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Afropunk Festival

Afropunk Festival is an annual arts festival that features music, film, fashion, and art produced by alternative black artists.

The Afropunk Festival began in 2005, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. By 20218 Afropunk Festivals had also been held in various major cities, including Atlanta, Paris, France, London, UK, Salvador, Brazil, Dakar, Senegal, and Johannesburg, South Africa. The festival was founded and conceived by Matthew Morgan and the film component was co-founded by James Spooner, which grew out of the 2003 documentary titled Afro-Punk which studied black punks across America. produced by Morgan and written by Spooner.

History

2005-2008

The festival was targeted towards black alternative-minded punks and supported by The Brooklyn Academy of Music. As the festival grew and the music industry became more diverse, the musical curation shifted towards reaching a broader black audience and the festival also began charging an admission fee. Due to festival alterations that deviated from the original Afropunk culture, former co-founder, James Spooner ended his involvement in 2008.

2009-2019

Jocelyn A. Cooper became involved with the festival in 2009. Afropunk Festival grew to hundreds and thousands of attendees, expanding into the cities of Atlanta, Paris, London, Johannesburg South Africa, Salvador, Brazil, Miami, and Minneapolis.

2020-Present

Afropunk is acquired by entrepreneur Richelieu Dennis and Essence Ventures.

Criticisms

Having emerged from political punk roots, Afropunk Festival has faced criticism at times, including backlash over booking artists such as MIA, Ice Cube and Tyler the Creator.

Attendees have also critiqued the values of Afropunk's organizers surrounding LGBQT concerns, treatment of employees, and its corporate leanings. Some attendees critique the festival for appealing to white audiences, including an instance of attendees being removed from an area of the festival for wearing a homemade t-shirt critical of the event. In August of 2018, Afropunk's Editor-In-Chief resigned after over a decade of work for Afropunk citing mistreatment and a corporate agenda he labeled "performative activism".