By: Jasmine West
Detroit’s longest-running international music festival is returning to Midtown next week with a national spotlight.
The 35th annual Concert of Colors will take place July 15-19, bringing five days of free concerts, dance performances, workshops and cultural events to venues across Midtown. This year, the festival has also been selected to partner with the Smithsonian Institution as part of a nationwide celebration leading up to the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Concert of Colors is one of about 40 festivals across the country chosen to participate in the Smithsonian’s Festival of Festivals initiative, which highlights community-based cultural celebrations that reflect the diversity of the United States.
For Detroit, the recognition underscores what the festival has represented for more than three decades: a place where music becomes a bridge between cultures and communities.
Founded in 1993 by the late Ismael Ahmed, Concert of Colors has grown into one of the nation’s largest free world music festivals. Every summer, thousands of residents and visitors gather to experience artists from around the globe alongside Detroit musicians, creating a celebration that reflects the city’s multicultural identity.
This year’s lineup features Grammy-winning percussionist Sheila E., bassist and producer Don Was, British reggae pioneers Steel Pulse and dozens of additional performers representing musical traditions from around the world.
The Smithsonian partnership will bring additional performances, storytelling sessions, artist exchanges and public programs to the festival. Those events are designed to highlight living cultural traditions and the communities that continue to preserve and share them.
“The 250th anniversary is a time to celebrate our extraordinary cultural democracy, to visit with the people, places and traditions within it, and to contemplate our shared future,” said Clifford Murphy, director of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. “By taking the Folklife Festival beyond Washington, we recommit to our original purpose to take the Smithsonian beyond objects and buildings; we also carry out our mission to connect communities across cultures—cultivating curiosity, understanding and belonging for all people.”
The collaboration is part of the Smithsonian’s broader effort to bring its Folklife Festival programming into communities across the country between March and November, rather than limiting the celebration to Washington, D.C. Detroit was selected because of Concert of Colors’ long history of presenting international artists while fostering cultural exchange through free public programming.
Beyond headline performances, festival attendees can expect family-friendly activities, educational workshops and opportunities to experience music and traditions from cultures spanning multiple continents.
The festival has remained free since its founding, making it one of Detroit’s most accessible annual arts events and a fixture of the city’s summer calendar.
Concert of Colors runs July 15-19 at venues throughout Midtown Detroit. A complete schedule of performances, workshops and Smithsonian programming is available at www.concertofcolors.com.
