Smithsonian Folklife

09/18/2026

Postcard stamps from the 1976 Festival of American Folklife. ✉️

In the summer of 1976, we celebrated the nation's 200th anniversary with a twelve-week Festival on the National Mall. More than 5,000 participants and some 4.5 million visitors took part in the Bicentennial festivities.

Beyond the Mall, this landmark event inspired folk arts programs and festivals across the country—many of which continue to serve Americans today.

Photos from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

09/17/2026

"Farmers farm for the love of farming.”

As the late Wendell Berry expressed, farming is a labor of love. Especially for small family farms, it takes a great deal of knowledge, skill, and resilience to live with the land in a way that is sustainable for both people and planet.

In the wake of the 1980s farm crisis, Willie Nelson joined forces with fellow musicians Neil Young and John Mellencamp to organize the first ever Farm Aid concert in 1985, to raise both awareness of the crisis and also funds to keep family farmers on the land.

A few years later, the 1991 Smithsonian Folklife Festival (known then as the Festival of American Folklife) sought to highlight one of the lesser discussed aspects of the crisis: as farms foreclosed and younger generations were forced to seek out other careers, what happens to the occupational folklife of family farmers?

This year, the two organizations are joining forces and collaborating as part of "Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals." On September 26, Virginia Beach will fill with farmers, eaters, and artists who are coming together to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture.

On the Festival Blog, take a journey through the archives and learn more about family farming folklore: https://s.si.edu/4rcaQnV



1-2) 1991 Festival of American Folklife, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
3-4) © Paul Natkin / Farm Aid

09/15/2026

“Folk is what comes from the heart.”

The second installment of "Rhythms, Roots, Recipes: Community Stories of Food and Music" brought Armenian American culture centerstage at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History demonstration kitchen.

Boris and Berj Ghazarian, father-and-son chef duo of Bark Barbecue Co. in Stevensville, Maryland, prepared ghapama, a showstopping stuffed pumpkin, and manti, small meat-filled dumplings served with garlicky yogurt or tomato-sumac sauce.

Acclaimed a ca****la trio Zulal shared Armenian folksongs of family, love, food, and community. Journalist Liana Aghajanian led the musical and culinary conversation, highlighting the diversity of the diaspora and the evolution of Armenian heritage across generations and geography.

Learn more about this public programming series: https://s.si.edu/44uL6IN

09/14/2026

Around the world, we see that engagement in cultural heritage practices positively impacts the well-being of individuals and communities.

At the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, we seek to research, understand, and illuminate the role that cultural heritage plays in promoting health and well-being. This interdisciplinary work will help us raise understanding about why our traditions matter—and deserve study, preservation, and investment.

We are thrilled to be partnering with Morgan State University School of Community Health & Policy (SCHP) to explore the intersection of cultural practices and well-being through research and public programming.

Learn more about this new partnership on our website: https://s.si.edu/4r7F2Am

Photos by Amy Wilson, Sonya Pencheva, and Stanley Turk, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

09/10/2026

Join us this Saturday at the National Museum of American History from 1–2:15 p.m. for "Feed Me Now and Evermore: The Enduring Power of African American Sunday Suppers." 🥘

In many African American homes, the Sunday supper remains an important moment to reconnect among family, honor ancestral ties, and share recipes reflecting history, faith, and community.

In this cooking demonstration, chef and artist Roscoe Hall and author and food historian Adrian Miller explore why the Sunday supper continues to be a cornerstone of family and cultural life. As Hall prepares brown butter crab rice and collard greens, Arkansas-based S. Juain Young & Artists United perform songs from the African American church that have long nourished hearts, souls, and movements.

Accessibility services including ASL interpretation, live real-time captioning, and assisted listening devices are available for this program.

This event is the latest installment of "Rhythms, Roots, Recipes: Community Stories of Food and Music," a public program series that weaves together musical performances, cooking demonstrations, and storytelling. Learn more on our website: https://s.si.edu/44uL6IN

Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

09/10/2026

Our "We the Farmers" Takeover in partnership with the Neptune Festival Boardwalk Weekend will take place in Virginia Beach on Friday, September 25.

