Baltimore Fishbowl, November 22, 2024 article by Aliza Worthington reads, "The Baltimore Museum of Industry will present its newest project on Dec. 3, an event to honor port workers and preserve the legacy of the Key Bridge.

“Labor and Innovation: Echoes from the Key Bridge” is an oral history project and public program reflecting on the Key Bridge, the Port of Baltimore, and workers and families affected by the bridge’s collapse.

The event is part of the BMI’s “Echoes from the Key Bridge” documentation project, which is led by Maria Gabriela Aldana, a community-based artist and storyteller. Aldana has recorded and preserved the voices of laborers, first responders, business owners, government workers, immigrant families, and others impacted by the tragedy. Hearing them together helps create a broader overview of the story surrounding the bridge and its significance."

"Baltimore Museum of Industry begins collecting stories of Key Bridge tragedy, seeking ‘spirituality and love,'" speaks with oral historian and community engagement specialist, Maria Gabriela Aldana, working in partnership with the Baltimore Museum of Industry. September 30, 2024 by Cassidy Jensen.

Our 4-minute trailer was premiered by indigenous rights blog Intercontinental Cry, along with an article written by Art of Solidarity co-founder and film director Aleks Martray.

Artists from across North America visit Central America to teach art workshops in local schools and collaborate with local artists. Read their blogs!

The Rama people have lived on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua for thousands of years, long before the existence of the nation. In 2013 the Nicaraguan government passed Law 840 allowing a Chinese company to construct an interoceanic canal which would cut through the Rama village of Bangkukuk, forcibly removing them from their ancestral land. Our documentary follows the 3 remaining families in the village as they struggle to defend and preserve their land and way of life in the face of this mega-project.

Last year, more than 50,000 unaccompanied minors left their homes in Central America for the United States, most fleeing gangs and violence. Maryland was a major destination, and many settled in Baltimore. News accounts at the time portrayed a swarm of humanity fleeing across the border, but to artists Maria Aldana and Tanya Garcia, those undocumented children were not faceless masses but courageous, resilient individuals with unique stories. Now, some of those stories will be told.

Aldana and Garcia are the creative forces behind “Después de la Frontera/After the Border,” a multimedia art presentation. The exhibit, curated by Garcia, a Deutsch Foundation community art fellow and overseen by Aldana, community arts manager for the Creative Alliance, will open on Aug 22 and move to Towson University in October 2015.

The project began with a coalition of service providers who work with immigrants and wanted to tell the stories of youths who had come to Baltimore in 2014, in part to counteract what they considered unfair portrayals in the media. They proposed the idea to the Creative Alliance, where Garcia was already exploring similar issues in her art, and “Después de la Frontera” was born.

Alumnae visit Central America to teach art workshops in local schools and collaborate with local artists.

The front cover of the Baltimore Sun describes Maria Gabriela Aldana's work with Latino women in Highlandtown, sharing their culture though workshops, exhibition, and street procession.

Take Five with Maria Aldana, Great Halloween Lantern Parade director, in this Baltimore Sun article. Never been to the Halloween Lantern Parade? Here are 5 reasons you should attend this year.

Nine Latino artists with roots in five Latin countries and the U.S. including Texas, Philadelphia and Bronx are showcased as part of Chicanismo Y Latinismo at the Creative Alliance August 22-September 27, 2014. Exhibitors include new Creative Alliance Community Arts Fellow, Tanya Garcia (MFACA 2014) and Community Arts Manager, Maria Aldana (MACA 2006) co-curator, as well as fellow community artists/activists Edgar Reyes (MFACA 2014) and Juan Ortiz (MFACA 2015) co-curator. Other stellar artists exhibiting include Uruguayan mural artist, Pablo Machioli and internationally exhibited Francisco Delgado and Michelle Angela Ortiz.

Chicanismo y Latinismo is a group exhibition that explores how the Chicano movement has continued to evolve by moving beyond its West Coast origins and expand its sense of justice to include a multiplicity of Latin American identities. The show also explores how and why artists of various Latin American nationalities identify with or against the label of being Chicano. Curated by Juan Ortiz, Jeremy Stern, and Maria Aldana.

Highlandtown 'BUS' stop draws natinoal attention in this public art collaboration between the Highlandtown residents, European Union, Creative Alliance, SECDC, and the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts.

"Gold Womyn" blog curated and organized by Bilphena Yahwon, features AOS cofounder, Maria Aldana. Published March 1 2016.