Announcements

Frederick Again Named a Top 25 Small Arts City

June 1, 2011

American Style Magazine has once again named Frederick as a Top 25 Small Art Cities in the United States. Each year, AmericanStyle Magazine, a national publication that promotes the significance of handmade objects of art, has an annual competition to select the top twenty-five arts destinations in the United States, based on population numbers.

For 2011, Frederick is ranked eighth overall, cracking the top ten list. This is ten spots ahead of last year’s ranking of eighteenth. Frederick is in great company on this list with Asheville, NC, Santa Fe, NM, Sedona, AZ, and Key West, FL as other top ten cities. This should result in increased tourism and recognition that Frederick is an arts destination.

Frederick is home to a nationally-juried fine arts and crafts festival, a new plein air painting event, internationally-recognized public art, a major regional art center and approximately ten other galleries. In the performing arts, there are three theaters within 50 feet of each other in downtown Frederick, two major film festivals, an estimated twenty dance studios, over a dozen theater and producing groups, eight choral groups, seven symphonic, brass, or concert bands, and other great events that feature live music. And that is just the half of it.

AmericanStyle magazine showcases the eclectic lifestyles of artists, the elegant homes of craft collectors and features about “the art of creative living,” making Frederick a perfect fit to be chosen as one of its arts destinations. Their 2011 Arts Destination poll marks the fourteenth year for such a list, which recognizes a total of seventy-five cities, the top twenty-five in each of three categories: big cities (populations of 500,000 or greater), mid-size cities (populations of 100,000 to 499,999), and small cities (populations of less than 100,000).

Other cities in the region included in the small city category were Annapolis, Maryland and Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. Top large and mid-size cities in the area include Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Alexandria.

The American Style recognition isn’t the only acknowledgement of Frederick’s thriving arts community. In 2010, Downtown Frederick’s Arts and Entertainment District was honored by the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development as the top Arts and Entertainment District in the state. Downtown Frederick is one of nineteen Arts and Entertainment Districts designated by the State of Maryland.

Copies of the Summer issue, which lists the Top 25 Cities for Art, is available for purchase at a discounted rate at the Cultural Arts Center, located at 15 W. Patrick Street in downtown Frederick. For more information, contact the Frederick Arts Council at 301-662-4190.