About Maryland Hall

Maryland Hall is the region’s cultural core, bringing together people of all ages and backgrounds to strengthen community and experience the power of the arts.

Discover an energy where the arts serve to connect, empower, inspire and heal through arts education, visual arts, performing arts and entertainment. Established in 1979 as a groundbreaking public/private partnership with Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) that transformed the vacated and beautiful Annapolis High School building into a vibrant home for the arts to be shared by all, MD Hall now serves more than 100,000 people a year.

Partnership, education, programming and outreach have been at the core of our mission since our founding. Today, over a dozen arts organizations and professional artists have studio, office and performing space within our special building. This includes our Four Resident Companies: Annapolis Opera, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Theatre of Maryland and Live Arts Maryland. Through the support of our partners, members, sponsors and committed donors, experiencing the arts no matter your socioeconomic level is a reality at MD Hall. Scholarships, tuition waivers and Outreach programs are offered for those in financial need.

The diverse mix of arts activities on our campus make us unique among arts and cultural centers nationally and positions Annapolis as an arts destination for our region’s residents. We invite you to:

• Take a class
• Attend a performance or event
• Become a member
• Volunteer
• Visit the Galleries
• Meet our Artists-in-Residence
• Drink coffee at The Cafe at Maryland Hall
• Walk the Nature Sacred Labyrinth
• Shop at Art Things
• Ask Us How we Can Help
• Connect with your community, both the one you live in and the one you’re a part of through shared ideals and interests.

Our team of Teaching Artists, volunteers, Board of Directors and staff can’t wait to see you!

In 1979, Maryland Hall was founded by a group of artistic visionaries who believed the former Annapolis High School could best be re-used as a community arts center. The doors opened in late 1979, however, its founding began a year earlier when the Fine Arts Festival Foundation began hosting fundraising events for a local cultural arts center. In the Fall of 1978, Ellen Moyer, Joseph Sachs, Joanne Scott, Senator Roy Staten, Beth Whaley, and Martha Wright formed Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts Inc. to further the process by approaching the Board of Education with a proposal for an arts and cultural center, which was passed.

In January of 1979, the old Annapolis Senior High School was vacated in preparation for its move to Riva Road. Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts Inc. saw the building’s potential and were granted use through a private/public partnership with Anne Arundel County Public School System that still stands today. In October of 1979, they were awarded a $25,000 grant from Anne Arundel County, and prepared to open.

Studio spaces were rented out to artists, and several resident companies joined including The Ballet Theatre of Annapolis (now Ballet Theatre of Maryland), Annapolis Opera, and Annapolis Chorale/Live Arts Maryland. Annapolis Symphony Orchestra joined later in 1987. Maryland Hall opened its doors with a celebration. The open house allowed visitors to enroll in classes in visual arts, music, theatre, writing, and dance. That year Maryland Hall celebrated with multiple performances and activities such as student and visiting performances from Washington, DC and Baltimore, and the Architecture Lecture Series.

Today, our historic landmark building is the region’s cultural core, bringing together people of all ages and backgrounds to strengthen community and experience the power of the arts. Discover an energy where the arts serve to connect, empower, inspire, and heal through arts education, visual arts, performing arts, and entertainment.