BALTIMORE — The Baltimore City Inspector General's Office (IG) and the Mayor's Office appear to be at odds over how federal funds were used to host Artscape 2025.
According to a newly released Inspector General's report, the City spent more over $500,000 of its COVID-19 era American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for musical artists, doubling the initial talent budget.
Two acts alone surpassed the $300,000 budget, with a pair of artists receiving a combined payment of $365,500.
While the artists names were not mentioned in the IG report, the two headliners in 2025 were Fantasia and Robin Thicke.
Nine other Artscape performers were paid a total of $40,650 in ARPA money. After booking and other associated fees, the total cost exceeded half-a-million dollars.
As for who decides the entertainment for Artscape, an unidentified Mayor's Office employee told the Inspector General “You usually just ask the mayor, ‘Hey, anyone on your wish list? Sometimes they say yes, sometimes they say no.”
Tens-of-thousands more in ARPA funds were reportedly used towards Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s Artscape VIP Reception.
"Records indicated six vendors received direct ARPA payments totaling $10,860.25 for VIP services," the IG report states. "The Artscape Festival Operations Director, which received $26,546.73 in ARPA funds and $6,856.82 in State funds, coordinated with the Mayor’s Chief of Special Events to organize the VIP Reception and assist in planning a VIP cigar lounge at the War Memorial Building during Artscape weekend."
The Mayor's Office in response insisted that "ARPA funds were not directly used to purchase alcohol." The City claims the $26,000 went towards "facility rental, room set-up, decor and signage."
Additionally, an unnamed actress received $10,000.00 in ARPA funds for hosting an invitation only Artscape after-party.
The Inspector General made one recommendation in the report, urging the City to "develop standard operating processes for events such as Artscape to help define roles and responsibilities among the entities involved and ensure the City receives the best possible cost when selecting vendors."
While the Inspector General did not officially accuse the City of wrongly spending ARPA funds, the report appears to suggest it based off how investigators cited the U.S. Treasury's rules for funding.
"ARPA recipients may use a certain amount of COVID-19 relief funds to replace lost revenue for the provision of government services. According to the Department of the Treasury (Treasury), “government services” refers to “any service traditionally provided by a government unless Treasury has stated otherwise.” Treasury examples of eligible Revenue Replacement projects are the maintenance, improvement, or new construction of public-school facilities; construction of new roads and other infrastructure; provision of public safety and other services; and health and educational services."
The Mayor's Office took exception to the Inspector General's insinuation.
"Although the report’s sole recommendation only concerns standard operating procedures to facilitate coordination between partners, it attempts to raise questions about various aspects of the Artscape budget and utilization of ARPA funds that seem to insinuate impropriety where none exists," the Mayor's Office wrote back to the Inspector General.
The City also defended its decision using ARPA funds to host Artscape, claiming the event falls under the U.S. Treasury's provision of "government services."
"The festival generates jobs, innovation, and public art which enhances the value of the festival’s footprint. Artscape was canceled in 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Efforts to reinvigorate the festival in 2023 and 2024 proved challenging as the festival was a smaller scale in 2023 and the festival was impacted by weather in 2024—resulting in economic loss for the City. Due to the City’s long-standing practice of providing funding to Artscape, this project was categorized as eligible under “Provision of Government Services.”
The full Inspector General's Report can be read below.
