Harlem Festival Of Culture, Inspired By ‘Summer Of Soul’, To Bow In 2023

Summer Of Soul (… Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), the Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson-directed film that won the Oscar and the Grammy for documenting 1969’s now-famed Harlem Cultural Festival, has inspired a reboot of the landmark music event.

Ambassador Digital Magazine editor-in-chief Musa Jackson, who attended the 1969 event and appeared in Summer of Soul, said Tuesday that he, BNP Advisory Group strategist Nikoa Evans and event producer and Captivate Marketing Group president Yvonne McNair are teaming to launch the Harlem Festival of Culture in the summer of 2023.

The multi-day outdoor concert event will be a reimagining of the 1969 fest and take place in Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park, where the original took place when it was known as Mount Morris Park. Official dates have not yet been announced.

Organizers told Billboard that a series of events leading up to the HFC kicks off Friday with an open-mic night at the Museum of the City of New York to pay tribute to the 25th anniversary of the film Love Jones. Other musical events are being planned throughout the year featuring contemporary R&B, soul, hip-hop, gospel, jazz, reggae and Latin artists, along with community events and panel discussions.

The founders also has launched the Harlem Festival of Culture Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to provide mentoring, apprenticeship opportunities and curriculum to Harlem high school students.

“The original event was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one that I will never forget,” Jackson told Billboard. “With this initiative, we want to create something that evokes that same sense of pride in our community that I felt on that special day in 1969. We want to authentically encapsulate the full scope: the energy, the music, the culture. We want people to understand that this festival is being built by the people who are from, live and work in this community.”

Added Summer of Soul executive producer Joseph Patel: “One of the things we hoped would happen with Summer of Soul is that it would open the door for other stories to be told, in all their forms, especially by people from Harlem. I couldn’t think of a better person to charge through than Musa, whose devoted roots in the community make him the perfect person to represent for Harlem.”