Baltimoreans will get a chance to see the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra perform in a free outdoor concert with its new music director, Jonathon Heyward, along with a 15-minute fireworks display and other activities that the city has planned to celebrate the Fourth of July.
The Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts (BOPA) announced that Heyward will appear as part of the lineup of events scheduled to mark the nation’s 247th birthday, starting with a Pet Parade at the American Visionary Art Museum in the morning and ending with the concert and fireworks display at night.
Baltimore didn’t have Fourth of July fireworks shows in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic but brought them back last year, along with a BSO concert, as public gatherings resumed. Past holiday celebrations have drawn more than 100,000 people to the city’s waterfront.
“Following last year’s successful return of the Fourth of July fireworks to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, BOPA, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore will collaborate again to produce a magical evening of programming spanning the Waterfront Promenade from Harborplace to Rash Field,” BOPA said in its announcement.
As part of the programming, “the BSO will host a Star-Spangled Celebration concert under the baton of newly appointed Music Director Jonathon Heyward in Rash Field Park” starting at 8 p.m., BOPA said.
“The full orchestra performance will culminate around 9:15 p.m. with a dazzling 15-minute fireworks display produced by fireworks company Pyrotecnico. The best views are along the Inner Harbor promenade and surrounding areas, including Canton, Federal Hill, Fells Point, Harbor East and Locust Point.”
This is the first year that BOPA will be producing the city’s Fourth of July celebration under the leadership of its new interim CEO Todd Yuhanick, who started June 2.
In his first full week on the job, Yuhanick also oversaw the launch of BOPA’s revamped website, www.promotionandarts.org. The website provides information about the work of the independent agency, which has a contract with the city to serve as its events producer, film office and arts council.
Heyward, a rising star in the music world, will become the BSO’s Music Director this fall. His current title is Music Director Designate. His first performance as Music Director will be on Sept. 24 at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.
Last year’s BSO concert on July 4 was led by conductor Jonathan Rush. In addition to its 8 p.m. concert, this year, the BSO will present a “live encore performance” during the fireworks show.
Other partners in the Fourth of July celebration are the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore; Maryland Science Center, American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) and WJZ, the media partner.
The day will begin with the annual Pet Parade and Animal Talent Show at AVAM, 800 Key Highway, where pets of all kinds are encouraged to enter. Pet registration starts at 8:30 a.m. and the Pet Parade begins at 9 a.m.
The science center will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on July 4.
Starting at 3 p.m., West Shore Park will be the setting for a “Red, White and Blue Picnic,” with food trucks, drinks, a selfie station and a DJ.
From 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., entertainers will perform at the Inner Harbor amphitheater between the two Harborplace pavilions at Pratt and Light streets, and street performers will appear at other locations along the promenade.
The Fourth of July celebration comes as a new developer, MCB Real Estate, is making plans to “reimagine” the Harborplace pavilions, once a magnet for area residents and visitors but now largely vacant after a previous owner ran into financial programs.
Harborplace’s restaurants and second-level porches used to be prime spots to watch the fireworks, and MCB managing partner David Bramble has been working with the Waterfront Partnership and others to bring more people back to the harborfront with new tenants and programming.
The year that starts July 1 is the final year of BOPA’s multi-year contract to serve as events producer for the city, and Mayor Brandon Scott is forming a commission to determine the best way to use city funds to support the arts and produce citywide events once its contract expires. This week, Baltimore’s City Council withheld $1.7 million from BOPA’s requested $2.5 million budget for fiscal 2024, after raising questions about its governing board and the way it operates.
During a council budget hearing on June 2, board members declined to say how much of a severance they approved for former CEO Donna Drew Sawyer, who lost Scott’s support after she didn’t plan a parade on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Board members also admitted they don’t consistently keep minutes of all meetings or consistently post meeting minutes online as the federal government requires non-profit organizations to do.
In a joint statement released after BOPA’s June 2 budget hearing, Scott, City Council president Nick Mosby and Council Ways and Means committee chair Eric Costello said they didn’t want the concerns they expressed about the board’s governance to be taken as a sign of lack of support for Baltimore’s arts community. They also say they don’t intend to interfere with presentation of annual events and celebrations that Baltimoreans enjoy and anticipate, such as the Fourth of July fireworks.
“Our concerns are simply about management and execution at BOPA and not the strength of Baltimore’s arts community,” the elected officials said in their joint statement. “Rest assured, we remain committed to you and the preservation of arts funding.”
BOPA chair Brian Lyles responded with a statement saying the board is committed to working collaboratively with the mayor and council members to address their concerns.
“The Board will work intently to allay any concerns about the stability or proper governance of the organization during this period of transition,” he said.
