There’s an amusing theory that the arts in the U.S. developed earlier in colder cities like Baltimore than in southern ones because bad weather is a powerful motivator to find something entertaining to do indoors.

Below are a few pastimes to indulge in during what remains of winter-coat weather (whether you need that coat or not). There’s a museum exhibit and musical theater production you won’t want to miss, as well as unfortunate news about the demise of long-lived local jazz society whose loss is already being felt.

Unsung heroes

“Dear Rockledge Lunch Ladies,” reads a postcard tacked up to a bulletin board in the new “Food for Thought” exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, addressing workers at Rockledge Elementary School in Bowie.

“Thank you for always giving me extra fruit and milk on the days I was short of change in elementary school.”

The note is signed, “A PG County student.”

Those words and others like it provide eloquent testimony that the nine Baltimore City Public Schools cafeteria workers depicted in the new exhibit — and their counterparts statewide — play a crucial role in feeding Maryland children.

“This group of workers is sometimes underappreciated,” curator Beth Maloney said. “Their pride in their work and their love for what they do really shines through.”

The statistics included in exhibit wall texts are staggering: 14.6 million meals served a year to 77,807 students in Baltimore City. Some 28.3% of city students live in neighborhoods with limited access to fresh food. In 2021, it was estimated that 33% of Baltimore kids were facing food insecurity.

That’s one reason why the shuttering of the schools was devastating. Baltimore City provides its students three meals a day and a snack, Maloney said. Those meals exceed USDA standards and include fresh fruit, plus locally sourced bread, milk and produce.

“Most of our children are in poverty, low-income neighborhoods, and pretty much food deserts,” Jami Washington, a cafeteria manager at Patterson High School, says in the wall text. “They don’t know a lot about fresh fruits and vegetables.”

The new exhibit duplicates the evocative black-and-white portraits of cafeteria workers shot by Baltimore photographer J.M. Giordano that have been on view since September at the city’s school district headquarters.

In addition, the museum exhibit includes informational graphics, an interactive area and audio interviews with the workers.

“One fellow, he was continuously on the parking lot when we drove up,” Western High School cafeteria manager Gail Pendleton recalls in the wall text.

She asked the boy, “Why you out here at this time of morning? Come on in, because it’s cold. What, you hungry?”

She later learned that the boy was homeless.

“You know the importance of what you’re doing when you see something like that,” Pendleton says. “Your whole mindset changes... about what you are doing, how to look at what you’re serving, and who you’re serving.”

“Food for Thought” runs through Dec. 31 at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, 1415 Key Highway, Baltimore. Admission costs $12 for adults, $9 for seniors and $7 for students older than 6. Call 410-727-4808 or visit thebmi.org.

Take a bow

The rousing, heartfelt production running at Baltimore Center Stage is titled “Crowns,” not “The Crown.”

And that’s a good thing, because the hallelujahing, big-voiced, hip-swaying octet of Black women at the center of Regina Taylor’s musical have very little in common with the stiff-upper-lip keeping former monarch portrayed in the Netflix series.

“Crowns” is set inside a South Carolina church. Taylor has a sharp eye for the quirks and customs of that society and for the style-conscious Black women matriarchs who worship there, often while sporting elaborate headgear.

For instance, early in the show the character Wanda refers to the fans attached to cardboard sticks that female churchgoers used to cool themselves on hot Sundays. The fans had “a picture of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on one side of the fan,” Wanda recalls, “and an advertisement for a funeral home on the other side.”

The hats, which were provided by area millinery shops for this production, are a hoot from a black number so blinged out with rhinestones it could light up a dark alley at night to a towering Kelly green top hat that would make Lewis Carroll’s The Hatter proud.

“I’d lend my children before I’d lend my hats,” a character named Jeannette says. “My children know their way home. My hats might not.”

Artistic director Kevin McAllister has cast this show with a mix of seasoned performers and beginners. Despite a few opening night glitches — moments when the actors’ energy flagged and occasionally inconsistent lighting — theatergoers likely would not realize they weren’t watching professionals.

Anitra McKinney, playing Velma, belts out the gospel standard “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” in a voice so decadent and lusciously rich that I gained five pounds just listening to her.

Dancer Quincy Vicks is an elegant scarecrow of a man with movements so purposeful and precise that when the script gives him a chance to cut loose, it’s hard to look away.

And Baltimore School for the Arts graduate Anaya Greene, portraying teenage Yolanda, not only has a lovely singing voice but is a gifted actress. It’s fun to watch conflicting emotions — stubbornness, sorrow, longing and insecurity — play across her expressive face.

“Crowns” runs through March 5 at Baltimore Center Stage, 700 N. Calvert St. Tickets cost $20 for students and $25-$59 for adults. For details, visit centerstage.org or call 410-332-0033.

Baltimore blues

There will be fewer opportunities to hear nationally-known jazz musicians in Baltimore in an intimate concert setting now that the Baltimore Chamber Jazz Society has ceased operations after 30 years.

In a Jan. 29 letter posted on its website, the board of directors wrote:

“The pandemic had a significant impact on arts organizations and BCJS was no exception.”

The Jazz Society was founded in the winter of 1990-91 and went on to present more than 100 concerts before arts groups nationwide were shuttered by COVID-19 in March 2020. Grants from the Maryland State Arts Council and private donors helped the group pay its bills in 2020 and 2021, the letter said. After performing venues reopened last year, the board wrote, the jazz group presented three concerts.

“Unfortunately, our audiences did not come back at the levels that were needed to ensure financial stability,” the letter said. “Whether or not audiences would ever return to the needed level is an open question and BCJS does not have the resources to test it out.

“While the organization has had a good life and we love jazz, the world has changed.”

Despite the challenges, some individual jazz artists have continued to thrive.

South Arts, an Atlanta grant-making organization announced Monday that it had awarded nearly $7,000 to the Baltimore-based Joshua Espinoza Trio, one of 12 grants made under its Jazz Road Tours Initiative.

The program was created “to support artists who have not yet made a footprint in the increasingly competitive, yet underfunded, world of touring,” a news release said. “Jazz Road aims to close the gap between what artists deserve to be paid and what presenters can afford, allowing artists to make an equitable living for themselves.”

Trio members include bassist Kris Monson, pianist Joshua Espinoza and drummer Jaron Lamar Davis.

Maryland audiences will have a chance to hear the Trio during a March 17 performance in Laurel’s Montpelier Arts Center.

Tickets cost $25 and can be purchased at joshuaespinoza.com.