On Fells Point?s main square, 21 hopeful street entertainers, with musical instruments and props in hand, gathered Saturday for the opportunity to strut their stuff before a selection committee seated under a blue and white canopy, emblazoned with the Downtown Partnership logo. The organization, in tandem with the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, has taken its cue from many large U.S. cities in providing venues for street entertainers.
The committee?s purpose was to review the acts for propriety before issuing a license to perform on Baltimore?s street corners, in its plazas and parks ? all great locations for entertaining locals and visitors, while pumping an artistic vitality into a town dependent on its tourism dollar.
While waiting for the selection proceedings to get underway, the artists practiced, each grabbing a personal bit of rehearsal space. Toes tap and hands clap to the Irish reel of a husband and wife duo, Jeff Swiss on guitar and Cindy Swiss playing the violin.
“It?s a passion you want to share,” Jeff Swiss said. Wife Cindy, a Peabody graduate, nodded in agreement. Neither has a problem with the extremes in outdoor temperature. It?s all about the art, they said.
“I am the Amazing Trinket,” said Lisa Berg, when asked her name. A contact juggler (the ball never leaves the surface of her skin), she eases a heavy acrylic sphere up and down her arms and over her neck, as though she were handling a silk scarf. A graduate of James Madison University with a degree in art, Berg knows that as a juggler she is in a predominately male business. Still, she perseveres, having heard about the auditions through her agent.
“Everyone who applies will be accepted, providing [the act] fits within the statutes of street performers,” whispered Kirby Fowler, president of Downtown Partnership, his voice lowered in deference to a performing marionette artist.
A license to perform is mandatory, as it legitimizes the performers and discourages panhandlers and scam artists, Mike Evitts of the Downtown Partnership explained. The street performers also will be expected to keep their acts clean and not engage in any action that would be potentially harmful to an onlooker, such as handling fire. They are encouraged to solicit donations, as they will not be paid performers.
Auditions over, it remains now to process the paperwork and issue the licenses. In a few weeks time, the streets will be alive with dance, music, juggling and laughter.
