Third Annual Afro-Diasporic Ocean Festival

A free, multicultural event celebrating the African diaspora and ocean reverence at Rockaway Beach Amphitheater in Queens, New York.
About this Event

Third Annual Afro-Diasporic Ocean Festival

Join us at the Rockaway Beach Amphitheater on August 15, 2026, at 11:00 AM (Eastern Daylight Time) for a day celebrating Afro-diasporic culture, food, and vendors. Expect good vibes, amazing live music, capoeira, and a chance to connect with the community by the sea. This year, we celebrate Garifuna culture through our headliner, Bodoma Garifuna; a workshop by GarifunaRobics; and a DJ set by Garifuna artist DJ Wavy Fox. There will be a panel discussion, a roda capoeira, poetry, and creative nonfiction writing. Don’t miss out on this unique experience that brings the environment, community, art, and the ocean together.

Featuring...

Our Headliner

is a group from Honduras that celebrate traditional Garifuna Culture. Combining powerful vocal with a dense percussive base. The Garifuna Music is unlike any other in Central America. Singing and drumming for the Garifuna entails a fiercely percussive communal call and respond rooted in the sacred context of ancestral invocation and spirit possessions.

Bodoma Banda Cultural de Musica Garifuna  es un grupo de Honduras que celebran la cultura tradicional garífuna. Por medio de la combinación de tambores, coros y cantos pontentes, la música garífuna es muy diferente a cualquier otra de Centra America. Entre los Tambores y el Canto los garífunas implican una feroz llamada comunal de percusión y respuestas de sus raíces en un contexto sagrado de invocación ancestral y su  posesiones de espíritu. Venga y disfrute de ella.

GarifunaRobics Workshop

is a Garifuna-American fitness instructor, dancer, and cultural entrepreneur best known as the founder of GarifunaRobics, a workout program that blends aerobics with traditional Garifuna dance and music.

Born in the Bronx, New York, to Honduran Garifuna parents, Martinez developed a passion for dance at a young age and trained with groups such as the Chief Joseph Chatoyer Garifuna Dance Company.

In 2018, he launched as a way to promote both physical fitness and cultural awareness, creating a unique “cultural style workout” rooted in Garifuna heritage.  His work emphasizes identity, community wellness, and preserving Garifuna traditions through movement and education.

Since its founding, GarifunaRobics has grown into a nationwide fitness movement, with classes and events held across major U.S. cities and beyond. Martinez has also received recognition for his contributions to cultural preservation, youth leadership, and community health.

Our Host and Poet

is a multidisciplinary artist and ocean steward who has spent a large part of her career leading education and outreach efforts in the space sector. Much of her work focuses on environmental advocacy and community engagement. As a professional sailor for the past five years, Kim draws deep inspiration from the ocean for many of her initiatives. Her love of the water deeply influences her creative practice as a singer and theater-maker. She recently produced A Siren's Prayer, an original musical inspired in part by her time at sea. Through her organization , she created a directory of free and low-cost resources to help people connect with nature across New York City. Kim is passionate about helping people step into their full potential, and she believes that building a relationship with the natural world is one of the most powerful ways to get there.

Panel Discussion Hosted by afrolatin@ forum

The will be joining us to share a dynamic panel discussion. Panel topic TBD.

It is widely recognized that AfroLatinas are profound wisdom keepers regarding environmental and ocean matters. Join us to explore the diverse ways and forms Afro-Latinas continue to be indispensable leaders and guides in the ever-evolving environmental justice movement.

The afrolatin@ forum enters Blackness within Latinidad and focuses on Latin@s of African descent in the United States to provide a bridge that expands our understanding of the African Diaspora.

They support the struggle for racial and social justice through dialogue and action by engaging communities, forging coalitions, creating accessible educational materials, and organizing public events.

Roda Capoeira by Quilombo do Acupe

Every year, we feature: , an Afro-Brazilian capoeira group.

Quilombo do Acupe represents Capoeira Angola rooted in its African origins through Salvador, Bahia. Since 1989 the group has been instrumental in the preservation of the art form and its dissemination around the world. The group continues the legacy and teachings of Mestre Marron, disciple of Mestre João Pequeno.

The group recognizes Capoeira Angola as a liberartory art form and source of power against opress in its various forms. Quilombos began and represent a profound history of resistance and autonomy in Brazil, where communities of escaped enslaved peoples found sanctuary and self-governance, free from colonial rule.

