‘For us, by us’: City Splash is the UK’s premier Afro-Caribbean festival

As the festival returns to Brockwell Park this Bank Holiday, founder Ben Ryan reflects on reggae, community infrastructure, and building a platform rooted in Black cultural ownership

‘For us, by us’: City Splash is the UK’s premier Afro-Caribbean festival
City Splash - 29th May 2022 by Luke Dyson - LD1_06

Dalston, described by City Splash founder Ben Ryan as a “staunch” neighbourhood to grow up in, was home to the Caribbean-led cultural infrastructure that helped to shape his understanding of community. He speaks fondly of the record shops spilling sound onto Ridley Road Market on a Saturday; the café inside Centerprise, the Black bookshop his mum worked at part-time, and the Hackney Downs “all-dayers” that brought heavy sound systems andhellip;

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