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This weekend launches the annual Boston Black Pride festival, a weeklong celebration of QTBIPOC culture and community. Organized by the Boston Lesbigay Urban Foundation, the programming includes events of all kinds, from a pride parade and a music and arts festival to an R&B brunch and a fitness class.
The idea for Boston Black Pride was born during the pandemic.
“A lot of our social engagement spaces were closing down, and there wasn’t a lot of representation of our Black and brown community members in the other LGBTQ spaces that were available,” said Eilakeisha Spencer, deputy executive director of the celebration and co-founder and director of operations at the Boston Lesbigay Urban Foundation. “We wanted to curate something different, and we wanted to bring Black pride here to the city of Boston.”
The Black Pride team. PHOTO: COURTESY OF BOSTON LESBIGAY URBAN FOUNDATION
As the sixth year of the festival, 2025 marks the fifth year it has been hosted in person. Each year the festival has grown. The headlining performance at the music and arts festival in 2024 garnered a crowd of almost 2,000, Spencer said. Festivalgoers came to Boston from New York, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Chicago and California.
This year there is new programing, including a paint night focused on elders in the community, honoring the work they’ve done to pave the way for a new generation of Black queer folks. The Black Pride Parade was introduced last year and will return on the schedule this year. Individuals, nonprofits and organizations are welcome to participate in the parade.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF BOSTON LESBIGAY URBAN FOUNDATION
Boston-based artist YaMainRegret has been performing during the music and arts festival for the last four years. She began as a poet and built a flow from there.
“There’s so many pride events that go on every year and I feel like I personally never got recognized at these events,” said YaMainRegret. “Boston Black Pride is very community oriented.”
YaMainRegret will join 24 other artists, including headliner Dej Loaf, as well as hosts C’Evan and Amanda Shea and DJs Jackie Mason and Nojokez at the free music and arts festival at the Shattuck Grove Picnic Area in Franklin Park on Sunday, July 6. The festival runs from noon to 8 p.m.; the parade is earlier, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF BOSTON LESBIGAY URBAN FOUNDATION
Boston Black Pride runs from June 29 to July 6. The full program schedule can be found on the Boston Lesbigay Urban Foundation website.
Spencer says the goal is to celebrate and uplift the whole community. There are events targeted toward youth and now toward elders, as well as everyone in between. In a landscape where many pride events are more about rainbow décor than positive change, Spencer hopes to see genuine connection build during the weeklong program.
“Oftentimes we are the ones that are left out,” said Spencer. “We are the marginalized community within a marginalized community, so it is super important for us to curate a space in the city of Boston to lift up our community members and to bring them a sense of joy.”
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