Masquerade in Motion will bring African-inspired performance, drumming and family art activities to the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Saturday 7 November 2026. The free outdoor celebration runs from noon to 2pm, with registration required.
Kuumba Dancers & Drummers will perform and lead a participatory dance and drumming workshop. St. Petersburg artist iBOMS, whose name is Jabari Reed-Diop, will make a special appearance with his original masquerade, Tufani: Lion of the Florida Wilds.
According to the museum, Tufani takes inspiration from Florida’s storm systems and draws influences from Yoruba Egungun masquerade traditions and the Zangbeto traditions of Benin, Togo and Nigeria. It is Reed-Diop’s own artistic creation.
The MFA’s Teen Arts Council will lead activities making wearable adornments and rhythm shakers, alongside drawing inspired by movement. Younger children can take part in sensory play and kinetic art with Celine from Curious Creations Co.
The programme accompanies New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations, which remains on view at the Florida museum until 3 January 2027. The exhibition follows four living makers: Chief Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa of Nigeria, David Sanou of Burkina Faso, Sheku “Goldenfinger” Fofanah of Sierra Leone and Hervé Youmbi of Cameroon.
Organised by the New Orleans Museum of Art in partnership with the Musée des Civilisations noires in Dakar, Senegal, the exhibition examines artistic decisions, commissions and the economic relationships surrounding masquerade. It gives named makers a central place in an art form often displayed without identifying its creators.
Nsa is a third-generation Efik artist from Creek Town, Nigeria, who learned his craft from his father. His work includes masquerade ensembles, beadwork and chieftaincy attire, with commissions across the Cross River region and from international institutions.
Fofanah works in Freetown’s Fourah Bay community. He is the resident builder and artist for the Gladiators Power Ordehlay Society, which his father helped establish. His designs span several masquerade genres and have reached audiences beyond Sierra Leone.
Sanou, another third-generation maker, works in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. He took artistic control of his father’s studio in 2009. His sculpture serves both ceremonial and secular occasions, with clients including local patrons and museums abroad.
Youmbi’s hybrid masks address identity, power and colonial history. He also served on the exhibition’s planning and curatorial team. In NOMA’s February 2025 announcement, he described creating “hybrid masks that challenge the clichés and categories to which masks from Africa have generally been confined”.
The practices represented in the exhibition have different purposes. NOMA describes Nsa’s Ekpe work as carrying political and educational significance, while Fofanah’s designs for Jollay and Ordehlay societies often accompany social celebrations. Sanou’s work can honour the dead, while Youmbi uses masquerade to question established categories of art.
Visitors who need mobility assistance can request a free wheelchair from the museum’s lobby, subject to availability. The MFA advises calling 727-896-2667 to reserve one before a visit. Its accessibility information also lists accessible restrooms and changing tables in selected facilities.
The celebration takes place outside the museum at 255 Beach Drive NE, St. Petersburg. The museum’s registration page lists admission to Masquerade in Motion as free and confirms the two-hour programme on 7 November.
Archive venue photograph: Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, 25 August 2021. Calmuziclover, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Cropped and resized. This photograph does not show the November 2026 event or the current exhibition.
