BAMS Fest brings 'epic joy' to Boston's Franklin Park

When Catherine Morris was 13, the arts — as she says — saved her. Today she is the founder and executive director of the Boston Art & Music Soul Fest, better known as BAMS Fest — a personal project that has become a massively successful multimedia arts festival that centers Boston’s creatives of color. But back then, she was a teen member of Blue Hill Boys and Girls Club in Dorchester who was fascinated by talent shows.

Derrick Patterson, who was teen director of the Blue Hill Boys and Girls Club at the time, began producing talent shows for the center where kids could sing, dance, and express themselves. Morris was immediately taken. But not solely with the final product. She was interested in the production process. She recalled, “I went up to him and said, ‘I need you to teach me how to do this.’ ” Patterson showed her the ropes, and after that, she produced her first talent show. Over 250 people showed up, and she never looked back. Following the performances, Morris remembers turning to her mom and saying, “I want to do this forever, whatever this thing is called.”

She has dedicated her life to being at the intersection of arts, community, creating platforms and supporting creative people. Morris was always most interested in the community aspect of event production and the magic in a room full of people learning from and supporting one another. When she returned home from college, she felt that Boston was a place with perfect social conditions for an event like BAMS Fest. All roads pointed to an organization that was intentional about supporting Black and brown artists, entrepreneurs and cultural workers. And in 2018, the festival was born.

“We don't brag and boast about arts and culture here. And yet, we have some of the most world-renowned artists that come from this city, let alone the state, and they don't get their due justice,” Morris explained. But when she started out, not everyone could see her vision. It was difficult. For the first four years, Morris and a small team gave their time to organizing anywhere from 8 to twelve events across the city per year to build momentum. The consistency worked. Eventually, supporters and fans from across the state flocked to her and her team's programming.

BAMS Fest can now support over 500 organizations and over the years have invested about $200,000 in honorarium and stipends. They have successfully built a community of creativity and collaboration. However, what makes it unique is the atmosphere they’re able to create. By being a staple in Boston for Black creatives, the community they welcome into the art space is diverse in age, background, and upbringing.

By the second year of BAMS Fest, her team had tripled the festival's attendees to over 6,500 people. That weekend, Morris met a woman who was new to the area and heard about the festival that day who told her, “I would have never expected this in Boston.” From that moment, Morris knew that BAMS Fest was on to something unique. “It really does amplify what I've always known; Boston does have people of color in it, and we can also host the kind of large-scale programs you see in other comparable cities,” said Morris. “We just have to be consistent.” The amalgamation of experiences since her teen years had spun into something essential.

The theme of this weekend's BAMS Fest is “Epic Joy.” And Morris explains that it's borne out of the difficulty of the last few years. “We've all experienced a loss of life or way of life. And one thing that I've always tried to do is put the soul back in Boston,” she said.

The festival will include live music and dance classes from disciplines across the African diaspora and graffiti artists, painters and muralists from across the Commonwealth sharing their stories on canvases in real-time. There will be a “Vendor Village,” where minority-owned, women-owned and veteran-owned businesses of color will sell artisan goods. And, as Morris says, “You can't have a festival without food.” So, included in the programming is a “Soul Food Row,” where visitors will have their pick from Jamaican food to flavors of West Africa and Southern American cooking.

Live music is a highlight of the festival, and the BAMS Fest team received over 1,000 applications this year from musicians across the world. Performers were selected by a panel of past headliners and central Boston creatives. This weekend will include some of the most diverse representation in music that the festival has ever had, including Jonathan Suazo, performing Latin jazz; Paul Willis, an up-and-coming hip hop artist; and Simpli Whitney, a military vet with chart-topping singles in the U.K.

From the beginning, Morris has wanted to create something that focuses on love, experiencing nature, and being in fellowship. “We ask people to come as they are, be open, give yourself permission to dance, to move and meet people,” says Morris. “It’s a Black wonderland that everyone gets to experience.”

BAMS Fest will take place on Saturday, June 11, in Franklin Park. It is open to the public and free, with an option to donate.