ABOUT
The First of Many Series (TFOMS)
A Platform for Presence. A Movement for More.
The First of Many Series (TFOMS) is a bi-annual, artist-centered movement amplifying the voices, visions, and values of 50 Baltimore-based artists, makers and visionaries each year. Founded by Jasmine Washington, TFOMS honors the artist as the art, offering not just representation, but reflection, recognition, and rooted connection.
TFOMS is a Movement; An appreciation and realization of self centered around 50 artists, makers and visionaries.
Spanning the spring (March - May) and fall (September - November), each session features 25 artists through a dynamic blend of intimate portraiture by Jasmine Washington featured in an exhibition, free public programming, and community engagement. From artist-led workshops and panel discussions to storytelling and resource-sharing, participation is required and reciprocal, making space for authentic exchange and creative agency.
At the heart of TFOMS is a belief in representation without tokenism. It’s not about checking boxes, it’s about building bridges: between creators and community, between visibility and voice, between cultural impact and long-term infrastructure.
The First of Many Series(TFOMS) opens with a portrait exhibition captured on expired peel-apart Polaroid film, evoking beauty in imperfection and honoring the resilience of Baltimore’s creative ecosystem. Each image becomes a portal into a larger conversation about identity, presence, memory, and the future of art in civic life.
Too often, the artist is overlooked, even as the art is celebrated. When the artist is the art.
TFOMS seeks to shift that narrative, emphasizing that the artist and the art are inseparable. By centering community and collaboration as essential to the creative process, TFOMS celebrates the collective strength of Baltimore’s artistic ecosystem. Through dialogue, shared practice, and mutual support, it empowers both artists and audiences to reclaim their voices and reimagine what’s possible. In doing so, TFOMS offers a renewed vision of Baltimore’s creative potential, one rooted in connection, care, and cultural abundance.
TFOMS is more than a showcase, it’s a platform, a practice, and a promise:
To reimagine what’s possible when artists are centered not only in celebration, but in structure, strategy, and sustained care. It offers an infrastructure for belonging, creative visibility, and reciprocal support, where artistry is honored as both individual expression and collective legacy.
What Makes It Different?
Bi-Annual Artist Cohorts
25 artists are selected each season through a values-aligned process. Each cohort enters a cycle of connection, planning, and collaborative programming—building community through shared purpose and cultural inquiry.
Required Engagement
Participation includes leading a workshop, joining a public panel, or hosting an event, ensuring each artist’s voice and practice are activated beyond the gallery space.
Creative Portraits + Process Artifacts
Each artist is documented through intentional portraiture and storytelling. These images and artifacts become part of our living archive, exhibited at the year-end show.
Public Programs Rooted in Intimacy & Impact
The series replaces transactional “shows” with curated, accessible programming that invites audiences into dialogue, joy, learning, and reflection.
December Group Exhibition
The culmination of the year is a powerful, multi-dimensional showcase where both cohorts are featured. It includes work samples, portraits, behind-the-scenes process, and participatory installations that reflect the year’s shared journey.
Core Values
• Representation without tokenism
• Collaboration over competition
• Joy as resistance
• Art as a tool for healing, storytelling, and community empowerment.
• Storytelling as legacy
• Infrastructure that sustains artists, not just platforms them
Our Vision
To create a cultural series that does more than highlight artists, it invests in them, documents their journeys, and builds a future where their stories and work are seen as essential to the fabric of our cities and communities.
MEET THE TEAM
The First of Many is a collaborative effort shaped by a team of creatives who care deeply about people, process, and purpose. We’re artists, storytellers, organizers, and vision-builders who come together to make space for honest stories, intentional work, and meaningful connection.
This isn’t just production, it’s relationship-building. It’s designing experiences that reflect real lives, real journeys, and the kind of creative work that doesn’t always get the spotlight it deserves. Every member of this team contributes from a place of passion and personal investment, committed to honoring the people behind the art, not just the final product.
From concept to conversation, from portrait to podcast, from resource to event, we move with care, curiosity, and a shared belief that this is about more than content. It’s about legacy, belonging, and building something that lasts.
