Overview:
Born from Miami’s queer nightlife, Masisi blends art, music and spirituality to center Black queer Haitians. On Oct. 17 and 18, Masisi is hosting its own stage at the III Points Festival, called Halo 88, which showcases local acts in the city’s underground electronic music scene. For Masisi, which debuted in 2019, being in the 12-hour festival expected to draw 50,000 people is a “graduation.”
Growing up in Lake Worth, Florida, about 60 miles north of Miami, Akia Dorsainvil learned early not to back down nor to hide who he is. When neighborhood kids tried to pick on him, his mother would “take me right back outside to fight,” Dorsainvil now recalls.
“My mom didn’t raise no punk a** b***,” said Dorsainvil, a DJ, organizer and artist who founded Masisi, an events collective and radio station built around the Black Caribbean queer experience. “I’ve always been that guy, the baddest b**ch.”
The mixture of confidence and boldness plays no small part in laying the foundation for Masisi, which aims to reimagine queer nightlife for the Haitian/Caribbean diaspora. Dorsainvil, whose father is Haitian and mother is Black American, helped build the platform to channel its members’ fearless energy into art, community and celebration. He also chose the collective’s name as a way to reclaim being called “masisi”— a Creole slur akin to the homophobic epithet fa***t—as a negative trait while growing up. To him, the word stands for confident, expressive, unapologetically different.
“I was already called that, so I said, ‘Fine, I’ll be it. But I’ll make it beautiful,’ [and] it’s sexy to say,” the 31-year-old explained. “It was used to shame us. Now it’s our power.”
Akia Dorsainvil, the founder of the Masisi Collective. Photo courtesy of Masisi
A call to fight stigma—and celebrate
The decision to turn a word once used as a slur to shame queer Haitians into something they can claim with pride emerged in 2019. After organizing underground drag shows, raves in abandoned malls and late-night gatherings for years, Dorsainvil decided to bring together dance, spirituality and cultural pride with a group of 17 people.
The goal? Not simply to throw events, but to create a legacy of connection, joy and liberation. To be an alternative to the taboos assigned by some churches and to mainstream gay culture that left Haitian queerness in the margins.
Six years later, Masisi is set to run its own stage for 12 straight hours at an electronic music festival expected to draw 50,000 listeners Oct. 17 and 18. Masisi’s participation in the III Points Festival at Halo 88 marks one of the rare times queer Caribbean artists have led programming on such a large public stage, and is a moment Dorsainvil calls a “graduation.”
“I’m here. I’ve always been here. I will always be here,” Dorsainvil, 31, said. “That’s Masisi’s message.”
“Even if people feel free for five hours, that’s enough. That freedom is real.”
‘Pure blessings’ and joy all around
Many of the early parties were held at the 777 Mall in Downtown Miami, a former shopping center turned art studio hub, home to many working queer artists. There, a drag queen often lip-synced to konpa while waving a Haitian flag and the crowd chanted along as smoke machines filled the room. Between DJ sets, someone would grab the mic to demand protections for trans youth, while the dance floor roared back in agreement.
Beyond the beats, Masisi incorporates Vodou traditions, ancestral remembrance and cultural ritual. Commemorating cultural events like Bwa Kayiman means attendees dressed in white, dancing to music that historically freed them, alongside experimental tracks produced by young Black queer artists.
“It’s music from the future,” Dorsainvil said. “But rooted in the past, slave dance music transformed into liberation soundtracks.”
Yet, Masisi faced resistance from multiple fronts: from the broader Black community, from within Haitian circles, and from a city that doesn’t fully embrace Black queer people. In response, the collective began talking openly about Black queer joy and made a point of centering people often pushed aside, especially dark-skinned Black trans and queer, even in LGBTQ spaces.
Masisi has since become a sanctuary, not just a party. Despite Miami’s ubiquitous queer nightlife, the smaller, often overlooked scene — where parties like Counter Corner and Internet Friends made room for Black queer and trans people of color — has doubled as both refuge and resistance.
L-R : A joyful eruption of movement and laughter during a rain-drenched backyard dance session with Akia Dorsainvil (in green shirt), founder of Masisi. Photo courtesy of Masisi | Flag in hand and voices raised, celebration pulses through this nightclub as Puerto Rican pride meets Haitian queer excellence. Photo courtesy of Masisi
“The first time I ever went to a Masisi event was in 2021, a summer get-together,” recalled Lady Narcisse, a Haitian attendee.
“When I walked in there, I felt like I belonged for the first time ever in my life. Any Masisi event I’ve ever been to, from the first one to the last one, is nothing but pure blessings, spiritually awakening, spiritually blessings, just blessings all around.”
For others, the collective has offered an unexpected path.
“Masisi opened their arms wide and gave me the space to practice a craft that was very new to me,” said Haitian DJ Tia, a Lakou Dlo show host resident on the Masisi Radio station, calling it “transformative.”
“It’s home, without having to be forced to be home. The music, the energy, the vibes—every event just brings so much life.”
Yoly Belizaire, another Haitian regular, remembers one rooftop gathering vividly.
“I’ll never forget Juneteenth 2022, we were all wearing white. On that dance floor it felt as though it transformed into a spiritual plane of existence.
“In heteronormative spaces there’s always this need to perform, but in Masisi spaces we can take off the mask, be here, be present, fully embodied,” Belizaire said.
Newcomer Sunny Fisher also finds Masisi’s sound alone transformative. The sound which blends Afro-Caribbean rhythms, Haitian rara and konpa beats, with electronic, house, and ballroom influences, a pulse that feels both ancestral and futuristic. Although tailored for people of Caribbean descent, Masisi also welcomes those who love electronic, experimental vintage recordings and older music styles sound—from konpa to disco to rave.
“My first event was Art Basel 2022. When I walked in, I thought, ‘wow, I’ve never heard sounds like this before.’ From beginning to end it was joy. Every Masisi event feels like that, like a never-ending feeling.”
Striking a pose under the fisheye lens, these two radiate power, poise, and resistance in Miami in April 2024. Photo courtesy of Masisi
Bringing the fun—and funds—in healing spaces
In 2024, Masisi launched Masisi Radio, an online broadcast platform that has now released more than 100 episodes documenting the community with mixes, interviews and fundraisers as a way to archive the moment. Artists currently reach people all over the U.S., the Caribbean and London.
The radio station is also the platform for the group’s latest initiative, the Protection Fund Telethon, to raise money for a community member facing an immigration status change. The live event streamed on YouTube and Twitch on Sept. 28, 2025, with all donations going toward legal costs to support Black queer people facing immigration violence and housing insecurity.
At III Points next weekend, Masisi is hosting its own stage, Halo 88, during the event showcasing local acts in the city’s underground electronic music scene. First-time Haitian DJs will spin alongside icons like Sean Paul, marking a milestone as Masisi’s reach continues to grow.
“We’re making room for spirit in these spaces,” Dorsainvil said. “Because Black queer joy is sacred. Because it transforms spaces of pain into spaces of celebration, echoing traditions in Black and Caribbean culture where music and dance are forms of worship and healing.”
Resources for queer Haitians and supporters
- Masisi Radio – For updates, radio episodes and community fundraisers, follow on IG: @masisiradio and Twitch & YouTube: Masisi Radio
- S.A.F.E. (South Florida Alliance for Equity) – Provides free resources for queer youth and hosts workshops on diasporic identity and art.
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