North to Shore Festival returns this summer with major acts and Jersey pride

🎵 New Jersey’s largest arts and music festival returns in June across Newark, Asbury Park, and Atlantic City.

🎵 North to Shore will feature two weeks of concerts, comedy, film, and visual arts, with performers to be announced soon.

🎵 The festival also supports food insecurity relief through its Growing Healthy Pantries initiative.

Get ready to kick off the summer season in New Jersey with two full weeks of music and comedy performances as the North to Shore Festival returns for a fourth year.

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North to Shore Festival returns to Newark, Asbury Park, and Atlantic City

The Garden State’s largest arts and music festival produced by the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), returns from June 13 to June 28 to three of the state’s most iconic cities—Atlantic City, Asbury Park, and Newark.

“This is a festival that celebrates New Jersey as a destination for innovation and artistic expression, through the performing arts, the visual arts, film, and more,” says NJPAC Executive Director and Executive Vice President, David Rodriguez.

Local partnerships expand arts programming statewide

In Newark, North to Shore will partner with the Newark Arts Council, Newark Alliance, and the City of Newark’s Arts and Education District.

In Asbury Park, the festival will collaborate with AsburyFest, Asbury Underground, Carousel Art House, and Georgie’s Bar.

In Atlantic City, the festival launched a full year of community arts programming in May 2025. Dozens of North to Shore concerts, parties and workshops have welcomed AC residents and visitors every month, with more events scheduled through July 1, 2026.

Festival highlights social impact and food insecurity efforts

Once again this year, the festival, dubbed “the festival only Jersey could handle,” will focus its social outreach efforts on combatting food insecurity through the Growing Healthy Pantries initiative, a partnership between Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey and numerous Garden State food distribution centers, including the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, FoodBank of South Jersey, Fulfill, Mercer Street Friends, Norwescap, and Feeding America.

Last year, North to Shore welcomed more than 160,000 arts lovers to performances and events in Newark, Asbury Park, and Atlantic City.

“Artists who have made their homes in New Jersey, who have built careers in New Jersey’s clubs, concert halls and galleries, they’ve always been a major feature of North to Shore. We can’t wait to turn a spotlight on them again this summer,” said Dr. Sherri-Ann Butterfield, NJPAC’s Senior Vice President, Social Impact.

Performers and tickets: what to know for summer 2026

Launched in 2023, then-New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy stated that the event was inspired by SXSW in Texas and wanted to showcase the vibrant arts scene in New Jersey.

So, who will be performing at this summer’s North to Shore concerts? Arts, performance locations, and other updates will soon be announced on the website and through the North to Shore Festival app.

Tickets go on sale on February 27 at 10 a.m.

Previous North to Shore Festival performers included The B-52s, Santana, Alanis Morrissette, Matchbox Twenty, Barenaked Ladies, Pete Davidson, Jon Stewart, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Stone Temple Pilots, Third Eye Blind, Frankie Valli, Bill Burr, Natalie Merchant, and Halsey.

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