Artscape Returns for 33rd Year

BALTIMORE, Md. (May 27, 2014)—Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts announced details for the 33rd annual Artscape—America’s largest free arts festival. Artscape 2014 will take place on Friday, July 18 and Saturday, July 19 from 11:00 am – 9:00 pm, and on Sunday, July 20 from 11:00 am – 8:00 pm on Mount Royal Avenue and North Charles Street. The 2014 festival will be headlined by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Ozomatli, Galactic, and Anthony Hamilton.

“Each July, Artscape continues Baltimore’s tradition of celebrating and supporting art and culture,” says Mayor Rawlings-Blake. “With this year’s theme—Join the movement!—I invite residents and visitors to take advantage of the festival’s free offerings by not only watching the performances and exhibitions, but by joining in the many interactive programs and visiting the many projects designed by artists.”

In 2014, Artscape invites festival-goers to Join the movement! with an emphasis on dance and all things motion-related, including Silent! Disco in Pearlstone Park, Dance! at The Lyric, kinetic contraptions along Mount Royal Avenue, ballroom dancing on Charles Street, and the new Aerial Arts Arena.

New for 2014, the Aerial Arts Arena, curated by Daydreams + Nightmares Aerial Theatre, will host aerial artists, dancers, and circus acts from around the region, high above Charles Street. Performers will showcase diverse styles of movement and dance on aerial cloth, trapeze, hoop, and a number of other apparatuses. The showcase will include productions from DNA Theatre, Vaudoux Aerial Dance Theatre, Radiant Hoops, Ascension Arts, and Brian Kehoe.

The MEA Energy Stage will feature a diverse lineup of national and regional acts all weekend long. On Friday, performances will include the sought-after funk & soul of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings at 7:30 pm. Saturday’s headliners, Latin hip-hop stars Ozomatli and funk/jazz legends Galactic, will take the stage at 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm. R&B veteran Anthony Hamilton will close out the festival on Sunday at 6:30 pm.

The Station North Stage and Festival Stage will also showcase a wide variety of genres, including funk, bluegrass, country, reggae, rock and roll, hip hop, and indie rock. Performers taking the stage will include Small Apartments, 8 Ohms Band, Andy Poxon, Bosley, The Players, All Mighty Senators, Tom Principato, Cowboy Mouth, The Glenmont Popes, Reverend Horton Heat, No BS! Brass Band, and Yellow Dubmarine.

Additionally, all three outdoor concert stages will host performances by the winners of this year’s Sound Off Live! competition: By & By, May Weather, Skydivers, The Deaf Scene, Super City, Evokatones, Muddy Crows, Eureka Birds, Honest Haloway, Lotus Song & The Black Light Asylum, Voodoo Pharmacology, Rufus Roundtree & Da B’More Brass Factory, and MC Booze.

Artscape-goers can experience performances by nationally-renowned dance companies at the Modell Performing Arts Center at The Lyric. Ballet Memphis will perform award-winning selections Devil's Fruit, choreographed by Julia Adam, and In Dreams, choreographed by Trey McIntyre. Las Vegas Contemporary Dance Theater, with artistic director Bernard H. Gaddis, will perform selections from its extensive and exciting repertoire, including Vespers, Firebird, and Phib. Additional dance performances will take place at the Theatre Project and Brown Center, and as street theater and pop-up performances.

On Charles Street, Field Day will offer hands-on fun. The exhibition is comprised of a collection of participatory games, activities, performances, and competitions designed by artists. Featured games include SuperGame!, Pizza Party Twister, HopsXotch Rivalry, The Amazing Art Race, 10,000!, Little Lord Baltimore, and Choose Your Own Reuse Adventure. Games can be experienced as a viewer or participant.

On Friday and Saturday night, the fun keeps going—even after the festival closes! Artscape After Hours will take place from 9:00 pm – 11:00 pm. Charles Street, from Preston Street to North Avenue, will transform into an oversized after-party with live DJs, LOL@Artscape hosted by standup comedian Ben Rosen, a 90-foot Ferris Wheel of Lights, and much more!

The winner of the ninth annual Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize competition and the $25,000 fellowship will be announced during an award ceremony and reception on Saturday, July 12 at 7:00 pm at the Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles Street. The finalists are Lauren Adams, Kyle Bauer, Shannon Collis, Marley Dawson, Neil Feather, Kyle Tata and Stewart Watson. Additionally, the third annual M&T Bank Sondheim Finalists’ Awards will provide a $2,500 honorarium for each of the finalists not selected for the fellowship.

The Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize Semi-Finalists Exhibition features artists whose work was reviewed in the second round of the Sondheim competition. The exhibition, located in the Decker, Meyerhoff, and Pinkard Galleries of the Maryland Institute College of Art, will include artists working in a wide variety of mediums. Work from Malcolm Colvin McClurg (Baltimore School for the Arts), winner of the Fred Lazarus IV Artscape Prize (The Fred), will be exhibited with the Semi-Finalists Exhibition.

The Artscape Gallery Network will connect more than 20 galleries throughout Baltimore, featuring exhibitions highlighting 2014 Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize applicants, along with artists working throughout the region.

This year, Gamescape moves to a new location in the old Single Carrot Theatre, 1727 N. Charles Street. In the expanded space, the interactive visual arts exhibition will continue to showcase video games and the talented artists, developers, and designers who create them. Gamescape lets festival-goers control the screen and includes classic arcade machines, video game demonstrations, and panels on game development and design. The exhibition will remain open during Artscape After Hours, featuring live performances of video game music.

Artscape visitors can also take in an eclectic offering of theater and opera performances, along with folk, a cappella, classical, and organ concerts from regional artists and companies. Highlights include The Stoop Storytelling Series, Baltimore Concert Opera, OrchKids, The Lyric Opera, The Acaholics, Ocho Bajos, Reverse Cascade, The Original Little Ark Male Chorus, Bach in Baltimore, and Heart of Maryland Barbershop Quartet. These performances will take place at the Brown Center, Theatre Project, and Corpus Christi Church.

Budding artists will have an area to call home at Kidscape! Artscape’s youngest visitors and their families can participate in hands-on activities and crafts all weekend. Local attractions will also take festival goers on an educational journey with displays and craft projects highlighting their current exhibits. Mini workshops will teach youngsters new skills, as trained instructors teach artistries from their areas of expertise, in both visual and performing arts.

Festival-goers are encouraged to download the free Artscape Mobile App on their Apple and Android devices or visit www.artscape.org for the most up-to-date event information. Artscape lovers can also share their excitement at www.facebook.com/Artscape.Baltimore or be a part of the conversation by following @ArtscapeBmore on Twitter and Instagram, and by using the hashtag #Artscape2014.

The 33rd annual Artscape is supported by the City of Baltimore, Charm City Hospitality, Corrigan Sports Enterprises, Maryland Energy Administration, WBAL-TV, Amtrak, The Baltimore Sun, Chicken of the Sea, Kalahari Resorts, M&T Bank, MetroPCS, MTA, PNC Bank, Southwest Airlines, Sparkling ICE, State Highway Administration, TGIF, Visit Baltimore, Xfinity, The Fitzgerald, New York Times, Power Home Remodeling Group, State Farm, 24-7 Entertainment, American Trading & Production Corporation (ATAPCO), Caplan Family Foundation, Cohen Opportunity Fund, Richard & Rosalee C. Davison Foundation, Peggy & Yale Gordon Charitable Trust, Guppy Management, Dr. Frank C. Marino Foundation, Maryland State Arts Council, M&T Charitable Foundation, Macht Fund of THE ASSOCIATED, National Endowment for the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, T. Rowe Price Foundation, RCM&D Foundation, Downtown Diane, HeidnSeek Entertainment, The Flywire, The Associated, The Charles Theater, Corpus Christi Church, Maryland Institute College of Art, Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Patricia & Arthur Modell Performing Arts Center at The Lyric, Theatre Project, University of Baltimore, BWI Airport Marriott, Days Inn Inner Harbor, Embassy Suites Hotels – Baltimore Inner Harbor, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott, Hampton Inn & Suites/Baltimore Inner Harbor, Hilton Baltimore Convention Center, Holiday Inn Inner Harbor - Downtown, Home2 Suites by Hitlon, Hotel Monaco Baltimore, iCharge Kiosks, The Loading Dock, Richard Polan Associates, Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, and All Points Graphics.

Artscape is presented by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and produced by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts. For more information, call 410-752-8632, visit www.artscape.org, or download the free mobile app.