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  • 2025 Festival, Youth and the Future of Culture,

    Festival in Frame: Photos from Day Three

    July 4, 2025 | Cassie Roshu | Comments
    Two young performers dancing and wearing red t-shirts designed with a white logo for Stax Music Academy’s 25th anniversary; a person stands onstage behind them, translating to American Sign Language for an off-camera audience.

    Stax Music Academy’s 910 Band took to the Main Stage to perform soul music classics. Earlier in the day, a panel of youth musicians and mentors from the academy discussed their experiences in music education, grounded in the history of the iconic Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee.

    Photo by Shannon Binns, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

    “Who are the youth?” asked Raynor Carroll, CEO and co-founder of the Alliance of Black Orchestral Percussionists.

    His protégés answered, “Us.”

    At the 2025 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, one thing is clear: young people are boldly expressing who they are, advocating for a future—but also a present—where authenticity and respect for their heritage are at the forefront of culture. They educated for change through the exchange of recipes and teachings about revitalization efforts; they honed their creativity through media arts workshops and storytelling; and they honored their roots, ending the day with a concert reimagining definitions of the “Americana” musical landscape.

    Share your own photos from today on social media, using the hashtag #2025Folklife. But before you do that, scroll through our photos below.

    A young kid lies belly-down in the grass, head tilted up and smiling. On the stage behind him, two people sit and motion as if rowing a boat. Three stand and play large circular hand drums.
    What’s that in that “water”? The Kodiak Alutiiq Dancers performed a traditional hunting song, acting out pursuing their youngest performer (“the seal”), bringing him aboard their vessel, deciding he is too small, and sending him back out to sea.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A young man and woman stand onstage both raising their right hand in a similar manner. The man rests his left arm on the top of a whiteboard that has words from the Mohawk language and their pronunciations, as well as their English translations, written on it.
    The Ionkwahronkha’onhatie team teaches visitors greetings and introductions in Kanien’kéha, an Iroquoian language spoken by Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) people.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A young woman balances herself between two wooden logs. She uses a Disston brand saw to saw a notch into the top of one of the logs. She holds a pencil in her teeth and has a big smile on her face. She wears a baseball cap that has a logo reading Stewards Individual Placements and the sleeve of her t-shirt reads Conservation Legacy.
    Hard work can be fun too! An intern from the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center’s Traditional Trades Advancement Program demonstrated traditional Appalachian-style log building.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    In a warmly lit tent, three people engage in conversation: one sitting on a stool and holding a microphone, another on a yellow beanbag chair, and one lying down on a bed. On the wall behind them is collage artwork taped up to floral wallpaper.
    The MoCAT Bedroom—decorated with collage art, childhood memories, and a curated wardrobe—is an informal space for conversation and creative expression. Today, Sophia Borlase and Clara Osorio led a “Dear Diary” discussion on the difficulty of getting into and choosing the right college.
    Photo by Shannon Binns, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Two people stand on either side of a free-standing wall covered in colorful graffiti art. One holds a respirator, and the other holds a plastic cup and a can of spray paint and wears a silly pink squid hat.
    Artists with the RedCan Invitational Graffiti Jam represented the cephalopods and the Cheyenne River Youth Project, a Native- and women-led nonprofit supporting Lakota youth.
    Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A small square of silver with a cursive letter S on it is heated from above by a blowtorch and shaped with a very thin needle. The square of silver rests on a brick that shows clear signs of previous heating and burning.
    Burn, baby, burn. The artists from SWEDA, an Indonesian jewelry brand that uses traditional silver craftsmanship, demonstrate intricate pendant-making techniques and artistry. Fun fact: the word sweda means “fingers” in Old Javanese.
    Photo by Stanley Turk, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A large group of people sit scattered across benches in a circle at an outdoor venue. In the center of the circle, a person kneels on a mat with four rectangular pieces of cloth lined up horizontally in front of them. A man wearing a blue t-shirt and a baseball cap is standing between two benches and speaking in a microphone while gesturing at the game being played on the mat.
    Mahkisina ayootaawi meehkintiinki! Let’s play moccasin game! In this Myaamia game of deception and deduction, one team hides a stone or marble under each of four decorative mats (or moccasins), while the other tries to uncover them in a particular order.
    Photo by Anna Beth Lee, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Five young students wearing blue and white regalia from the Northern Mariana Islands perform onstage; two of them kneel, while three fan their skirts.
    Students and teachers from the POLKSAI Guman Chamorro, a high school performing arts group from the Northern Mariana Islands, share Chamorro songs, chants, and stories at The Classroom.
    Photo by Stanley Turk, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A crowd on the National Mall, some in folding chairs. A semi-trailer is painted orange on the long side with the words The Smithsonian Folklife Festival Has Arrived, and on the short side the Smithsonian Folklife Festival logo in black and aqua. In the background, the red brick of the Smithsonian Castle.
    At the end of the day, crowds gathered for the Fourth of July fireworks and caught the “Americana Reimagined” concert. The Festival’s “mural truck” was designed and painted by 2023 Ozarks program participant Olivia Trimble.
    Photo by Shannon Binns, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

    Tomorrow, create new words with Native language learners, join Crushed Skate Shop to see local talent in action, hula with Hālau I Ka Leo Ola O Nā Mamo, and be sure to end your night with a dance under the stars at this year’s Prom in the Park.

    Cassie Roshu is a media intern at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Editor and web content manager Elisa Hough and social media specialist Grace Bowie contributed.

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