The North American Bengali Conference (NABC) is an annual Bengali culture conference held in the United States and Canada, typically around the weekend of July 4. It was established in 1981 by the Cultural Association of Bengal in New York, and is hosted by a different organization every year. The conference includes performances, readings, discussion, networking, and class reunions.
Performers are often from the United States, Canada, Bangladesh, and India. Audiences are primarily Bangladeshi American, Indian American, Bangladeshi Canadian and Indian Canadian. In 2022, Bangladeshi actor-producer Shakib Khan has been appointed as the Bangladesh Outreach Brand Ambassador of NABC, who is the first and only brand ambassador in the 42-year history of this conference.
Disorder at the 2023 North American Bengali Conference
The 2023 North American Bengali Conference was held at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City and various events across the city were expected to take place, including a torch procession from Albany Avenue/Bader Field. The conference was expected to generate from around $1 million - $8 million in revenue. Many of the flagship singers & producers that were expected to appear at the conference such as Arijit Singh and Javed Ali did not appear at the conference, which sparked outrage amongst the conference goers. Other small events, such as the opening ceremony, which was supposed to contain a student choir and a talent show, were postponed and cancelled, respectively. Sports were also expected to be held at the event, but they were cut out after the conference failed to bring singers and caused fury. The KPC Hall of Fame President Parthasarathi Mukhopadhyay, who was the chief planner of the event, was blamed by many acclaimed performers and other event conveners such as Jayati Chakraborty, sitarist Sahana Chatterjee and Raghab Chatterjee. The performers at the lineup also said they were denied water, food, and many other performers on the lineup could not stay any longer and left.
After the fiasco of 2023, the organization began a restructure and pledged to hold the 2024 & 2025 NABCs in a more orderly fashion.