09.16.2009

Baker Artist Awards Website Wins Best of Baltimore Award

Baltimore, MD (September 17, 2009)—The winners of Baltimore City Paper’s annual Best of Baltimore reader’s poll were announced yesterday in the Paper’s popular Best of Baltimore edition.  Included among the honorees was the Baker Artist Awards Website, bakerartistawards.org, which was voted Best Baltimore-Related Website.

The Baker Artist Awards was conceived by The William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, a Baltimore foundation with an arts-focused philanthropy with the guidance of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance (GBCA). The Fund was interested in developing an annual awards program for individual artists of the region.

The GBCA brought Fastspot on board with the idea of building upon the concept of the People’s Design Award Website, which Fastspot designed and developed for the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and National Design Week.  Fastspot’s vision for the Baker Artist Awards Website was a more transparent and community-focused nomination and voting process than that of the People’s Design Awards.

"The Baker Artist Awards Website was the first of its kind—taking the normally "behind closed doors" grant giving process and putting it online.  While the jury was still private, we really wanted to share all of the great art that gets submitted with the public and let them have a say as to who they think is the best artist in Baltimore.  The Fastspot team devoted lots of attention to the usability on the site, ensuring even non-techy artists wouldn't have any difficulties, and then we focused on ways to make the site fun, engaging and useful,” remarked Tracey Halvorsen, Fastspot Creative Director and Principal.

The community’s response was overwhelmingly positive and resulted in 656 artist nominations in a wide spectrum of media. 10,372 visitors came to the site and stayed to create accounts and register to vote for their favorite submissions; 8,531 total votes were cast.

Winners were announced in March of 2009. The 2009 Baker Artist Awards remains online and currently serves as a kind of virtual museum showcasing the nominees and winners from last year.

The nomination period for the 2010 Baker Artist Awards will begin on October 1, 2009, with the relaunch of bakerartistawards.org.  The 2010 site will include fresh enhancements based on suggestions and feedback from the previous years’ users and developers.

“We are very excited to be launching the enhanced year-two Baker Artist Awards Website in the coming weeks—so artists, get your engines running!” said Halvorsen.

For more information on the site’s first-year performance and goals for the future, please read Fastspot’s blog post.  Read the full City Paper article.

About The William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund
The William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund commits its resources to enhance the region's economy and quality of life by making investments in arts and culture.  The Fund makes these investments in cultural resources so that all residents may participate and benefit.  Its grants support artistic and cultural organizations and their partners through initiatives that enhance an individual's sense of self and pleasure and make Baltimore a more attractive place to live, work and play.

The Fund Trustees conceived Baker Artists Awards to honor individual artists who live and work in Baltimore City and the five surrounding counties. The awards, the Mary Sawyers Baker Prize and Baltimore's Choice, will be made annually in March of each year.  By providing unconditional financial support for emerging and well established artists, the Baker Awards will signify to the regional, national and international community that Baltimore is a place that values its artists and rewards their work.

About Baltimore City Paper
Since 1977, Baltimore City Paper, dubbed “Baltimore’s Best Alternative Weekly”, has been dedicated to giving the Baltimore metropolitan area an alternative source of news and opinions on local politics, communities, culture, and the arts.  More than 300,000 readers turn to City Paper every week for Baltimore's most comprehensive calendar of events; coverage of the latest in movies, music, visual arts, and the printed word; provocative voices on topics ranging from sports to sex to cyberspace to City Hall; and stories they won't find anywhere else.

About Fastspot
Fastspot, a nationally recognized interactive design agency, delivers strategic and sustainable online solutions for their clients. Fastspot combines the innovation of technology and forward thinking methodologies with customer experience design and usability, providing their clients with critical tools to grow their businesses and organizations.

Fastspot’s projects involve working with their clients from the initial brainstorming stages all the way through final delivery and launch, with total support for the entire process. Their collaborative approach and creative solutions have garnered many of the industry’s top awards and recognition, including a Webby award, a National ADDY award, a SXSW Finalist nomination and numerous mentions in Communication Arts.

Fastspot’s clients include Discovery Communications, Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, the American Beverage Association, Bucknell University, and Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association.