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Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage

Thousands of people assemble on the green grass of the National Mall to form a sunburst shape, the Smithsonian logo. The red-brick Smithsonian Castle rises in the background.

The Smithsonian Has 6,724 Staff Members With a Mission to Increase and Diffuse Knowledge. Hear How They Work ‘For the Common Good’

With astrophysicists and wildlife ecologists, art conservators and security officers, this discussion series invites visitors to go behind the scenes with experts across the institution.

The face of a smiling young woman with face paint wearing beaded earrings against a colorful backdrop. Text: Mother Tongue Film Festival. February 19 to 22, Washington, D.C. 2026.

Your Invitation to the Smithsonian’s Mother Tongue Film Festival

27 languages, 25 films, 14 regions, 1 festival.

In a warmly lit room, a woman in a floral dress tells a story, both hands outstretched, for a small seated audience that watches her and smiles.

Top Five Folklife Stories of 2025

#ICYMI, here are the most-read articles from the Center’s online magazine this year.

Film still of an elder woman and a young man, both in wheelchairs, facing each other in conversation and smiling in a warmly lit living room. A man sits to the side, next to a laptop, also smiling.

A Glimpse at 'The Ride Ahead' and a More Inclusive Future With Filmmaker Samuel Habib

“Disabled people should have their voices heard, and we should be able to tell our own stories,” Habib says

A pop-up museum display, featuring a tower of several “bricks” stacked like Jenga pieces. Each brick has writing on it: Fomo, body image, masculine marketing, pick-me girls, female sexuality, gender roles, a mother’s influence.

'Hey, You Kids, Get on Our Lawn!' Your Invitation to a Totally Teen Summer

During the 2025 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the Museum of Contemporary American Teenager is teaming up with American University to bring the definitive celebration, exploration, and exposition of American teens!

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Smithsonian Folklife Festival Presents Youth and the Future of Culture, July 2–7

Admission is free, and hours are from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day, with special evening concerts beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Hilly green farmland with sheep grazing in the foreground and a few farm houses in the distance. Low gray clouds descend on the hills.

'Hardwired for Folktales': An Evolution of Storytelling in Ireland

The perseverance of the Irish people in maintaining their language, history and values created a world of oral tradition filled with both mythical adventures and practical wisdom

A five by two grid showing ten images from ten movies that will be showcased at the festival. In the top left corner, the Mother Tongue Film Festival logo boasts red and cream colors.

Don’t Miss the First Hybrid Mother Tongue Film Festival

Celebrate ten years of the festival with ten days of free programming

A young girl pulls strands on an oversized, multicolor basket.

The 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival Guide for Kids and Families

Dive into sports, crafts, and more!

Two children and an adult sit on three swings in a dry landscape with trees in the background.

Filmmaker Billy Luther Explains How Frybread Face and Me Was a Labor of Love

Luther’s narrative feature debut opened the 2024 Mother Tongue Film Festival at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

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Finding Balance Is a Global Experience at the 2024 Mother Tongue Film Festival

In a world that often feels on the edge of instability, the 2024 Mother Tongue Film Festival theme is profoundly resonant.

A dining table set with more than a dozen dishes of food, including white rice, meat on skewers, stewed vegetables, and sliced cucumbers.

Top 5 Folklife Stories from 2023

This year, Folklife Magazine published a sprawling diversity of stories—from Armenian protest movements to young Asian American farmers.

A woman stands on stage, holding a hand drum and a beater stick. Five actors behind her hold up torches. They all wearing matching white outfits with mock bandoliers. The stage is foggy and lit blue.

In the U.K. and Europe, Romani Theater Tells a Story Beyond 'Smoke and Wagons'

Riah Knight’s work as an activist addresses the misrepresentation and dangerous stereotyping faced by the community

Grid of four old film stills, each showing the same young man: holding up a camera to his eye, smirking, smoking a cigarette, and posing with an older woman.

How a Filmmaker Discovered a Powerful Message in a Box of Old Home Movies

A $12 purchase in a Liberty, Maine, antique store sparked a gumshoe investigation and a life rediscovered

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