https://folklife.si.edu/, https://festival.si.edu/

Smithsonian Folklife, 600 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington D.C., DC (2026)

06/03/2026

Have you ever wondered how a museum keeps a life-sized cow carved out of butter from melting? Or how many millions of insects are represented in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's collections? Or what it takes to restore the Smithsonian Castle? 🧈🪲

We've got answers. "For the Common Good: Smithsonian Voices on Our Shared Future 250" is a conversation series where Smithsonian staff will explore how their work in museums, research and education centers, and a zoological park illuminates the ideals of a nation and contributes to our shared future.

Join us in the historic Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building and online, Tuesdays through Sundays, June 16 to July 11, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET. All sessions are open to the public and streaming on YouTube, where they will remain available to watch. ASL interpretation and live captioning will be available both in person and on the livestream video.

View the full schedule of programming: https://s.si.edu/4uMSNFS

📸:
1) Butter cow created by master butter sculptor Sarah Pratt and her daughters, Hannah and Grace, featured in “State Fairs: Growing American Craft” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery.

2) Just a handful of the roughly 7 million beetles in the National Museum of Natural History's insect collection.

3) Amidst its first major renovation in more than 50 years, the Smithsonian Castle is open from May 22 through September 7.

06/02/2026

We are thrilled to be collaborating with the National Children's Museum to present the DC STEAM Expo this Saturday, June 6, at Coulter Plaza inside the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. 🧪🧬

Kicking off in January, approximately 80-100 fourth grade students from 10 schools across all eight wards of D.C embarked on an exploration program consisting of monthly meetings and project development with support from school and Museum educators.

Students received an open-ended prompt that challenged them to apply science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) concepts in developing creative solutions to issues affecting their neighborhoods. The outcomes of their investigations will be celebrated and presented at the poster-based science fair this weekend!

Be sure to stop by from 12:30 – 3:30 p.m. this Saturday and celebrate D.C.'s innovative problem-solvers! Learn more on our schedule: https://s.si.edu/4uOLgGu

Photo courtesy of the National Children's Museum

06/01/2026

Something's coming, something good... 🎨

While the Smithsonian Folklife Festival travels the country this year with "Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals," we wanted to make sure our community in Washington, D.C., didn't miss out on any of the fun.

From June 16–July 12, the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage will host free programs in the Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building, including the Folklife Marketplace gift shop, hands-on activities with artists and radio DJs, a pop-up exhibition of objects and stories from past Folklife Festivals, and the conversation series “For the Common Good: Smithsonian Voices on Our Shared Future 250.”

At the Folklife Marketplace, artists and makers from across the United States will come together in a place where culture is not just displayed but actively exchanged—a living expression of craft, creativity, and community. The poster featured below, created by Globe Collection and Press at MICA, is one of four commemorative illustrations for this year's festivities that will be available for purchase. Visitors can shop, attend hands-on workshops with local and visiting artists, and enjoy music and interviews.

Interested in participating in a workshop? See the full schedule of events in D.C. and register today: https://s.si.edu/3PLnNqt

*Please note that workshops vary in format, skill level, and price. Some workshops may be offered in-person or online. Additionally, some workshops are free while others require a paid participant fee. Be sure to check all the details before you register.*

05/30/2026

Folklife, coast to coast. ✈️

For 55 years, the Northwest Folklife Festival has served the Pacific Northwest as a beacon of its regional arts and culture. As part of the Smithsonian Festival of Festivals this year, our tech crew and Foodways team came together to collaborate with our friends in Seattle to design a new Community Foodways Kitchen for the festival. 🍴

Additionally, the SuperFolk Smithsonian Showcase on Friday evening brought together artists from different backgrounds and styles to demonstrate in real time how music and art can change and morph as the art form and the story get passed around and improvised over. 🎶

Learn more about this year's "Culture of, by, and for the people" initiative: festival.si.edu

05/29/2026

✨🧵🖼️ For the final day of this takeover, program manager Sloane Keller shares more about stunning artisan studios throughout Almaty, Kazakhstan:

On our final day of the Almaty Artisan Retreat, artisans from across the cohort gathered for a panel on the sister city relationship between Almaty and Tucson. Each participant left with a creative roadmap: one action statement, three concrete steps, and a clearer picture of where their practice is headed (Images 2–4). Then it was time to explore art exhibits and studio visits across the city!

Zeinelkhan Mukhamedzhan is a master embroiderer and member of the Kazakhstan Union of Artisans (Союз ремесленников Казахстана). We are no strangers to Mukhamedzhan, his daughter Botakoz Zeinelkhan, and their intricate embroidery. But this marked our first time experiencing their work at the Abilkhan Kasteev State Art Museum (5–6). Viewing art alongside the artists is always a privilege!

Later, we descended a back staircase to the bright and open studio of ceramicist Daniyar Babashov (7, right). Babashov has built a successful practice creating traditional Kazakh tableware, but what struck us most was his equal devotion to fine art ceramics and training the next generation of makers.

Another highlight was connecting with one of several silversmiths part of the Kazakhstan Artisan Initiative, Serikkaliy Kokenov! Kokenov has created a jewelry studio of intention, tradition, and exacting craft. Though we loved admiring his collection of decorated belts and ornamental rings (8), one of the most memorable items was the stone casting mold, worn smooth from years of use (9). In Kazakhstan, metalworking goes back thousands of years and remains one of the most vital threads in Kazakh cultural identity.

