MOJA festival opens today, runs through Oct. 1

MORNING HEADLINES | The MOJA Arts Festival opens 11 a.m. today at Marion Square with a free celebration that includes a picnic and bands from Burke, Timberland and Woodland high schools, who will also face off in a drumline battle. The event also will pay tribute to cultural celebrations of Barbados, Gullah-Geechee culture, Jamaica and Sierra Leone.

The city’s eight-day festival brings together music, visual art, food, poetry and other events highlighting Black culture and artists.

Rochelle Riley, director of the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs, said many people at this year’s festival will be energized by a tribute to familiar songs from albums that debuted 50 years ago.

“People are going to go wild for albums celebrating their golden anniversary,” she said. “They were all recorded in 1976. The most familiar of those was Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life.” The event, “Wonder at 50,” is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 28 at the Dock Street Theatre, 135 Church St. Performing will be Demetrius Doctor.

Other end-of-week events through Monday:

Sept. 25, noon: Launch of the MOJA Arts Festival Juried Art Exhibition. City Gallery, 34 Prioleau St. The show lasts through Oct. 25.
Sept. 25, 4 p.m.: Food Truck Cookoff . Three finalists will serve Gullah-inspired dishes near the Rose Pavillion at Hampton Park. Celebrity judges will crown a winner, who will get a $1,000 prize.
Sept. 25, 6 p.m.: Reggae Block Dance. The event will feature Kenyatta “Culture” Hill, son of legendary reggae artist Joseph Hill. Hampton Park.
Sept. 26, 9 a.m.: MOJA Fitness, a morning wellness event. Hampton Park.
Sept. 26, 8 p.m.: New Jack Swing. A concert with Singleton and friends, who will perform a repertoire of a defining swing genre of the 1980s and ’90s. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Sept. 27, 4 p.m.: MOJA Gospel. This spirit-filled music series will celebrate men of gospel at Greater St. Luke AME Church, 78 Gordon St.
Sept. 27, 7 p.m.: Black Frequencies: Poetry, South and Vision. Poets Marcus Amaker and Asiah Mae, the city’s current poet laureate, will offer an immersive evening. Cannon Street Arts Center, 134 Cannon St.

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