This summer marks the 25th annual Festival of American Folklife. Over the years more than 16,000 musicians, dancers, craftspeople, storytellers, cooks, workers, and other bearers of traditional culture from every region of the United States and every part of the globe have come to the National Mall in Washington to illustrate the art, knowledge, skill and wisdom developed within their local communities. They have sung and woven, cooked and danced, spun and stitched a tapestry of human cultural diversity; they have aptly demonstrated its priceless value. Their presence has changed the National Mall and the Smithsonian Institution.