The Annapolis Songwriters Festival turns parts of Maryland’s small-town state capital into a stage over four days, Thursday through Sunday.

Yes, the 10 ticketed acts at City Dock, Rams’ Head on Stage and other locations are the draw for most people, starting with Johnnyswim and ending with Kimberly Perry. But maybe the excitement should be just as focused on the 55 local acts that will perform for free across 16 venues set up within a short walk downtown.

No one may be more excited than Daphne Eckman, a young Annapolis performer who will share the stage set up at Red, Red Wine Bar + Bistro on Main Street with eight other singers over three hours Friday night.

“Annapolis becomes Nashville for, like, a weekend, and it’s just so cool,” she said. “And the energy is palpable, and … there’s music literally everywhere and everyone is great and it’s cool.”

Eckman debuted her first album back in January at Rams Head On Stage, part of the company that puts on the festival and a similar one in Key West. But for a local act, the venue can be a bit intimidating. An audience there can reach 500, compared to just 40 in the listening room at the 49 West Coffeehouse down the street.

That means Eckman and her band have been playing this year to promote that first record, “where you left me.” She’s been on stages as far away as New York and as close as Baltimore but seldom in her hometown. She submitted the song “acupuncture” from her album to NPR’s Tiny Desk competition.

She’ll be playing that Friday night.

“Might be playing some new songs that I’ve been toying with. But most of the music that I’ll be playing will have already either ... [been out or is] to be released before the end of the year,” she said.

When you’re a young singer, people are bound to ask what kind of music you play. Listening to her recordings, I was struck by the vulnerability in her voice and the rich sound of her band. Her lyrics focus on emotions and subjects she describes as relationships and her quest for autonomy.

“When I write the music itself, like the instrumentals, I’m trying to break out of patterns that I find myself in, at least, like lyrical tropes or just musical tropes,” she said. “I’m just experimenting, trying different genres, not trying to be boxed in much.”

After Annapolis, Eckman and her band will start a 13-city tour that starts in Washington, D.C., and includes stops in Chicago, Nashville and Atlanta before ending at Metro Baltimore on Saturday, Nov. 9. They’ll be joined by the group Diet Lemon on the tour.

After that, well, she’s working on preparing pieces that didn’t make the album for release.

“I want to strip away all of the music business aspects of, you know, preparing for a release and just start randomly dropping songs. Because I feel like people are just hungry for music, and you know, it’ll find its audience,” she said.

The festival kicks off at 5 p.m. Thursday. Use the music schedule during the Annapolis Songwriters Festival to pick out a venue or artists. Tickets for the big shows start at $35 and go up to $100 for general admission. Special features this year include Water Taxi Karaoke, guitar giveaways by PRS and Bose Listening Lounge demonstrating new headphone models.

It’s a busy weekend in Annapolis. Here are some other great things to do through Sept. 19.

Curtain up

8 p.m. Friday

The fall season of theatrical premieres continues this week with the Compass Rose Theater production of “Intimate Apparel” at Maryland Hall.

The 2003 drama by playwright Lynn Nottage tells the story of a young Black woman who travels to New York in 1905 and explores the world through love and relationships. Danielle Curry stars as the central character, Esther.

The show runs through Oct. 6 in the Bowen Theater. Ticket prices vary.

Cultural contributions

10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday

For decades, Annapolis has celebrated the central character in Alex Haley’s 1976 book “Roots: The Saga of an American Family” with the Kunta Kinte Heritage Festival.

This year, it moves to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and is headlined by gospel and R&B singer Keke Wyatt.

The festival celebrates the cultural contributions of Africans, African Americans and Caribbean people of African descent. In addition to music and programs on three stages, there are more than 150 food and craft vendors. Admission is free. Parking at the stadium is $10 in advance and $15 on Saturday.

Psycho-emotional art

Until 6:30 p.m. Saturday

“Theatre of Turmoil,” the new exhibit at the Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Museum, opens to the public at St. John’s College. The collection of black-and-white reproductions of paintings from the Baroque to the modern era explores the idea of turmoil in artists such as Gentileschi, Géricault, Goya and others.

The exhibit is on view through Dec. 8. Admission is free.

Yum on the bay

11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

After a stint downtown last year, the Maryland Seafood Festival returns to Sandy Point State Park for two days of music, food, contests and great views of the Chesapeake Bay. A highlight of the festival is the crab soup contest on Saturday, with prizes given for cream, vegetable and alternative soups featuring Maryland crab.

General admission is $15 in advance, $20 at the gate. The soup contest tickets, including samples and a chance to vote for the people’s choice winner, are $15. Tickets for food and drink and on-site parking are sold separately. A shuttle connects with satellite parking at Anne Arundel Community College.

Mangia, mangia

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday

The Sons and Daughters of Italy hold their celebration of Italian culture, the Fall Italian Festa, at their lodge at 620 Ridgely Ave. Homemade food, cooking demonstrations and craft vendors fill the day.

Admission and parking are free, food and drink are sold separately. Proceeds support local and national charities.

Women at war

7 p.m. Wednesday

The Annapolis Film Society will screen the film “Lee.”

Elizabeth “Lee” Miller was a fashion model who became a World War II war correspondent for Vogue magazine. She photographed and wrote about the London Blitz while living in England, the liberation of Paris in 1944 and the concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau.

The film stars Kate Winslet, Josh O’Connor and Andrea Riseborough. Tickets to the showing in the Bowen Theater at Maryland Hall are $20 plus fees.