Explore the 2026 calendar and interactive story map to find events in your region!
more
The Festival's Participant Coordinator, Sandi Tun, is also a highly regarded leader in the Burmese American cultural community.
String and percussion music will fill the performance stage today, with Chinese, Japanese, Burmese, and Sikh traditions featured.
The Japanese have a concept known as youhen. It is a tough word to translate without understanding the context.
The Filipino American community came together from 6 to 8 p.m. to fill the performance tent with two hours of music and dance that ranged from traditional to modern.
Today brings more cooks, performers, Talkstory panelists, and family activities.
We watched a Monkey King dance across the performance stage and heard music from Indonesia, Bengal, Japan, and China
The Festival site looked great yesterday, and the recently arrived México program participants could be seen chatting with folks from the Asian Pacific Americans and Smithsonian Inside Out programs
Many APA festivals encourage each group to come, perform their music or dance, and then leave. At this festival, groups will perform their own repertoire as usual, but they also have been asked to collaborate with a group from another APA culture.
The Fourth of July is a patriotic holiday in this country. Firecrackers, cookouts, and celebration of war veterans are traditional.
An especially enjoyable aspect of planning this festival was getting to see and hear the many talented APA performers in the D.C. area.
Support the Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, sustainability projects, educational outreach, and more.