About Us

Interfest uses arts and ideas to arouse liberation for the Black diaspora through ritual, healing, and pleasure.

We are a collective of liberationists who center:
Black People
Love
Organism Pleasure
Intentional Time
Abundance Mentality

We manifest this through:

Joyful Turn Ups
Black A$$ Festivals
Radical Consulting
Freedom Study Groups

Lil’ Maroonage Retreats

Our History

Interfest was founded in 2017 by Kristen Adele Calhoun, Chris Myers, Stephanie Rolland and Nikki Vera as an arts and ideas festival curated for liberationists to radically engage, boldly express and joyously unify as a community. Two festivals and a creative residency later, Interfest has expanded its mission, vision and values.

2017: Inaugural Festival – three days of intersectional festivities based in and around Harlem School of the Arts that featured a roster of Harlem area artists, thought leaders, horticulturists, youth groups, mental and physical wellness professionals and a local chef.

2019: Denver Festival – three days of holding space for, praising with, and engaging in pleasure filled activities about and by Black artists from the Denver area. The Denver festival featured events surrounding activism, self care, physical wellness, joy, communal meals, and rest.

2019: SPACE on Ryder Farm – Interfest co-founders spent a week at SPACE in a Creative Residency in upstate New York to reflect on two years of work and dream up an even better future. We devised our current mission statement, core values, and laid out the beginnings of a strategic plan.

2020- 2022: BLKSPACE – After consulting with SPACE in 2020, Interfest will return to SPACE in the late summer of 2021 for an Institutional Residency to incubate BLKSPACE, a new creative residency for Black artists, slated for 2022.