Charm City Fringe announces move to Bromo Arts District
for sixth annual festival, Nov. 2-12
Festival partners with Downtown Partnership of Baltimore and Bromo Arts District
BALTIMORE, MD – After five years at venues spread throughout various neighborhoods, Charm City Fringe announces it will move to the Bromo Arts District, which will centralize its locations and make it possible for the first time for festival-goers to walk to every venue at the sixth annual festival Nov. 2-12. The group also announces new relationships with the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore and the Bromo Arts District, which will provide financial and programming support.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with the Bromo Arts District and Downtown Partnership so this year’s festival can be the best it’s ever been by consolidating shows in one walkable neighborhood,” said Zachary Michel, co-founder with Michael Brush of Charm City Fringe. “We’re grateful to have these groups supporting the festival so the Charm City Fringe Festival can become a truly ‘Baltimore’ event that showcases the downtown area and the vibrant, weird and wonderful arts scene we have here.”
Charm City Fringe launched in 2012 as a weekend-long event at the Autograph Playhouse in Charles Village before expanding and moving to locations throughout Station North and Hampden. Michel and Brush created the festival to celebrate and grow Baltimore’s small theater community, and now they are taking the festival to one of the fastest-growing performing arts districts in the city.
The Bromo Arts District works with artists to create a vibrant and sustainable entertainment neighborhood along Howard and Eutaw streets and Park Avenue. The Bromo Arts District is a sub-neighborhood within Downtown Baltimore that Downtown Partnership helped to create and fund.
“The Fringe Festival and Bromo Arts District are perfectly matched. Both are about intellectual, artistic, cultural and architectural experiences that are fully at home in a walkable, urban neighborhood,” said Kirby Fowler, president of Downtown Partnership of Baltimore. “We’re incredibly pleased to watch these two institutions grow together, which is why we’re supporting the Festival with a $10,000 grant and a series of placemaking events that will add to the overall experience.”
The Bromo Arts District is home to several artist-owned spaces, including Maryland Art Place and Le Mondo, which will both be hosting Charm City Fringe performances this November. The area sees thousands of theatergoers each year who attend Everyman Theatre, the Hippodrome Theatre, Annex Theatre and Psychic Readings.
“We’re pulling out all the stops to welcome Charm City Fringe to The Bromo Arts District,” said Stephen Yasko, executive director of the Bromo Arts District. “The Bromo is undergoing a significant transformation, and we’re here to support the Festival and ensure its long-term sustainability. We want to be a home where arts organizations can thrive.”
Before Charm City Fringe moves downtown, it will host Nights on the Fringe this summer at 7:30 p.m. June 2 and 3 at the Baltimore Theatre Project at 45 W. Preston St. The event is a sneak peak of the 10-day annual fall festival, and features two nights of theater, dance, comedy, circus performers, puppetry and more. For more information, visit http://charmcityfringe.com/2017-nights-on-the-fringe/.
About Charm City Fringe
Charm City Fringe, Inc. aims to connect and develop Baltimore’s theater community, engage existing audiences, attract non-traditional theatre-goers, and reach out to communities not commonly represented. Through an annual theater festival and regular educational community workshops, CCF looks to cultivate Baltimore as a hub for theater and the performing arts and expand, strengthen, and enhance creative learning opportunities for Baltimore’s youth. The 2017 festival theme is “theater without boundaries.” For more information, visit www.charmcityfringe.com.
