This is a story of how a Smithsonian Folklife Festival structure comes to life.

In the fall of 2024, Natalia Alfonzo Mudoy interned at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage as part of the National Museum of the American Latino’s Latino Museum Studies Program. During their internship, working with Festival technical director Tyler Nelson, Natalia conceptualized and designed what would become The Hallway at the 2025 Festival. In the spring, they were hired onto the tech crew to fabricate and install the structure on the National Mall, providing an interactive pathway for visitors into the Festival grounds.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 1 / 5
  A set of lockers hang on The Hallway’s exterior, home to books and journals that resemble what young people might store at school. Opening the materials to see what hides between the covers offers guests a glimpse into the teenage mind.
  Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
• 2 / 5
  Festival technical director Tyler Nelson (left) and Natalia Alfonso Mudoy (right) show off the vocabulary wall, which explores slang developed by youth throughout the last century.
  Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
• 3 / 5
  “What is your ideal date spot?” The polling wall seeks to find out what young people are doing nowadays and how it has changed with a live visualizer of preferences and values among various generations.
  Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
• 4 / 5
  “What is something you’d like to tell your younger self?” The chalkboard serves as a tool for intergenerational conversation and interaction—to discuss polling wall results, ask and answer questions, and inspire dialogue.
  Photo by Cassie Roshu, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
• 5 / 5
  The photo wall highlights examples of the accomplishments, strength, and leadership of youth, past and present.
  Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

Click photo to open slideshow

Natalia provided this artist statement to explain the inspiration and aspirations for The Hallway:

Adolescence is something all experience and many may like to forget. Widely varied due to region, era, race, and countless other factors, youth culture is experientially unique yet connected by core themes of creativity, ingenuity, play, and plasticity. However, as children grow into teens, adults, and beyond, it is common to become more detached and critical of what younger generations say, do, or think.

With this structure, I want to foster empathy and respect toward young people. The photo wall highlights examples of the accomplishments, strength, and leadership of youth, past and present. While some may believe that slang is foolish or silly, it is constantly evolving through young people. The vocabulary wall explores the vocabulary developed by youth throughout history.

Relating to youth is another challenge—what do they even do nowadays? The polling wall answers this question with a live visualizer of preferences and values among various generations. Finally, the chalkboard serves as a tool for intergenerational conversation and interaction—to discuss polling wall results, ask and answer questions, and inspire dialogue.

I hope that through this reflection on our own adolescence, recognition of the accomplishments of youth, and engagement with youth culture, audiences of all ages leave with greater empathy and connection with other generations.

Natalia Alfonzo Mudoy is an industrial design student at Arizona State University and an exhibition designer and fabricator at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.