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The Three-Day Festival Includes Dance, Music, History, Art, Education, Culture, and Food
SEATTLE – Seattle Center Festál continues with Festival Sundiata presents Black Arts Fest, a live and in-person festival from Friday, July 14 through Sunday, July 16 in the Armory Food & Event Hall, and at the Mural Amphitheatre. This year’s festival has a lineup of performers, vendors, and food that visitors will surely enjoy.
Mainstage artists from across the country will convene in Seattle, including Stokley & Band, The Original Lakeside, Glenn Jones, Angela Winbush, Binky Womack, Kalimba, and many more. The weekend is full of live music with two full stages of performance on Saturday and Sunday featuring R&B, funk, jazz, hip-hop, gospel, reggae, African, and more. The festival opens Friday night with a set by Harmonious Funk Band at The Ultimate Art Exhibit and Kickoff Party: a glimpse into the talent, imagination, experiences, and creative world of local African American artists. Among other festival highlights are presentations by youth drill and dance teams, double dutch, Zumba, a marketplace with over 80 vendors, free entry for children to The Seattle Children’s Museum, and the award-winning, American History Traveling Museum: The Unspoken Truths.
“One Seattle means celebrating all the communities that make up the rich cultural tapestry of our city,” said Mayor Bruce Harrell. “Our Black arts scene is alive and well, and Festival Sundiata is an exciting opportunity to bring people of all backgrounds together to experience the vibrant artistic expression of our African American community.”
The free and open-to-the-public festival boasts a family reunion atmosphere with fun for visitors of all ages. Festival Sundiata celebrates Black culture and educates the community on the contributions of African Americans who form a melting pot of cultures.
“Festival Sundiata is one of our most robust Festál festivals,” said Seattle Center Director Marshall Foster. “Celebrating Black arts is integral to Seattle’s wider community, and Festival Sundiata ensures visitors will have a great time doing so.”
Millions of people have been touched by the Festival Sundiata experience and come back annually. The free programs will be even more entertaining with great production value and classic performances.
Most importantly, Festival Sundiata creates an opportunity to bring families and diverse communities together in unprecedented ways.
For more information and to see the full schedule, head to Festival Sundiata (seattlecenter.com)
About Festival Sundiata
Festival Sundiata (pronounced: Soon-jah-tah) is the longest-running African American festival celebrated in the Pacific Northwest and Seattle, holding its first festival in 1980. The festival is named in honor of Sundiata Keita, the historic and legendary Mansa (King of Kings) of the Mali Empire in West Africa. King Sundiata rescued his people’s griot and created one of the most significant cultural and economic kingdoms in Africa.
Information on the festival is available at festivalsundiata.org and www.seattlecenter.com, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
About Seattle Center Festál
Seattle Center Festál cultivates a deeper understanding of the cultures and ethnic diversity that contribute to the rich vibrancy of the Pacific Northwest. This unique series links together 24 free festivals presented on weekends from January to November, each with its own cultural focus, identity, and range of engaging activities. The purpose of Seattle Center Festál is to provide opportunities for cultural communities to produce and present enriching, non-political, non-religious celebrations at Seattle Center. Seattle Center Festál is Where the World Gathers to celebrate the people, the places, the stories, and the traditions of the city’s communities. Seattle Center Festál is produced in partnership with 24 different community groups and supported by City of Seattle, Seattle Center Foundation, 4Culture, and KUOW. Festál is also part of the ArtsFund Cultural Partners Network.
About Seattle Center
Connect to the extraordinary at Seattle Center, an active civic, arts, and family gathering place in the core of our city and region. Seattle Center’s 74-acre campus, centered around the International Fountain, is part of the Uptown Arts & Cultural District and home to Climate Pledge Arena; more than 30 cultural, educational, sports, and entertainment organizations; and a broad range of public and community programs. In everything it does, Seattle Center’s mission is to create exceptional events, experiences, and environments which delight and inspire the human spirit to build stronger communities.
Seattle Center has expanded its role to provide maintenance and public safety services for Seattle’s new Waterfront Park, a series of new public spaces on Seattle’s downtown waterfront between Pioneer Square and the Seattle Aquarium. Seattle Center supports managing these new waterfront public spaces in partnership with the non-profit Friends of Waterfront Seattle, which offers the community a range of recreational and cultural programming.
Thanks to the support of Official Seattle Center Partners – Alaska Airlines, The Climate Pledge, Coors Light, Pepsi, Premera, Symetra, T-Mobile, and WaFd Bank – Seattle Center is the #1 arts and entertainment destination in the Pacific Northwest with 12 million annual visitors, generating $1.864 billion in business activity and more than $631 million in labor income annually. www.seattlecenter.com
