partnership, collaboration and Participation are at the core

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Whether you’ve been with us since the beginning, or have just joined us for your first event this spring, THANK YOU! Your presence and participation helps to shape Vital Matters and what makes it matter in our city and our world. I am grateful for you, and grateful for all the amazing people in Baltimore who are working towards a green, just, equitable and abundant future for all. 

I also want to thank my partners in making this all happen, Maura Dwyer, Sanahara Ama Chandra, August Bryant, Tina Canady, Jamie Gansell, Rejjia Camphor and Valeska Populoh, who've been essential members of the Vital Matters Team, and our many partners and collaborators.

Here is a brief summary of what we've been up to in 2025:

In January, we lurched along with the rest of you into this new reality, launching our Mutual Aid Mondays series on Inauguration Day, in collaboration with our generous hosts at Submersive Productions.

In March, for our second Mutual Aid Monday, we shared with you the film Water Is Love, (now available to stream and share for free) which showed us how human cooperation with and support of the natural water cycle has helped land and communities to thrive in India, Nigeria, and Portugal, and has shown new possibilities for working with these natural cycles to change local and regional climate patterns 

In April, we led children and their parents on an exploration of our environment in the Jones Falls Watershed for the 4th annual Whose Earth (Day)? at Ivy Bookshop. 

In May, we joined with PFLAG Baltimore, Free State Justice and the Baltimore County Health Department to offer an evening of Trans Joy and Solidarity for our 3rd Mutual Aid Monday gathering.

In June, we gathered with Valeska Populoh at Herring Run to consider how the concept of “disabled ecologies” could enable us to find healing for ourselves and the injured ecosystems we live in. The following Saturday, we joined people around the world for Global Water Dances, dancing together to celebrate the source of all life, connecting its flow and vitality with our own.

New connections, and new directions...

This Spring, we began conversations with Chris Shulze and others of the Gwynns Falls Community Association about our Crossways public art project, aimed at creating connections and weaving webs between people, communities, land and water across Baltimore City’s watersheds. GFCA has agreed to be our first partner, and for their neighborhood, which lies along Maiden’s Choice Run, a tributary of the Gwynns Falls, to be the site of the first public art installation. Stay tuned for more news about this ongoing project!

Through the past year, we’ve been expanding our presence and engaging people about the importance of the arts in Climate and Environmental Justice work, at DC Climate Week in April and the Office of Sustainability’s Open House in Baltimore in July. We collaborated with Anand Pandian and artist Jordan Tierney by offering a somatic movement workshop on climate grief for their show at The Peale, The Future Is Here.  I also participated in UMBC's Green Theatre Revolution project with Susan McCully, performing in and responding to her play about mutual aid in the climate emergency. Most recently, I joined Valeska Populoh and Holy River for release of their children's book and song, The Loon, at Ivy Bookshop.

Join us! Support Us! Tell your friends about us!

We've been busy! And there's more to come. As we grow, we need more support, of all kinds. We are seeking volunteers and interns who can help us grown into the next phase of our development. Learn how you can get involved by clicking below, or write us an email.