By Lizzie Suber
AFRO Intern
lizziesuber@afro.com
Baltimore is gearing up for a jam-packed weekend of celebrating the arts.
Artscape, America’s largest free outdoor arts festival, will celebrate its 40th year at different locations across Charm City.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Artscape.org, theoriginalwailers.com, AP Photo / Evan Agostini, AP Photo / Jordan Strauss
The festival will include events such as art exhibitions, youth focused programming and a vendor’s market with over 100 businesses and entrepreneurs expected. Local artists and legendary acts like Chaka Khan, Sheila E. and The Original Wailers are set to hit the stage during the three-day event, which will take place Aug. 2 – 4.
Each year, the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA) plans the event, with the help of a variety of different agencies and organizations.
“ been in existence since 1982 with the intent of celebrating art and culture in the city of Baltimore. My hope is this year we continue that legacy, as well as introduce some new approaches to what is generally considered to be art,” said Rachel Graham, CEO of BOPA. “We look to offer the opportunity for folks from outside the Baltimore area to get to know and appreciate the rich assortment of artists that practice here everyday in the city.”
The event will occur at four locations: the main stage, located on Cathedral St. at Mount Royal Ave.; the MICA stage on Mount Royal Ave. at Mosher St.; the Station North stage on Lafayette Ave. at MD Ave. and the North of North Stage on 20th St. at Charles St., each with unique programming.
Festival-goers will have no shortage of new artists to discover during the event. Participating creatives hail from a variety of mediums including fashion, dance, music, short film and visual art. Attendees will be able to support artists of all disciplines, while also learning about different art forms.
“One of the things we tried to do for Artscape this year was to start this process I call ‘the tearing of the veil’ that has always stood between our communities and access to the arts,” Graham said. “I think it’s important that when we get the opportunity to enjoy what is the country’s largest free arts festival we take advantage of that.”
Artscape is only one of many events in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia (DMV) area that helps spotlight the region’s artists and provide opportunities to network.
Artmageddon is a recurring attraction of the festival. During the event, artists face each other in a competition judged by the audience, allowing artists to forge connections with each other on a local level.
“The hidden agenda behind Artmageddon is to gather artists of all different mediums,” Bryan Robinson, one of Artmageddon’s hosts, said. “What we did with Artmageddon was give artists a platform to create and also engage with the community.”
BOPA chief of staff and Artscape talent producer, Jonathan Gilmore, shared that through Artscape, its organizers hope to relay the significance of art not only as a cultural phenomenon, but also in the everyday lives of ordinary people.
“We must have people continue to participate in art because art is life. Art is one of the biggest recorders of where we are as a civilization. It challenges us. It makes us think,”Gilmore said. “It forces us to look at things that we may not have ever noticed before. Something we could have seen as ugly, another eye could see as beauty and that forces us to re-look at what we’ve created in our minds.”
For a full schedule of events, addresses and other details about Artscape visit artscape.org.
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