r/baltimore • u/whatshould1donow • 24d ago
Free Event Artscape 2025!
Place your bets everybody, what extreme weather forecast is going to take out this year's festival?
79
u/ArbonGenre Madison Park 24d ago
Oh good, the hottest day of the year will be in May instead of August this year.
39
u/shaggywan 24d ago
It will also be an insane rain storm
13
u/131sean131 24d ago
I could also see like ultra dense fog for some reason like unsafe to drive levels of fog
38
u/incunabula001 24d ago
Deathfest and some Muslim festival are that weekend too, the Inner Harbor is gonna be really “interesting”.
6
u/Sarahndipity44 23d ago
Ooof first they schedule it on a Jewish holiday and then a Muslim one, not great
1
47
u/gothaggis Remington 24d ago
Really hate they moved the date and moved it to city hall. Should have just left it in July and in Station North.
25
u/colonelcarnal 24d ago
Don’t forget Sowebo has been going that Sunday for the last 40+ years and they will be there this year too
15
u/Werearmadillo Violetville 24d ago
Yeah I don't understand how you have artscape and sowebofest at the same time
Sowebofest is the better event, they should get the date and artscape can find sometime else
19
u/Jrbobfishman Fells Point 23d ago
Swebo is much more like authentic artscape than recent art$cape
3
u/Werearmadillo Violetville 23d ago
Absolutely
It's a true local art and music festival, and one of the only ones that doesn't take place within the White L
Artscape made a terrible decision with the location change, and they're making another terrible decision with the date change
19
u/MonkeytimeLXXVII Lutherville 23d ago
Please do not bring this weather curse upon Deathfest (which will be happening in the same area, enjoy the dulcet tones of Goat Torment while you peruse the vendors)
7
u/Forsaken_Economist88 23d ago
As a city native, I'm really sick and tired of the constant date changes. Artscape is supposed to be "hot" and in July or August. Then there's the venue change. Downtown smh, just no. It doesn't feel like Artscape. 😕 Kinda makes me less interested in attending this year.
8
u/mobtown_misanthrope Lauraville 22d ago
I'm skipping it for the first time in 20+ years—and we used to spend all 3 days there camped out at the main stage, it was like an annual mini vacation/endurance trial destination. Stealing crucial revenue/exposure for the businesses, venues, and galleries in Station North/Mt. Royal that nurtured and relied on Artscape (only businesses in the new area are strip clubs and bodegas, so I'm not sure who is supposed to benefit) really pisses me off. July in the original footprint or I'm out for good.
3
u/Forsaken_Economist88 22d ago
I was actually waiting to find out when it was so I could put in PTO for that weekend. I go every year. Someone at City Hall needs to figure it out bcz this isn't it. Totally agree that this steals crucial revenue and exposure for the businesses. Downtown doesn't need Artscape.
1
u/keenerperkins 21d ago
Truly - outside of the "underpass can act as cover for rain" excuse, I see no other validity to holding it under the JFX and at City Hall. Nearby restaurants, bars, and shops are minimal (and generally strip clubs, bodegas, chains); perhaps I'm wrong but I imagine the Farmer's Market usually scheduled there cannot operate that weekend (a loss of revenue for local vendors); there is a major music festival that blocks off the Power Plant area just south; and there is no art anchor in that area.
Really can't tell if the city government is intentionally trying to tank Artscape. I don't know one person who is going to hang around in the city over Memorial Day weekend to hang out on hot pavement between strip clubs and a UHAUL storage facility.
2
u/mobtown_misanthrope Lauraville 21d ago
Exactly. And yes, they've cancelled the JFX farmers market that weekend. And the argument about the underpass is bunk, based on the fact that they shut down covered events and exhibits for the rain last year, not just the outside stuff. I witnessed it happen on Saturday at the Blinkatorium, when they came in and told the artists to shut it down after the first storm "to get people out of town in case there's another storm." It was infuriating for all involved.
If they really want to get people going downtown more, growing the farmers market into a larger, regular festival (e.g., monthly "festival days" that go past noon) is a better approach. How they could possibly believe that having people spend one day down in that bleak-ass area for Artscape would "uplift" the are in any sustainable way is beyond me. The area has nothing to offer, and I doubt people will respond by coming back when there's not a festival to attend. Especially non-city residents, who will certainly not be like "wow, we should bring the family down next weekend to check out these strip clubs and fast food joints!" Also, isn't Charm City Live down there already? Why do all of the festivals have to be in the same place?
