Orioles and country music artists support art education
Cole Swindell was the headlining act over the weekend when the Baltimore Orioles held their fourth annual, “Athletes and Artists Play for Kids weekend. You can read more about the weekend events down below, in the official Orioles press release.
Award-winning Nashville songwriters and musicians joined with Orioles athletes March 1-3 in Sarasota, Fla., to support arts education and girls empowerment during the fourth annual “Athletes & Artists Play for Kids” weekend. Held at Ed Smith Stadium, the Orioles’ Florida training complex, the weekend featured a “Nashville’s Music Row Comes to the Ballpark” charity benefit, two Orioles Spring Training games, an artist workshop for local youth, and an on-field performance from Country music rising superstar and 11-time No. 1 singer/songwriter COLE SWINDELL.
A portion of proceeds from the weekend’s events will fund the establishment of new Orioles Charitable Foundation Music & Arts Education Scholarships to support arts education for deserving young students in Sarasota, Baltimore, and Nashville.
“It was an incredible weekend celebrating the power of song and sport to inspire and bring people together,” said Orioles Executive Vice President JOHN ANGELOS. “We were thrilled to see music fans enjoy the creativity of award-winning Nashville artists as we raised funds to support new arts education scholarships for deserving students.”
The series of events began Friday, March 1, when the Orioles hosted the Tampa Bay Rays. Later that evening, charitable donors returned to the club’s training complex at Ed Smith Stadium for a one-of-a-kind, all-access event bringing Orioles players and Nashville songwriters and artists together for the fourth annual “Nashville’s Music Row Comes to the Ballpark” charity benefit. Performed in the format made famous in the hit television show Nashville, the evening was hosted by Dreamlined Entertainment songwriter MARGARET VALENTINE and headlined by Songwriter Hall of Fame writer, Nashville legend, and Grammy award winner DESMOND CHILD; Nashville Songwriter of the Year MATT McGINN; singer-songwriter RYAN BEAVER; musician MacKENZIE PORTER; and other special guests. More information about each performer can be found at Orioles.com/Nashville.
Saturday evening, the Orioles hosted “Cole Swindell’s Party in the Outfield,” an on-field concert at the ballpark. Thousands of fans danced and swayed under the stars as Swindell performed favorites like “Love You Too Late” and “Sounded Good Last Night.” Special guests MacKENZIE PORTER and CARTER FAITH opened for Swindell.
The Orioles wrapped up the 2019 “Athletes & Artists Play for Kids” weekend with Sunday’s game against the Detroit Tigers. Pre-game ceremonies included members of Girls Inc., a Sarasota non-profit organization, performing the song “Better Life” and the national anthem. The central goal of Girls Inc. is to empower and inspire girls and young women.
About Cole Swindell
Swindell, a Platinum-selling recording artist and 11-time No 1 singer/songwriter, released his third album, “All of It,” for Warner Bros. Records/Warner Music Nashville in 2018 and it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Country album chart and No. 7 on the Billboard Top 200. The first single “Break Up In The End” became his eighth No. 1 career single as a solo artist. “Break Up In The End” was recently nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Song and was named one of the best country songs of 2018 by Amazon, Spotify, Billboard, and You Tube among others. Swindell performed the hit single on last summer’s (2018) ABC Television special “CMA Fest” and when he headlined the “NBC’s Citi Concert Series on TODAY” (2018).
The Georgia native debuted his current single “Love You Too Late” LIVE on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” and in December performed it on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The song is included on YouTube’s Best Country Songs of 2018.
In just over four years since he made his debut on Warner Bros. Records, Swindell has racked up an impressive and incomparable record-breaking eight No. 1 singles (the only solo artist in the history of the Country Aircheck/Mediabase to top the charts with first seven singles); 10 No. 1 singles as a songwriter; one 1 billion+ audience reaching single (“You Should Be Here”), seven Platinum singles; one Gold single; a Platinum-certified debut album (“Cole Swindell”); a Gold-certified sophomore album (“You Should Be Here”) and over one billion on demand streams as well as numerous songwriting honors and awards including being the reigning NSAI Songwriter/Artist of the Year (2016), winning two CMA Triple Play Awards in both 2015 (as the only performer to claim the title) and again in 2016 (for penning three No. 1 songs in a 12 month span) and Music Row’s Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year during his debut (2015) with celebrated songwriting credits for not only his own seven No. 1 hits but songs for Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett and Florida Georgia Line.
For more information and tour dates, please visit www.coleswindell.com and follow @coleswindell on Twitter, @coleswindell on Instagram and on Facebook.
About the Orioles in Sarasota
In the 10 years since the Orioles moved Major League Spring Training to Sarasota, more than one million fans have enjoyed Orioles games at Ed Smith Stadium. In that time, the Orioles have hosted 18 shows at Ed Smith Stadium as part of the Orioles’ Arts in the Ballpark event series, making Ed Smith Stadium a multi-interest destination for local residents and visitors alike. As one of Sarasota’s leading entertainment destinations for families, Ed Smith Stadium has also welcomed more than 160,000 families and children over just the past six years. For more information, visit Orioles.com/Sarasota.
