Culture & Community | Arts & Culture | New Haven Green | Black Wall Street Festival
Scenes from the 2025 Black Wall Street Festival on the New Haven Green. Lucy Gellman File Photos.
A honey-voiced R&B singer who will serenade a Hamden studio into its first birthday. A youth poetry slam powerful enough to bring the whole house down with the sheer weight of words. A party to celebrate Black artists, makers and entrepreneurs across generations—and give them a space to take a beat and unwind together before the summer is over.
Those are just a few of the events coming to New Haven and Hamden this week, as the Black Wall Street Festival returns for its fifth summer in downtown New Haven, and fourth on the New Haven Green. Organized by Aaron Rogers and Rashad Johnson of The Breed Ent., it rolls into New Haven this week with seven days of events and a Saturday festival that is expected to bring in over 400 vendors and thousands of attendees.
A full schedule is available here; more information below. The term “Black Wall Street” references the history, often overlooked and undertaught, of self-sustaining Black business districts in the twentieth century. Between 1900 and 1970, many of those became the targets of devastating violence at the hands of white people.
"To be here, this morning, on the Green, where there's so much history, and to be preparing for our next moment in history—" started City Cultural Affairs Director She McAllister at a Monday morning press conference on the event. She paused as an engine revved on Church Street, and an ambulance sped by. "As you can see, New Haven is alive. New Haven is bustling ... as a city, we are just so proud of the Breed team and everyone who has come together to make this happen."
"We're just really grateful to be here, and we really just want everyone to come out, spend some money, and have a good time with the fam," said Rogers.
In the past five years, the festival has grown from a modest, day-long celebration on the Temple Street Plaza to a history-making event on the Green to a week of activities, with a sense of community partnership that has remained consistent throughout.
What that means, between now and Sunday, is a week of programming celebrating Black artists, entrepreneurs, and culture workers across the city, from a youth "lock in" at the Dixwell Community Q House to a forum exploring economic development at Skiro Studios in Hamden.
After starting with an "Open Streets Skate Day" on Sunday (stay tuned for an article by one of our youth journalists!), events range from a concert with L.A.-based artist Zae France (that's Wednesday; tickets here) to "Further, Together," an economic development summit designed specifically with the greater New Haven community in mind (that's Thursday; register here). Skiro Studios, which Rogers and Johnson opened in Hamden exactly a year ago, will be a home base for many of those events.
As in previous years, BWS Fest culminates with a day-long festival on the New Haven Green and a celebratory Sunday brunch with Chef Christina Ramos of the Chef Chrissy Experience.
"This is unbelievable," said Mayor Justin Elicker. "When you think about the Puerto Rican Festival over the weekend, where the Green was just packed ... and now we're going on to Black Wall Street. It is hopping in New Haven. And it's just unbelievable how much this thing has grown."
This year, The Breed has also continued to grow its list of collaborators, with new and returning partners like the Center for Inclusive Growth, the City of New Haven and Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Leadership, Education, & Athletics in Partnership (LEAP), the New Haven Free Public Library, and New Haven Poet Laureate Yex Diaz.
In addition, Johnson said, the BWS Fest team has tapped a number of "community ambassadors"—business owners, nonprofit leaders, and individuals who can talk about the work that Black Wall Street is doing, and help bring more people onboard.
"Beyond the programmatic alignment, we're inspired by the event and what its organizing leaders are asking us to join," said Malwin Dávila, associate director at the Center for Inclusive Growth. "A legacy of Black Street. A legacy that calls us to imagine a community of abundance, of cooperative economics, and of collective care."