Alfonso D. Brooks

Alfonso D. Brooks
Alfonso_D_Brooks_portrait.jpg Alfonso_D_Brooks_portrait.jpg Alfonso D. Brooks, founder of AfriKin Foundation
Born	Sint Maarten
🏳️ Citizenship	United States
💼 Occupation	Cultural entrepreneur, author, nonprofit executive, festival producer
🏢 Organization	AfriKin Foundation
Known for	Founder of AfriKin Foundation; AfriKin Art Fair; cultural diplomacy
🌐 Website	alfonsobrooks.com

Alfonso D. Brooks is an American cultural entrepreneur, author, nonprofit executive, and independent festival producer. He is the founder and executive director of the AfriKin Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit cultural institution based in North Miami, Florida, dedicated to African and African diaspora arts, cultural diplomacy, and institution building. Brooks is also the producer of the AfriKin Art Fair, an annual contemporary art fair held during Miami Art Week, now in its eleventh year.

Early life and background

Alfonso D. Brooks was born in Sint Maarten and later relocated to New York, where he became immersed in the city's music industry, working in records, promotion, and festival production. His experience in the New York music scene informed his later work as a large-scale cultural producer.

Career

Festival and event production

Brooks has worked as an independent festival producer for nearly three decades. In 1998, he founded Rockers Movement, a cultural production platform focused on music festivals and community events with philanthropic components. Through Rockers Movement, Brooks produced the Miami Reggae Festival, which combined entertainment programming with humanitarian causes and earned civic recognition from multiple South Florida municipalities.

His large-scale event production credits include venues such as Madison Square Garden, the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (Arthur Ashe Stadium) in New York, Randall's Island Park, Forest Hills Stadium, Bayfront Park in Miami, and Mana Wynwood.

AfriKin Foundation

Brooks founded the AfriKin Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit cultural institution whose name combines "Africa" and "kinship." The foundation operates Maison AfriKin at 1600 NE 126th Street in North Miami, Florida, which serves as its permanent institutional home and exhibition space.

The AfriKin Art Fair, the foundation's flagship annual program, presents contemporary African and diaspora art during Miami Art Week and has been recognized by the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) as an official kick-off event of Art Basel Miami Beach. AfriKin Foundation is the only African diaspora cultural institution listed on the GMCVB's official FIFA World Cup 2026 cultural tourism platform.

Additional annual programs include African Fashion Week Miami, Taste of AfriKin, AfriKin: Art, Jazz & Champagne (held during Women's History Month), and AfriKin Art Wellington, launched in 2025 in partnership with the Village of Wellington and Palm Beach County.

Cultural diplomacy

Brooks has developed formal relationships with foreign governments and consular offices as part of AfriKin Foundation's cultural diplomacy work. The Republic of Cabo Verde, through Consul General Octavio B. Gomes and Minister of Sports Carlos do Canto Sena Monteiro, issued official endorsements of AfriKin Foundation's programming for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Miami.

For the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Brooks organized the Art and the Beautiful Game, a contemporary exhibition featuring over 50 artists from more than 25 nations of Global Africa, running from June through October 2, 2026 at Maison AfriKin. He also produced the Cabo Verde International Football Welcome Reception on June 20, 2026, endorsed by the Consulate General of the Republic of Cabo Verde.

Brooks has traveled to approximately 60 countries across Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East, framing this travel as foundational research for his cultural institution-building work.

Published works

Brooks is the author of seven published titles across multiple genres:

• A Race of Necessity (Afrofuturist fiction)
• King in the Mirror (productivity journal)
• AfriKin: A New Way of Being (reflective journal)
• The Infinite Colors of AfriKin, Vol. 1 (coloring series)
• The Infinite Colors of AfriKin, Vol. 2 (coloring series)
• The Infinite Colors of AfriKin, Vol. 3 (coloring series)
• Eco-AfriKin Workbook: Solidarity Offering Solutions (sustainability workbook)

Recognition

Brooks and AfriKin Foundation have received civic recognition from multiple South Florida governments and institutions:

• 2026 — City of North Miami declared February 24, 2026 as Alfonso D. Brooks Day via official proclamation, honoring his leadership, cultural stewardship, and global arts impact.
• 2025 — Arts & Social Impact Award, Arts & Business Council of Miami, recognizing decade-long contributions to cultural programming.
• 2025 — Certificate of Recognition, Miami Dade College North Campus.
• 2024 — NoMi Honors Award, City of North Miami.
• 2024 — Letter of Support, Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau.
• 2024 — AfriKin Art Week Proclamation, City of North Miami.
• 2021 — Miami Reggae Festival Weekend Proclamation, City of Opa-locka.
• 2019 — AfriKin Day Proclamation, City of Miami Beach.
• 2016 — Afrikin Festival Day Proclamation, City of Miami.
• 2014 — Miami Reggae Festival Day Proclamation, City of Miami Gardens.
• 2013 — Miami Reggae Festival Day Proclamation, Miami-Dade County.
• 2013 — Salute to Rockers Movement, City of Miami.

Press coverage

AfriKin Foundation and Brooks have been covered by regional and national media, including:

• The New York Times, which featured the AfriKin Art Fair among its Miami Art Week coverage in December 2023.
• Caribbean Beat Magazine, which published a feature profile of Brooks in Issue 191 (November/December 2025), exploring his career from Sint Maarten to the AfriKin Movement.
• WPLG Local 10 (ABC affiliate), which covered the AfriKin Art Fair "Scenes From Home" exhibition in November 2025.
• WSVN / Deco Drive, which has covered multiple AfriKin events including the Art Fair 10th Anniversary, AfriKin: Art, Jazz and Champagne, and Taste of AfriKin.
• Miami Times, which covered the AfriKin "Gaze Africana" exhibition in January 2023.
• Caribbean National Weekly and Town-Crier News, which covered AfriKin Art Wellington in February 2026.

External links

• Official website
• AfriKin Foundation

This article "Alfonso D. Brooks" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Alfonso D. Brooks. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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