“Queen of Percussion” Sheila E. will will return to Baltimore to headline the 40th anniversary of Artscape, officials announced Friday.

Rachel D. Graham, chief executive officer of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, noted during a news conference at City Hall that the singer’s breakout album, “A Glamorous Life” was released in 1984, the same year Artscape was founded.

Over the past four decades, the popularity of both the musician and the festival has grown exponentially with Artscape often being described as America’s largest free public outdoor arts festival.

“We asked ourselves, ‘Who is the hottest person in 1984 who is still alive?” Graham said. “And we all said, Sheila E! Sheila E! We’re so excited that she is able to join us.”

The Aug. 3 concert will be the percussionist’s second visit to Artscape in seven years; she previously performed on the main stage in 2017. A bona fide member of popular music royalty, Sheila E. is the godchild of Latin star Tito Puente — and Prince’s former fiancé. .

The Original Wailers, a popular reggae group styled after Bob Marley, will headline the festival’s closing night on Sunday, Aug. 4. The top-billed opening night performer has not yet been announced; Mayor Brandon Scott joked that he might announce this performer by dropping a post “in the middle of the night” sometime soon on his Instagram account.

“Artscape is Baltimore,” Scott said. “Baltimore’s local art scene is the best and most diverse and most vibrant in the world, and our vibrant artistic community is at the heart of our identity as Charm City. I am proud to welcome Baltimore’s premier arts and culture festival back for its 40th year.”

The festival will be held Aug. 2-4. Additional musical acts who will perform Saturday on Artscape’s main stage include neo-soul artist Joi Carter and the hip-hop groups Live From The Paradox and WhoCamille.

Sunday’s performers will include the jazz and funk Baltimore-based singer Navasha Daya and Caribbean music from the Trinidad & Tobago Steel Drum Band.

This year, Artscape returns to its traditional season — the summer — if not quite its traditional month. After years of holding festivals during sweltering July, officials experimented last year with moving the event to September, only to run into conflicts with the beginning of the school year, performing arts season — and the weather.

A storm forced the 39th festival to cancel all activities on Saturday, its busiest day. Officials said that nonetheless, 44,000 visitors braved the weather, generating $12.1 million in economic activity. That’s still just a fraction of the festival’s performance at its peak, when the event brought in 350,000 guests and $28.5 million in revenues into the city.

The 2024 festival also will continue to experiment with an expanded footprint, with programming occurring north of the traditional Artscape boundary of North Avenue “though not to the extent that it did last year,” Graham said.

This year’s event will feature 100 artists in the popular Artists’ Market, more than 50 food and beverage vendors, and three entertainment stages featuring more than 40 acts from hip-hop to country. New this year will be “The Git-Down Series,” or after-hours programming that will feature 20 additional musical acts.

Also new will be a two-day festival about the notorious “Highway to Nowhere,” a remnant of past efforts to connect Interstate 70 with Interstates 83 and 95. The event, which will be held in conjunction with Artscape in the last week of July, is part of BOPA’s Artscape in the Neighborhoods initiative and is being organized by the community group West Baltimore United.the last week of July.”

“We will call attention to the travesty that bisected West Baltimore,” Graham said, “and about what should happen next in that area.”

Returning to Artscape in 2024 are such fan-favorite events as “Project Artscape,” which will feature 12 emerging fashion designers sending models wearing their creations down the catwalk, and the Blinkatorium, a landscape of illuminated sign-like sculptures.

Artscape organizers also are seeking memories, photographs and videos from Baltimoreans who participated in the festival over the past four decades. These items can be submitted online at artscape.org/tell-us-about-your-favorite-artscape-memory.