Enjoy Artscape, but don’t jack up the rent in Station North
by Ed Schrader | July 18, 2008 at 7:15 am
Posted in Baltimore, art/photography, b the paper
From today’s b, the paper
This weekend Artscape, “America’s largest free public arts festival,” offers up a digestible version of the avant-garde. Among the throngs will be eager suburbanites braving the semi-gentrified Station North district more commonly frequented by Natty-Bohemians and John Waters. They’ll hear “weird” bands and perhaps run into some art that is a few steps beyond their comfort zone. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t want to come off as elitist — we’re glad to have you, whoever you are — but becoming a more ideal real estate target makes us nervous. It is a sign of the times, of dollar signs for developers and business owners experiencing an increase in consumer traffic, a sign that makes you anxious about rent increases.
Every time I walk by Tapas Teatro and see what looks like the cast of “Friends” eating steamed mussels and sipping Pinot Grigio, I get a sense of what Caliban felt in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” upon seeing Prospero’s ship on the horizon. Yet unlike our horned victim of colonialism, some folks are a little less paranoid about new visitors. Sarah Williams, founder of the Metro Gallery (1700 N. Charles St.) and diehard proponent of the arts in Baltimore, has offered a haven for bands, artists and weirdos (like myself) since opening her doors in June 2007. She talks while hanging a decorative banner in preparation for the weekend’s events, including performances from bands such as Baltimore’s shoe-gazers, Thrushes (Saturday), and a Sunday-night screening of RuPaul’s “Starrbooty” (yes that RuPaul). “We’re happy that Artscape is finally coming to our neighborhood,” Williams says. “We’ve worked pretty hard to get it up here, and it’ll be good for North Avenue.”
OK, so maybe Artscape’s appearance in a formerly unconducive neighborhood isn’t a proverbial dead canary in a coal mine, but if you told someone 10 years ago that we’d have an arts festival taking place around North Avenue, you might have been considered a little overzealous or actually insane, ’cause it just wasn’t safe. Yet, ironically enough, that dangerous stigma may seem beneficial to a guy living in the Copy Cat building on nearby Guilford Avenue, paying around $250 for rent (yes, that cheap).
“I’m relieved a time’s coming where kids feel good about leaving the boundaries of their campuses to see the actual community. We all live here, and we should be able to enjoy it,” says a middle-aged man who lives within a short walk of The Metro Gallery and who seems tickled by the weekend happenings.
Those “kids” aren’t necessarily moving into the recently built condo units — but to some fat-pocketed investor, I’m sure they look like the ideal window dressing for a future devoid of cheap rent and warehouse parties.
ARTSCAPE PICKS (AND MORE)
Today: Daniel Higgs. 2 p.m. Artscape. University of Baltimore Student Center Theater. Free.
Saturday: The Bow Legged Gorilla. 4 p.m. Artscape. UB Student Center Theater. Free.
Sunday: Crazy Dreams Band, 3 p.m. Artscape. UB Student Center Theater. Free.
Sunday: Who Is the Tunafish Man? (Dan Deacon, Girl Talk and Spank Rock) and more. Whartscape. 10 p.m. Annex Theater. $5.
Ed Schrader is the host of “The Ed Schrader Show” and a member of the Wham City art collective. His column appears Fridays. Check back Monday for his weekend report.
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July 18th, 2008 at 11:05 am | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Get over yourself Ed.
The Mount Royal scene was there long before you, and it will remain long after you're gone. I'm sure more than a few people rolled their eyes and groaned the first time you came around too...so cut people a break already.
!
July 18th, 2008 at 12:21 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Exactly
The more amazing part of his post is this quote
"but if you told someone 10 years ago that we’d have an arts festival taking place around North Avenue, you might have been considered a little overzealous or actually insane"
Considering Ed is 29 years old and went to SUNY Brockport for at least 4 years he's only been here 7 years at the most.
Ed, I partied with John Waters and Johnny Depp at the Charles when Cry Baby was being filmed. I was going to the Depot in the early 80's. The area was super dangerous back then, but it never stopped me from hanging out there. People partied in that area well before I hung out there. It was always the area for the eclectic and the wierd. All sorts of odd **** happened like the bouncer from the Depot who killed that girl. But to be honest with you I wouldn't have thought to go anywhere outside of the block with the Charles, Club Charles and Depot.
I think it's great that you are uplifting the area with the arts, but give me a break. If anything, your hipster seen is what is going to ruin the old seen (but perhaps that is not a bad thing), just like all the old Fells Point bars were ruined when it got gentrified with all the yupsters. I miss the old Fells Point, but as a married father of a young daughter it's pretty nice to head down there and check out the interesting mix of shops, bars and restaurants. I do miss the old back booth at John Stevens and countless other places that have been cleaned up, renamed or gone by the wayside. Progress is not made without some pain and some memories being lost.
That being said, the best you will be able to do with that area is make it the destination for art for people from inside and outside of Baltimore like you are doing. More artists will move in if you make it the destination, which will inevitably raise the rents. The wealthy non-artists are not going to move to that area for two reasons... 1) no water and 2) the architecture is not that amazing other than the Parkway Theater, the Baltimore City Schools Building, and a few pockets of row homes on St. Paul Street and Charles Street. Additionally, you don't have a draw like Patterson Park for recreation.
The exposure you are getting this weekend is a good thing as most people have no idea what is actually going on in that area. I take Charles Street everyday on my way home from work to North Baltimore. The area is a gap toothed smile at this point, but at least it's a smile as opposed to a frown. But remember, sometimes too much of a good thing can simply be too much of a good thing!