Through craft demonstrations, dance and musical performances, and hands-on activities, Mekong River: Connecting Cultures introduced visitors to the diverse cultures of the Mekong River. The Mekong region has been a cradle and crossroads of cultures for many centuries and more recently has become closely connected to the United States through the more than two million Americans who trace their ancestry to Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and the Chinese province of Yunnan. Visitors experienced the region's diversity firsthand through the presentations of artists, performers, craftspeople, cooks, ritual specialists, and presenters. Five stages, including a family learning center, featured traditions as diverse as Vietnamese opera, Thai shadow puppetry, Cambodian classical dance, and Chinese gourd flute music. Exquisite Lao textiles, Naxi calligraphy, and mural painting were only a few of the Mekong craft traditions presented. The Mekong has many different meanings to the peoples of the region as well as to Americans who may know little of its complexity. Mekong River: Connecting Cultures helped broaden everyone's view.

This program was produced in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Ministry of Culture of the Kingdom of Thailand, the People's Government of Yunnan Province of the People's Republic of China, the Ministry of Information and Culture of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, and the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and in collaboration with Aid to Artisans, Amrita Performing Arts, China Yunnan International Culture Exchange, Connecticut College, and the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre.

Major donors included the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional donor support came from the McKnight Foundation, American Express, the Asian Cultural Council, and the Smithsonian Women's Committee.