CBMM’s Chief Historian Pete Lesher (far left) presented environmental filmmakers (from left) Sandy Cannon-Brown, Dave Harp, and Tom Horton with the Bay Heritage Award on Wednesday evening. (Photo by George Sass)
The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum has honored environmental filmmakers Tom Horton, Dave Harp, and Sandy Cannon-Brown with its Bay Heritage Award for their contributions to the preservation of regional culture in line with CBMM’s mission.
Chief Historian Pete Lesher presented Horton, Harp, and Cannon-Brown with the award on Wednesday evening following a screening of the trio’s latest film, “Chesapeake Rhythms,” as part of the Chesapeake Bay Week Film Festival in CBMM’s Van Lennep Auditorium.
Horton, Harp, and Cannon-Brown join a distinguished list of Bay Heritage Award honorees, including broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite, naval architect Thomas C. Gilmer, historian and museum curator Robert H. Burgess, authors William Warner and James Michener, and log canoe preservationist Judge John C. North II. This is the first time the award has been presented since North was honored in 2015.
“We’re delighted to honor our friends Tom, Dave, and Sandy for their tremendous work over the years,” CBMM’s President & CEO Kristen Greenaway said. “Their repeated collaboration—Tom as the writer and narrative voice, Dave as the photographer and videographer, and Sandy as the filmmaker artfully weaving the content together—has deepened our understanding and appreciation of a fragile and changing Chesapeake Bay and the impact of those changes on communities and individuals who have called this region home.”
Horton, Harp, and Cannon-Brown have been working together since 2015, when they produced “Beautiful Swimmers Revisited,” an hour-long documentary inspired by Warner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay.”
They have collaborated on eight more films since then, covering an array of Bay-related topics and issues. Making its Maryland Public Television debut next Tuesday, April 22, as part of Chesapeake Bay Week, “Chesapeake Rhythms” conveys the beauty and mystery of the Bay by chronicling its essential rhythm, including the migrations of tundra swans, monarch butterflies, shorebirds, and eels. Last year, their film “A Passion for Oysters,” an exploration of the enduring legacy of oysters in the Bay, was featured during MPT’s Chesapeake Bay Week, as well.
“It’s quite an honor,” Harp said. “We’ve just had an interesting, fun 10 years working together to do documentaries. I think this award is a validation of Sandy teaching Tom and me how to make a film, taking a couple guys that have been covering the Bay in words and pictures for a long time and turning us into this filmmaking team.”
“To be honored for the work, which is my joy and my passion, is amazing,” Cannon-Brown added. “To think that they think that we’re in the same league as Walter Cronkite or James Michener or William Warner is so overwhelming that I get emotional even thinking about it.”
A long-time environmental reporter at The Baltimore Sun, Horton has authored eight books about the Bay and been honored along the way by the Sierra Club, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and National Audubon Society.
Harp’s stunning Bay photography has accompanied five of Horton’s books, and his work has been featured in a slew of national publications, including the New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian, and Audubon. A selection of his work was featured at CBMM in a 2020 special exhibition, Where Land and Water Meet, and a 2010 special exhibition, A Rising Tide in the Heart of the Chesapeake Bay.
Harp has transferred the entire body of his Chesapeake Bay-related work, from black-and-white film photography of oyster dredging among the skipjack fleet in the 1970s to his digital work in recent years, to CBMM, where it will be accessible to the public for generations to come.
A CBMM volunteer and St. Michaels resident before relocating to Martha’s Vineyard in 2020, Cannon-Brown is an award-winning environmental filmmaker whose work has often featured the Bay and taken her across the United States and beyond. The Founder and President of VideoTakes, Inc., she has been honored as a Woman of Vision by Women in Film & Video DC and Adjunct Professor of the Year by American University.
The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is a non-profit educational organization that preserves and explores the history, environment, and culture of the entire Chesapeake Bay region, and makes this resource accessible to all.
Every aspect of fulfilling this mission is driven by CBMM’s values of relevance, authenticity, and stewardship, along with a commitment to providing engaging guest experiences and transformative educational programming, all while serving as a vital community partner. For more information, visit cbmm.org.
