The Orioles today announced the return of the “Athletes & Artists Play for Kids” charity event, which will take place at Ed Smith Stadium from March 10-12. The event, which combines song and sport to support creativity and music and arts education will feature the return of “Nashville’s Music Row Comes to the Ballpark” VIP charity event, as well as two Orioles home games.
Proceeds from the weekend’s events will benefit the Orioles Charitable Foundation’s Music & Arts Education Scholarship, which was created in 2019 to support deserving students and programs in Baltimore, Sarasota, and Nashville. The beneficiary for the 2023 event is Intersection of Change’s Jubilee Arts Program in Baltimore. Jubilee Arts provides comprehensive arts programs to children and adults, using art as a catalyst for social change, a tool for empowerment, and an alternative to drugs and violence in the community. To date, the “Athletes & Artists” series has raised more than $400,000 for various charities.
This year’s weekend-long series of events will begin Friday, March 10, when the Orioles host the Minnesota Twins at 6:05 p.m. ET. Charitable donors will return to Ed Smith Stadium Saturday evening for the sixth “Athletes & Artists” VIP charity event. This one-of-a-kind, all-access event, hosted by event founder and singer-songwriter MARGARET VALENTINE, brings baseball groups and Nashville artists together in support of music education.
The event will celebrate current country, rock, and pop hits, featuring an all-star line-up including SiriusXM “Highway Find” and “CMT Next Women of County” KALIE SHORR, lead guitarist of Matchbox Twenty KYLE COOK, and New York City-based singer-songwriter QUEEN V, as well as other special guests. More information about each performer can be found at Orioles.com/AthletesAndArtists
The annual “Athletes & Artists Play for Kids” weekend fundraiser began in 2015 with the first “Nashville Comes to the Ballpark” charity event and has steadily grown to include more programming, including in 2019 when the ballpark hosted an on-field concert by country music rising superstar and 11-time No. 1 singer-songwriter COLE SWINDELL, to support selected charitable efforts. The Orioles also welcomed Billboard chart-topping and Platinum-certified country artist RAELYNN in 2020. In 2019, proceeds from the mid-summer “Athletes & Artists Play for Kids” fundraiser, held the evening before the historic BILLY JOEL concert at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, were used to fund community grants from the Orioles Charitable Foundation to JUBILEE ARTS and BALTIMORE SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS. Past beneficiaries include the MUSIC HEALTH ALLIANCE, SARASOTA YMCA, LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR SARASOTA COUNTY, and GIRLS, INC.
“We are thrilled to welcome back the ‘Athletes & Artists’ series, and once again use our platform to bring song and sport together in support of arts education,” said JENNIFER GRONDAHL, Orioles Senior Vice President, Community Development and Communications. “Over the last seven years, this event has had a tremendous impact on local youth in the Baltimore, Sarasota, and Nashville communities and our goal is to continue to grow the program and its impact, year after year. Jubilee Arts is an amazing program, and we are grateful to be able to support them and what they do to give back to the Baltimore community.”
“Athletes & Artists Play for Kids” weekend will conclude on Sunday, March 12, when the Orioles host the Boston Red Sox at 1:05 p.m.