09/09/2026

"Every generation receives a sacred story and bears the responsibility of carrying it forward with integrity, courage, and hope."

These words from Rev. Dr. Ronald W. Whitaker, II, encapsulate the story of the August Quarterly—the longest-running collaborating festival in this year's "Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals."

After a fire devastated the Mother African Union Church earlier this year, the annual August Quarterly Festival continued on, carrying with it a message of hope and perseverance. For a week in Wilmington, Delaware, hundreds gathered to celebrate faith, community, and freedom.

We were honored to be a part of this year's gathering and bear witness to—as Rev. Dr. Whitaker writes—how "buildings can be destroyed, but vision cannot."

Learn more about the Festival of Festivals: https://s.si.edu/4uR4rii

Photos by Josh Weilepp and Grace Bowie, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

09/08/2026

09/08/2026

This is how Nevada’s state cocktail connects us to the lonely Basque sheepherder 🐑

Starting in the late nineteenth century, immigrants from the Basque region of northern Spain and southwestern France came to the western United States in search of opportunity. Some made the move on labor contracts with sheep companies or broader groups such as the Western Range Association, but many came on their own. They spent the majority of the year in solitude, tending sheep in the high mountains, miles from even the most remote road and half a world away from home.

But in the off-season, they found community in the Basque boardinghouses and restaurants that offered familiar food, their native language, and companionship. These establishments, found across the American West, served a stiff, bitter cocktail popular among the French Basques called the Picon Punch.

The drink came to represent the Basque diaspora of the American West more than the Basque country itself. Recognizing its cultural significance, the governor of Nevada named the Picon Punch the state drink in 2025. Today, you’ll find it on the cocktail menus of remaining Basque restaurants and other bars leaning into the local lore.

For on September 8, scholar Carmelo Urza writes more about the diaspora and the importance of Basque drinking rituals in Folklife Magazine: https://s.si.edu/4yiFwGd

09/07/2026

Our team just wrapped the Heritage in Motion learning exchange, which included UNBOUND: Almaty x Tucson—an unforgettable concert joining musicians from Kazakhstan and the American Southwest for a lively evening at the Huns Ethnic Village (Этно аул "Гунны")!

This learning exchange brought five Tucson-based master musicians and a delegation from the Tucson Meet Yourself festival to Almaty, Kazakhstan, in partnership with our host organization, Music Unbound.

The delegation featured classical guitarist and member of the Pascua Yaqui tribe Gabriel Ayala (Image 7), American folk artist Dan Levenson (Image 2, left), and members of Las Azaleas (Image 5, Las Azaleas)—an all-Latina mariachi-inspired ensemble led by opera singer Diana Olivares with vocalists Azul Navarrete-Valera and Yvette Lans. Together, the delegation represented distinctive musical traditions of the greater Southwest rooted in a specific community, lineage, and landscape.

Highlights of the exchange included learning sessions with Kazakh master musicians, a visit to the Abilkhan Kasteev State Art Museum, conversations with intangible cultural heritage professionals, and rehearsals for the concert with the Almaty host musicians. At the heart of the experience was genuine musical and cultural exchange—Tucson and Almaty artists learning about one another's heritage, discovering new instruments and genres, and blending their songs together to create something entirely new. Along the way, they built the kind of lasting friendships and connections that only come from making music together.

This effort is part of the planning for a 2027 Smithsonian Folklife Festival program highlighting Almaty and Tucson and celebrating the cultural vitality and shared traditions of both cities. Read more about our work in Kazakhstan: https://s.si.edu/4A0N7es

Click to the end to see musician Yvette Lans signaling all our love for this adventurous and productive week! Until next time, Almaty 🏔️✨

📸: UNBOUND: Almaty x Tucson courtesy of Maya Khovansky and Yvette Lans.