Last year, Mayor Brandon Scott announced his ambitious vision to revitalize Baltimore’s downtown — a 10-year initiative to write “the comeback story of our generation.”

To the surprise of many, those plans now include the relocation of Artscape, the country’s largest free arts festival, from its longtime home across the Station North Arts District, Bolton Hill and Mount Vernon, to downtown.

Not everyone is happy about the decision. The announcement made last month has been met with concern and skepticism from some attendees and artists. From Reddit and Instagram to this reporter’s inbox, many seemed to worry this effort to “uplift” downtown will come at the expense of Station North, which became one of Maryland’s first state-designated arts and entertainment districts in 2002.

“The Mayor, out of sheer desperation to make his downtown look lively, is stealing good things from great parts of Baltimore and plonking them into an empty business district,” wrote one Banner subscriber. “Sorry, as a Downtown resident, this makes no sense,” added another.

Timothy Nohe, a University of Maryland, Baltimore County professor and artist who has presented his work at Artscape, has seen up close the benefits the festival has had at Station North, where he’s had a Greenmount West studio for more than 15 years.

Artscape, which debuted in 1982, has been a reliable weekend of community building among a concentration of rising and dedicated artists — not to mention restaurants, bars and other businesses — and he’s concerned that sense of connectivity will be lost.

“I’m missing that tie to history, community, the many people that have shown their [art] over decades and the way that it nurtures artists on their way up,” Nohe said.

Gaia, a street artist who’s lived in the Station North area for nearly two decades, said he first felt “trepidation” over Artscape’s move but now thinks “downtown really makes sense” from a logistical standpoint, like offering some physical cover from rain and more parking options.

“There’s a part of me that thinks the footprint of Artscape — while it was great to be ingrained in the fabric of the [Station North] neighborhood — had sort of outgrown itself,” Gaia said.

Scott acknowledged at February’s press conference the benefits that Station North and Mount Vernon have seen from Artscape, but said it’s time for a new section of the city to reap such rewards.

Other factors were at play when it came to the location change, said Robyn Murphy, interim CEO of the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, the city’s nonprofit arts council that’s seen major upheaval over the past year. That included a desire to hold the festival in May rather than its usual July date, when many complained about the scorching temperatures.

“Downtown necessarily needs some love,” Gaia said, echoing a sentiment some expressed online. “Overall I welcome moving the festival to a time that is not as hot as the July/August time slot. I also agree that downtown needs to see a more positive addition,” one Banner subscriber wrote.

The new date of Memorial Day weekend, however, coincides with a busy week in the Bolton Hill area, including commencements at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the University of Baltimore. Those events would create problems for mounting art installations in advance, along with strains on city services and police, Murphy said.

Artscape’s new map includes the underpass beneath the Jones Falls Expressway, home to the Sunday farmers market. The festival’s artisan market will now be held there, while new permanent murals and lighting will be added to benefit farmers market shoppers after Artscape ends, said Tonya Miller Hall, the mayor’s senior advisor for arts and culture.

The War Memorial Building on North Gay Street will host the inaugural SCOUT Art Fair, curated by artist Derrick Adams and Teri Henderson, while musical headliners Fantasia, Robin Thicke and others will perform at the War Memorial Plaza outside of City Hall.

The hope, Murphy said, is to attract more first-time attendees and out-of-towners to Artscape. Based on attendance data, the festival “had become stagnant” in drawing new audiences, she said, and the tighter downtown footprint aims to appeal to those who found the old location too spread out.

Still, she’s aware of pushback over the relocation. Murphy doesn’t believe it reflects “all of the voices in the room.”

“I’m on Facebook so I see people that are vocal, like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe it’s leaving,’” Murphy said. “I deeply respect community discourse but I also know that, in the vein of a Yelp review, I know I only write Yelp reviews when I’m irritated.”

Miller Hall said in an email the general reaction from the local arts community has been ”overwhelmingly favorable.”

“Artists and cultural stakeholders recognize that this move allows us to reimagine the festival in a way that better serves the creative community and the city as a whole,” she said.

Station North Arts District Manager Abby Becker declined an interview request and instead shared a statement from Ellen Janes, executive director of Central Baltimore Partnership, of which Station North is a program.

“The decision to relocate Artscape does not diminish our dedication to our artists, creatives, and the community at large,” it partly reads. “We continue to work diligently to create new opportunities for events and festivals that contribute to the arts and cultural vitality of Baltimore, all year long, not just one weekend out of 365 days.”

Concessions could still be made. Nicholas Cohen, executive director of the Station North-based advocacy organization Maryland Citizens for the Arts, said he expressed artists’ concerns over the relocation to organizers and found them receptive to finding solutions that could incorporate Station North into this year’s plans. Murphy said there are plans to hold the Artscape After Dark parties in “various places” in the city, though details have yet to be announced.

“The first reaction, of course, is like ‘Whoa, we’re losing Artscape,’’ Cohen said. “But then I think the mayor’s office and BOPA have said, ‘No, we’re going to honor the fact that Station North is one of our jewels as an arts district and we’re going to figure out how to connect it to the bigger Artscape footprint, which I think is a good sign.”

Nacir the Younger, a painter from East Baltimore who showed his work at last Artscape’s B24 exhibition, described the relocation as “a bit of an annoyance because downtown just feels so cramped,” but said artists are used to having to adapt.

“Change is going to come eventually, no matter what you’re doing,” the 24-year-old artist said. “So it’s like, believe in your community and believe in what you can do as an artist, and you can adapt to any situation.”

Murphy is optimistic the downtown version of Artscape will ultimately win over doubters.

“I believe that once folks get their eyes on what is being built for all of us, then I don’t think that there will be many people who think that the shift in date or location were a bad thing,” Murphy said.

Gaia said he welcomes a new vision for a familiar event. Still, the criticism in response doesn’t surprise him.

“It’s easy to be righteous and judgmental in Baltimore. That’s what we’re good at. We’re really good at complaining about stuff that changes because we get very comfortable,” Gaia said.

And if downtown ultimately doesn’t work, what’s stopping Artscape from returning to its old home?

“I have patience, so I hope it all works out,” he said. “And if it doesn’t, you know there’s no reason why it can’t go back. It’s really not the biggest deal in the world.”