South Bronx Culture Festival

Start: Friday, June 2, 2023 2:00PM
End: Sunday, June 4, 2023 6:00PM

The Bronx- March 1, 2023 Since 2011, Casita Maria’s South Bronx Culture Festival has celebrated the vibrant culture and communities of the South Bronx through an annual performance series anchored by a new theme each year. This year’s theme, Mi Cultura Viva en Mí, is rooted in healing and self-love. We have gathered a community of women from Caribbean and Latin American Diasporas who carry their culture with them and reframe traditional music and dance, sharing hope and creating inclusive community connections while amplifying the voices and perspectives of all who identify as women. 

This year’s SBCF line-up, with musical roots from the diasporas of Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, México, Puerto Rico, and the confluence of cultures that is New York City, is curated by Casita Maria’s Interim Executive Director, Gail Heidel, in partnership with the Ori-Gen Collective, La Reina Del Barrio and Bronx Arts Ensemble. 

FREE outdoor performances will take place June 2-4, 2023 at Father Gigante Plaza in front of St. Athanasius Church, 878 Tiffany St, Bronx, NY 10459. Everyone is welcome to attend all events in person, or to watch the Festival events at a later date on BronxNet Television, our media partner.

Throughout the weekend, bilingual celebrity MCs and BronxNet hosts Rhina Valentin & Javier E. Gomez will keep the celebration going, along with DJs BEMBONA, Sabine Blaizin and Boston Chery. Headliners will include percussionist and drummer Annette A. Aguilar performing with her 12 piece Salsa band, Afro-Brazilian percussion group Batalá New York, and Casita Maria’s 9-piece jazz ensemble BronX BandA featuring seven time Grammy award- winning artist Arturo O’Farrill performing original compositions inspired by oral histories of women from the Bronx. The ensemble will be joined by Arthur Avilés Typical Theater, presented in partnership with BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, who will choreograph and perform new work. These acts will anchor a full schedule that will include artists ranging from Young Artists of Casita Maria and Bronx Studio School for Writers & Artists to performance groups: Alea, Akua Dixon & Quartette Indigo, Renee Goust, La Manga, Mireya Ramos, and Sonia de Los Santos.