This year's Festival program forms part of a larger Rfo Grande/Rio Bravo Basin project that includes:

Folklife Field Research Schools held in Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado to train local academic and community scholars and to direct local research for the Folklife Festival and other public programs

Production of local public programs in collaboration with local organizations to present research carried out in the region (sponsored by the Texas Folklife Resources and the Texas Council for the Humanities)

Smithsonian Folklife Festival programs for 1998 and 1999

Production of educational materials and a film documentary.