Out Of The Caribbean: City Splash ‘The Home of Culture’

How City Splash Festival caters to all subcultures and generations of Black people in the UK.

Outdoor events have always been a staple of the Black community. Back home, we are fortunate to have the sunshine and idyllic surroundings that add to the atmosphere, and each location has a homogeneous culture. But for City Splash, the one-day Reggae and Cultural celebration held annually in Brockwell Park, London, replicating the essence of a Caribbean festival shouldn’t be difficult to accomplish.

Attending events in the UK that platform Black music can be a minefield because that doesn’t automatically mean they are safe spaces for all Black people. Getting that balance right can be tricky, especially as society has placed Black culture firmly in the ‘youth’ category. How do you satisfy the culture, the people and achieve a successful event without compromise?

From my perspective, attending and watching the reviews, there is no festival in the UK close to reaching the heights City Splash has achieved thus far, and according to the feedback from the latest event, no one is coming close for a long time. If you’re trying to bring the vibe of back home to the UK, it is imperative that you know what that atmosphere feels like, the culture should be in your pores and a part of your fabric. You should also understand what is important to us and what would make us feel ‘at home‘ in a crowd of 30,000 people.

Since its launch in 2021, City Splash has grown from a 9,000-capacity debut at Beckenham Place Park into what is now one of the largest one-day celebrations of Caribbean and African music in the world, drawing 30,000 attendees a year to the heart of South London. That growth hasn’t come from watering down or trading cultural currency to appeal to a wider audience. Instead, City Splash has doubled down on authenticity, showcasing parts of the culture that the masses don’t always get to witness.

The vision belongs to Ben Ryan, raised in Dalston by a mother involved in Black community projects, the passion for creating cultural experiences was ingrained in him from an early age. His journey in events began at just 17, when he organised a party for a pirate radio station. He grew up in Hackney attending summer ‘all dayers’; parties in the park which were gatherings for the community; sound systems, music, food and merriment. A lot of us who grew up in that era often bemoan the loss of these events which were safe spaces to express the culture we were all living inside of our homes.

That grassroots beginning shaped everything that came to fruition with City Splash. Over a 20-year career, Ryan worked for major record companies including EMI Music and Virgin Records, delivering national and international music projects for organisations such as the Mayor of London, the British Council, Arts Council and Live Nation. But the establishment circuit only sharpened what he saw was missing for his own community.

As a seasoned figure within the music industry, Ryan reflected on the reggae events he attended across the UK and Europe, many of which were organised by predominantly white promoters for predominantly white audiences. What stood out to him was the absence of young Black people. That didn’t make sense. Reggae is woven into the fabric of Caribbean life; it plays at christenings, weddings, funerals and family gatherings, and everyone knows the words. City Splash was created as his answer to that disconnect: a festival built by the community, for the community.

The Elders Getting Their Flowers

That philosophy is most visible in who he chooses to showcase across the stages each year. Past headliners and performers include Popcaan, Skillibeng, Koffee, Chronixx, and Beenie Man, with a heavy emphasis on sound system culture, frequently hosting legendary crews like Channel One and Aba Shanti-I. 

In 2024, Capleton — born Clifton George Bailey III in April 1967, a Rastafari artist known as “The Fireman and The Prophet“, with a career spanning from 1985 to the present — made his long-awaited return to a UK stage after a 13-year absence. For the Reggae community, it was a historic moment. What added to the music and the atmosphere was the live visuals, large screens keeping you close to the stage no matter how far back in the 30,000 large crowd you were, and drone shots of the crowd so you can see yourselves and each other in the moment. Watching Capleton run from backstage to rapturous applause from the crowd set the tone for a performance which was long overdue.

This year, they surpassed themselves and demonstrated just how in touch they are with the culture by booking 70-year-old icon Beres Hammond. Born Hugh Beresford Hammond on 28 August 1955 in Annotto Bay, Jamaica, he is a reggae and lovers rock singer whose career began in the 1970s and has continued to evolve over the decades. At 70, he remains untouchable within the culture. He has limited mainstream crossover, no stadium-filling pop moments, no viral chart runs. Yet, his standing within the Caribbean diaspora places him in the same lineage as Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff. His voice has soundtracked generations of Caribbean life: living room Sundays, diaspora house parties, grief and romance and homecoming. The fact that City Splash secured him as a headline act — his first-ever festival headline performance and his first exclusive UK appearance in eight years — is a statement of intent about the kind of festival this is and who it is for.

Rastafari Reasoning Corner

Another asset which makes City Splash distinct is its embrace of Rastafari as living philosophy and a culture within the culture. The Rastafari Reasoning Corner is a space which has never been shared in this way at a major event.

Showcasing sound systems and DJs like Aba Shanti-I, alongside artists such as Queen Ifrica, while Rastafari leaders conduct reasonings rooted in the tradition of communal meditation, demonstrates the festival’s commitment to preserving the culture in its fullest form. Rastafari provided much of the moral architecture that underpins Caribbean culture: resistance to Babylon, reverence for Africa, dignity in the face of oppression and the rejection of systems designed to diminish Black people. To see that culture represented, at scale, as the spiritual centre of a 30,000-person festival  is significant. In a cultural landscape that routinely strips Black music of its roots and sells back the rhythm without the meaning, City Splash holds space for the Reasoning which, although in front of a large crowd, still feels intimate and like home.

Fighting to Exist

Although the festival is still in its infancy, they have faced legal challenges for years. The residents’ group Protect Brockwell Park has now launched a third judicial review against Lambeth Council over planning permission granted for large-scale festivals including City Splash, arguing the council “improperly granted” approval. Previous legal battles saw the High Court rule that Lambeth had acted unlawfully by allowing large sections of the park to be walled off for weeks each summer without planning permission. The legal pressure is relentless, and while the most recent challenge was refused and permission to proceed was granted, the fight is ongoing.

There is something telling about the fact that a festival celebrating Black Caribbean culture in its most authentic form must fight, year after year, simply to exist in a public park. Meanwhile the culture inside the gates — the sound systems, the Rastafari Corner, the elders getting their flowers, the multi-generation crowds who know every word — continues, unbothered by what doesn’t understand it. Looking at the footage from City Splash 2026, you can only smile. There is a sense of community, a sense of safety that you don’t always get at Black music events, and a sense of fearlessness. City Splash is the unapologetic ‘Home of Culture’, welcoming anyone who wants that particular experience.

I’ve always been taught that you can’t be all things to all people; compromises and sacrifices must be made in order to achieve success. But, when you start by appealing to your sense of self, and utilising what has always worked, that old rule book can be discarded. Ben employed renowned Brixton promoter Cecil Reuben, to stage the event each year, he programmes predominantly South London artists, it is important to understand that who builds these spaces inevitably shapes how the culture is experienced within them. The artist liaison team has been Black female-led, a move which is very intentional.

The result is a Festival which does many things, you can find a safe space to be yourself, no matter what that is. As a Black person who lives or grew up in the UK whether you are 70 or 17, there will be a stage or area which will feel familiar, where you will see some old faces and take pictures with new faces. Where you can eat food that tastes like your grandmothers or try foods which are new to you but are traditional to others.

What’s remarkable is that very little of what is on display would traditionally be described as ‘mainstream. Yet we have been taught that we must appeal to that ideal to succeed; that our culture has to be palatable to be profitable.

City Splash has established that you do not need mainstream validation when you make yourselves the ‘Home of Culture’ and have the power to validate others.