The San Diego Black Artist Collective kicks off its annual Juneteenth Black Arts Festival today at Diversionary Theatre. The four-day event uplifts and showcases Black excellence in music, theatre, dance, poetry and visual art — with a focus on community, visibility and joy.
The festival opens tonight, on Juneteenth, with “The Kickback,” a high-energy evening of live music and spoken word in the Clark Cabaret. One of the featured poets is Kelsey O'Daniels, who will also perform later in the weekend. She debuted her poem "Jiggly" during rehearsals on Monday night. Enjoy her performance below:
On Friday, the new play reading series “Actin’ Brand New” takes the spotlight with "Crack Baby" by Candrice Jones. Then on Saturday, there is a matinee performance of “Lift EVERY Voice,” a multidisciplinary showcase of Black performing artists in dance, music and poetry.
Festival producer Joy Yvonne Jones said the event will focus on "the most marginalized members of our community, with a particular spotlight on our vibrant and vital Black queer family. That evening, audiences will experience a powerful performance of 'Black Creek Risin’' by LaDarrion Williams — a featured work that explores memory, legacy and Black Southern storytelling at its finest."
The festival concludes Sunday with a Gospel Brunch, inviting the entire community to gather through food, fellowship and song.
"We hope to make one big community choir," Jones added. "And we're gonna have a praise team that leads us through these songs. But we want to bring everybody together to just really uplift community. And again, we're saying community with a capital C. Everybody is welcome. We are celebrating Black culture, but we can't live in a vacuum. So everybody is welcome."
Jones is also the co-founder of the San Diego Black Artist Collective.
"We are a collective dedicated to uplifting Black voices in San Diego," she explained. "Right after George Floyd was murdered, there was a lot of Black squares. There was a lot of virtue signaling from large organizations saying that they wanted to support Black artists. But we created something that actually would put energy behind it.
"We had a lot of support at the beginning, and a lot of that has waned, if I'm being completely honest. But this organization is not connected to any one thin, so we can continue our mission of uplifting local Black artists even without a larger organization funding us. This is truly community-ed and community-supported. Everything is from the ground up."
Working without a home base or brick-and-mortar office can be challenging.
"Which is why we lean on community partners very heavily," Jones said. "Like Diversionary, New Village Arts, The Old Globe, Moxie Theatre — even La Jolla Playhouse gave us space to create our works. We had an idea, we gave them a plan and they gave us space. And that is very important. It is important for the community to invest in our Black artists because we are here and we have been holding up productions and doing the work for decades and deserve recognition."
The Juneteenth Black Arts Festival runs through Sunday at multiple venues at Diversionary Theatre.
Juneteenth Black Arts Festival Schedule
- Thursday, 7:30 p.m. at Clark Cabaret - The Kickback (live music and spoken word)
- Friday, 7:30 p.m. - Actin' Brand New (new play readng series)
- Saturday, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. - Lift EVERY Voice (community showcase)
- Sunday, 11 a.m. at Clark Cabaret - Gospel Brunch (music, food and fellowship)
Tickets: $25 per event; $80 festival pass (includes all five events)
