Diaspora Arts Connection marks 10 years of Let Her Sing with San Diego debut

Diaspora Arts Connection will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Let Her Sing® in October 2026 with performances in San Francisco and, for the first time, San Diego. The milestone expands the women-centered festival’s reach while continuing its focus on artistic freedom, cultural expression and female vocalists from around the world.

Why it matters: - Let Her Sing® spotlights women vocalists and frames artistic freedom as a human rights issue. - The 10th anniversary gives Diaspora Arts Connection a bigger platform to reach audiences in Northern and Southern California. - The San Diego debut extends the festival into a new market and adds a new partnership with the Persian Cultural Center of San Diego.

What happened: - Diaspora Arts Connection announced the 10th anniversary edition of Let Her Sing®: A Celebration of Female Voices on July 9, 2026. - The 2026 festival returns to San Francisco for its tenth year and expands to San Diego for the first time. - The San Francisco performance is set for Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, at 7 p.m. at the Blue Shield of California Theater at YBCA. - The San Diego performance is set for Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, at 7 p.m. at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. - Diaspora Arts Connection is presenting the San Diego date with the Persian Cultural Center of San Diego.

The details: - Let Her Sing® is Diaspora Arts Connection’s flagship music festival. - The program brings together women artists from diverse cultural and diasporic backgrounds. - The festival was created to support the female voice, especially in places where women’s voices are suppressed, censored or restricted. - Over the past decade, the series has offered a platform for women to perform freely, share stories and use music as a form of resilience and cultural expression. - The San Francisco edition will feature DAC’s house band, under Music Director Yahya Alkhansa, with Navid Ghaem Maghami returning as art director. - The full artist lineup will be announced later. - The 2026 anniversary edition will include live music and cross-cultural performance from women vocalists drawing on global traditions, diasporic experience and contemporary creative expression.

Between the lines: - The expansion suggests Diaspora Arts Connection is moving from a single-city tradition to a broader regional footprint. - The festival’s framing connects performance with identity, memory, solidarity and civic visibility, not just entertainment. - The repeated emphasis on women’s voices points to a program built as much around cultural advocacy as artistic programming. - In practical terms, adding San Diego broadens access for communities in Southern California that may not travel to San Francisco.

What's next: - Diaspora Arts Connection will announce the artist lineup at a later date. - Ticketing and additional event details were not included in the announcement. - The organization says the anniversary edition is meant to honor a decade of music and community while setting up the next chapter for the program.

The bottom line: - Let Her Sing® is turning 10, and Diaspora Arts Connection is using the milestone to widen the festival’s reach while keeping women’s artistic freedom at the center.