10 years on, BAMS Fest is the people's music festival

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The annual Boston Art and Music Soul Festival — known as BAMS Fest — is back for its seventh iteration this Saturday, July 28, at Franklin Park Playstead. It’s an important milestone for the 10-year-old organization, according to Catherine T. Morris, the festival’s founder and executive and artistic director.

“To be standing, to still continue to offer this platform so that folks can truly be themselves, the fact that we still get to offer something that the community looks forward to every year is beyond a dream.”

Previously, the music festival spanned two days. The change to a single-day event wasn’t something that the BAMS Fest team took lightly. “We unfortunately had to go down to one day because of all of the construction around White Stadium,” Morris explained. “Our footprint has been taken away from us. We used to be 18 and a half acres, and this year, we're about 10.”

But the staples that so many love about the festival will return — like the Vendor Village curated by Black Owned Bos., Soul Food Row (a lineup of culturally diverse food trucks), the Dance Zone and KidChella (a family-friendly stage featuring local young artists).

The main stage will showcase an incredible lineup of national and local performing artists. Headliners Lalah Hathaway, North Carolina hip-hop duo Little Brother and Durand Bernarr are set to perform, along with local favorites, like poet Amanda Shea and rapper Edo.G.

The June music festival is certainly a cornerstone of BAMS Fest but Morris pointed out that it’s more than that. This year, BAMS Fest introduced Momentum, a series of ticketed citywide events running June 25 to June 30. Programming includes a beat-making competition, an all-female DJ showcase, a fashion film screening and more. To execute these events, BAMS Fest partnered with multiple POC-centered organizations in Boston, including justBook-ish, the Roxbury International Film Festival and the Stew Beat Showcase.

“Momentum’s purpose is to get us to a place where Black and brown people can work together, especially in the arts and culture space,” Morris said. “ To me, that's very special because that means that we’re putting aside our differences and recognizing that we are stronger together than separate.”

Having the music festival and a lineup of diverse events feels particularly pertinent this year, with the federal funding cuts to arts organizations and DEI initiatives. Morris recently posted on her personal Facebook page expressing some of her frustration with the current state of events in the arts and culture landscape. An outpouring of support from community members — and even some people traveling across state lines and overseas to attend the festival — encouraged her to push forward.

“ The Boston Art and Music Soul Festival has become the People's Festival and it slowly has become this tradition that grows every year,” said Morris. “The community takes ownership of it. They protect it. As the festival grows, the confidence and civic and cultural pride grows too. It’s remarkable.”

Morris points out that community support is needed to ensure that BAMS Fest continues to happen, year after year. The music festival is free to attend but the organization now sells solidarity tickets, which are essentially donations that support the organization and its operations.

“ We’ve been trying to figure out how to make it work and we've had to apply pressure in different places,” she said. “ This year is very critical for us to continue to have this platform for our city but also for its legacy to be stabilized and continue on.”

Check out the full BAMS Fest lineup of performances and activities here.