Aldana Biography

Biography
Maria Gabriela Aldana is Art of Solidarity's cofounding director. She is a bilingual community artist, community organizer, oral historian, folklorist, and teacher. For over 20 years, Aldana has produced murals, exhibitions, parades, films, traveling exhibitions, festivals, and multicultural events. Originally from Managua, Nicaragua, Ms. Aldana is a proud immigrant with a lifetime of experiences between cultures as a former asylee raised in Miami aas a child by her family. She earned her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2003 and was part of the first group to earn a MA in Community Arts in 2006 in the USA. She founded Bmore Cultured in 2004, a volunteer group of Black youth in Baltimore venturing to Nicaragua as African-American ambassadors to live in solidarity with rural communities to build homes, paint murals and build friendships across borders. She co-founded Art of Solidarity with Aleks Martray, where they served as faculty through the Maryland Institute College of Art. Their study abroad program connected its students to Nicaraguan artists, youth and community centers every summer from 2008-2015.

In Maryland, Ms. Aldana served as the first Community Arts Manager for Creative Alliance and promoted as Education Director to double the organization’s youth and education programs. There, she founded and directed Artesanas Mexicanas and Neighborhood Voices amongst other social justice and family programs until 2019. Aldana has earned prestigious award for top 30 Baltimore Visionaries named by Baltimore Magazine. Aldana taught middle and high school visual arts enrichment in Baltimore City Public Schools since 2004. She has been awarded multiple competitive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Maryland Humanities, Maryland Traditions, a program of the Maryland State Arts Council, Maryland Humanities, Baltimore Community Foundation and most recently Public Arts Across Maryland Planning Grant in 2024.

Today, Aldana is working with the Baltimore Museum of Industry, Mayor's Office of Multiculutural Affairs, Immigrant Affairs of Baltimore County, and port workers. Aldana is leading a new community-centered oral history and video project, honoring various first-hand accounts by those most impacted by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. With the support of the museum and partners, Aldana will record and preserve firsthand accounts of the tragedy and its aftermath to amplify marginalized voices, especially those of immigrants, laborers, and business owners who contributions often go unrecognized. The project, “Echoes from the Key Bridge,” is funded by the Baltimore Community Foundation and the Baltimore National Heritage Area. The stories will live in the Baltimore Museum of Industry's archives and will develop into an exhibition in the future.