About the festival

Biscuits and Banjos will take place in downtown Durham, NC April 25-27, 2025 at the Durham Performing Arts Center, The Armory, Carolina Theater, and more locations.

GRAMMY & Pulitzer Prize-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens’ new festival is dedicated to the celebration and exploration of Black music, art and culture in her home state of North Carolina. Biscuits & Banjos is a 3-day festival to exchange ideas, expand conversations, uplift traditions, and trace the musical and geographical connections of old time, country, Americana, folk, jazz and blues to highlight their complicated origins. The festival will champion Black artists and creators, offering robust musical performances alongside secondary programming to include lectures, workshops and readings from authors, chefs, visual artists, and more. Black culture is not a monolith, and this gathering will provide an opportunity for those working outside the mainstream to come together in community, as well as showing the similar journeys the culture has taken across music, food, and literature.

The festival will launch in Durham, NC in April 2025 to honor the 20th Anniversary of the Black Banjo Gathering – a landmark musical summit held in Boone, NC in 2005 that became the impetus behind the creation of GRAMMY-winning black string band, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, which launched Rhiannon's career. Rhiannon immediately identified Durham as the ideal location to house Biscuits & Banjos given her personal connection to the city and its diverse reach and thriving contemporary culture, as well as its historical Black heritage.

Indoor programming will be ticketed and outdoor programming will be free to the public.

Biscuits & Banjos is a non-profit, community responsive festival. Funding for Biscuits & Banjos is made possible in part by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, North Carolina Humanities, the Danielle Rose Paikin Foundation, the Harper House Foundation, Warner Music Group/Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund, Duke Arts and Duke Community Affairs, and other generous individual donors, civic, and community partners.

FAQ

  • Upon checkout via DPACnc.com, you will receive a digital ticket to your email inbox. This digital ticket will be used to redeem your festival wristband at Festival Check-In on site, and will be needed for entry into DPAC for the seated Saturday evening show, Rhiannon Giddens’ Old Time Revue. Details for credential pick up will be emailed before the festival, and available at website / app.

  • Weekend (before tax and order fee): $217.85

    Saturday only (before tax and order fee): $131.10

    Ticket prices are inclusive of your Biscuits & Banjos Festival ticket ($182/Weekend or $107/Saturday), DPAC’s service fee, and credit card processing fee. On top of this price, NC state tax and a per order fee of under $4 will be applied. A lower price will be displayed when you go to check out at Ticketmaster, but we want to be as upfront as possible about the final price. You can avoid service fees by visiting DPAC in person to buy your ticket.

  • At Rhiannon Giddens’ request there are no VIP passes or hierarchical ticket pricing. Seating at DPAC will be first come, first served –  so priority seating will go to those who buy early!

    If you are interested in getting some perks while supporting the festival, join The Butter Club. Learn more on our ticketing and donate pages.

  • In the wake of Hurricane Helene, now more than ever we are focused on the mission of uplifting and preserving North Carolinian culture. A portion of both ticket sales and merchandise income will go to hurricane relief efforts at next year’s festival; the recovery of Western North Carolina will be measured in years, not months.

  • All festival attendees (whether you purchase a weekend pass or Saturday day pass only) will have access to a seat at DPAC for Rhiannon Giddens’ Old Time Revue including the Carolina Chocolate Drops reunion show.

  • Biscuits & Banjos takes place in a number of indoor and outdoor venues ranging in capacity from 200 to 2,500. Due to the multi-venue nature of the festival, admission to events is on a first come first serve basis. Please prepare to arrive early for concerts you surely do not want to miss! Rhiannon Giddens’ revue concert will take place Saturday afternoon at DPAC, and all attendees will have seated access for this show.

  • All venues will be in downtown Durham - we recommend hotel purchase in the downtown area. This will be a very busy weekend in Durham so we recommend reserving your hotels early.

    We have blocks of rooms at the various hotels downtown available for attendees on a first come, first serve basis. Click the links below to book:

    Marriott

The Team

  • Rhiannon Giddens

    Artistic Director

  • Noelle Panepento

    Executive Director

  • Celine Thackston & Carissa Stolting

    Fundraising & Festival Management Support | Unmanageable

  • Noelle Panepento, Megan Frestedt & Alex Kadvan

    Executive Producers & Rhiannon Giddens Management | Red Light Management

  • Cicely E. Mitchell, Dr.PH.

    Festival Producer

  • Brian Asplin

    Sponsors & Partnerships

  • Shore Fire

    Press | Shore Fire

  • Tivi Jones

    Digital Marketing & Social Media | Hey Awesome Girl