programs & events

Festival pass holders are invited to a special pre-event screening of We Want the Funk! with acclaimed filmmaker Stanley Nelson. This syncopated journey through the history of funk traces its roots from African rhythms to soul and early jazz- capturing the sound, spirit, and soul of a cultural revolution.

Valet Parking Available for Gala Attendees at Dock 5

Join us for a spectacular evening of recognition, celebration, and joy—culminating in a high-energy, funk-infused dance party you won’t want to miss. This unforgettable night will honor visionary leaders who continue to shape the narrative of civil rights and social justice in America.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries will present Senator Cory Booker with the John Robert Lewis Lifetime Legacy Award. Congressman Maxwell Frost will present the March On! Lifetime Achievement Award to Stanley Nelson and Marcia Smith—along with Firelight Media, the trailblazing documentary platform they co-founded.

The evening will be hosted by Jonathan Capehart, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, MSNBC anchor, Washington Post opinion columnist, and New York Times bestselling author.

Please note: If you'd like to attend the Gala along with other Festival events, the best option is to purchase the Festival Pass + Gala pass, which grants access to everything for $600.

If you sponsor the festival at the friend ($1,000 level), you are granted access to two festival+gala passes.

Valet Parking Included

Join us at Woolly Mammoth Theatre for March On! Night and a thought-provoking performance of The Great Privation (How to flip ten cents into a dollar)—a comedic and resonant play examining America’s history of harming Black bodies in the name of science, our responsibility to time, and the power of joy in reckoning with the past. The evening includes a special conversation hosted by March On!

Pre-Show
7:30pm Wine, Art & Connection
Join us in the lobby before the show to sip, mingle, and immerse yourself in an installation celebrating the resilience, creativity, and intelligence of Black communities across time. It honors not only the grief in the play but also the joy, beauty, and unstoppable forward movement of Black life. Here, celebration is resistance, rest is wisdom, and gathering is a radical act.

Post-Show Conversation

• Dr. Helene D. Gayle: M.D., MPH, President Emerita, Spelman College
• Dr. Cara V. James: PhD, President and CEO at Grantmakers In Health
• Dr. Marla Dean: Ed.D., Senior Director, Health Equity Fund, Greater Washington Community Foundation
• Dr. Roger A. Mitchell, Jr: M.D., President, Howard University Hospital; 126th President, National Medical Association

Use code MARCH30 at checkout to receive 30% off regular ticket prices.
Hurry—only the first 50 people will receive the discount!

Partner
We are excited to partner on this event with Woolly Mammoth Theater Company, which produces courageous and invigorating new work to radically redefine theatre as a catalyst for an equitable, creative, and engaged society.

Join us for an eye-opening conversation featuring clips from Critical Condition: Health in Black America, the powerful NOVA and Firelight Films documentary by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson. The film investigates why Black Americans are nearly twice as likely to suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease—and why their life expectancy is five years shorter than White Americans—despite no meaningful genetic differences between races.

Featured voices from the film will discuss its themes and the pressing realities of health and equity today, exploring how pseudoscientific myths about race continue to influence medicine and how the lived experience of discrimination impacts the health of Black Americans. This session connects history, science, and lived reality, offering an urgent dialogue on health equity and justice.

The conversation will be followed by a reception, offering space to continue the dialogue and connect with fellow attendees. The full film is available to stream for free on PBS.

Partner and Sponsor
We are honored to collaborate with NOVA to bring this session to life and are grateful for their generous support, which made it possible.

Partners
Thank you to Howard University Hospital, the Georgetown-Howard Center for Medical Humanities and Health Justice, WETA, and WHUT for their partnership.

Speakers:

• Cyndee Readdean: Producer, Critical Condition
• Dr. Joseph Wright: Senior Vice President and Chief Health Equity Officer, American Academy of Pediatrics
• Dr. Vanessa Northington Gamble: University Professor of Medical Humanities, Professor of Medicine, and Professor of Health Policy and American Studies, George Washington University
• Michon Boston: Founder, Michon Boston Group | Moderator

Directed by Christine Swanson, Albany Road follows Celeste as she prepares for an important work trip, only to find herself sharing a tense car ride with her ex-fiancé’s mother, Paula.

After the film, join us for an honest and revealing community dialogue on improving how we share our lives and thoughts with the people we love.

Sponsor
Presented through support from The Black Leadership AIDS
Crisis Coalition powered by AHF

Speakers

• Lisa Arrindell: Actor
• Christine Swanson: Director
• Dr. Henry Gregory: Clinical Psychologist in Community Mental Health and Family Systems
• Ottamissiah (Missy) Moore: End-of-Life Doula and Hospice Nurse

Each year, the March On! Festival hosts a powerful film competition that showcases the work of emerging and student filmmakers using their craft to explore civil rights, social justice, and equity.

Step into the glittering world of the Harlem Renaissance, where art, politics, and pleasure converged in a swirl of brilliance and defiance. Inspired by the legendary gatherings at A’Lelia Walker’s Dark Tower salon—the top floor of her Harlem townhouse on 136th Street—this closing celebration channels the glamour, intellect, and audacity of an era that redefined Black creativity. The Dark Tower was the gathering space for the luminaries of the day—artists, writers, musicians, poets, their patrons, and friends from Walker’s travels abroad.

Poetry drifts through the crowd, an aerialist twists gracefully overhead, and the rhythms shift through an intellectual and emotional journey on the history of Black music—from the swing of the 1920s to the grooves of funk, the pulse of hip hop, and the global beat of Afro Beats. A spirited conversation between A’Lelia Bundles, granddaughter of the original “Joy Goddess,” and March On! Artistic Director Isisara Bey will bring to life the stories, style, and cultural impact of Walker’s famed salon, connecting its legacy to the artistry and activism of today.

Thought-provoking dialogue intertwines with artistry, as reflections on legacy mingle seamlessly with the thrill of the moment. Laughter mingles with the clink of glasses, rich flavors tempt your palate, and a table of carefully curated books invites you to take a piece of the experience home.

More than a party, it’s a living tribute to a cultural awakening—an afternoon to be inspired, to connect, and to carry the spark forward.

Special Guests:

• A’Lelia Bundles, author of Joy Goddess: A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance, the vibrant biography of her great-grandmother and daughter of Madam C.J. Walker.
• Dr. Msia Kibona Clark, Associate Professor of African Studies, College of Arts & Sciences, Howard University
• Chi Akano, aerialist
• DJ R WE ON THE AIR?!
• Bookstore Activation by Mahogany Books