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Top of the World Observation Level Reopens

The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA) announces that Top of the World Observation Level, located at the World Trade Center, will reopen to the public on Thursday, July 16, 2020. The attraction closed to the public on Saturday, March 14, 2020 in response to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The observation level will reopen with regulations in place to maintain a safe and healthy environment for staff and visitors. Regular hours of operation for Top of the World Observation Level are: Mondays and Thursdays, 10AM-6PM; Fridays and Saturdays, 10AM-7PM; Sundays 11AM-6PM.

Visitors can expect to find several changes to maintain health and safety. The World Trade Center has implemented traffic patterns for safely entering and exiting the building, with visitors entering on the east side of the building (facing the National Aquarium) and exiting on the west side of the building (facing the Harborplace Pratt Street Pavilion.) Each person entering the World Trade Center must wear a face covering/mask and complete a screening questionnaire by World Trade Center Security to check for symptoms and exposure to COVID-19. One-way traffic flow is enforced throughout the building, and Top of the World Observation Level will have directional and distancing markers throughout the attraction. Visitors may experience longer wait times due to reduced number of visitors allowed in elevators and as staff monitor social distancing at the observation level.

The staff at Top of the World Observation Level will be provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) and supplies to work safely, including hand sanitizer and masks. Each staff member will have their temperature screened before starting their shift. There are separation screens at cash registers and customer service points, as well as hand sanitizer stations available throughout the attraction. The gift shop will remain closed.

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Art as Activism

As Baltimore City and the nation raise our voices to combat racism, BOPA supports the right of everyone to speak up against injustice and inequality. Racism is everyone’s problem and cannot be tolerated. None of us escapes the scourge of racism in America or globally and all of us must work together to combat the pervasive callous indifference to life and liberty. Our Constitution affords us the right to peacefully assemble in protest. Like the right to life, liberty, and justice, freedom of speech is an inherent right for all Americans. As artists, we process what is happening and what we hope for the future through our images, music, and words. Art is an effective and necessary form of activism and peaceful protest.

Art as activism has a long history in moments of struggle across the world. But it documents the present for the future and the art that we create remains and helps shape the narrative of history. For it is often through the arts – through murals, novels, poems and more – that we can most clearly show the world around us, challenge it and, hopefully, change it. As we remember George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and the many others that were murdered at the hands of injustice, it is incumbent upon all of us to use our voices, our art and our vote to demand much-needed change.

Donna Drew Sawyer CEO,
Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts