MOJA Arts Festival Returns to Charleston Sep 24‑Oct 1, Marking 50‑Year Music Milestone

The 42nd annual MOJA Arts Festival will take place in Charleston from September 24 to October 1, featuring local and national performers across multiple venues. For the first time the event is organized by the newly formed nonprofit MOJA Arts, a 501(c)(3) created to stabilize and grow the festival, and the schedule has been shortened from eleven to eight days.

A new tradition will honor the cultural legacies of four West African and Caribbean nations—Barbados, Gullah Geechee, Jamaica and Sierra Leone—while the festival finale at Hampton Park celebrates the 50th anniversary of several iconic 1976 albums, with a free family‑friendly concert produced by Ray Chew of Chew Entertainment and Charleston’s Tommy Brown. The lineup draws from Stevie Wonder, Parliament, Marvin Gaye, Earth, Wind & Fire, Curtis Mayfield, The Isley Brothers, Rose Royce and Roy Ayers. Organizers announced that additional events will be revealed weekly through September. Festival director Charlton Singleton and cultural affairs director Rochelle Riley expressed enthusiasm for the expanded program and invited applications for planning‑committee and host‑organization roles.