The Wake Up the Earth Festival was born on land that was cleared for a highway. When the communities of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury started a grassroots movement with the South-West Corridor Coalition to stop  Interstate 95 from cutting through their neighborhoods, they reclaimed that cleared earth and turned it into a farm, a festival, and a tradition now 48 years strong. Every first Saturday in May, thousands return to this space to dance, parade, create, and celebrate our neighborhood's history of activism, expression, and inclusion. Art is how we build and empower our community.

Jamaica Plain’s Community Arts Headquarters who created Wake Up The Earth Festival!

Located at 45 Danforth Street, Jamaica Plain, MA

Spontaneous Celebrations grew out of the grassroots movement that stopped a raised highway from cutting through Roxbury and Jamaica Plain — an act of climate justice that reclaimed the land for the community. The founders built not just a space, but a set of values: that art is how communities build resilience, find their voice, and empower the people. That vision lives on today in everything Spontaneous Celebrations does — from the Wake Up The Earth Festival and Lantern Parade, to weekly community classes, to a year-round gathering place for everyone in the community to meet, support, and grow.