How a Dorchester Collective Turned a Shuttered Theater Into Boston's Most Anticipated Summer Festival

When Maria Santos first walked into the Strand Theatre on Dorchester Avenue in 2023, water pooled on the stage and pigeons nested in the balcony. The 1920s vaudeville house had been dark for nearly a decade. Most saw decay. Santos, a 34-year-old choreographer and community organizer, saw possibility.

"I remember standing there thinking: this building has stories," Santos recalls. "I wanted to make sure our stories—the ones rarely heard on Boston stages—got to live here too."

Today, the Strand is nearly unrecognizable. Its gilt-trimmed boxes gleam under restored lighting. The marquee announces the Encuentro Arts Festival, a four-week celebration launching July 3rd that has already sold out its first two weekends. What began as Santos's conversation with two friends—visual artist James Chen and musician David Oliveira—has become a defining moment in Boston's cultural landscape, driven not by institutional backing but by the kind of relentless grassroots energy the city's thriving neighborhoods demand.

The trio spent months securing the Strand's lease and navigating city permits. Fundraising came next: a crowdfunding campaign that raised $127,000, supplemented by grants from the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture and contributions from local businesses along Dorchester Avenue. By autumn 2024, they'd assembled a programming committee of 15 artists and community members. The 2025 inaugural festival drew 8,000 attendees across 40 events. This year's iteration—expanded to include visual installations, theater, film, dance, and music—has expectations even higher.

"We were very intentional about not replicating what already exists in Back Bay or the Theatre District," Chen explains. "This festival exists in and for Dorchester because this is where our community lives. That's not secondary to the art—it's fundamental to it."

What distinguishes Encuentro from Boston's other summer programming—the Boston Pops, Shakespeare on the Common, the North End Festival Madonna—is its hyper-local infrastructure. Ticket prices cap at $25. Three-quarters of performers are based in Massachusetts. The festival employs 40 neighborhood residents in production and hospitality roles at $18 per hour. A portion of proceeds funds an artist residency program.

As Boston's cultural institutions increasingly emphasize diversity and community engagement, the Strand's story offers a counterpoint: sometimes the most authentic representation comes not from legacy institutions reimagining themselves, but from artists who simply refuse to wait for permission and instead build what their communities desperately need.

Encuentro Arts Festival runs July 3–August 3 at the Strand Theatre, 543 Dorchester Avenue. Full schedule and tickets at encuentroboston.org.

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