February 4, 2026
Code bankrolls curtain calls
The Voxel Is a Cutting-Edge Theater Experiment
Tech cash turns a brick box into a free stage where artists keep every ticket
TLDR: The Voxel is a Baltimore theater-lab that gives artists free space and keeps their ticket sales intact, paid for by its founder’s software company. Commenters cheered the tech-funds-art model, likened it to the Vegas Sphere, and cracked voxel jokes—calling it a hopeful post‑pandemic template.
Baltimore just got a glow‑up: The Voxel, a once‑empty brick box, now flashes a choreographed light show outside and whispers theater in giant lobby text inside. Designed with flair by Ziger/Snead and Bruce Willen, it’s equal parts art lab and neon beacon—and the internet is buzzing.
The plot twist that has commenters clapping? It’s free for resident artists, and the theater takes zero cut of ticket sales. Funded by Figure 53—the small software company founded by CEO Chris Ashworth—The Voxel doubles down on art, research, and teaching instead of profits. One fan summed up the vibe: “you can build a successful software company and use that to fund a cutting‑edge experimental art and performance space,” pointing to the residencies. Another cheered this whole genre of passion projects, name‑dropping Jamie Zawinski’s DNA Lounge as the blueprint.
And then came the blockbuster comparison: one commenter likened the shimmering façade to Las Vegas’s Sphere, declaring this kind of immersive eye‑candy “absolutely the future.” Meanwhile, jokesters misread “voxel” as a video game engine and wondered if the stage would render in 3D. Whether you’re here for the philanthropy, the lights, or the puns, the community’s take is clear: tech money funding real‑world stages—with artists keeping their cash—feels like a post‑pandemic plot twist worth cheering.
Key Points
- •The Voxel is a tech-forward theater and arts hub in Baltimore with an interactive, programmable facade designed by Ziger/Snead and supported by Bruce Willen.
- •The organization’s mission is framed around three dimensions—art, research, and teaching—echoing the 3D computer graphics term “voxel.”
- •The Voxel runs an annual summer residency application, offering free use of a 2,200 sq ft black box stage, a 1,900 sq ft lobby, and 3,000 sq ft of production/support space.
- •For ticketed events, The Voxel does not take a cut of sales, focusing on supporting artists and their audience reach.
- •The Voxel is funded by independent revenue from Figure 53, a Baltimore-based software company founded by CEO Chris Ashworth nearly two decades ago.