The organizers of Light City Baltimore are looking to raise 20 percent of the hoped-for $4.2 million budget for next spring's festival from national and international sources, Baltimore Development Corp. officials were told Thursday.
Speaking later, Bill Gilmore, executive director of Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts, which produces the festival, said the 2016 festival had only marginal corporate backing from outside the Baltimore area; it will need more to continue building on its first-year success. The festival cannot afford to rely on "just local corporations and foundations," Gilmore said, while emphasizing that the size of the 2017 festival's budget will depend on the success of fundraising efforts. "The budget will be what we raise," he said.
This year's inaugural festival, which cost nearly $3.9 million, ran from March 28-April 3. Attracting some 400,000 visitors, it added $33.8 million to the local economy, according to a study released by BOPA last month. Next year's festival is set to run an additional two days, from March 31-April 8.
Gilmore also said Light City was looking to hold neighborhood events in eight locations during the 2017 festival, up from five this year. Each neighborhood festival would receive $15,000.
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