Juneteenth Festival Highlights Music and Initiatives from Ship and Anchor Projects

Devin Smith, performing under the stage name "Dev D'Ryan" at ONE DC 2025 Juneteenth Community Festival

Ship and Anchor Celebrates Juneteenth with ONE DC Community Festival

This Juneteenth, the heart of Washington, DC’s historic Anacostia neighborhood will come alive with music, community, and purpose for the 2025 One DC Annual Juneteenth Community Festival, where Ship and Anchor media and humanity impact projects will be featured. The festival will be hosted from 11 AM – 5:00 PM at 2500 MLK Jr. Ave SE.

Honoring Freedom Through Music and Action

In commemoration of the holiday — widely recognized as America’s true Independence Day — Devin, Ship and Anchor CEO, will perform original music from the Letters from America's 3rd World multimedia project. This performance is more than entertainment; it’s a tribute to the resilience and liberation of Black Americans, marking the day in 1865 when the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas learned of their freedom.

Spotlight on The Ship Humanity Impact Projects

In addition to the performance, Ship and Anchor will host an information booth to engage the community with two of its cornerstone initiatives:

Reimagining America's 3rd World – initiative that uses storytelling, multimedia, and community engagement to expose and transform the systemic inequities embedded in the U.S. criminal legal system. Through projects like the Letters from America's 3rd World docuseries and live performances, the initiative centers the voices and experiences of those directly impacted by incarceration and structural injustice. We tour the project in our 3 operating regions: Washington, DC, the Triangle in North Carolina, and Eastern North Carolina.

What’s Your Anchor – An initiative designed to equip currently and formerly incarcerated people with the practical skills to transform their own lives and communities by facilitating the Ship and Anchor wellness-centered personal and professional capacity building framework, "What's Your Anchor". Rooted in the belief that healing and purpose are essential to lasting change, the initiative helps participants align their abilities, passions, and purpose. The program focuses on three core pillars: advocacy, workforce development, & wellness.

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Join the Movement

If you are in the DC metro area, we would love to see you attending the festival to check out all of the amazing community organizations, artists, and local vendors celebrating Juneteenth!

Become a Shipmate, joining our growing community, to gain exclusive access to unreleased interviews, music, and more from our award-winning multimedia project Letters from America’s 3rd World, highlighting the incarceration and healing journey that led to the development of our initiatives. Or you can make a tax-deductible contribution to support the work!

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