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Festival Sponsorship

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

The Festival is supported by a mix of federally appropriated funds; Smithsonian trust funds; contributions from governments, businesses, foundations, and individuals; in-kind assistance; and food, recording, and craft sales.

In 2026, the Culture of, by, and for the People initiative received support from Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250, a Smithsonian-wide initiative commemorating the nation’s 250th. Signature support for Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250 has been provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. Additional generous contributions have been made by Target.

A crowd of people sit in the grass in front of an outdoor stage, flanked by purple banners for Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Behind it is the U.S. Capitol Building.
2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

The Folklife Festival receives approximately thirty percent of its infrastructure costs from the federal government. Every year the remaining seventy percent—as well as all of its program-related expenses—must be raised from outside sources. Your generous support enables us to continue promoting culture of, by, and for the people!

Join our circle of support.

Questions? Contact donor relations specialist Claire Morgan at MorganC@si.edu.

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