The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is held outdoors on the National Mall, and our team is committed to making the event as accessible and enjoyable as possible for all visitors with disabilities. American Sign Language interpreters are scheduled throughout the day at selected stages clearly marked on the Festival schedule. This year, we will also offer CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation), which provides real-time captioning/transcription, and dates and times will be indicated on the Festival schedule.

Visit us at Information kiosks and at the Volunteer Tent, where we offer wheelchairs on loan, large-print versions of the daily schedule and food concession menus, and Festival program books on CD and in other formats upon request. Information kiosks are located at several points around the Festival site, and the Volunteer Tent is located in the Festival Services area near the Smithsonian Metrorail station’s Mall exit.

Verbal-description and tactile tours are scheduled for July 2 and July 8 at 1:30 p.m. for visitors who are blind or have low vision; reservations may be made by e-mailing access@si.edu. To request other access services not listed above, please call (202) 633-2921 (voice) or e-mail access@si.edu. All music-stage locations are equipped with audio loops.

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival welcomes all service animals.

Van Luong is the festival blogger for the 2011 Folklife Festival.