The Circle Up Festival, Afrika Poetry Theatre’s longest-running public gathering, returns this season with a refreshed format that keeps the mic hot for forty-eight hours straight. The curatorial team mapped the experience from the riverfront amphitheater to the rooftop greenhouse so every hour holds something vibrant for elders, toddlers, and night-shift workers alike.

What’s new: a dusk-to-dawn “listening tent” featuring vinyl archivists, a collective journal room moderated by APT teen correspondents, and a textile lab where visitors can contribute to a traveling quilt that documents diaspora routes.

Community guardianship: volunteers trained in transformative justice will anchor each zone, offering grounding stations with tea, first-aid, and language access. Accessibility escorts and tactile maps are available without reservation.

How to join: RSVP is free but recommended. Sliding-scale donations fund stipends for performers and interpreters. Visit the Programs desk for carpool options, or tune in via the low-power FM simulcast if you can’t travel.

APT created Circle Up to sustain intergenerational trust. This year’s edition keeps that promise by pairing master poets with first-time performers, elevating vendors who sell mutual-aid-friendly goods, and releasing post-festival lesson plans so educators can remix the energy in their classrooms.