By Connie Ballenger
The Glen Mar’s Summer Concert Series was the recipient of a 2023 Howard County Arts Council grant for $5,500. HCAC Executive Director Coleen West and Howard County Executive Calvin Ball handed numerous awardees part of their grants at an outdoor event at the Howard County Center for the Arts on Sept. 16, 2022.
At the event, Glen Mar Music Director Dr. Sophie Hong and Susan Straumanis picked up a check for half of the Summer Concert Series’ 2023 grant. The rest of the grant will be mailed in the spring. In 2023, HCAC awarded more than $500,000 through its grant program.
The concert series is an outreach program that offers free concerts for people in Central Maryland and beyond. It features nationally and internationally known artists performing a variety of music. All concerts in the series are held at Glen Mar Church. Hong started the Summer Concert Series in 2017.
A committee led by Hong organizes the concerts. Committee members are Connie Ballenger, Ellen Dan, Lois Hildebrand, Patty Hutton, Fred Sadler, and Susan Straumanis. The Summer Concert Series has been awarded HCAC grants five times. The series’ highest grant prior to 2023 was $5,000. The 2023 grant will enable the Summer Concert to hold three concerts in 2023. To date, the series has held no more than two concerts in one year.
An independent artist review panel reviews and evaluates grant applications. “I am so glad we meet their standards,” said Hong. Awardees are required to fill out a mid-report and a final report.
In addition to the HCAC grant, Glen Mar’s Summer Concert Series is supported by sponsors and grants. In 2022, Harry H. Witzke’s Family Funeral Home sponsored the concerts, and donations were given in memory of Karen Angle and by “Friends of the Music Program at Glen Mar Church.”
In addition to participating in the awards’ distribution, attendees at the Sept. 16 event were treated to a shortened performance of “On National Road,” an original new musical that chronicles milestones during Ellicott City and Howard County’s 250-year history. For more information about this musical, visit On National Road – The Musical. For more information about other events to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of Ellicott City, visit ec250.com.
