Recent News

Queen City Nerve says: BOOM Charlotte Arts Festival Returns for Three-Day Run. Here’s an excerpt:

BOOM Charlotte will return to Camp North End this weekend for a three-day festival of free outdoor performances, installations and activities highlighting Charlotte fringe and experimental artists, as well as ticketed indoor art performances.

Launched by Manoj Kesavan in 2016, the festival relocated from its usual Plaza Midwood location to Camp North End in 2022 after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19. This year, BOOM is returning to its pre-COVID three-day run, in comparison to last year’s two days, with hopes of drawing in a larger audience…

QNotes Carolinas says: BOOM Charlotte returns to Camp North End for three-day festival. Here’s an excerpt:

BOOM Charlotte, the eclectic arts festival created by artists to showcase innovative work and emerging artists is back at it again, this year at Camp North End (1824 Statesville Ave.) for a three-day run beginning Friday, April 21 (5pm to 10pm), continuing Saturday, April 22, (12pm to 10pm) and wrapping up Sunday, April 23, 12pm to 8pm

Last year BOOM relocated to Camp North End from the Plaza Midwood neighborhood…

Charlotte Ledger says: BOOM Charlotte has created space for local artists. Here’s an excerpt:

When the Democratic National Convention came to Charlotte in 2012 to nominate President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden for re-election, the host committee had no plans to highlight local or regional art. Manoj Kesavan decided to take matters into his own hands.

Kesavan and his informal artist collective designed a showcase of over 80 street performances including spoken word, theater and musical performances that received international…

QCity Metro says BOOM Festival seeks diverse talent for 2023 return in Charlotte. Here’s an excerpt:

BOOM Festival seeks diverse talent for 2023[/caption] BOOM is strongly centric on showcasing artists of color, as evident by previous events. The last festival showcased talent that was mostly made up of Black artists.

BOOM Charlotte will return to its full scale after a two-year hiatus next spring. The festival currently has an open call for local talent to participate in the 2023 experience.

WBTV says ‘A Poet Named Superman,’ is “Charlotte is Creative’s” new best friend! Here’s an excerpt:

Greg Murray is a poet/spoken-word artist and goes by the stage name ‘A Poet Named Superman.’

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QC Life) – Today, we’re getting to know a little bit about Greg Murray, Charlotte is Creative’s new best friend! Murray is a poet/spoken-word artist and goes by the stage name ‘A Poet Named Superman.’
He’s set to perform Friday night at the BOOM Charlotte festival.

Charlotte is Creative says BOOM Fringe Festival Claps Back in Real Life. Here’s an excerpt:

On Friday, April 22 at Camp North End, the BOOM Fringe festival returns after a two-year hiatus brought on by COVID-19.

That’s not to say the folks at Que-OS, the local nonprofit that produces BOOM, have been idle. Among other things, they have executed neighborhood arts events, helped create a comic book

The Queen City Nerve provides A Quick Guide to BOOM Charlotte’s In-Person Return. Here’s an excerpt:

After two years of online showcases and limited capacity performances, BOOM Charlotte will return on April 22 for two days of fringe arts, breaking away from its original Plaza Midwood locale to arrive at Camp North End in 2022.

The annual BOOM Charlotte festival features art of all types — with a focus on the unusual or avant-garde — including theatre and film, music and dance, spoken-word and showcases that blend genres or defy them altogether.

The Charlotte Observer reports BOOM Charlotte art festival adds to diverse lineup Here’s an excerpt:

The fifth annual BOOM Charlotte returns this week after a two-year hiatus because of COVID. And it has an expanded lineup of diverse performers and artists at a new location.

“Even though we set off to do a smaller festival, it has ballooned into one with 60-plus shows,” festival co-founder and executive director Manoj Kesavan told The Charlotte Observer Tuesday. “It’s still one of the largest local arts gathering in Charlotte.”

QNotes Carolinas says BOOM Charlotte to hold live show after being restricted by pandemic to online for two years. Here’s an excerpt:

Festival returns with fifth annual showcase of creative talent live and in-person.

After a two-year pandemic-induced halt from holding its traditional in-person celebration of art, music, theater and more, BOOM Charlotte, the city’s leading showcase of creativity, is now poised to make a comeback April 22-23, with live and in-person performances and presentations at its fifth annual artist-led showcase.

WFAE says BOOM Charlotte Founder Wants to See Local Artists Prioritized. Here’s an excerpt:

As the city of Charlotte rethinks the way it supports the arts, a grassroots organizer offers a simple point of view. Prioritize Charlotte artists and art created here.

Manoj Kesavan formalized BOOM Charlotte just before the Democratic National Convention in 2012, creating festivals and programs of inclusion, diversity and collaboration among artists and communities. It helps artists work on a scale they cannot accomplish by themselves.

WCNC says Charlotte artists, journalists team up to tell real-world stories through comic books. Here’s an excerpt:

While this particular story won’t have a caped superhero fly in to save the day, it does show real truth, and fear, and hope and heroes nonetheless.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For decades, comic books have immersed readers in new worlds — in stories that make readers root for the good guy, face villains head-on and make anything seem possible.

QCity Metro says Local artists, reporters bring COVID-19 graphic novel to life. Here’s an excerpt:

The Covid-19 pandemic influenced so many stories from various news outlets around Charlotte that the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative and BOOM Charlotte have partnered to create an eight-chapter graphic novel titled “The Pandemic: Stories of Covid-19.”

Each chapter pairs a local journalist with a local artist to illustrate comic book panels based on previously reported Covid-19 stories. A new chapter of the graphic novel will be released every two weeks before concluding in February.