The 2024 Umoja Festival will be held May 24-26, 2024, at Festival Park in Portsmouth. Join us in a grand celebration of unity at Portsmouth’s Annual African American culture and heritage celebration promoting cultural diversity and unity.
Bring the entire family to enjoy all the festivities including live music, kids’ activities, international foods and so much more!
All Festival Park performances are FREE and OPEN to the public*
32nd Annual UMOJA FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Sunday, May 26th
2:00pm – 3:00pm Fully Committed
3:10pm – 2:55pm Living Testimony Community Singers
4:00pm – 4:45pm Brother’s in Christ
5:00pm – 6:00pm GMVA Virginia Choir
The 2024 Umoja Festival will be held May 24-26, 2024, at Festival Park in Portsmouth. Join us in a grand celebration of unity at Portsmouth’s Annual African American culture and heritage celebration promoting cultural diversity and unity.
Bring the entire family to enjoy all the festivities including live music, kids’ activities, international foods and so much more!
All Festival Park performances are FREE and OPEN to the public*
32nd Annual UMOJA FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Saturday, May 25th
1:00pm – 3:00pm 5STARR
2:15pm – 3:15pm 2nd Wynd Band
3:30pm – 4:30pm The Champagne Band
4:45pm – 5:45pm SynHergi
6:00pm – 7:00pm Ned Harris and The Appeal
Don’t miss the late show at Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion featuring Tank with support from Kari Hilson and Carl Thomas. Tickets required.
Purchase Tank Tickets Here.
Heritage Tour
This free tour departs on the hour at 2, 3, and 4 PM, Saturday only, from the City Hall loading area. Climb aboard and air conditioned coach for a short ride to the Portsmouth Colored Community Library Museum. The featured exhibit is call Art is Revolutionary: Icons, Innovators, and Trailblazers from Hampton Roads. Tour the exhibit and then join Kenise Butler and her band for a 20-minute show featuring the songs of Ella Fitzgerald. Climb aboard the bus and return to the festival. Tour time is about an hour.
The 2024 Umoja Festival will be held May 24-26, 2024, at Festival Park in Portsmouth. Join us in a grand celebration of unity at Portsmouth’s Annual African American culture and heritage celebration promoting cultural diversity and unity.
Bring the entire family to enjoy all the festivities including live music, kids’ activities, international foods and so much more!
All Festival Park performances are FREE and OPEN to the public*
32nd Annual UMOJA FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Friday, May 24th
5:30pm Opening Ceremony
6:15pm -7:45pm B Michelle
8:00pm – 9:30pm Joselyn Best & Soulful Soundz
9:45pm – 11:00pm Better By Tuesday
The 2023 Umoja Festival will be held May 26-28, 2023, at Festival Park in Portsmouth. Join us in a grand celebration of unity at Portsmouth’s Annual African American culture and heritage celebration promoting cultural diversity and unity.
Bring the entire family to enjoy all the festivities including live music, kids’ activities, international foods and so much more!
All Festival Park performances are FREE and OPEN to the public*
31st Annual UMOJA FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Sunday, May 28th
2:00pm – 2:45pm New Sisters in Christ
3:00pm – 3:45pm The Jones Singers
4:00pm – 4:45pm Ricky White and Believers Kamp
5:00pm – 6:00pm The Tidewater VA Chapter of GMWA Choir
2:00pm – 6:00pm Children’s Activities (Bounce Houses, Crafts, and Games)
*Excluding the Boyz II Men concert on Saturday, May 27th. Tickets may be purchased at PavilionConcerts.com
The 2023 Umoja Festival will be held May 26-28, 2023, at Festival Park in Portsmouth. Join us in a grand celebration of unity at Portsmouth’s Annual African American culture and heritage celebration promoting cultural diversity and unity.
Bring the entire family to enjoy all the festivities including live music, kids’ activities, international foods and so much more!
All Festival Park performances are FREE and OPEN to the public*
31st Annual UMOJA FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Saturday, May 27th
2:00pm – 3:00pm Phazz II
2:00pm Heritage Tour (Emanuel AME Church, Portsmouth Arts & Cultural Center, and Portsmouth Colored Community Library)
3:15pm – 4:15pm 5STARR
4:30pm – 5:30pm Better By Tuesday
5:45pm – 7:00pm RaJazz Band
8:00pm Boyz II Men (Paid Event at Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion)
2:00pm – 6:00pm Children’s Activities (Bounce Houses, Crafts, and Games)
*Excluding the Boyz II Men concert on Saturday, May 27th. Tickets may be purchased at PavilionConcerts.com
The 2023 Umoja Festival will be held May 26-28, 2023, at Festival Park in Portsmouth. Join us in a grand celebration of unity at Portsmouth’s Annual African American culture and heritage celebration promoting cultural diversity and unity.
Bring the entire family to enjoy all the festivities including live music, kids’ activities, international foods and so much more!
All Festival Park performances are FREE and OPEN to the public*
31st Annual UMOJA FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Friday, May 26th
5:30pm Opening Ceremony
6:15pm -7:45pm Tidewater Drive Band
8:00pm – 9:30pm Dee Polite and Phenomenal Sounds
9:45pm – 11:00pm 2nd Wynd
*Excluding the Boyz II Men concert on Saturday, May 27th. Tickets may be purchased at PavilionConcerts.com
Hanging Tree Guitars is a traveling exhibition that showcases the work of Freeman Vines, a luthier, musician and material artist. Mr. Vines was born in Greene County, North Carolina, where his family sharecropped on plantations where they were once enslaved. For 50 years, he’s been building guitars from cast-off materials gathered from across the county – everything from an old tobacco barn, to radio parts, to the wood of a tree where a 1930 lynching took place. The exhibit was organized by the Music Maker Relief Foundation, which strives to preserve the legacy of musicians who are the creative roots of American Music. Join us for this exciting exhibition!
The Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center and Black History Now 2022 presents Java & Djembes, an African percussion workshop featuring coffees and chocolates from the African continent. Participants enjoy coffees and fine chocolates from Africa while learning percussion rhythms from master musician Kamiruri Kelly of the Day Program. Price is $10 per person. Ages 17 and up please. To register, go online to www.portsmouthartcenter.com or call 757-393-8543.
This 4-person art exhibition features paintings and drawings influenced by contemporary Black Culture that traces its roots to the Caribbean, Northern Africa and beyond. Featured artists are Anthony Burks, Sr., from Florida; Portsmouth native and now Florida resident Ramel Jasir; Arthur Rogers, Jr., from Charlotte, North Carolina; and Clayton Singleton, from Norfolk, Virginia.
The Portsmouth Public Library, Main Branch and Black History Now present an African American History Expo. Celebrate African American history and music featuring handcrafted items, music from Porte Towne Magic, and speaker Jack Gary, Director of Archaeology for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Mr. Gary will discuss the excavations at the First Baptist Church in Williamsburg. The church was organized in 1776 by a group of courageous slaves and free blacks who wanted to worship God in their own way. Learn the fascinating history of this early African American congregation. Free Event.
