For the next few weeks, the District will be a hub of Arab culture as the Kennedy Center presents Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World, a festival that begins tonight and runs through March 15. The festival will feature artists from all 22 nations that comprise the League of Arab States. The performances, many of which are free, will cover multiple artistic media, ranging from spoken word, to music and dance, to visual art.

Arabesque is the most recent example of the Kennedy Center’s longstanding tradition of providing exposure to international artists.

“We’ve got a long tradition of doing these festivals,” said Alicia Adams, the Center’s Vice President of international programming and dance. “We set on a course to look at places in the world that haven’t had that much representation on our stages.”

Also on tap are exhibitions and installations on fashion, Arab calligraphy, cuisine, and the region’s contribution to the world of science.

“Artists we approached felt this was an extraordinary opportunity,” Adams said. “It’s a way of putting a new and different face of this region.”