The O+ Festival returns to Kingston October 9–11, 2026, for its 16th annual celebration of music, art, word, comedy, and wellness. This year’s theme, MO+NUMENTS, explores what we choose to honor, who we elevate, and what becomes possible when the structures we have inherited begin to shift.
For three days, O+ will fill venues and public spaces throughout Kingston with live music, visual and performance art, literary programming, comedy, wellness offerings, community events, and more.
But O+ is not just another festival. Since its founding in 2010, O+ has provided no-cost, on-site healthcare to participating artists and volunteers in exchange for their work and contributions to the festival. Now, 16 years into the story of O+, this model has expanded to provide year round access to low-no cost, exchange-based healthcare to keep the art(ist)s alive in the Hudson Valley and beyond.
MUSIC
Headlining the 2026 music lineup is Lucero, the Memphis-born band whose distinctive blend of punk, rock, country, soul, and storytelling has made them a defining force in American roots music for more than two decades.
The lineup also features rapper and educator MC Lars, DJ Alexis Krauss (of Sleigh Bells), Doug Gillard (of Guided By Voices), Hudson Valley singer-songwriter Matt Pond PA, Pete Bernhard (of The Devil Makes Three), Americana pioneers The Mammals, Only Son (the project of Jack Dishel), NYC Rock n Rollers SKORTS, Gerry Leonard’s Spooky Ghost, the atmospheric, shape-shifting project led by guitarist and longtime David Bowie collaborator, Gifted songwriter Chris Maxwell, JO+ni Jam, a tribute to Joni MItchell featuring many special guests TBA, and over 50+ more. Over 60% of this year’s music lineup is from the Hudson Valley.
ART
The 2026 art program will include public works by Sam Kirk, Casey Inch, Hannah Williams and Justin Lowe with Lon Clark, that celebrate the dignity of workers, the history and natural resources of the region, amplify the wonder of small things and the power of discovering a really good record in the stacks.
Exhibitions of work from Adriane Colburn, Lexa Walsh and Jacinta Bunnell explore systems, on scales ranging from global to intimate, and address the impacts that technology, grief, nostalgia, and connection have on both the individual and the collective.
Critically acclaimed O+ alum inkBoat returns to O+ Festival with “Nobody Told the Flowers to Come Up,” a project that explores the interplay of doing and nondoing, through the lens of ecology, seasonal cycles, and climate disruption.
In addition to participatory projects, projection, installations and dance, the art programming at O+ Festival 2026 presents time-based media as a space for examining all that is human, through light, sound, and storytelling. Short form documentary, Into The Dark by Fiona Otway explores the friendship between the filmmaker and artist Pete Mauney and the delicate dance and brilliant illumination that comes through observing his intimate connection with fireflies. Pablo Aravena returns to O+ with his feature length documentary NEXT: A Primer on Urban Painting and Troy-based filmmaker Nathan Meltz presents The Golem Trilogy, a 30min stop-motion animation about resistance and power alongside a live-score ensemble.
WORD
The literary lineup at O+ will be headlined by Melissa Auf der Maur, who will discuss her new memoir. As a musician, artist, and writer whose work spans music, visual art, photography, and cultural history, Auf der Maur brings a deeply personal perspective to questions of memory, identity, and the stories we carry forward. In addition to this discussion of Auf der Maur’s life and work, the festival marks the return of WO+rd on Sunday, October 11th featuring the voices of eight Hudson Valley based writers sharing their own work in a salon-style program.
COMEDY
Hosted by Sarah LaDuke (WAMC, Folk Alley), the 2026 comedy lineup will feature rising musical comedy duo Griefcat, alongside sets from a number of local up and coming funny folks. Don’t miss interactive “clown daddy show” My Boy, and comedic dance and physical comedy from Tippy Topwell.
MO+NUMENTS
In moments of uncertainty, monuments—whether made of stone or long-held belief—begin to tremble. Across the United States and here in the Hudson Valley, questions of history, power, memory, and belonging are reshaping what we choose to preserve and what we are willing to reconsider.
The land where O+ takes place is the ancestral home of the Lenape, the Mohican, and the Munsee, whose relationships to place precede and exceed Western ideas of monuments and memorials. The region’s history, like its mountains, river valleys, and plateaus, is continually made and unmade. Even stone yields to time. Read more about this year’s theme HERE.
WELLNESS, COMMUNITY, AND THE ARTISTS’ CLINIC
The wellness and community-focused BlO+ck Party will return to Uptown Kingston on Saturday, October 10, with vendors, entertainment, local organizations, health information, screenings, and community resources. No wristbands are necessary for this event, free and open to the public.
ExplO+re, O+’s public-facing wellness programming, will offer opportunities to explore a range of topics and modalities throughout the weekend, including wellness workshops, movement, sound healing, presentations from health experts, hands-on activities, and more.
At the heart of O+ is the Artists’ Clinic, where participating artists, musicians, writers, performers, and volunteers access a variety of healthcare services in exchange for their contributions to the festival. Services have included dental care, acupuncture, chiropractic care, reiki, dermatology, nutrition counseling, physical exams, mental health resources, and more.
At O+, we believe everyone deserves equitable access to healthcare as well as the healing power of art in all of its forms. Proceeds from every by-donation festival wristband directly support O+’s year-round work providing preventative healthcare for artists and building healthier, more resilient communities through the arts.
O+ Festival 2026 wristbands and additional programming announcements will be available at opositivefestival.org/wristbands and through @opositivefest
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