Festival Updates

6th Annual Charm City Django Jazz Festival

6th Annual Charm City Django Jazz Festival

Lotus is partnering with Creative Alliance, located in Baltimore, to promote the incredible Charm City Django Jazz Festival. A portion of your ticket goes to support the work and mission of the Lotus Education & Arts Foundation. Click HERE to purchase tickets...

Dates for 2021 Festival

Dates for 2021 Festival

Announcing the dates for the 2021 Lotus Festival The Lotus Education and Arts Foundation is pleased to announce its 2021 dates for the Lotus World Music & Arts Festival.  Lotus is planning to hold its four-day long musical extravaganza from Sept 23 – 26, 2021, in...

Festival Sneak Peek: Festival Unwind Yoga

Festival Sneak Peek: Festival Unwind Yoga

Unwind and restore with a unique yoga experience after an exciting Festival weekend. This is Lotus’s third year offering weekend yoga and in honor of the 25thanniversary Lotus World Music & Arts Festival, yoga offerings will be expanded to two days, on Saturday...

2018 Visual Arts Brings Brazil to Bloomington

2018 Visual Arts Brings Brazil to Bloomington

Maracatu: Celebration from Brazil to Bloomington Be part of bringing Brazil to Bloomington!  Our 2018 visual arts project focuses on Maracatu, a 400-year old Afro-Brazilian parading tradition with origins in the northeastern city of Recife. Highlighting different...

Festival Sneak Peek: “Big Tent” Multimedia Experience

Festival Sneak Peek: “Big Tent” Multimedia Experience

Big Tent Multimedia Experience is one of several featured 25th Anniversary Spectacles planned for the Lotus World Music & Arts Festival. The Big Tent installation incorporates 360° video and audio projection, leveraging immersive technology to create a communal...

Festival Artist Sneak Peek #5: Spiro

Festival Artist Sneak Peek #5: Spiro

The final sneak peek is one that I have a special attachment to. I've been a fan of the English quartet Spiro for many years (they've been around for as long as Lotus), but have been frustrated that they have never toured the U.S. So one of my goals in working with...

Festival Artist Sneak Peek #4: Rio Mira

Festival Artist Sneak Peek #4: Rio Mira

Named after the river that flows between Colombia and Ecuador, this Afro-Pacific ensemble starts with the marimba at its center, and flows with centuries of musical influence, like its namesake. Much has been made of Afro-Colombian music the past few years... now...

Festival Artist Sneak Peek #3: Hawktail

Festival Artist Sneak Peek #3: Hawktail

As soon as the trio Haas Kowert Tice announced that they had expanded into a quartet and were calling themselves Hawktail, we asked if they were available for Lotus. Now they've released a debut album, and, just last weekend, appeared on Chris Thile's national live...

Festival Artist Sneak Peek #2: Aynur

Festival Artist Sneak Peek #2: Aynur

About 10 years ago, someone tipped me to a great music documentary about the roots music movement in Istanbul called "Crossing the Bridge." I found the DVD and screened it one summer night with my family. The film is a fantastic musical journey, and the standout scene...

Festival Artist Sneak Peek #1: Jupiter & Okwess

Festival Artist Sneak Peek #1: Jupiter & Okwess

Where to start? How about by fulfilling an essential requirement for any world music festival with an outdoor stage: a high-energy dance band, ideally from one of the music capitals of the African continent. Kinshasa has always been a melting pot of great music, known...