Get to know the people who make it all possible, the minds and hands behind the moments, working to amplify artists beyond their work, beyond the clout, and into the stories that define them. This is the team behind the vision and the energy that makes The First of Many Series more than a project. It’s a movement. It's practice. We are a grassroots initiative powered by people.
• • •
JASMINE WASHINGTON (She/Her)
Founder, Vision Steward and Cultural Conductor
Jasmine is an ART-ivist, Status Quo Disruptor and the Founder and Executive Director of The First of Many (TFOM), a heart-centered creative agency, production and curation company, and storytelling platform built to honor the people behind the practice.
Born and raised in Baltimore, Jasmine Washington is the living embodiment of many lineages—African American, Cherokee Indian, Jamaican, and European.
Her practice exists at the sacred crossroads of identity, memory, and belonging—serving as both sanctuary and megaphone. It is a space to hold what’s been silenced, to name what’s been stolen, and to celebrate what persists. She does not create to be seen alone, but to make visible those the world too often refuses to look at.
Through TFOM, she created an opportunity that brought together various voices and communities that might have never crossed paths otherwise. It wasn’t just about programming—it was about intentionally curating moments that bridge gaps and open doors. She welcomed people into spaces they may have never known about or considered stepping foot in, expanding access and redefining what’s possible. This is more than just community building; it’s legacy in the making.
Jasmine is deeply committed to the radical act of amplification. Her work challenges dominant narratives while inviting tenderness, reflection, and accountability. Through storytelling, curation, and convening, she builds platforms where marginalized voices are not simply included, but centered, honored, and held.
As a multidisciplinary visual artist and curator, she designs exhibitions that carry emotional gravity and urgency. As a conversation facilitator and cultural worker, she curates spaces of truth-telling and deep witnessing, where dialogue becomes a form of healing.
Jasmine's love for literature is both a sanctuary and a source of endless inspiration. Her journey as a bibliophile informs her storytelling practice, offering a profound respect for narrative structure, poetic language, and the transformative power of words. From the pages of fiction to historical texts, she draws insight into how stories shape memory, culture, and collective identity. This passion for the written word extends into her curatorial work, where she weaves literary sensibilities into visual storytelling, creating exhibitions that read like living archives—stories that breathe, remember, and resist.
Rooted in empathy, intention, and ancestral knowing, Jasmine’s practice is a vessel: for remembering, for rupture, for restoration. She believes art is not only a mirror—but a tool for transformation. A way back to ourselves. A way forward, together.
She is currently pursuing a MFA in Photography and Media Society at MICA and is a recipient of the Leslie King-Hammond Graduate Fellowship Award (2025–2026).
Photo Credit: Nere Eyeguokan, @rovdrunner1
Get in Touch:
Website: www.jasminewashington.com
Email: jasmine@thefirstofmany.org
Instagram: @thesourcher , @thefirstofmanyseries
ARTHUR FITZHUGH III (He/Him)
Co-Visionary & Curatorial Collaborator
"I am a girl dad, artist, and curator based in Baltimore, MD. My work is driven by the goal of creating a habitable and enjoyable world for my daughter and future generations. I find purpose in fostering opportunities and safe spaces for artists, as I believe in the transformative power of supporting and investing in them. Artists carry light and catalyze positive change in the world, and nurturing their growth has exponentially positive impacts. The experiences I curate focus on themes of love, humanity, Afro-futurism, and environmentalism.
In addition to curation and art management, I am also in the final semester of my Bachelor’s Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Baltimore. I have a multitude of experiences that I pull from to aid in my ability to wear my many different hats. I have experiences ranging from working with the CIA to having been trained as an actor with the Identity School of Acting in Los Angeles, and I have been a vocalist since early childhood. I also currently work with The Black Arts District (@blackartsdistrict) as the Head of Outreach.
Since 2019, I have curated several exhibitions in different spaces, including notable art venues like The Eubie Blake Center, Keeper’s Vintage, Baltimore Unity Hall, Penn State University, and School 33 Art Center. I will continue my journey of supporting artists and providing safe community space to display works by opening up my own art gallery in the near future. I am dedicated to using my skills and ideas to elevate and bring light to the world."
Photo Credit: Jasmine Washington, @thesourcher
Get in Touch:
Email: artfitzyou@gmail.com
Instagram: @artfitzyou