Founded by Dan DeWayne and Christine Myers in 1997, WorldFest came under the umbrella of Grass Valley’s arts powerhouse, The Center for the Arts, in 2015.

Drawing inspiration from the Vancouver Folk Festival, Strawberry Music Festival, MerleFest in North Carolina, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and the Newport Folk Festival, the California WorldFest includes eight performance stages, a complete children’s program, a community outreach history and a pledge to present the finest artists and performers from throughout our world.

From Afro/Pop to Bulgarian Harmonies, Latin to Bluegrass, Scottish fiddle tunes to Rock & Roll, Folk to New Acoustic, Mariachi to Russian Folk, Swing Jazz to Gospel, Bollywood to the newest Celtic incarnations, the California WorldFest is the home of our globes finest music and dance.

Since 2000, The Center for the Arts, a non-profit performing arts organization, has grown into a leading presenter of music, dance, theater, comedy, literary, visual art and family programming managing a 21,000 square foot venue in downtown Grass Valley and presenting over 150 events per year. In 2014, The Center purchased California WorldFest from Dan DeWayne and Christine Meyers. Dan and Christine selected The Center to purchase and inherit their over 20 year old festival because as DeWayne says, “Their commitment to the local community, strong board, vast experience in presenting diverse performers, and our shared values of family-first make them the perfect match for continuing WorldFest for years to come.”