One of the realities of being a Baltimorean is accepting that you’re considered the Weird Barbie of large Northeastern cities. You mock our accent and our Old Bay obsession. But now that we’ve become the proud beneficiary of art events that are fleeing the implied censorship and gutting of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in D.C., more eyes are on us.

“Looks like Baltimore is the new Washington DC,” a Banner reader commented on a story about how Philip Glass, Amy Sherald and others have moved shows to the city.

Ummm ... as we say in Baltimore, hold up, girl. We may be having a moment, but in our own way, we are the moment. And we always have been.

“Just let Baltimore be Baltimore,” said author Laura Lippman, one of the city’s biggest cheerleaders. “That’s all we need. Just let Baltimore be able to do what we do best and have people show up for that.”

Indeed. Understand that I truly welcome the residents of D.C. and everyone else traveling here to check out events now playing here. We want your ticket money, dining dollars and hotel spending, because we want you to see our possibility and greatness.

But we don’t want to be you.

“I don’t think it’s the new D.C.,” said Center Stage Artistic Director Stevie Walker-Webb. “It’s not the new Philly, not the new New York. It’s the same old Baltimore it’s always been — a place that artists can thrive. This is a place that critical art can be born. Now the world is waking up to it.”

Don’t sleep on what we’ve already built, within our own community theater, television, literature and art world. The new works and performances coming here are not creating a scene, but adding to it. That’s wonderful.

“Baltimore, for some time, has been rich in talent. I wouldn’t necessarily compare it to D.C. We can stand on our own,” said Tamara Payne, a visual artist, activist and professor responsible for the installation and video project “Dear Black Girl.”

That fertile creative ground attracts talent from elsewhere because of what we already had. Walker-Webb mentioned the world-class work that has started at Center Stage and gone on to New York and other places. Lippman offered the brilliance of the American Visionary Art Museum.

“The things we have here in Baltimore have always been first class,” Lippman said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, we’re the saddest little city in the Northeast.’ Whatever. Fine. We’re doing just fine.”

Part of our uniqueness is that we can’t help being ourselves, and we’re going to tell you about it. Adhering more to our absolute authenticity than to fads or the rules of others. And maybe telling you about yourself.

“Major producers are coming here because it’s a place you can be honest,” Walker-Webb said. “People talk to the stage. They react in a real way. You’re not going to get a standing ovation in Baltimore if it isn’t good.”

As psyched as I am about all the attention to the city, I do worry about things changing the more new people show up, about being homogenized. I don’t want our edges sanded off. I want us to stay weird, real and maybe a little rude. We are so many things — ethnic, rebellious and aware that we aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. We will brew our own.

Walker-Webb knows something about that, being from Waco, Texas, the home of Baylor University and the phenomenally popular HGTV show “Fixer Upper.”

With an influx of people, Walker-Webb said, “I watched my neighborhood disappear. People here resist that kind of cultural bleaching. Take Atlanta and Waco and the world-class renaissance of New York and put them in a blender, you get something close to as magical and special as this place.”

So the question is, how do we keep that magic while introducing it to other people?

D.C. is lovely. But there are so many reasons many of us chose to live here and not there.

“We would suck at being D.C. Only D.C. can be D.C.,” Lippman said. “Baltimore is so special and idiosyncratic. There’s so much to love about it. We shouldn’t try to be anything other than what it is.”

Do we want full venues and interesting stores and more Sheralds and Glasses — two artists who we claim anyway? Sure we do. But we don’t want to be a pale comparison of another place. We want all of the things, fiercely and singularly, as ourselves.

“We want you to fall in love with what makes this place unique,” Walker-Webb said. “But if you’re thinking about changing what makes Baltimore Baltimore? Get back on the train.”