Maryland is built through connection: people sharing knowledge, organizations solving problems together, businesses investing locally, educators opening doors, artists shaping culture, and communities carrying stories forward.
The Maryland Gala brings those threads together - celebrating Maryland and the people, organizations, and partnerships that shape it. It celebrates Maryland’s history and the accomplishments of her people while connecting work happening across the region with state and national changemakers. More than an evening of recognition, the Gala is a chance to see the relationships and skills that help communities thrive.
That idea reflects how Story Tapestries works every day. Story Tapestries begins by listening. It works with schools, libraries, nonprofits, businesses, cultural institutions, artists, educators, families, and community leaders to understand local priorities and build programs around them. The arts become practical tools for communication, education, well-being, workforce development, storytelling, and connection.
The result is a network of partnerships embedded in the places where people already live, learn, work, and gather.
Across Maryland, people and organizations are teaching, building, creating, preserving history, caring for neighbors, developing businesses, solving problems, sharing stories, and imagining what their communities can become. Their work creates the cultural and civic infrastructure of our state.
The arts are deeply woven into that infrastructure. According to the Maryland State Arts Council, arts and cultural production contributed nearly $13.7 billion to Maryland’s economy and supported more than 86,000 jobs. But its value is not economic alone. Artists and cultural organizations teach, preserve memory, tell stories, create experiences, build relationships, and weave together the threads of community identity.
Much of that work happens through a larger network of nonprofit and community organizations, schools, libraries, businesses, public institutions, and individual creative workers. The Maryland Gala brings those worlds together and recognizes the many kinds of contributions that move a community forward.
Story Tapestries’ own impact shows what can happen when those skills and partnerships meet. In 2025, the organization reached more than 1.55 million people through direct services and digital engagement. Its work included arts-integrated education, mental health initiatives, workforce development, storytelling, professional learning, and community-based programs designed not just for, but collaboratively with partners.
The Maryland Gala makes that larger ecosystem visible. Last year, more than 300 people gathered to celebrate Maryland and recognize people whose influence reaches from local communities to the national stage. At the 2025 Gala, National Award of Distinction honoree Sean McLeod reflected on the opportunity created when people gather and on the everyday work people do for their families, communities, state, and country.
On November 20, the 2026 Maryland Gala will continue that tradition with a cocktail soirée, dinner, world-class performances, The Maryland Gala Awards, and a silent auction. The performances are not simply decoration around the evening; they are part of a larger celebration of the voices, stories, skills, and cultural life that help shape Maryland.
The Maryland Gala celebrates Maryland while supporting Story Tapestries’ ability to bring free programs and services into communities through partnerships across the region. Purchasing a ticket or becoming a sponsor helps sustain that work, expanding access, building skills, strengthening relationships, and creating opportunities for people and communities.
Maryland’s story is not created by one person, one profession, or one sector. It is created through the people and partnerships that choose, every day, to build something together.
That is the tapestry The Maryland Gala celebrates.
The Maryland Gala takes place on November 20, 2026, from 6-9:30 PM at the Hilton Washington DC/Rockville Hotel & Executive Meeting Center. To buy tickets, explore sponsorship opportunities, and join this movement, visit marylandgala.com.
The arts are deeply woven into that infrastructure. According to the Maryland State Arts Council, arts and cultural production contributed nearly $13.7 billion to Maryland’s economy and supported more than 86,000 jobs. But its value is not economic alone. Artists and cultural organizations teach, preserve memory, tell stories, create experiences, build relationships, and weave together the threads of community identity.