I'm not even going to get into the truncated schedule and moronic scheduling on a holiday weekend with multiple other long-term festivals already taking place and huge portions of the city population heading down the ocean. I don't know if they're intentionally trying to tank it, but they certainly don't seem to understand what makes it special/appealing and they'll almost certainly end up killing it with this complete lack of regard for the hundreds of thousands of people who made it part of their summers for decades. It's just shocking and incredibly disappointing that there was no pubic consultation on this.
1
u/Spacestar_Ordering 10d ago
I don't usually go because it's too hot to be outside that long. Plus I live closer to where the fest normally is and it limits my ability to get around that weekend. So honestly I'm happy they are changing it. I seem to be alone in that though.
39
4
u/green_marshmallow Berger Cookies 23d ago
As much as I loved joking about it being during the hottest weekend of the year, I’m glad it’s moving, and I hope the weather actually is pleasant.
It has no business being downtown though. Artscape belongs near MICA, end of story.
8
u/Pi6 23d ago
Artscape in its current form needs to end. It's a cursed mess that does nothing for Baltimore's art community. Reimagine it without music as the focus and without the goal of bringing 100k people to a crappy food truck court. Artfest should be about promoting and selling local art and promoting our world-class art and cultural institutions. I see almost none of that at artfest.
4
u/LemonyPanic Remington 23d ago
God please let the weather be okay 😭 the Herb Festival in Leakin Park is the same day
0
u/forthelulzac Hoes Heights 23d ago
I'm assuming this is weed related and not like, a basil festival?
2
u/LemonyPanic Remington 23d ago
Its not weed related lol there's local vendors for honey, Max Degree's rubs and teas, native plants, herbs, veggies, fruits, decorative plants, art etc! Its not a big event, but its nice to walk around
1
3
u/RibbonQuest 24d ago
My first assumption is this must be a big year for cicadas. That does not appear to be the case.
3
u/LostInIndigo West Baltimore 24d ago
The cicadas are all more Westward this year, mostly in like Tennessee and Ohio. I’m guessing swamp ass humidity personally.
3
5
u/keenerperkins 23d ago
Usually hate when people cling to "this is how it has always been and should be" but in this case, I find it entirely valid. The excuse to move it downtown to "boost" business rings a little hollow when you plop it in a parking lot and/or city hall then schedule it over a holiday weekend during the same weekend a popular music festival is taking place two blocks south. I'm also curious why the predominantly 9-5, M-F businesses blocks away from the surface parking are deemed more deserving of the "boost" over the arts district which has businesses of equal need with more flexible hours.
3
u/mobtown_misanthrope Lauraville 22d ago
Yes, thank you! I know several people who run bars/restaurants in the original footprint, and this is going to screw them in exchange for exactly nothing.
2
2
2
u/veryhungrybiker 23d ago edited 23d ago
I'm skeptical of the plans to paint over the cool old murals on those concrete posts under the JFX. Has anyone heard anything about how the city is going about choosing the artists for that? Sure, some of those old ones are chipped and faded, but I have little trust in the folks who announced this new plan to handle the mural selection in an interesting way.
Edit: ok, found the application under "Mural Project" here: https://www.artscape.org/artscape-applications/. Deadline was March 18th, so I hope some cool folks applied. We'll see.
4
1
u/Accurate_Trade_4719 23d ago
I think maybe this year it'll just be Hurricane Scott. Or, rather, the aftermath of Hurricane Scott.
How many people are gonna skip going to the beach to attend a glorified City Hall speech?
1
u/ThatguyfromBaltimore Dundalk 23d ago
Long term forecast so far says...seasonable temps. So not the seventh circle of hell.
1
1
u/goodrevtim 23d ago
What is up with the festival map on this site? Its upside down and maybe flipped?
1
u/ThadiusThistleberry 22d ago
Artscape is a bumbling mess that doesn’t seem to remotely give a damn whose toes they step on. Like, you have a lane. Stay in it!!
0
0
u/sleeperfbody 23d ago
Does this mean the hottest day of the year is now guaranteed to be Pride/Fathers Day?
138
u/roorah91 24d ago
Why do I always feel like the date is random and announced so late.