Hip-hop band the Roots and R&B singer Stephanie Mills will headline this year’s Artscape festival, Mayor Brandon Scott announced at City Hall on Thursday afternoon.

The Roots will headline on Saturday, May 23, while Mills tops the bill on May 24. More performers, including local artists, will be announced in the future. Organizers also announced Artscape would have two additional side stages to showcase more musicians from the region.

The 42nd edition of Artscape, Baltimore’s largest annual festival, will return to downtown, Scott announced last month.

Last year, the event relocated from its more spread-out footprint in Mount Vernon, Bolton Hill and the Station North Arts District to a more condensed area that included the War Memorial Plaza and under the Jones Falls Expressway.

Some initially cried foul over the decision, while others praised the new-look Artscape. The fact that it fell on a picturesque spring weekend in 2025, and not the usual sweltering days in July, also helped.

The Roots, from Philadelphia, are widely considered one of rap’s greatest bands — a reputation built on 14 studio albums and decades of touring. Led by rapper Black Thought and drummer Questlove, the three-time Grammy-winning group has been the lively house band on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” since the comedian took over hosting duties in 2014.

Mills rose to stardom in the 1970s for her portrayal of Dorothy in “The Wiz” on Broadway, a role she originated in Baltimore. Her solo R&B career took off in the ’80s with hits such as “Home” and “Never Knew Love Like This Before,” which earned the Brooklyn, New York, native a Grammy for best R&B female vocal performance in 1981.

Artscape programming that debuted last year will return in May, including the Scout Art Fair, which allowed local artists to sell work to attendees, and the food-focused Flavor Lab, said Robyn Murphy, CEO of Create Baltimore (formerly the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts). The art fair generated $74,000 in direct sales to artists, said Linzy Jackson, director of the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Culture and Entertainment.

Organizers also plan to fix the long lines for food and drinks that occurred last year.

“Yes, we heard you about the food,” Scott said. “We’re going to make sure that we address that issue. That was the No. 1 thing I heard about.“

Scott and organizers said the relocation downtown was a success, pointing to an $8.8 million economic impact on the city. Artscape 2025 cost roughly $1.6 million to produce, Scott said.

“There may be folks who say, ‘This is a wasteful thing. The city should not be doing these kinds of things,’” Scott said. “This is why [we do it], because any city that is going to be vibrant, any city that is going to grow, any city that is going to be the best version of itself, needs to be doing this.”

Roughly 60,000 people attended each day of Artscape in 2025, a 15% year-over-year increase, Jackson said.

In 2025, R&B singers Robin Thicke and Fantasia headlined the festival. Other recent headliners include the Original Wailers (2024) and Anderson .Paak as DJ Pee Wee (2023, as a replacement for Kelly Rowland). Artscape did not take place in 2020 or 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The festival’s hiatus continued in 2022 before its return in 2023.

Inclement weather canceled other high-profile performances, including Nile Rodgers and CHIC, due to Tropical Storm Ophelia, in 2023, and Chaka Khan and Sheila E. in 2024. Scott and organizers previously said considerations for weather conditions played a factor in moving Artscape from July to May.