Artscape Baltimore 2009
July 18, 2009
It’s known as America’s largest free art festival for a reason.
Artscape, Baltimore’s annual outdoor celebration of local and national arts, will offer hundreds of performances, exhibits, activities and attractions when it happens Friday-Sunday, July 17-19, in the Mount Royal cultural district.
Although the 28th edition of the festival will offer more events than could fit into any newspaper story, the highlights are easy to single out.
First and foremost, Artscape will be marked by live music performed by a passel of big stars, plus some local favorites. Dionne Warwick can be heard Friday, July 17, at 8 p.m. The quirky California indie band Cake (best known for its alternative rock hit “The Distance”) will play Saturday, July 18, 6:30 p.m.
Robert Randolph & the Family Band will play Saturday, 8:30 p.m., and the popular R&B crooner Robin Thicke will close out the festival Sunday, July 19, at 6:30 p.m. All these performances will take place on the Main Stage at Cathedral Street and Mount Royal Avenue.
Some of the area’s favorite local bands, meanwhile, will play on the Festival Stage at Mount Royal Avenue near Mosher Street. Acts will include the reggae group Pie Boys Flat (Friday, 5 p.m.), rockers the Cheaters (Friday, 8:30 p.m.), the world music act Bio Ritmo (Saturday, 5:30 p.m.) and rappers Whop N the Global Soul Revue (Sunday, 4 p.m.).
Local and regional acts who perform blues and jazz will play on the Charles Street Stage, at Charles Street and Lafayette Avenue. On Friday at 6:30 p.m., the 2008 winner of the annual Billie Holiday Vocal Contest, Tia Dae, will sing. Come Saturday, 7 p.m., the 2008 winner of the annual Cab Calloway Vocal Contest, Anthony Compton, can be heard. Other highlights include jazz acts Sandy Asirvatham and the Memoir Band (Sunday, 1 p.m.) and the Felicia Carter Quintet (Sunday, 5:30 p.m.).
This year’s Billie Holiday and Cab Calloway competitions will take place Sunday, July 19, at noon in Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St. Singers compete for prizes and the chance to sing at next year’s Artscape.
Jazz bands will battle it out at the second annual Chick Webb Jazz Combo Competition, which happens Saturday, July 18, at 3 p.m. at the Everyman Theatre, in the 1700 block of Charles Street.
The winner of Artscape’s annual Sound-Off competition for unsigned local acts can be heard Saturday, July 18, at 3 p.m., on the Main Stage. The group is For the People Entertainment; they’ll perform hip hop and rap.
More than music
Artscape will again have a large visual arts component. An exhibit called “A Public Space: Hopkins Plaza” will showcase photographs by 24 people who were asked to photograph the same public space. The concept was organized by Paul Druecke.
Oddly decorated automobiles will be on display as part of the 16th annual Art Car and Other Wheeled Vehicles Show, which will be at Charles Street near Penn Station. This exhibit will consist of both new cars and some old favorites.
Anyone looking to purchase crafts can go to the Artscape Artists Market, which will offer a wide variety of goods in all sorts of mediums. In all, there will be more than 100 artists’ work on display, including works of glass, ceramics and wood as well as drawings, paintings, sculptures, jewelry and photography.
Visitors who want to participate in the artful fun should seek out Artscape’s Target Family Art Park, which will be open noon-6 p.m. each day and located in Pearlstone Park, across from the Meyerhoff. Here, kids can participate in interactive arts and crafts projects sponsored by organizations including the Baltimore Public Works Museum and Baltimore Reads.
Folks with a passion for fashion can enjoy three full days of shows presented by A.C. Handbags (Friday, 3 p.m.), the Clothing Warehouse (Saturday 4 p.m.) and S. Focuz Designs (Sunday, 3 p.m.).
The fashion element will close out with a Sew Me What You Got Competition, where five finalist designers will bring their best and brightest clothes to the runway Sunday at 6 p.m. All fashion-related events will be held in Gordon Plaza on the University of Baltimore campus.
Baltimore City’s culture of screen-door decorators will be represented by the Painted Screen Society, which will host workshops, talks and demonstrations Saturday and Sunday. A parent-and-child workshop will take place Saturday at noon; historian Wayne Schaumberg will talk about row houses Saturday at 2 p.m. Screen painters will give demonstrations Sunday at noon.
Theater and more
A host of stage productions will take place under the banner The Play’s the Thing Friday-Sunday at the Theatre Project, 45 West Preston St. Highlights include a poetry reading (Friday, 6:30 p.m.), a Stoop Storytelling Workshop (Saturday, 12:30 p.m.), and a living history portrayal of Edgar Allan Poe (Sunday, 4:30 p.m.).
Also expect to see a variety of performers on three Street Theater stages at the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Main Building (1300 Mt. Royal Ave.), Penn Station and the Target Family Art Park. Acts will include everything from vaudeville entertainment to clowns, contortionists and sword swallowers.
Several dance acts will take the stage at the Lyric Opera House each day, including the Acrobats of China (Saturday, 12:30 and 6 p.m.), the Baltimore Ballet (Sunday, 1:30 p.m.) and the Raw Sound Tap Company (Sunday, 3:30 p.m.). The Maryland Film Festival will also make its Artscape debut this year in the form of free shorts it will present in the Charles Theatre, also in the 1700 block of North Charles Street (go to www.thecharles.com).
Those needing a fix of classical music can attend one of the many opera and organ concerts that will be held in the Corpus Christi Church, 110 W. Lafayette Ave. For this series, the Baltimore Concert Opera will perform Friday at 5:45 p.m., while the city’s Opera Vivente can be heard Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Organ concerts will be held several times Saturday and Sunday.
As in year’s past, there will also be several food courts offering a diverse menu of goodies to hungry festival-goers. Visitors can dine on everything from Sherri’s Crab Cakes to South Carolina BBQ to Jamaican Gourmet’s jerk chicken. For dessert, there will be Kona Ice’s snowballs, London Court’s smoothies and Taharka Brothers’ hand-scooped ice cream.
