The Festival is always wondrous, and this year is no exception. You will meet winemakers from Texas, Bhutanese silk weavers, and robotic engineers from NASA. All are masters of their trades, who can share deep knowledge of their arts and occupational skills with you. What makes the Festival truly extraordinary, however, is that the juxtaposition of programs creates an event that is greater than the sum of its fascinating parts.

We are often asked how we put together each year's combination of programs. The answer is we don't. It takes several years to produce programs, and the mix of programs is based on timing rather than planning. Selecting a program for the Festival is a very democratic process. Anyone can recommend one; curators, audience members, ambassadors, state department officials, and friends have suggested recent programs.