The two-pronged grand opening – a Dedication and the Grounds for Celebration Festival – of the Chrysalis, a 21st century amphitheatre and community space, high performance stage, public park pavilion and urban scale sculpture immediately adjacent to the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.
Soaring 60 feet high and enveloping 5,000 square feet, the $6.6 million Chrysalis is developed, owned and managed by the not-for-profit Inner Arbor Trust. Planning, funding, design, entitlements and construction were led by Strategic Leisure. Architecture, engineering and construction responsibilities were primarily fulfilled by Marc Fornes THEVERYMANY, Arup, A. Zahner Company, Living Design Lab, Mahan Rykiel Associates, Gutschick, Little & Weber, Whiting-Turner Construction Company and Development Management Group.
The Dedication is set for Saturday, April 22 at 11 a.m. with tours, followed by a dedication ceremony at noon and an opportunity at 1 p.m. to meet the creative team behind the new performance venue. The Dedication is free and open to the public.
A ticketed Grounds for Celebration Festival with 8 acts, 12 performances and 500 minutes of music is scheduled from 2:30-11 p.m. Performances include:
2:30 – Bele Bele Drum Collective
3 – Alex Brown Trio
4:15 – Hambone
4:30 – Bele Bele Drum Collective
5:15 – Dirty Grass Players
5:30 – Ron Holloway Band
6:45 – Hambone
7 – Dirty Grass Players
7:45 – Letitia VanSant Trio
8 – The Wharf Rats, Live!
9:15 – Letitia VanSant Trio
9:30 – Chopteeth
Admission to the Grounds for Celebration Festival is $20 (which includes fees and parking), free for attendees under 16. Buy tickets at www.MerriweatherMusic.com. Festival attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets and are invited to bring picnic food. One sealed bottle of water is allowed per person but no other beverages are permitted on the grounds.
