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Arts & Culture

McNamara (in 2013 in Nazaré) still surfs its monster waves, despite the risks. Last year, a fall broke champion British surfer Andrew Cotton’s back.

What It Took to Set the World Record for Surfing

Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa had to conquer PTSD before he was ready to break Garrett McNamara’s world record

The train to Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a French village where strangers in need have been welcomed for centuries.

The Dispossessed

Identity Crisis: Three Photo Essays Highlight the Lives of the Dispossessed

In our chaotic era, there are outcasts—and people who take them in

The new series "A Very English Scandal" stars Hugh Grant as Jeremy Thorpe, a British politician embroiled in a murder scandal.

The True Story of ‘A Very English Scandal’ and the Trials of a Closeted Gay Politician

The new series about 1970s British MP Jeremy Thorpe traces his rise to power, then dramatic fall, complete with charges of a conspiracy to murder

The first frozen margarita machine is in the collections of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

American South

The Uniquely Texan Origins of the Frozen Margarita

A Dallas restaurant owner blended tequila, ice and automation. America has been hungover ever since

An artist's rendering of the Capitol dome as seen through Harvey Pratt's proposed "Warriors' Circle of Honor"

This Innovative Memorial Will Soon Honor Native American Veterans

The National Museum of the American Indian has reached a final decision on which design to implement

Arev Armenian Dance Ensemble

Armenia

How Armenian Dance Adapted Over Time and Place

Choreography, music and technique are on tap at a Folklife Festival Dance Summit

In an effort to keep the fad alive, Wham-O created new hoops, including one in 1982 that smelled of mint.

The Iconic Hula Hoop Keeps on Rolling

How the loopy 60-year-old toy maintains its popularity

The chevrons on the Panther's early suit, and the tessellated triangles on his later model, hint at the "sacred geometry" of triangular forms common to several African cultures.

King T’Challa’s Black Panther Suit, a Bold Statement of Afrofuturist Pride, Comes to the Smithsonian

Pounce on the opportunity to celebrate contemporary African-African filmmaking at the National Museum of African American History and Culture this fall

Reunir el públic nord-americà amb artistes tradicionals i populars per compartir la seva creativitat -i les seves vides- comença la conversa.

Catalonia

Festival de Folklife Com a Principiant de Conversa

El director Michael Atwood Mason reflexiona sobre els poders transformadors de l’intercanvi cultural

Bringing the American public together with folk and traditional artists to share their creativity—and their lives—starts the conversation.

Here’s How to Have a More Meaningful Experience at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Director Michael Atwood Mason reflects on the transformative powers of cultural exchange

Teams compete to form the tallest human towers, called castells—a centuries-old activity that creates quite the spectacle in Catalan public spaces.

Beyond the Headlines, Catalan Culture Has a Long History of Vibrancy and Staying Power

The autonomous Spanish region of Catalonia takes center stage at this summer’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The Armenian countryside on the road from Yerevan to Vanadzor.

Unfurling the Rich Tapestry of Armenian Culture

This year’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival will offer a window on Armenian visions of home

Porquerolles Island

You’ll Have to Take a Boat Ride and a Hike Through the Forest to Get to France’s Newest Art Museum

A new French museum puts an out-of-the-box spin on the usual gallery experience

The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus suffered one of the worst train wrecks in history in 1918, with more than 100 people injured and 86 killed.

The Hammond Train Wreck of 1918 Killed Scores of Circus Performers

One hundred years ago, a horrific railway disaster decimated the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus—but the show still went on

Dancing during the last day of Hatun Puncha.

Andean Solstice Celebrations Capture the Wondrous Churn of Spacetime

Exploring the similarities and differences between Indigenous and Western cosmologies

Maya Freelon's Reciprocity Respite & Repass at the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building

Future of Art

Maya Freelon’s Immersive and Interactive Sculptures Bring Tissue Paper to Life

Her artwork will be a part of this weekend’s By the People Festival at the Arts and Industries building

The smart, menacing, powerful T. rex of 1993's Jurassic Park has lodged itself in the minds of millions.

How We Elected T. rex to Be Our Tyrant Lizard King

The true story behind our obsession with the last and largest of the tyrannosaurs

The Nasotek is on display at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark.

What a Cabinet of Fake Noses Tells Us About How Art Preservation Has Evolved

The collection of replica appendages is on display in Copenhagen’s Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek art museum

Dr. Tedi Asher

Future of Art

The Neuroscientist in the Art Museum

At Massachusetts’s Peabody Essex Museum, Tedi Asher is using neuroscience research to create impactful art experiences

Among the colorful characters immortalized in the colorless daguerreotype medium are (clockwise from upper left): writer Henry Thoreau, Seneca leader Blacksnake, Navy Commodore Matthew Perry, mental health crusader Dorothea Dix, showmen P.T. Barnum and Tom Thumb, and actress Charlotte Cushman.

How Daguerreotype Photography Reflected a Changing America

The National Portrait Gallery brings the eerie power of a historic medium into focus

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