The folks at Spoleto Festival USA like to be coy when it comes to teasing their festival lineup before they’re ready. But with Spoleto 2016, they played it just a little bit differently. Months before SPUSA made their traditional January announcement, word had gotten out that the Charleston-set folk opera Porgy and Bess would be Spoleto’s signature event. However, there were more Charleston connections to come. Jazz singer René Marie was commissioned to write a song honoring the Emanuel Nine, while visual artist Carrie Mae Weems is currently crafting a mixed-media performance inspired by President Barack Obama’s eulogy of the late Rev. Clementa Pinckney. The festival will also offer what many believe is the first performance of African-American, Charleston-born composer Edmund Thornton Jenkins’ Afram Ou La Belle Swita, as well as a series of Porgy and Bess events ranging from lectures to walking tours to exhibitions. —Chris Haire