Arkansas Folklife Festival

08/11/2026

The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is partnering with the American Folklore Society to promote and document the festivals that comprise this year's "Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals" initiative, a series of co-curated programs and exchanges showcasing the nation’s cultural landscape.

We are seeking writers in the AFS community who can use their skills in ethnographic research, interviewing, and creative writing to help tell stories relating to the Of the People festivals, examining how communities remember, harmonize, move, and grow together through festive gatherings.

Articles should be in the range of 1,600 to 2,500 words. Writing should be for a general audience. Writers are paid $500 for a completed article. Learn more: https://s.si.edu/4we2M72

📸: Clarke Buehling treats guests to banjo tunes and stories on a historic streetcar ride at the inaugural Arkansas Folklife Festival. Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

08/11/2026

Who is in the room? And who is missing?

That may be one of the most important questions we can ask when we talk about conserving culture.

Arkansas Folklife Festival / Cultural Continuum Consulting, Arkansas United, and the Central Arkansas Library System brought together an extraordinary group of people for a Cultural Conservation Synergy Summit—and looking around the room, I kept thinking about how much knowledge, experience, memory, creativity, and possibility already exists in Arkansas.

Folklorists. Librarians. Archivists. Artists. Storytellers. Educators. Culture bearers. Historians. Community organizers. Preservationists. Musicians. Funders. Journalists. People doing oral histories, caring for cemeteries, documenting neighborhoods, preserving family stories, building archives, and making sure something important isn’t lost.

Then we started putting it all on the walls.

Who is already doing this work? What resources already exist? What is working? Where are the gaps? Who needs to know one another? And what could we accomplish if we stopped doing all of this work in isolation or siloed in our own fields?

One idea that emerged was beautifully simple: What if Arkansas had one central, searchable place where people could discover the oral histories, photographs, recordings, archives, community collections, and cultural resources already being preserved all across our state?

Not one institution owning Arkansas’s story—a network connecting the people and communities already stewarding it.

That distinction matters.

Our work with Arkansas United and CALS on the Arkansas People’s Archives Oral History Bus began with a simple premise: instead of deciding which Arkansas stories deserve to be archived, let’s give Arkansans the opportunity to tell us.

This gathering felt like the next question:

What if we built the relationships and infrastructure to keep doing that—together?

By the end of the day, there were sticky notes all over the walls. But what I saw was a map of possibility.

People who should know each other now know each other. Resources became visible. Ideas collided. Connections were made. And we began identifying who wasn’t in the room yet.

Because if we are serious about conserving Arkansas culture, the answer cannot be a handful of organizations deciding what Arkansas culture is.

The answer has to be Arkansas.

I often say that a vibrant and dynamic culture is both the flower and the seed of a well-tended community.

We inherit the flower—the stories, songs, foodways, traditions, language, landscapes, memories, skills, and ways of knowing that generations before us tended.

But we are responsible for tending the seed for the future.

For what gets carried forward. For who gets to carry it. For whose stories become part of the record. And for whether the next generation has the relationships, knowledge, and tools to tend it after us.

Arkansas already has so many of the seeds we need.

Now we have to tend them together. 🌱❤️

Much gratitude and appreciation to Mireya Reith for facilitating and Danielle Afsordeh and the staff at CALS for providing such a wonderful space for the event and being such giving hosts.

07/28/2026

There are moments that stay with you long after the last note fades. The Movement Music Parade was one of those moments.

Watching dozens of people leave the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, cross the Arkansas River together in song, and arrive at the Arkansas Folklife Festival wasn’t just a parade—it was a procession of shared purpose. It was a reminder of what music has always done. It carries stories. It carries hope. It carries us toward one another.

One of the things I’m proudest of is that this wasn’t a performance for people to watch. It was an invitation to participate. Strangers became a chorus. Children, elders, artists, neighbors, and visitors all found themselves singing side by side. For a few beautiful moments, the bridge became more than a crossing—it became a place where Arkansas’s many voices blended into one.

My deepest gratitude goes to Willi Carlisle, whose joyful spirit and generous leadership guided the parade with the kind of energy that makes everyone feel like they belong.

Thank you to Meredith Martin-Moats, who co-edited the Movement Music Songbook with me and to Datule' Artist Collective and Highlander Center for supporting the work of the movement music songbook and for the work they do everyday to support artists and organizers committed to liberation and unification. Together we assembled songs rooted in movements for justice, hope, and community—songs that remind us that change has always had a soundtrack.

A special thank you to Creative Descriptions, who helped ensure this experience was welcoming to more people by providing sighted guide support during the parade and producing braille copies of the songbook. Your generosity and commitment to accessibility helped make participation possible in meaningful ways.

