The 44th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival will close on July 5th after ten days of activities on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Close to one million visitors are expected to have seen cultural performances, craft demonstrations, discussions, and food preparation demonstrations by Americans of every Asian and Pacific Islander background. More details can be seen a the blog.

The closing of this historic event will take place at 5 p.m. on the Asian Fusions stage of the Festival. Dr. Stephen Kidd, acting director of the Festival, will make remarks, followed by Dr. Konrad Ng, director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program. The closing will be moderated by Phil Tajitsu Nash, curator of the Asian Pacific Americans Folklife Festival program.

The final event of the program will be a twenty-minute story and presentation from Dr. Catherine Yi-yu Cho Woo, the first Asian Pacific American appointed to the National Council of the Arts and a longtime professor of Chinese Studies at San Diego State University. Dr. Woo, also a well-regarded calligrapher, painter, and feng shui master, will present a scroll to the Smithsonian to commemorate the historic Asian Pacific American Folklife program. The scroll will contain the Chinese character that stands for "wind," (from The Classic of Changes), and it will bring the East Wind of fortune to the Smithsonian in its future projects.

Phil Tajitsu Nash is the curator of the Asian Pacific Americans program at the 2010 Folklife Festival.