When Newark’s New Jersey Performing Arts Center opens its doors on Dec. 17 for the annual Kwanzaa Festival and Marketplace, the gathering will mark a kind of homecoming.

The free event, at the heart of NJPAC’s community programming for more than a decade, will take place in person for the first time since 2019. This is also the first time that NJPAC will partner with several of its neighbors to present the festival, including The Newark Museum of Art, Newark Arts, Newark Symphony Hall and the Newark Public Library, as well as the City of Newark.

The festival, running from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., will feature performances by step teams and a marching band, a wide variety of art and craft activities for children and families, storytelling, face painting, Adinkra-stamping, drumming, and dance classes, as well as the traditional lighting of the Kinara, or the candelabra.