Maggie Villegas | Executive Director

Maggie Villegas is a Baltimore-based creative producer and launched the Baltimore Creatives Acceleration Network in Fall of 2017. Prior to her role at BCAN, Maggie spearheaded community-driven arts initiatives throughout the City of Baltimore on behalf of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and The Arts, including the creation of signature programs such as the Art @ Work mural artist apprenticeship program in partnership with Jubilee Arts, the Neighborhood Lights public artist residency of Light City, and the Lots Alive vacant lot activation program developed in collaboration with the Office of Sustainability. She led the revival of the Baltimore Mural Program as well as the investment of over $300,000 in public art projects. Her 2015 retrospective on the 40 year history of the Baltimore Mural Program, Beautiful Walls for Baltimore, was named ‘Best History Lesson’ by the Baltimore City Paper in 2016.

In 2009, she co-founded the nonprofit arts incubator, EMP Collective, and served as its first Director until 2014. During her tenure, EMP served as a platform for over 60 multidisciplinary and experimental visual, performance, and literary art projects annually and was recognized by the Baltimore City Paper as ‘Best Collective’ in 2012 and ‘Best Multi-Use Art Space’ in 2014.

Maggie has served as a Baltimore facilitator for Artists U where she coached artists through developing their personal strategic plans, as Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Bromo Arts District, as an organizer for Artists for Truth, and ran her own independent practice as an international stage and production manager for clients in opera, theatre, dance, and special events. Maggie was named a Young Cultural Innovator in 2017 by the Salzburg Global Seminar and is a graduate of the 2019 GBC Leadership program.

When she’s not working toward the economic empowerment of Baltimore’s creatives at BCAN, Maggie mentors emerging Latina entrepreneurs with Empowered Women International and serves as a trustee of the Baltimore chapter of the Awesome Foundation and Live Baltimore.