Click to the end (10) for our favorite kind of overcast-and-in-the-zone studio mood—and explore the initiatives webpage to learn more! https://s.si.edu/42W4E7Q

Image 1: The Almaty Artisan Retreat cohort visiting ceramicist Daniyar Babashov's studio.

Images by Sloane Keller and Lesli Robertson

05/28/2026

😁 Takeover alert! We're taking you to Almaty, Kazakhstan, for a look inside the Almaty Artisan Retreat—a four-day experience of craft, mentorship, and cultural exchange as part of the Kazakhstan Artisan Initiative:

Program manager Sloane here! In April, we gathered a cohort of artisans from the American Southwest and from around Kazakhstan (Image 1) for a first-of-its-kind retreat in Almaty. The experience included workshops, documentation sessions, and some genuinely unforgettable conversations about what it means to carry a living tradition forward.

From silversmiths and potters to ceramicists and weavers, each of the participants was a practicing artisan and a keeper of craft specific to their community and heritage. To kick things off on the first day, we asked the artisans to convey through drawing their first memory of their craft (2&3). The answers set the tone for everything that followed!

On the second day, Diné (Navajo) silversmith Shane Beeshligaii (4, middle) led participants through the making of copper bracelets (5) and demonstrated his stone and shell micro-inlay technique for rings. He shared his journey with silversmithing, how he learned from his father, and what it means to pass technique down alongside the stories that come with it.

Day three of the retreat brought us to the ceramics table—and it did not disappoint! Wa:k O'odham multimedia artist Harrison Preston and master Tohono O'odham potter Kathleen Vance led the group through hand-building with pinch pots and effigy techniques (6-9), burnishing, and incorporating personal marks into finished pieces. They also shared the story behind the O'odham Haha'adam Collective, a group of Tohono O’odham potters whose goal is to advocate for and educate about Tohono O’odham pottery making traditions.

But truly, is an artisan retreat complete without studio visits? Stay tuned tomorrow when we share our experience visiting several much-anticipated studios—each one a world of its own! Learn more about the initiative: https://s.si.edu/42W4E7Q

Images by Sloane Keller and Lesli Robertson

05/26/2026

We remember Marideth Sisco, a singer-storyteller who passed away last week at the age of 82.

A born storyteller, a career journalist, and a gifted singer, Sisco was named a Missouri Master Storyteller by the Missouri Folk Arts Program. She also served as a music consultant and featured singer for the 2010 feature film “Winter’s Bone,” which garnered four Academy Award nominations. At the 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Sisco lit up stages every day of the event on the National Mall with tales from the Ozarks as a part of "The Ozarks: Faces and Facets of a Region."

On our Festival Blog, she told the story of the Ozarks itself—how the area developed geologically and culturally. Her story remains one of our most-viewed pieces of the past several years.

Read her words, unedited and unabridged: https://s.si.edu/45ujj9F

📷: Marideth Sisco at the 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, joined by Pam Setser, Rachel Reynolds, and Cindy Woolf. Photos by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

05/24/2026

We asked a few staff members of Northwest Folklife and Smithsonian Folklife how they define the term that animates our work: folklife. This weekend at the fifty-fifth annual Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle, Washington, we are seeing folklife in action through music and dance performances, craft and kitchen demonstrations, and the kind of gathering that reveals the spirit of community.

How do YOU define folklife? Or rather, HOW do you folklife?

Music: Zambuko Marimba Ensemble

05/22/2026

Festivals bring people into shared experience and invite direct engagement beyond spectacle, offering opportunities for learning, exchange, and belonging. That's exactly what happened this past weekend at the fortieth annual Living Traditions Presents Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah. 🏔️

Over three days, the heart of downtown SLC was filled with traditional music, dance, crafts, food, and more. We were thrilled to be a part of this year's event, and to be with friends old and new as we celebrate the things that make us human.

Between March and November, we are on the road collaborating with more than thirty organizations in twenty-seven states and two territories, amplifying festivals as spaces for civic engagement during this 250th anniversary year.

We hope you join us as we gather to remember together, build together, and imagine how—across all far-flung corners of the United States—we can grow together.

See the full schedule for "Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals": https://s.si.edu/4uR4rii

05/21/2026

From a journalist to a sign painter to a barista to a restaurateur, Chef Sedat Uysal's journey to cooking took a lot of twists and turns. Today, he proudly celebrates twenty-eight years with his Mediterranean bistro called Cafe Paloma in downtown Seattle, where he continues to work as both owner and chef. 🥘

We are thrilled to be collaborating with Northwest Folklife for their 2026 festival, happening May 22 to 25 at Seattle Center. As part of our collaboration, our team is supporting programming in the festival's Kuleana Corridor, including foodways demonstrations, urban farm workshops and discussions around foodways, sustainability and community health.

At this weekend's event, Chef Uysal will prepare his Turkish börek, a common savory pastry in Türkiye and in the Balkan region, in the Community Foodways Kitchen, Sunday at 12:30 p.m.

Learn more about Chef Uysal's journey and get his recipe on the Festival Blog: https://s.si.edu/4umPhBE

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Northwest Folklife Festival is a collaborating festival in "Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals." Learn more about their event, and see the full Festival of Festivals schedule on our website: https://s.si.edu/4vtMYhi

Photo courtesy of Sedat Uysal

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