Columbus Women & Girls' Fest Returns With Grammy-Nominated Headliners Tank and Norman

The Columbus Women & Girls' Fest returns for its ninth year on Saturday, bringing Grammy-nominated headliners Tank and Norman to the city's historic King-Lincoln Bronzeville neighborhood for a free, family-friendly celebration themed “Connecting Through Cultures.” The event runs from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the MPACC Box Park at 925 Mount Vernon Avenue, a community arts space on Columbus' Near East Side.

Tarriona “Tank” Ball and Norman, the primary songwriters and creative duo behind the New Orleans-based group Tank and the Bangas, will headline the festival, according to Columbus Navigator. Tank and the Bangas rose to national prominence after winning NPR Music's Tiny Desk Contest in 2017, per the same outlet's reporting on the group's background.

Organizers Candice Igeleke, Ebony Richardson and Diann Johnson are helping put on this year's event, as reported by WSYX. The festival aims to celebrate women and girls while highlighting cultural connection across the community, and this year's stage will feature local talent alongside the national headliners.

More Than 30 Performers and Vendors Take Over the Near East Side

Beyond Tank and Norman, the 2026 lineup includes more than 30 local and regional performers, among them former gospel artist Quan Howell, Ar!yah, Jordan Hope, Saint Rockstar (Jessy'ka Taylor), Mal V Moo, and the Columbus Adventist Academy Choir, according to the same Columbus Navigator report. The bill mixes regional recording artists with youth choirs and community performers, reflecting the festival's emphasis on homegrown talent.

The festival also includes more than 30 women- and girl-led vendor booths, interactive workshops, live art demonstrations, food trucks, children's activities, and community wellness experiences, as detailed by Columbus Makes Art. Organizers have built the festival to spotlight youth entrepreneurship and local business visibility alongside the entertainment.

A Youth Mentoring Program's Yearly Showcase

The festival marks the culmination of the Empowering Young Voices summer program, a youth-focused initiative that pairs girls and gender-expansive youth of color with professional women mentors, according to WSYX. Empowering Young Voices was established in 2021 in partnership with the Beatty Community Center, offering instruction across visual arts, dance, singing, poetry, and acting, per The Women's Fund of Central Ohio.

In 2024, the program was officially designated a Program of Excellence by Ohio State University's Office of Outreach and Engagement, which praised it for fostering community-engaged literacy and arts education, according to OSU's College of Education and Human Ecology. The recognition underscores the academic weight behind what might otherwise look like a single day of music and vendors.

The Nonprofit Behind the Celebration

The festival is hosted by the Education Foundation for Freedom, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2017 by Ohio State University professor Dr. Elaine Richardson to empower underserved women, girls, and gender-expansive youth of color through arts, culture, and literacy, according to YWCA Columbus. Richardson, also known as a recording artist under the name “Dr. E,” was named a 2024 YWCA Woman of Achievement in Columbus for her decades of work in hip-hop literacies, community advocacy, and nonprofit leadership.

Institutional funding for the festival and its youth programs comes from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, The Women's Fund of Central Ohio, and the City of Columbus Department of Neighborhoods, according to Cause IQ. That public and philanthropic backing is what allows the organization to keep festival entry free to the public.

Admission to Saturday's festival remains completely free, though organizers offered optional early pay-what-you-can registration tickets online ahead of the event, with 100% of proceeds supporting the Education Foundation for Freedom, according to Zeffy. Those contributions help sustain the year-round mentoring and educational programming that leads up to each August gathering on Mount Vernon Avenue.