Dear AIGA Baltimore Members and Community,

In an effort to ensure the health and safety of our members and community, our chapter is temporarily suspending all in-person programming until further notice. Our volunteer board has given this significant consideration and, after reviewing recent guidance from the State of Maryland, the CDC, and other local and national health institutions regarding COVID-19, we believe this is the right approach in order to help flatten the curve. We would love to hear from you on how we can support you during this time, so, please fill out this survey and as always, reach out to us if you would like to get involved.

Stay healthy
We encourage all of you to stay informed about COVID-19 and take the necessary precautions to stay healthy. While there is currently no vaccine to prevent COVID-19, these steps can help stop the spread of this and other respiratory viruses.

Isolated, yet not alone
We’ve had our ears to the ground, and know that many of us will be experiencing a time of isolation while working remotely and avoiding large gatherings. On the bright side, we’re welcoming more time with our families and pets! We encourage you to join us and tap into online groups such as the Baltimore Graphic Designers Facebook group, Baltimore Womxn in Tech (BWiT), Elevate and Cultivate Design Collaborative or Monument Women’s Creative Alliance (MWCA) to stay connected to your community online. These groups are not affiliated with AIGA, but you will find many of our board members in the groups.

The Annual Ink & Pixels Portfolio Review Day
Our annual Ink & Pixels professional development and portfolio review day is currently scheduled for April 18th at Morgan State University, but we are reviewing our options. Morgan State has announced that all classes will take place online until at least April 2nd, and many Maryland colleges and universities will be encouraging students not to return to campus until early or mid-April. The AIGA Baltimore board of volunteers is dedicated to serving emerging designers each year, so we are in the process of developing a plan to host the portfolio reviews and talking sessions online and/or at a later date.

At this time, all options are on the table. We will be reaching out to educators, student chapters, and our general audience to better understand the needs of our community during this time. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any feedback.

Thanks for your attention and feel free to reach out to AIGA Baltimore leadership at info (at) baltimore.aiga.org and @aigabaltimore on all social media channels.

Sincerely,
Valerie Anderson, President; Frances Miller, Vice President; and our fellow board members

Resources:

Reducing Anxiety
How to stop a Coronavirus anxiety spiral, from Wired Magazine

Up-to-date info on COVID-19
Visit the CDC and WHO websites.

Teaching Remotely
The AIGA Design Educators Community (DEC) will be hosting a webinar on teaching remotely. Information on this virtual roundtable for design educators can be found here.

COVID-19 Freelance Artists Resources
An aggregated list of FREE resources, opportunities, and financial relief options available to artists of all disciplines can be found on the COVID-19 & Freelance Artists website.

Working from Home with Kids
Keep children occupied and learning at home with this schedule and tips from Di is Organized.

Baltimore-area Babysitting Service
To find a babysitter, check out the Baltimore-based Napp app at nappnetwork.com.

PSA Generator on Hand Washing
A teenage developer from the U.K. named William has created a tool that will make you a hand-washing how-to poster accompanied by any song you like. Check out WashYourLyrics.com.

Free Creative Cloud Tools for Students & Educators
With Colleges and Universities moving to online classes, Adobe will be offering free Creative Cloud access to those schools who who currently make Creative Cloud apps available to students who login through on-campus labs and are impacted by COVID-19. Learn more here.

Adobe Distance Learning Courses, Articles, and Blogs
Find virtual webinars, tutorials, and more here.

Additional Resources for Parents with Small Children:

While Maryland schools will be closed for at least two weeks, not every school district in the country is sending home resources for kids to work on at home. Here is a list one teacher sent her 1st graders’ parents. Most links include resources for all grade levels.

Various Subjects – All Grades/Levels

Art for Kids Hub – Art videos for kids to follow
Mr. Nussbaum – Fun games for practicing skills for K-5 and up – All subjects
Brainchild – Science educational programming on Netflix
Starfall – resources for every subject & grade level
Xavier Riddle – cartoon versions of the Ordinary People Change the World­ book series
Khan Academy – Educational video lessons on all kinds of things for all ages

Math for All Ages

SplashMath – multi-grade math resource
Math For Love – math games for all grade levels
Math Playground – Math games for students through grade 6
Sheppard Software – Math games for all ages
XP Math – Arcade games to practice basic math skills
Mathwire – Math enrichment games (ex. SuDoku for kids)

Feature image by Scott Webb on Unsplash.
Scott Webb