To complement and commemorate the upcoming opening of its new center for Asian art, the Ringling Museum announced a special line-up for Ringling International Arts Festival 2015, bringing all seven performances from the varied cultures of the Asian continent, retaining the international and contemporary spirit, but in a more focused manner than before.

“It’s not very often that what you should do is what you want to do and that you are able to do it,” said Dwight Currie to the crowd assembled last night at the Historic Asolo Theatre. With the arrival of the center for Asian art and a growing feeling that Asian art was underrepresented, Currie reached out to Stanford Makishi, vice president of programming at New York City Center and associate producer of the Center’s Fall for Dance festival, to help craft the roster for RIAF 2015.

The roster includes Phare: The Cambodian Circus, a professional touring circus that grew out of a program for at-risk youth in Cambodia. Combining theater, music, dance and feats of strength and balance, it’s a spectacle that seems both familiar and excitingly new. “It would be the perfect thing for Ringling,” said Makishi. “This is an extremely rare opportunity.” Also performing in the Mertz Theatre, Tao Dance Theater is one of China’s most acclaimed contemporary dance troupes, combining abstract choreography with technical precision.

The Cook Theatre will feature a trio of more intimate performances, beginning with Ronnarong Khampha, bringing the traditional dances of Thailand to the stage with a contemporary aesthetic. Indonesian composer and musician Peni Candra Rini will also take the stage, performing traditional and contemporary compositions with a voice Makishi said, “can only be described as angelic and bell-like.” Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu, American-born to Taiwanese and East Timorese parentage, brings her monodramas – “Kind of a solo opera,” according to Makishi – to round out the trio.

Remaining performers include master puppeteer Tom Lee, who will be workshopping and finishing his new production Shank’s Mare to show at RIAF before the scheduled New York premiere in November, and the Indonesian band Orkes Sinten Remen. “I saw them perform live in Jakarta twice and they’re just joyous,” said Makishi of the band. “If you listen to a recording, you can hear them smiling.”

RIAF 2015 opens Oct. 15 and concludes Oct. 18. Now in its seventh year, this will be the second year that RIAF has been under the sole creative control of the Ringling Museum, following the departure of founding partner the Baryshnikov Arts Center. Tickets are currently on sale.