MOJA Arts Festival

MOJA is Charleston's oldest festival that most visitors have never planned around, which is a mistake in both directions: late September is the city at its best, and the festival's biggest nights are free. This page covers the 2026 edition — dates, the published program, what's ticketed, and how the venues map onto a visit. Dates, venues, and program details come from the festival's own published calendar and announcements, checked August 17, 2026; the schedule is explicitly still growing, so confirm times at mojafestival.com before locking plans.

What MOJA is

The festival began in 1979 as the biennial Black Arts Festival and took its current name in 1984: moja, Swahili for "one," which the festival calls "the appropriate name for this festival celebration of harmony among all people in our community." Across eight days it covers gospel, jazz, R&B, dance, theater, visual art, poetry, storytelling, and food from across the African diaspora, in venues from a French Quarter theater built on the site of America's first playhouse to a church sanctuary turned 106-seat black box. 2026 brings a structural first: the festival is now co-produced by MOJA Arts, a newly formed nonprofit created to run it long-term, alongside the City of Charleston's Office of Cultural Affairs, with Ranky Tanky trumpeter Charlton Singleton as artistic director.

The 2026 program, as published

Three planning notes hiding in that table. First, Friday, September 25 forces a choice: the Reggae Block Dance runs 6 to 8pm in Hampton Park while the ASASE YAA dance troupe from Brooklyn performs 7 to 8:30 at Chapel Theatre, a mile and a half away — you get one or the other. Second, Chapel Theatre seats 106 people. It is a converted church sanctuary on the College of Charleston campus, and a touring company in a room that size will fill; if that show is your reason for coming, buy the moment tickets appear. Third, the parade and the Community Heroes Gala are announced but not yet detailed — no route, no time, no gala tickets — which is normal for MOJA in August. The festival adds events weekly through September.

The Golden Anniversary, explained

The name on the finale reads like a festival birthday, and it isn't one. The October 1 concert marks 50 years since the landmark Black albums of 1976: Songs in the Key of Life, Parliament's Mothership Connection, Marvin Gaye's I Want You, Earth, Wind & Fire's Spirit, Curtis Mayfield's Sparkle, the Isley Brothers' Harvest for the World, the Car Wash soundtrack, and Roy Ayers' Ubiquity. Ray Chew — music director of Dancing with the Stars and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade — produces it with Vivian Scott Chew, with Charleston's Tommy Brown and Zandrina Dunning performing, plus food trucks, an artisan village, and a wellness village in the park. It is free, outdoors, and the single best reason to point a trip at the festival's final Thursday. The Dock Street Theatre warm-up three nights earlier works the same seam: a full performance of Songs in the Key of Life in a 1930s theater on Church Street.

Tickets, and what's free

As of mid-August, the only 2026 event actually on sale is the September 26 New Jack Swing night at the Charleston Music Hall (doors 7, show 8, all ages, sold through the venue), with Charlton Singleton joined by Quiana Parler. The finale is free. Everything else has no published price yet — a site quoting you 2026 MOJA ticket prices today is guessing. Last year's pattern, for expectations only: advance tickets online through each venue's own box office, and card-only sales at the door starting an hour before curtain. The Hampton Park daytime events — the Gullah Geechee Cook-Off with its $1,000 first prize, the Reggae Block Dance — are block-party format.

Where to stay, and how the map works

The 2026 venues split into two clusters. The indoor shows sit in the walkable core: Dock Street Theatre and City Gallery in the French Quarter, Chapel Theatre by Marion Square, the Music Hall on Upper King next to the Visitor Center. The free outdoor events — the cook-off, the block dance, the finale — happen in Hampton Park on the upper peninsula by The Citadel, a residential neighborhood 1.5 miles north of Marion Square with limited street parking: plan a rideshare or a bike, not a stroll. That geography makes Upper King the best base — walkable to two venues, closest hotel district to the park — and the Francis Marion, facing Marion Square from 387 King, is the classic pick there (rates on Expedia). The wider field is in the where-to-stay guide, or go straight to downtown hotels on Expedia — the festival's last weekend overlaps the start of October, when Charleston hotels tighten regardless.

The festival's rhythm leaves real daytime gaps — most indoor shows start at 7pm — and late September is prime weather for filling them. September and October get their own month guides, and the 3-day itinerary restructures easily around evening performances.