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About the Festival
At the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, you can meet communities from around the world presenting music, dance, crafts, foodways, storytelling, and other living traditions. Our goal is to strengthen and preserve these cultures by presenting them on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The next Festival:
June 27–July 1 and July 4–8, 2018.
Hope to see you here!

Looking Ahead

  • Catalonia
    2018 Festival

    Next year our attention will turn internationally, as we highlight cultural heritage enterprises in Africa, Armenia, and Catalonia through fashion, feasts, and other festivities. Expect to experience human towers with the Catalans, Armenian craft and cooking demonstrations, traditional-meets-contemporary styles from around the African continent, and much more.

    As we prepare and collaborate with communities around the world, we’re also planning for the years ahead. In 2019, we will feature the social power of music, as a means to build community, reinforce identity, and influence society, and in 2020 indigenous communities, cultural sustainability, and the environment.

Past Programs
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  • IlluminAsia
    IlluminAsia
    2017 Special Event

    In October 2017 we co-presented a festival celebrating the reopening of the Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries, with music, a street food market, craft activities,martial arts lessons, and more.

  • Circus Arts
    Circus Arts
    2017 Festival

    The Festival brought the rich history, mystique, and diversity of circus to life with performances and a look behind the scenes from generations of American circus families and contemporary visionaries.

  • On the Move
    On the Move
    2017 Festival

    Highlighting the perspectives of youth, this program hosted intergenerational conversations about the interplay of migration, creativity, culture, and the social power of tradition and art.

Support the Center and our important work, including the Folklife Festival, Folkways Recordings, exhibitions, films, and educational materials.
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