The dance schedule includes the Stephen Petronio Company, Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson's Complexion Dance Company, the Lim‹n Dance Company, the Hung-Sheng Lion Dance Theater of Taiwan, and the KanKouran West African Dance Company. Music includes a 35th-anniversary concert with blues singer and pianist Marcia Ball and New Orleans institution Dr. John and performances by the Paul Winter Consort and drummer Chico Hamilton.

Also among the highlights are the annual Homemade Instruments Day and the two-day Roots of American Music Festival, with Watson, Ricky Skaggs, and opera singer-turned-chanteuse Sylvia McNair, among others.