This historical reference highlights the importance of Capoeira as a tool for empowerment, resilience, and community building, embodying art's transformative power in fostering hope, discipline, and purpose.

MEET OUR POETS: JULISSA EMILE AND ADRIANA DEVERS

is a multi-disciplinary artist, nester, and lover hailing from St.Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. Her writing focuses on the intersections of Blackness, Magic, Softness and creating works that allow these concepts to meet. Her herbalism is focused on the stories that plants share and reawakening humanity to our partnership with the natural world. Her work has been featured in BET, Button Poetry, and Buzzfeed. She has taught at institutions such as Harvard, Northeastern, Tufts and many others. With talents in event planning, herbalism, poetry, and tarot, Julissa Emile is an artist of many shapes. 

Adriana Devers is an award-winning author, poet, educator and cultural programmer, deeply devoted to her community, focusing on creating immersive cultural experiences for all ages. As the founder of Cuentos de Triadas Inc., a MWBE cultural organization, she offers engaging bilingual programs for underrepresented youth. She also serves as the Founder and Program Director of the Latinx Arts Festival & Book Fair, debuting in October 2024 at Nassau Community College, offering a rich bilingual educational experience over a 3-day arts and culture program. As a seasoned teacher, she inspires students' love for the Spanish language and Hispanic culture with lessons that transcend the classroom. Born in the Dominican Republic, her Afro-Caribbean heritage influence her creative writing and spoken word performances, including the award-winning bilingual children's book *Mi Chiquitica en Luna Llena* and her acclaimed poem performance "Traces". A Stony Brook University alumna, she has contributed to various arts councils, libraries and educational organizations, remaining passionate about community empowerment and cultural dialogue. In 2025 Devers received the Dr. Antonia Pantoja Bilingual Education Advocacy Award by the New York State Association of Bilingual Education in Saratoga Springs.

MEET OUR CREATIVE NONFICTION WRITER

Nahshon Dion is an award-winning nonfiction writer, teaching artist, emerging filmmaker, and publisher from Altadena, California, who divides his time between Altadena and the Tremont neighborhood of the Bronx, New York.

A survivor of gun violence, Dion's work explores identity, trauma, memory, resilience, and hope. He is the recipient of two Bronx Council on the Arts BRIO Awards, a New York State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Award, and several artist residencies, most recently at Ragdale. His work has appeared in Bronx Memoir Project, Emerge, Rock the Bells, Land, Food & Freedom, Statement, the Los Angeles Sentinel, and Pasadena Now.

After the Eaton Canyon Wildfire destroyed four of his family's homes, Dion joined the Altadena Earthseed Community Land Trust. He is currently producing a documentary and writing a memoir, both titled My Beloved Altadena, and is the curator and editor of Our Beloved Altadena: Voices from the Aftermath of the Eaton Canyon Wildfire, Vol. 1, scheduled for publication on January 7, 2027.

Through his writing, advocacy, fundraising, and community work, Dion seeks to combat cultural and historical erasure, preserve collective memory, strengthen communities, and amplify underrepresented voices. His contributions have earned recognition from local, state, and federal elected officials, and he is a fellow of the Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI).

DJ Set by DJ Wavy Fox

, known as , is a New York–based DJ and producer crafting high-energy, globally influenced soundscapes rooted in Afro-Indigenous Garifuna culture. Her sets blend rhythm, soul, and movement with effortless precision, creating immersive experiences that feel both elevated and deeply alive. She has collaborated with and provided soundscapes for Kehinde Wiley, Mickalene Thomas, and Naomi Campbell, and has performed at institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim, MoMA PS1, and the Brooklyn Museum.

MEET OUR FUNDERS AND PARTNERS

The Afro-Diasporic Ocean Festival is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; Poets & Writers with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; FRANC and the Edgemere Community Development Fund. LiberArte's programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and LiberArte was supported by New Music USA’s Organization Fund in 2025-26.

OUR PARTNER LARU BEYA COLLECTIVE

The Laru Beya Collective exists to provide education and access for the historically excluded youth of the Far Rockaways, as well as addressing the challenges to BIPOC surfers. Laru Beya Collective is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to empowering the historically excluded youth of the Far Rockaways through surfing. Laru Beya means “on the beach” in the language of the Garifuna; a culturally preserved and unique Afro-Indigenous people still residing throughout Central America and the Caribbean.