This event has been postponed. Check the It’s the Bronx website for future updates.
Get ready to live it up in the Boogie Down.
It’s the Bronx, a festival that celebrates art, music, food, and hustle which the city’s northernmost borough is famous for, will kick off on March 23rd at the Andrew Freedman Home. The all-day event will begin with panel discussions with Bronx influencers, including Saraciea Fennell, the founder of #TheBronxisReading, and will culminate with a night of music and performances by over two dozen artists. The festival will continue once a month from May through October.
The preview event for It’s the Bronx on Jan. 26 at the Bronx Brewery attracted hundreds of Bronx creatives, entrepreneurs, art supporters, and food and beer lovers.
“It was an amazing and overwhelming experience to perform there. To be surrounded by so many talented people from the Bronx—it felt like home,” says singer-songwriter Mati, one of the festival’s headliners.
Mati has been performing since she was 12. Her music is a combination of rhythm and blues and Bengali Lalon Geeti. “I perform in the Bronx every chance that I can get. The crowd’s energy is different from Manhattan and Brooklyn.”
“This event is all about the “come-up,” says Marco Shalma, the founder of It’s the Bronx. “We want to get local creatives in front of larger audiences, engage with them to the highest industry standards, and put them in contact with decision-makers.“
The festival will feature the Bronx’s most notable “hustlers,” like Jessica Cunnington from News12, Amaurys Grullon of Bronx Native, Dandy In the Bronx and more. The main sponsor, the Bronx Brewery, will serve local craft beer. Jibarito Shack, Empanology, No Carne, and the Uptown Vegan will dish up local cuisine.
Also featured in the day’s lineup are a DJ turntable battle and a fine art gallery exhibition showcasing the work of local Bronx photographers, graphic designers, illustrators, and painters.
Shalma and his team have donated their after-work hours in order to bring this event to the community. “Any profits for the event will be allocated toward a stipend for the team, a donation to the Andrew Freedman Home and the Bronx Creative Alliance, a non-for-profit we have been working to put together, to give the creatives in the community legal, financial, and admin support.”
This festival is just the start, says Shalma, who was one of the co-founders behind the Bronx Night Market. “The team and I like to dream big, wanting to get the entire city behind the idea of supporting up-and-comers. In three to four years? A qualifier event in each borough leading to a citywide weekend celebrating hustle.”
