We were lucky to catch up with Maria Bella recently and have shared our conversation below.

Maria, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on has been The Charm City Burlesque & Variety festival together with co-producer, Tapitha Kix. It was important for us to produce a festival which paid all performers, offered scholarships for marginalized populations, included workshops by instructors within our community, included the voices of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ performers, vendors, and partners, and most importantly helped to create a community for variety artists..

Maria, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Maria Bella and I am a musician, award winning variety performer and touring producer in Baltimore, MD. My tagline is, “Baltimore’s Sicilian Queen,. I founded Baltimore’s Best and longest running burlesque troupe, Gilded Lily Burlesque, in 2007 and fell in love with the variety arts..

In my native, Baltimore, I was a featured performer in Workin’ the Tease: The Art of Baltimore Burlesque, an exhibition development seminar at the Maryland Institute College of Art, which opened at The Lyric Opera House. I have produced stage shows and performed at The Lyric Opera House, Artscape, The Baltimore PRIDE Festival, The Walters Art Gallery, The Erotic Arts Festival, Baltimore Comic Con, The Creative Alliance, The Ottobar, Load of Fun Theater, The Windup Space, The Hippo, Grand Central, Angels Rock Bar, Ramshead Live in Annapolis, Baltimore Soundstage.

My touring stage show, The Carnivalesque Roadshow, opened for Storm Large of Pink Martini at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. I have been a headliner and featured performer in various festivals around the world including Asheville’s Americana Burlesque & Sideshow Festival where she was named Artist of the Year, The Toronto Burlesque Festival, selected to perform in the 2014 London Burlesque Festival, The New York Burlesque Festival, The Show-Me Burlesque Festival, Queen category in the Southern Fried Burlesque Festival, The Texas Burlesque Festival, The Festival of Poe in South Carolina, The Great Southern Exposure, as well as various special events, private parties, and appearances throughout the U.S. and internationally.

It important for me and any production I am involved with to remain inclusive and respectful and cognizant of the people and places who have helped make Baltimore burlesque and variety what it is today – this especially includes the voices of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ performers, vendors, and partners.

I hope to teach and continue produce high quality shows and bring regional and national acts to Baltimore to continue educate our community and maintain our thriving variety arts scene.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Gilded Lily Burlesque and The Charm City Burlesque & Variety festival will continue to nurture the local community by featuring talent from out thriving burlesque & variety scene, as well as bringing in featured and headlining national acts. These features artists will then provide workshops to help continue the education of our community and bring new talent to our Baltimore stage.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspects of being an artist are collaboration across all genres of live entertainment, spreading the gospel of burlesque, celebrating inclusivity and beauty in all forms, and sharing my art with the audience. You could have started creating an act with a specific reason in mind, but when the audience experiences it, they will interpret that same act in very different ways… And that is beautiful.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.charmcitybvfest.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charmcitybvfest?igsh=cmZhdm92Nmo1bzll
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1AWC7dVB7D/
• Twitter: @Gildedlilyburly
• Yelp: Here is GildedLily B. from Baltimore, MD: https://yelp.to/t5oiRhTcWz

Image Credits

Tim Prendergast photography
Jim O’Connor photography
Cheryl Fair Photography
Rock-n-Roll Socialite
Indulge Images