BALTIMORE.- In conjunction with Artscape, Baltimore’s premier arts festival organized by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, the BMA presents a special exhibition of the six finalists for The Janet & Walter Sondheim Prize: Baltimore Development Cooperative, Leslie Furlong, Ryan Hackett, Jessie Lehson, Molly Springfield, and Karen Yasinsky.

The winner is chosen by an independent panel of jurors and announced at a special ceremony on Saturday, July 11. This year’s jurors are Ellen Harvey, a New York-based artist; Valerie Cassel Oliver, Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; and Elisabeth Sussman, Curator and Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. This prestigious award is named after the late Baltimore civic leader Walter Sondheim and his late wife, Janet.

Presented by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts in partnership with The Baltimore Museum of Art. Generously supported by Amy and Chuck Newhall and an anonymous donor. The 2009 Janet & Walter Sondheim Prize is made possible in part by grants from The Abell Foundation, Alex. Brown Charitable Foundation, Charlesmead Foundation, Ellie Dankert, France-Merrick Foundation, Hecht-Levi Foundation, Legg Mason, The Henry & Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Foundation, Under Armour Baltimore Marathon, and Whiting-Turner Contracting Company.