The Baltimore Office of Promotion and Arts (BOPA) has responded to a letter of concern from organizations involved in Artscape.
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Baltimore, Maryland Institute College of Art and the University of Baltimore co-signed a letter in which they said "It is out of equally deep respect for these beliefs that we feel obligated to express our growing concern for the evolving plan - or lack thereof - for Artscape this fall to cover a more ambitious footprint than publicly announced in October 2022.."
"Simply put, with 67 days to go, none of us has received a detailed Artscape schedule nor a feasible operational plan for any individual element of Artscape (e.g., traffic). There is no basis yet for us as major event partners to have faith in a “traditional” Artscape event taking place on its “traditional” Mount Vernon footprint during the weekend of September 22-24, 2023. Additionally, none of us are able to physically displace our audiences (and, in the case of one academic institution, students, staff, faculty, and parents) in order to accommodate BOPA’s request of complimentary usage of our respective facilities."
- Letter from Baltimore organizations
BOPA and the Mayor's office released a joint response, dated Wednesday, addressing the specific concern about the larger footprint, saying, "All Artscape musical performances scheduled for the MICA Station Building will end promptly at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 23, so as not to interfere in any way with the BSO Gala or the Nate Bargatze comedy performance planned at the Lyric that evening."
"BOPA and the Mayor's Office continue to engage regularly with the leading cultural and educational institutions of the Mount Royal neighborhood and with the many local creatives to discuss detailed plans, schedules and the impact of the festival on neighborhoods and local communities."
-BOPA and Mayor's Office Joint Statement
Both statements ended with a note about continuing discussion and dialogue for the upcoming festival.
