Artscape 2025: Headliners, location changes announced for Baltimore arts festival
With less than 100 days to go before Artscape kicks off the summer on Memorial Day weekend, the mayor announced Friday some changes to the city's favorite arts festival, saying this year's iteration would be a 'bold reimagining.'
The biggest change Baltimoreans can expect is the location: The festival is moving downtown from Mt. Vernon. The festival's main stage is now outside of City Hall, with an indoor art market inside the Baltimore War Memorial. Some programming will be located underneath the Jones Falls Expressway, where the Baltimore Farmers' Market takes place.
The highway will provide some coverage from inclement weather, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said, but it will keep the market from happening that Sunday. Storms raged at last year's festival, dampening the fun.
The move coincides with the mayor's Downtown Baltimore Rise initiatives, he said. When the festival was in Mt. Vernon, Scott said, it was about lifting that neighborhood. Now the downtown core needs to be lifted, he said.
However, festival-goers will not be greeted by the same JFX they know from the farmers' market. Tonya Miller Hall, the mayor's senior adviser of arts and culture, said they will be 'reimagining the murals' and adding a light installation and green spaces across the corridor, which will remain in place after Artscape.
Despite the changes, Miller Hall said the festival will be 'bringing back all the favorites' people know and love.
The mayor announced the musical headliners for the weekend, with Fantasia playing Saturday and Robin Thicke Sunday.
The Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts is still involved with the festival after the city terminated its contract last year. The office is a quasi-governmental entity that serves as the city's arts council. It traditionally put on festivals like Artscape and AFRAM, which the city had previously said it would take on itself.
Have a news tip? Contact Racquel Bazos at rbazos@baltsun.com, 443-813-0770 or on X as @rzbworks.
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