Durrant Pate/ Contributor

The inaugural Palm Beach Reggae Music & Arts Festival in Delray Beach is opening with the 2019 music documentary, Inna de Yard: The Soul of Jamaica, showcasing reggae musicians in Kingston, Jamaica.

The documentary by filmmaker Peter Webber spotlights how these artistes made original roots reggae music, will open the two-day immersive reggae and art festival from March 20-22, 2026. “It captures the inside of Jamaica,” explains Jamaican entertainment attorney and festival co-founder Lloyd Stanbury. The inaugural Palm Beach Reggae Music & Arts Festival is teaming up with Palm Beach County’s leading Black museum to celebrate its musical roots and lasting influence. 

The festival is part of a unique collaboration with the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, and the partners are kicking off the showcase with legendary reggae group Inner Circle as headliners. The reggae band is best known for the classics “Sweat (A La La La La Long)” and “Bad Boys”. Several elements set this festival apart from most reggae events, Stanbury tells WLRN. 

According to him, the festival will include a live concert with multiple acts, documentary film screenings, and an art exhibition featuring Jamaican photography and paintings that showcase the evolution of reggae music and culture—an influence that has touched genres such as Afrobeats from West Africa and reggaeton from Panama, which blends Jamaican dancehall with Spanish lyrics.“Put simply, it [reggae culture] has grown beyond Jamaica. It was always the intention. That’s what Bob Marley said, declares Stanbury positing, “yes. It’s gonna just keep going. And that is what has happened.” 

For Stanbury, the festival aims to be a long-lasting “community building” tool. The festival also feature, Play It Loud! How Toronto Got Soul (2024), a documentary by director Graeme Mathieson about Toronto’s overlooked Jamaican music scene of the 1960s–70s. The films serve as a visual window into the evolution of reggae culture. “So this festival is educational and entertaining,” Stanbury promises, adding, “that’s what we’re representing, and that’s what the patrons should expect.”