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About the Festival
At the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, experience living traditions from around the world. Our goal is to work with communities to strengthen and preserve their cultures and share them with you on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The next event is
June 29 and 30, 2019
See the press release about the changes this year.

Looking Ahead

  • Photo by Kerri Redding, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    2019

    A weekend of performances on the National Mall will illuminate the social power of music. On the evening of Saturday, June 29, we will launch with a concert featuring artists from the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings roster and beyond. On the morning of Sunday, June 30, we will present a family concert celebrating the life and legacy of Pete Seeger, who would have been 100 years old in 2019.

    2020

    We’ll be back in full form next year with the musical cultures of Benin, Brazil, D.C., and the Southern United States. We will also explore the many ways that people use cultural knowledge to address environmental change, along with our partners at the Smithsonian Conservation Commons, Solar Decathlon, and others.

Past Programs
more
  • Rhythm and Blues: Tell It Like It Is
    Rhythm and Blues: Tell It Like It Is
    2011 Festival

    Drawing from the deep tributaries of African American expressive culture, rhythm and blues is an amalgam of jump blues, big band swing, gospel, boogie, and blues that developed during racial segregation, three wars, and the struggle for civil rights.

  • Las Américas: Music in Latino Culture
    Las Américas: Music in Latino Culture
    2009 Festival

    The final installment of the Festival’s Nuestra Música series featured Puerto Rican bomba, Mexican son, Colombian joropo, Dominican merengue típico, Venezuelan música llanera, Paraguayan polca, Salvadoran chanchona, and much more.

  • The Silk Road
    The Silk Road
    2002 Festival

    The Silk Road was a vast network of trade routes whose flow of ideas, culture, music, and art spread from East Asia to the Mediterranean. This landmark Festival brought together diverse artists from across the Eurasian continent.

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