A rainy day couldn’t dampen the spirits that were enlivened by the 17th Annual Samba Fest. Crowds gathered to listen and dance to Brazilian and world music at Trinity College’s Austin Arts Center on April 26, 2025.
The festival—which is free and open to all—was founded in 1997 by Professor of Music Eric A. Galm. In recognition of the valuable impact that this cross-cultural event has had on the public, Galm and Samba Fest recently received the Society for Ethnomusicology’s 2024 Judith McCulloh Public Sector Award.
The featured artists from Brazil were: Confraria do Groove/Groove Brotherhood; Quarteto Pirá—with Nelson Latif, Marcelo Lima, Esdras Rodrigues, and Galm—and the DJ and sax duo OUTPLANET.
Artists from Connecticut included: Hartford’s Proud Drill Drum and Dance Corp; Bomba Fusion (Puerto Rican bomba music and dance with Nelson Bello); and Zikina (East African-inspired world music with Gideon Ampieri).
Brazilian dance workshops (Capoeira, Maculelê, and Samba) were offered by Efraím Silva and Thelma Ladeira.
The Trinity Samba Ensemble, directed by Galm, featured special guests José Paulo, Austin Tewksbury, Brandon Serafino, Ashish Adhikari, Khaiim Kelly, Nelson Latif, Jake Weiner, Patrick Lennon, Michael Ferrigno, and Marsala Mbaye. A performance by Trinity Steel was directed by Curtis Greenidge.
The day also included games, activities, crafts, food trucks, free face painting by Amazing Face Art, and more.
See more photos in the gallery below and watch a recording of the Samba Fest livestream here.
For one Trinity College alumnus, the work of conducting research with faculty-scholars didn’t stop at graduation. Jacob Loor ’25—now a second-year law student at Yale Law School—recently had an article that he co-wrote with two Trinity faculty members published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Trinity College staff and faculty members recently heard from best-selling author and kindness expert Shola Richards. The community gathered before the start of the academic year to continue the work of building a culture of belonging and connection on campus.
Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of alumni, parents, families, and friends, the Trinity College Fund raised $10.5 million in fiscal year 2026, marking the most successful year for annual giving in the College’s history.
Trinity College’s Austin Arts Center and its resident theater company, HartBeat Ensemble, will present Athol Fugard’s South African drama “A Lesson from Aloes” from October 8 through October 17, 2026.
