The Cleveland Museum of Art’s Solstice Event Returns on Saturday, June 20

CLEVELAND (April 20, 2026)—The Cleveland Museum of Art’s (CMA) 15th annual  Solstice, the city’s most anticipated summer spectacular, takes place on Saturday, June 20, from 7:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Celebrating long summer days and hot summer nights, Solstice combines music, art, dance, and fun for an unforgettable evening. Experience the CMA late into the night when galleries stay open, with flash talks presented by museum staff in select galleries, and visit the CMA’s ticketed exhibitions,  Manet & Morisot  and  Martin Puryear: Nexus.  

All-inclusive tickets—covering admission as well as unlimited appetizers and beverages, including beer, wine, and canned cocktails—go on sale for members at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 22, followed by the public sale at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 23. This event is for guests 21 or older. Early ticket purchasing is recommended as this event is expected to sell out. 

This year, Solstice’s main stage is a vibrant celebration of North America’s multicultural mosaic. Cirque FLIP Fabrique (Canada) kicks off the outdoor entertainment on the museum’s south terrace with acrobatics performed on top of a retrofitted school bus. Then, live music sets from Daymé Arocena (Cuba), Son Rompe Pera (Mexico), and Nik West (United States) follow. These three electrifying musical acts showcase African diasporic party music, including Afro-Latin jazz, cumbia, and funk. NicNacc and Eso, two prolific Cleveland-based DJ’s famous for their monthly dance parties, take over the atrium. Projections, light displays, and decorations electrify the museum. 

South Terrace Lineup 

• 7:45–8:15 p.m.: Cirque FLIP Fabrique
• 8:15–9:15 p.m.: Daymé Arocena 
• 9:30–10:30 p.m.: Son Rompe Pera
• 10:45 p.m.–12:00 a.m.: Nik West 

Ames Family Atrium DJ Lineup: 7:00 p.m.–12:00 a.m. 

• NicNacc
• Eso
• Special guests to be announced 

Become a member  for a first chance to reserve your presale tickets, available  online. 

Tickets are nonrefundable. No refunds are issued unless the event is canceled by the venue or if safety concerns prevent the event from taking place. If the event is canceled, tickets are refunded in full. If the event is rescheduled, tickets are honored for the new date. We encourage attendees to stay informed about event updates. 

2026 Performers 

Nik West (opens in a new tab) 

Nik West, hailed by Prince as a force in modern funk, headlines this year’s Solstice! Nik is a powerhouse bassist, vocalist, and songwriter celebrated for her electrifying stage presence, thunderous grooves, and unmistakable look—complete with her signature mohawk shaped like a bass clef. With a career that includes opening, recording, or performing with Lenny Kravitz, George Clinton, Joss Stone, Prince, Quincy Jones, John Mayer, Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), Santana, Macy Gray, Esperanza Spalding, Orianthi, and Bootsy Collins, she has carved out her own genre-defying lane by blending funk, rock, and soul. At just 29, West became the first Black woman to compose music for ESPN—making history and continuing to break barriers in an often slow-to-change industry. 

Son Rompe Pera (opens in a new tab) 

Born and raised in Naucalpan, the deep outskirts of Mexico City, the Gama brothers and their band, Son Rompe Pera, have thrashed through all preconceived notions of what a marimba-centered band is and have rendered the instrument inseparable from their punk ethos. The group’s shows have become home to the now-infamous marimba mosh pit across the globe, joining intergenerational audiences in moments of essential release and community around its hard-hitting, forward-thinking, unrelenting punk-infused cumbias. With two critically-acclaimed records under its belt, and hundreds of shows on some of the world’s most prestigious stages to a rapidly growing audience, the band consistently proves its boundlessness as far as where it can take the genre, standing vehemently by the fact that traditions are meant to be both honored, broken, and built again. 

Daymé Arocena (opens in a new tab) 

Daymé Arocena is a two-time Grammy-nominated and Juno Award–winning Afro-Cuban singer and composer. A powerful voice in contemporary Latin music, Arocena is celebrated for her genre-blending creativity and deep connection to her Cuban roots. Her 2024 album, Alkemi, marked a bold reinvention of her sound, blending neo-soul, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and modern pop in collaboration with renowned producer Eduardo Cabra and featuring guest vocals by Vicente García and Rafa Pabön. A track from that album, “A Fuego Lento,” received a Latin Grammy nomination for Song of the Year. 

Cirque FLIP Fabrique (opens in a new tab) 

Hailing from Quebec City, Cirque FLIP Fabrique is an established troupe founded by a group of friends who are at the peak of their talents as professional circus artists. Having performed extensively internationally for more than a million spectators, Cirque FLIP Fabrique is bringing its Summer Break spectacle to the CMA, in which they roll up in their school bus and transform the bus into a stage, allowing spectators to rediscover the youthful enjoyment of a summer break. 

DJ NicNacc (opens in a new tab) and DJ Eso (opens in a new tab) 

Centered on a music-first experience, Happy Endings brings together a diverse audience in thoughtfully curated spaces, featuring guest DJs from across the country. What began as an intimate gathering has grown into one of the city’s most beloved nightlife events, recognized for its genre-fluid sound, creative direction, and vibrant community. Sonically, Happy Endings moves seamlessly across house, edits, amapiano, hip-hop, R & B, soul, and beyond, blurring lines and building moments that feel both nostalgic and forward thinking. 

Kevin Jackson (opens in a new tab) 

After the sun sets, the CMA comes alive with projection mapping from Cleveland artist Kevin Jackson, a forward-thinking visual artist specializing in unique projection-mapping installations. Jackson has produced one-of-a-kind visuals for Tobacco, for Black Moth Super Rainbow, and at the Super Bowl, and he is consistently hired by internationally renowned DJs and festivals. At Solstice, he creates site-specific content inspired by the museum’s art collection and the music of the other bands performing. 

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About the Cleveland Museum of Art  

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is renowned for the quality and breadth of its collection, which includes more than 66,500 artworks and spans 6,000 years of achievement in the arts. The museum is a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship, and performing arts and is a leader in digital innovation. One of the leading encyclopedic art museums in the United States, the CMA is recognized for its award-winning open access program—which provides free digital access to images and information about works in the museum’s collection—and free of charge to all. The museum is located in the University Circle neighborhood with two satellite locations on Cleveland’s west side: the Community Arts Center and Transformer Station.  

The museum is supported in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture and made possible in part by the Ohio Arts Council (OAC), which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts. The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically. For more information about the museum and its holdings, programs, and events, call 888-CMA-0033 or visit cma.org.