The Boston Art & Music Soul (BAMS) Festival, presented in partnership with Berklee, takes place on Saturday, June 22, 12:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m., at Playstead Field at Bostons historic Franklin Park, 1 Pierpont Road. The event will be held rain or shine.
Now in its second year, BAMS Festival offers a day filled with music, entertainment, dance, art, spoken word, and family-friendly activities. The festival is free and open to the public, but preregistration is encouraged.
Grammy-nominated R&B singer, songwriter, and producer Eric Roberson headlines this years festival, which features a lineup of 19 artists and musicians from around the U.S. performing R&B, hip-hop, Afrobeat, house, jazz, fusion, funk, and soul.
Cocurated by Terri Lyne Carrington, Grammy-winning drummer and artistic director of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, the event will showcase Berklee-trained vocalists BI (Abigail Kim B.M. '19), Dalaun (Jordan Holly B.M. '17), and Safiya (current student Safiya Leslie).
Other roster highlights include filmmaker and musician Cliff Notez; R&B vocalist Aleecya; R&B/neo-soul duo Optic Bloom; Motown and doo-wop quartet the Tee-Tones; nine-piece funk and soul collective American Symphony of Soul; samba and Brazilian dance troupe SambaViva; and other acts over two stages.
The festivals visual-art and dance components, organized by Rob Problak Gibbs, cofounder of Artists for Humanity and Racines Black Dance Festival, include an interactive, social justice art-themed exhibition with emerging painters and graffiti writers from New England. Racines Black Dance Festival will stage a workshop for attendees to learn both traditional and contemporary African and Afro-centric dance styles. A vendor market featuring artists, craft makers, creative entrepreneurs, and minority-owned small businesses from across New England will be on-site at Franklin Park. Attendees are encouraged to bring favorite board and card games for a day of family fun.
Last year's inaugural festival drew more than 2,000 participants for hip-hop, spoken word, and soul music performed by local and national artists of color. It also featured local visual artists making murals, local vendors, and food trucks with varied menus.
BAMS Festival is made possible in part through grants from the Boston Foundations Permanent Fund for Boston and Mass Cultural Council, and funding from Berklee; support from the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture; and media partnerships with WBUR, the New 97.7 FM, the Urban Heat, Ethnic Online, DigBoston, and the Bay State Banner.
Related categories:
News
Related Reading
As Beantown Jazz Festival Ends, Berklee to Partner with BAMS Fest The collaboration strives to break down racial and social barriers to arts, music, and culture across Greater Boston.
BAMS Fest 2018 to Feature Berklee Students, Alumni The Boston Art & Music Soul (BAMS) Festival, a free event on Saturday, June 23, in Franklin Park, will feature a number of current students and alumni from Berklee College of Music.
Artists from Berklee and Beyond Featured at 2018 BAMS Fest Listen to Berklee artists who will perform at the BAMS Festival, such as Niya Norwood, Alonzo Demetrius, and RickExpress.
More from Berklee Now
Most Popular
Missy Elliott, Alex Lacamoire, Justin Timberlake Honored at Commencement The music icons received honorary doctorates for their lasting contributions to music and popular culture.
Latest
Berklee Partners with BAMS Festival in Its Second Year Headlined by Grammy-nominated R&B artist Eric Roberson, this years festival takes place on Saturday, June 22.
Berklee Popular Music Institute Artists to Perform at Summer Festivals The experiential program is sending six artists from the college to perform at major summer music festivals, including Essence Festival and Lollapalooza.
BerkleeNYC Launches Community Fund The BerkleeNYC Community Fund will raise money for scholarships, programming, and community outreach at the colleges New York home, including the creation of 360-degree videos.
Read All
Subscribe The latest sounds, stories, and ideas, sent to your inbox weekly.
Berklee Blogs
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Instagram
Snapchat
Soundcloud
Spotify
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
02/06/2026
blueCORE standalone processors headline solutions designed to simplify the trans...
02/06/2026
If you've kept up with this article series, you know by now where to start w...
02/06/2026
With new DSP configurations and flexible licensing options, Calrec is removing the barriers to virtualised audio, giving broadcasters the freedom to scale produ...
02/06/2026
The TV agency was one of the earliest adopters of Nielsen's local television...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Grass Valley today announced that Australian News Channel (ANC), operator of Sky News Australia, has deployed Grass Valley AMPP to transform its newsroom produc...
02/06/2026
Studio Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fiber-optic solutions, announces its new Model 385 Mic/Intercom Beltpack. The Mode...
02/06/2026
The Riedel Group today announced the appointment of Gudrun Scharler as CEO of Riedel Networks. She succeeds Michael Martens, who has led Riedel Networks since 2...
02/06/2026
More signals, higher quality, and outstanding ingest and streaming flexibility deliver professional results in a small, all-in-one footprint...
02/06/2026
farmerswife will be featured on the Modena Media & Entertainment stand at this year's Mediatech Africa 2026, giving visitors an opportunity to explore the l...
02/06/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17 19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Wuppertal June 2, 2026
Gudrun Scharler Appointed CEO of Riedel Networks The Riedel Group today announced the appointment of Gudrun Scharler as CEO of Riedel N...
02/06/2026
Back to All News
Discover Your Next Book-to-Screen Obsession With Our New Dedicated Hub
Product
02 June 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Dear most vor...
02/06/2026
New LinkedIn Data: 90% of C-Suite Leaders are Continuously Building Skills to Lead in the AI Era Published on Jun 2, 2026 Categories: Data and insights
Lin...
02/06/2026
Trust has become a commercial issue With global advertising spend forecast to exceed US$1 trillion this year*, the commercial consequences of weak governance co...
02/06/2026
June sees Ireland's cultural calendar in full bloom, as RT Supporting the Arts showcases a vibrant and wide-ranging programme spanning music, theatre, visu...
02/06/2026
After The Traitors Ireland launched in 2025, Irish audiences proved to have a taste for the global hit reality show. This Bank Holiday Monday fans can indulge e...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Back to All News
KAULITZ & KAULITZ Season 3
Entertainment
01 June 2026
GlobalGermany
Link copied to clipboard
Our favorite twins are back: streaming on Ne...
01/06/2026
Luxembourg, June 1, 2026 - SES, a leading space solutions company, and Viva, Mexico's ultra low-cost airline, launched fast and reliable multi-orbit satelli...
01/06/2026
Agentic AI is getting physical.
At COMPUTEX on Tuesday, NVIDIA announced NVIDIA JetPack 7.2 and NVIDIA NemoClaw support on NVIDIA Jetson.
JetPack 7.2 brings a...
01/06/2026
Financial institutions have spent years building AI: fraud models, credit models...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
The Boston Art & Music Soul (BAMS) Festival, presented in partnership with Berklee, takes place on Saturday, June 22, 12:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m., at Playstead Field at Bostons historic Franklin Park, 1 Pierpont Road. The event will be held rain or shine. 
