A free, weeklong celebration of West African and Caribbean dance, drumming and wellness returns to Bed-Stuy from Sunday, September 13, through Saturday, September 19, as the Art Is Alive Festival marks its 10th anniversary. Presented by the Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Foundation, the festival is built around free 90-minute classes in dance, percussion and wellness, held at the Asase Yaa School of the Arts on MacDonough Street between Malcolm X Boulevard and Patchen Avenue, before wrapping up with a block party that fills the surrounding streets.
The lineup of classes reads like a tour through the African diaspora, according to Time Out. Dyane Harvey-Salaam leads a pilates session on September 13, Jeffrey Page teaches a Mali-focused class on September 14, and Mouminatou Camara instructs West African dance on September 15. Nadia Dieudonné follows with Haitian folk dance on September 16, Asase Yaa founder Yao Ababio leads a djembe and West African movement class on September 17, and Babacar M'Baye closes out the instructional portion with a sabar dance class on September 18. Advance registration is required for all classes since capacity is limited.
The week builds toward the festival's second annual block party on September 19, running from noon to 7 p.m. Sharon Gordon will emcee the celebration, which the foundation says pays tribute to the residents, families, artists and cultural leaders who have sustained the event over the past decade — a theme reflected in this year's tagline, “Rooted 10 Years Deep.” Community members will also be honored with awards during the event.
A Stage for Brooklyn's Diasporic Sound
Performers at the block party include the Asase Yaa African American Dance Theater and the Brooklyn United Marching Band, a Brooklyn-based youth music organization that gained national attention in September 2021 when its young drummers became the first marching band to open the Met Gala red carpet, according to BK Reader. The broader lineup, per NYC.com, also features West African percussion orchestra Farafina Kan, Queens percussionist Kofi Hunter, Afro-Panamanian artist Mai-Elka Prado Gil, performance group Something Positive, and salsa dancer Cory “Nova” Villegas, plus an interactive salsa class open to attendees.
Alongside the performances, a street marketplace will offer African- and Caribbean-inspired food and drinks as well as artwork, jewelry, fashion, and beauty and wellness goods from local artisans and businesses. The festival's aim, organizers say, is to connect young New Yorkers with African diasporic culture through both performance and hands-on instruction.
A Milestone Year for the Foundation Behind It
This year's festival lands squarely inside Asase Yaa's own 25th anniversary as an organization. What started in 2001 as a concert dance company founded by master djembe drummer Yao Ababio grew with Ababio working alongside his brother, Executive Director K. Osei Williams, according to BK Reader. The foundation now runs its School of the Arts out of a community facility at 506 MacDonough Street, which includes three dance studios, a music room and a community lounge, as reported by Patch.
Over its quarter-century history, the foundation has awarded more than $570,000 in student scholarships, reached over 50,000 audience members, and operates an Arts Outreach Program that serves more than two dozen schools across the New York metro area, per BK Reader's reporting. Its flagship performing ensemble is the Asase Yaa African American Dance Theater.
To mark its 25th anniversary, the foundation launched a $500,000 fundraising campaign titled “We Strive to Thrive.” The organization's youth pipeline was on full display just months ago, when the Asase Yaa School of the Arts showcased dancers ages 2 to 17 in West African, hip-hop and jazz routines during its 14th annual recital, “Legacy in Motion,” at Hunter College's Kaye Playhouse in June, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.
Rooted in Bed-Stuy's Cultural Legacy
The festival's setting carries its own weight. In Bed-Stuy, Asase Yaa's festival brings free public programming to a neighborhood with a long-standing Black cultural presence.
Ten years after its start, the Art Is Alive Festival continues that tradition of grassroots cultural preservation, pairing free public programming with a nonprofit infrastructure built over 25 years. For Bed-Stuy residents, the week offers a rare chance to step into a working dance studio for a free class, then step back outside to watch that same tradition play out on their own block.
