Dominica Festival of Arts (DOMFESTA)

The Dominica Festival of Arts (DOMFESTA) was introduced by the Cultural Division in 1983. It was felt at the time that not much was happening artistically and culturally from June to August in Dominica when school children were on vacation. It was also thought that the time of year close to and around August 1 should be emphasized, as slaves had been emancipated on August 1, 1834, and again on August 1, 1838.

The DOMFESTA is a festivities of Dominica’s culture and heritage. Artists from the music industry and painters receive a great deal of attention paid to their works during DOMFESTA time. It was also felt that DOMFESTA should be a more open festival, catering to all types of creative arts disciplines, as opposed to Carnival or Independence, which are more traditional festivals. As a result, during DOMFESTA, one can expect a diverse program of dance, music, art, and drama, which would include folk and creative artistic expressions as well as other styles like jazz and classical music.

Time: from April to June.

Place: Dominica.