LEAF GLOBAL ARTS
FESTIVAL

OCTOBER 16-19, 2025

…at historic Lake Eden in Black Mountain, NC.
Join us for global art, music, and culture, camping,
lake adventures, healing arts, workshops,
and fun for the whole family.

Learn by Day — Play by Night!

LEAF Festival Workshops

Navajo Weavers

Conversation & Demo

Zumba

Led by Francisco Chavez

Learn Bellydancing!

Led by Monika Guerra

First-Time LEAFers Meet-Up

With James Navé

Learn to Groove

With Victor Wooten

Learn Hip Hop Dance!

With Fuego AVL

Dan & Laura's Song-shop

With Dan Johnston & Laura Blackley

Intro to De'VIA Tea

With Kelsey Moseley

Make Your Parade Lantern!

With Street Creature Puppet Collective

Street Creature Lantern Parade

With Street Creature Puppet Collective

Mime & Movement

With Mountain Circus Arts

From Madness to Music

Film Screening with Music in Common

Fully Awake: Black Mountain College

Outdoor Film Screening

Morning Movement

With Nani Orsillo

The Labyrinth: Walking The Sacred Path w/ Kelly Hanson

Film Screening and Q&A

Intro to Indian Classical Music

With Ustad Shafaat Khan

Dan & Laura's Song-shop

With Dan Johnston & Laura Blackley

First-Time LEAFers Meet-Up

With James Navé

Healing & Learning with Drums & Music

Agustín Palomo Ramos

Foundation & Flourishes

With Nico Mariana

Old-Time Workshop

With Carol Mallett Rifkin

Songs with Sariyah

Led by Sariyah Idan

Street Creature Hat-urday Party!

With Street Creature Puppet Collective

Becoming A Juggler Cirque-shop

With Mountain Circus Arts

Fully Awake: Black Mountain College

Outdoor Film Screening

After-Hours Acoustic Jam

With Melissa McKinney

De'VIA Tea

With Kelsey Moseley

Sunshine Drum Time

With Adama & Dancing Drum

Sacred Song Swap

With David LaMotte

World Drum Day Wrap-Up Parade

With LEAF International

 

AN URGENT LETTER FROM THE LEAF BOARD:

For nearly 30 years, LEAF Global Arts has connected people through the power of art, music, and culture. Every shared moment has been made possible because of you – our community.

The LEAF Festival is critical to funding LEAF’s larger work: providing global cultural arts programming for thousands of local youth and preserving cultures and traditions around the world.

This year, we are facing a financial crossroads: between the loss of last fall’s Festival, losing a majority of our arts education funding in 2025, and not fully recovering from COVID, the future is bleak. The upcoming LEAF Festival could be our last if we don’t come together to sustain the heart of LEAF’s mission – but we have seen what this community can do when united for a cause greater than itself.

To open the Festival experience to as many people as possible, and to rally the full spirit of LEAF, we are offering a limited number of LEAF LOVE Tickets at a significant discount.

These special tickets, offered at 30% off (our highest discount, even more so than our Early Bird pricing) are our way of ensuring everyone has a place in this story. Full-priced tickets also remain available for those with the means to give a little more to help support LEAF’s vital work.

Your presence, your voice, and your support matter more than ever right now. Join us in making this LEAF Festival one that the world will never forget and ensuring the music continues for generations to come. 

Mayani is a Maasai boy from longido Arusha. He went to boarding school at 6 years old and lost his Maasai language and tradition. Since joining the LEAF program, he has learned to sing Maasai songs, practiced the ‘jump’ tradition and wear Maasai shukas (traditional clothing). Mayani is extremely happy and is currently teaching other youth the culture.