Leopoldo F. Fleming

Get ready for the 35th annual Staten Island Jazz Festival presented by Universal Temple of the Arts. Taking place at the historic St. George Theatre on December 15, 2023, this event will feature incredible performances by renowned jazz artists. Don't miss this magical night of music and celebration. Get your tickets now!

Universal Temple of the Arts will celebrate the life of Sajda Musawwir Ladner, Executive and Artistic Director and the founder of the Staten Island JAZZ Festival on Saturday, March 12, 2021, from 5pm-9pm at the historic St. George Theatre in her beloved community of Staten Island.

Robbi Kumalo will pay homage to Nina Simone at Rockwood Music Hall, Sunday May 20, 2018. The show will begin at 7pm, doors open 6:30 pm.

The Garifuna people and culture were created by one of the most dramatic ethnic mixings in history: two ships with enslaved Africans were shipwrecked off the coast of what is now St. Vincent and the Grenadines toward the end of the 18th Century, and with the help of the indigenous Carib-Indian population, overpowered the Spanish crew and escaped. Later, due to their continued resistance and rebellions against the British, their mixed progeny would then be exiled to the islands off the coast of Honduras. Instead of being isolated and dying off, their culture and oral language prospered and expanded into the Central American countries of Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, where they still live.