2025 Festival, Youth and the Future of Culture,

Festival in Frame: Photos from Day Four

July 5, 2025 | Grace Bowie | Comments

A young woman wearing an orange, sparkly dress over a maroon t-shirt smiles at the camera as another young woman twirls her around. To the left, an off-camera person holds a small, purple disco ball and a young man is talking to the woman in the orange dress. To the right, another young woman is faced away from the camera wearing a wine-red dress and the sunlight creates a flare. — At this prom, adults weren’t chaperones—they were the faces of the dance floor. Visitors and staff alike—pictured here are program interns Jeffrey, Olivia, Liz, and Khaki—took their fancy outfits off the racks for Prom in the Park, where Stax Music Academy’s 910 Band played soul classics and Orquesta Manplesa energized the crowd with salsa.

*Photo by Cassie Roshu, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives*

“You can grow up and still have fun.”
—Anonymous, MoCAT Bathroom Wall

The air may not have been clear today, but our vision for the future of culture sure was.

Mary Beth Tinker, who was suspended from school at age thirteen for wearing an armband to protest the Vietnam War, joined us in The Classroom to reflect on her role in a landmark Supreme Court case and inspire the next generation of activists. Over in the Arts + Industries Building, filmmaker Chloe Barnett and environmental advocate Christine Louis-Jeune talked about the #StopTheBurn campaign in South Florida, and how the power of community organizing and multimedia storytelling go hand in hand. The Shop Talk stage hosted a dialogue with master craftspeople and their apprentices about the importance of upholding high standards of craftsmanship—and pride in a job well done.

Across the Festival grounds, our participants remind us that hard work is just that: hard. Whether you’re building a movement, healing the planet, or creating a masterpiece, it takes time, tenacity, and sometimes tears. But a crucial component of being an effective changemaker is making time for joy—for the things that fill up your cup. So at the end of it all, we danced the night away at Prom in the Park, swirling and twirling and forgetting for a moment about all the work that lies ahead for all of us to shape the future on our own terms.

Keep scrolling to see some of our favorite snapshots from Day Four. And don’t forget to share your own photos from today on social media, using the hashtag #2025Folklife.

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A young woman wearing clear safety goggles and a white patterned bandana on her head leans over a piece of slate, into which she carves the words Smithsonian Institution with a hammer and chisel. — Like father, like daughter. At the 2001 Festival, third-generation stone carver and letterer Nick Benson participated in the *Masters of the Building Arts* program, carving the Smithsonian name into a piece of slate. At the 2025 Festival, his daughter Hope Benson helped to finish the inscription, carving letters on the exact same piece of slate.
Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

A woman holds a child up to the eye piece of a red, black, and white telescope which is pointing up to a blue, cloudy sky. Two people watch the child: to the left, an adult man who’s smiling and wearing sunglasses; to the right, another child squinting and wearing a beige baseball cap. — Stop to look around you, and then look up. Festival visitors joined the National Capital Astronomers club on the National Mall to explore the sky, creating their own spectroscopes during the day and stargazing at night.
Photo by Phillip R. Lee, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

In the foreground, dozens of djembes and other drums sit on grass. Onstage behind the drums, two young men look intently at the music on their music stands, one playing the cymbals and the other playing a large bass drum. — This is what it looks like to be truly locked in. By creating strong relationships between protégés and mentors, the Alliance of Black Orchestral Percussionists creates pathways for young Black musicians to become professional classical musicians.
Photo by Grace Bowie, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

A woman stands onstage behind a kitchen counter with a gas stove on top. She makes a delighted face and holds a sheet pan with bowls of the French Onion Mushroom Soup she just made. To the woman’s right, another woman stands onstage and applauds her. — She ATE that—literally. On the Foodways stage, herbalist Liz Beamon prepared a reinterpreted version of Mary Randolph’s French onion soup from the *Virginia Housewife Cookbook* using foraged mushrooms and the teachings of her mentor, Dr. Leni Sorenson.
Photo by James Dacey, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

Outside the Streetwise tent, visitors unleashed the artist within at the free expression mural by the skateboarding area.

Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

In the foreground, a young person who is seated on a stage looks down at the Eastman guitar he is playing. In the background behind him, another young bandmate plays a stand-up bass and looks off into the distance. — Dylan Lizza just recently graduated from high school, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that from his calm, cool composure and seriously advanced guitar licks. D.C.’s own Dylan Lizza Quartet shared some jazz music standards with the crowd at The Classroom.
Photo by Joshua Davis, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

A man teaches a young girl how to skateboard, holding his hands out to her in case she needs them for support; the girl smiles while looking down at her feet on the skateboard, holding her arms up for balance and leaning back on her right leg. The pair are on a skating rink which is under the cover of a large white tent. — Local skating instructors took the rink to teach young kids how to turn skateboarding into a fun physical activity that inspires confidence and connection.
Photo by Phillip R. Lee, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

A group of people sit in white folding chairs in a circle on a patch of grass, with a tree hanging over them providing shade. A young person sitting at a piano points across the circle. Other people in the circle hold stringed instruments like guitars and fiddles. In the background behind them, event markers that advertise the Youth and the Future of Culture program are visible. — It’s not the Folklife Festival if there isn’t a jam session. Visitors and participants circled up under the shade to play music alongside Vermont-based six-piece band Sugar in the Pan.
Photo by Craig Fergus, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

A young girl wearing a black dress smiles as she exits a stage. Behind her sit three adults, all wearing hats, who smile at her. — Friends, colleagues, neighbors, and family of longtime Folklife curator Olivia Cadaval gathered in the Olivia Cadaval Story Circle to honor the memory of a woman who was generous of heart, mind, and home. Those who shared stories included, here, her great-granddaughter and Folklife co-workers Amy Horowitz, Diana Baird N’Diaye, and Pam Rogers.
Photo by Joshua Davis, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

Tomorrow, rock out at the Battle of the Bands, learn to make chile verde pork gorditas with Chef Checo Alonso, and hear from women and girls in lowrider culture. Don’t miss your chance to explore the cosmos—our sidewalk astronomers will take to the streets again tomorrow for the last time during the Festival. We have double-header concerts in the evening: with Next-Gen Ensembles at 5:30 p.m. and a Community Contradance at 7:30.

See you on the dance floor!

Grace Bowie is the social media specialist for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Media intern Cassie Roshu and editor and web content manager Elisa Hough contributed.

Festival Blog

Festival in Frame: Photos from Day Four

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