Welcome to the 42nd Annual North Charleston Arts Fest!

A multi-venue, multi-disciplinary arts festival for every resident & visitor of North Charleston

The North Charleston Arts Fest features five days of events highlighting regional and local artists and performers in the areas of Dance, Music, Theatre, Visual Arts, and Literature. Residents and visitors are invited to experience a diverse array of free performances, exhibitions, and activities in a variety of venues, including libraries, businesses, community centers, and parks. The festival schedule offers something for everyone, including concerts, theatre presentations, dance performances, children’s programs, demonstrations, exhibitions, and more.

Schedule

May 1, 2025

Interactive Children’s Theatre Performance – Diggery’s Dino Adventure

10:30-11:30am

Dorchester County Library – North Charleston Branch - 8620 Patriot Boulevard, North Charleston, SC 29420

Join The Story Ship for this science-based immersive adventure featuring large interactive animated characters, dinosaur bones, a giant dinosaur egg, and beautiful puppets. Paleontologist Diggery discovers a “top secret” box the museum accidentally packed. Curious, he opens the box and unleashes the DinoSauroScope 3000, or DINA, transporting the audience back to the time of dinosaurs. All is well until he uses DINA on a large dinosaur egg. The egg hatches and an amazing thing happens – the dinosaurs in museums around the world start to come alive! The only way to stop this dinosaur regeneration is to return the baby dinosaur back to its mother. Come along to help Diggery save humanity! Suitable for ages pre-k – 4th grade.

Lunch & Learn

Fiber Art Lecture & Exhibition Tour

Noon-2:00pm

North Charleston City Hall, Montague Conference Room, 2nd Floor - 2500 City Hall Lane, North Charleston, SC 29406

Fiber art and textile enthusiasts are invited to bring a bag lunch or their favorite takeout meal and enjoy this lecture and guided tour of the 18th Annual African American Fiber Art Exhibition, In Praise of the Ancestors, led by curator Torreah “Cookie” Washington. Cookie is an award-winning master art quilter and curator who has been creating with textiles for more than a quarter of a century. Her current passion is fiber art muralism that celebrates the Divine Feminine and the contributions of her African ancestral heritage.

African Dance & Music Performance – Healing Sounds & Movements of the Diaspora

3:30-4:30pm

Keith Summey North Charleston Library - 3503 Rivers Avenue, North Charleston, SC 29406

Experience an electrifying fusion of rhythm, culture, and storytelling with Solae’ ENT! All ages can enjoy this dynamic dance performance that blends the vibrant traditions of West African dance, Gullah Geechee culture, and contemporary Afrobeat with the soulful influences of hip-hop and R&B. Featuring a live ensemble of drums, guitar, saxophone, shakers, and cowbells, this performance immerses the audience in a sensory celebration of African diasporic sounds and movements.

African American Fiber Art Exhibition Reception

5:00-7:00pm

North Charleston City Hall, 2nd Floor

2500 City Hall Lane, North Charleston, SC 29406

Join curator Torreah “Cookie” Washington and many of the featured artists for a public reception in honor of the 18th Annual African American Fiber Art Exhibition, In Praise of the Ancestors. The artworks selected for this year’s exhibit honor legends of the Diaspora, known and unknown, who’s lives and sacrifices gave birth to our many celebrated accomplishments and have brought the culture to where it is today. Cookie will make remarks and acknowledge the artists in attendance at 6:30pm. Live music will be provided by poet and kora player Kurtis Lamkin. Refreshments will be served.

Improv Theatre

6:00-7:00pm

Park Circle Community Building - 4800 Park Circle, North Charleston, SC 29405

Create “instant theatre” with Charleston County School of the Arts Improv Troupe, The Fighting Gnomes. The group will take audience suggestions to perform an hour of family-friendly improv and sketch comedy.

Chamber Music Concert

7:00-8:30pm

Eternal Father of the Sea Chapel (on the former Charleston Naval Base) - 1096 Navy Way, North Charleston, SC 29405

Coming off its second sold-out North Charleston Arts Fest performance in 2024, the Colour of Music Festival Chamber Orchestra returns to present an evening of classical gems spanning centuries of classical musical brilliance. This performance will showcase both baroque giants and 20th century Black composers including J.S. Bach’s Double Violin Concerto and Brandenburg Concertos, William Grant Still’s Mother & Child, George Walker’s Lyric, and Coleridge Taylor Perkinson’s Cavalry in an intimate chamber music setting.

Concert – Music Builds Bridges

7:00-8:00pm

Fox Music House - 4248 Dorchester Road, North Charleston, SC 29405

Fox Music Friends consists of nine seasoned Lowcountry musicians from different backgrounds. Join Charles Miller (keyboards/vocals), Mark Barrett (keyboards), Mathew Maisie (percussion), Kain Naylor (drums), John Holenko (fretted instruments), John Kennedy (bass), Mike Kaufman (guitar/vocals), Joe Marlow (fretted instruments), and Brent Lacasce (trumpet) as they come together to present a concert that spans styles, genres, times, and places with a common language – music.

Date: April 30 - May 5, 2025