of the school-to-prison pipeline and a list of “local organizations that are tackling these problems,” like Community Conferencing and Wide Angle Youth Media, both of which were founded by OSI-Baltimore Community Fellows.

Related Content

A Call For Applicants: 2014 Baltimore Community Fellowships

The Open Society Institute-Baltimore launched the Community Fellowships program in 1998. It is now a corps of social innovato…

Read More

Post navigation

Previous Article Previous BALT panel talks about reducing police presence in schools
Next Article Next Article Baltimore’s eviction crisis
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Youtube

Subscribe to our mailing list

OSI Logo

Open Society Institute-Baltimore
Bold Thinking, Strategic Action, Justice for All.

© 2025 Open Society Institute-Baltimore
  • Privacy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Community Guidelines
  • Terms & Conditions

OSI-Baltimore has permanently closed. It has been our honor and privilege to partner with and serve the Baltimore community for the past 25 years.

This website is available for historical purposes.  It is no longer being updated.

Skip to top of page