I’m also incredibly grateful to our partners at the Clinton Presidential Library for providing American Sign Language interpretation and to Reinvesting with Arkansas for ensuring transportation was available for participants with mobility needs. Accessibility doesn’t happen by accident—it happens because people choose to build it into the experience from the very beginning.

And thank you to Sonya Pencheva of Smithsonian Folklife for capturing this beautiful photograph. Somehow you managed to preserve not just a moment, but the feeling of it.

This is why I love folklore. It isn’t something we simply preserve behind glass. It’s something we do together. We sing it. We carry it. We pass it to one another. And sometimes, if we’re lucky, we get to watch an entire bridge fill with people reminding us that we really are stronger together.

This project received funding from the Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250, a Smithsonian-wide initiative supported by private philanthropy and created to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary and advance the Smithsonian vision for the next 250 years. The Arkansas Folklife Festival is honored to be one of the collaborating festivals in Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals, celebrating the many communities whose stories shape our shared American experience.

07/17/2026

We are so honored to see the Arkansas Folklife Festival celebrated by Smithsonian Folklife. This festival was built with Arkansans, shaped by community voices, and created to reflect the people, places, and traditions that make our state home.

Thank you to Smithsonian Folklife and Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals for helping uplift Arkansas culture and for believing in the future of this celebration. ❤️

This project received funding from the Smithsonian’s “Our Shared Future: 250,” a Smithsonian-wide initiative supported by private philanthropy and created to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary and advance the Smithsonian vision for the next 250 years.

07/12/2026

Every community has stories worth preserving, and we’re excited to be part of a special gathering in Fort Smith that explores an important chapter of Arkansas history.

On Saturday, July 18, the Arkansas Folklife Festival will join our friends at Arkansas United, the UAFS Oral History Team, and the Chaffee Crossing Food & Artisan Market for a celebration of Cuban-American history at Fort Chaffee. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore historical and artistic artifacts, learn from cultural preservation leaders, and engage with the stories and experiences that have shaped Western Arkansas.

This event is also the beginning of an exciting collaboration to develop future oral history workshops, cultural programming, and community storytelling opportunities in Fort Smith. Together, we’re working to ensure that these stories are documented, shared, and preserved for future generations.

📍 Chaffee Crossing Food & Artisan Market
7300 Ellis Street, Fort Smith, Arkansas

📅 Saturday, July 18, 2026
⏰ 8:00 AM–1:00 PM

We hope you’ll join us as we celebrate culture, community, and the people whose stories help tell the story of Arkansas.

📢 ¡FORT SMITH, APARTA LA FECHA!📢
¡Un evento especial para celebrar nuestra historia y cultura!¡Están cordialmente invitados a acompañarnos en Western Arkansas’ Premier Market: Chaffee Crossing Food & Artisan Market! Un espacio único donde la tradición, el arte y el sabor local se encuentran.
Este mes nos espera una edición muy especial: rendiremos homenaje a la historia cubanoamericana en Fort Chaffee. Será una oportunidad increíble para que el público explore importantes artefactos históricos y artísticos, se adentre en nuestro pasado compartido e interactúe directamente con líderes en la conservación cultural.
Además, Arkansas United junto a los equipos de historia oral de UAFS y el Festival de Folklife en Arkansas estaremos colaborando activamente para planificar futuros talleres de recopilación de historias y eventos culturales en todo Fort Smith para los próximos meses.
¡Conéctate, aprende y diviértete mientras te aseguras de que estas historias se conserven para nuevas generaciones!
¿Cuándo? Sábado 18 de julio de 2026
¿A qué hora? De 8:00 a.m. a 1:00 p.m.
¿Dónde? 7300 Ellis Street, Fort Smith, AR
¡Pasa la voz, invita a tu familia y amigos, y celebremos juntos nuestras raíces!
Para mas información: 479-347-2824

07/07/2026

A huge thank you to Susan Erwin Prowse and Cliff Prowse for everything they brought to the Arkansas Folklife Festival this year.

Many of you know Susan as the powerhouse behind Big Red Dog Productions. She served as our Marketing Director, and her support helped us share the stories, people, and traditions that make the Arkansas Folklife Festival possible. Her belief in this festival and her commitment to celebrating Arkansas culture have meant so much to our team.

It was especially meaningful to welcome Susan to my hometown of Mountain View this weekend. There’s something special about sharing the place that helped shape who you are with people who have become such valued friends and partners.

We’re also deeply grateful to Cliff Prowse, who quietly worked behind the scenes throughout the festival, helping provide sound support for our auxiliary stages and ensuring so many performances, conversations, and community moments could be heard and enjoyed by festivalgoers. His generosity, expertise, and willingness to jump in wherever needed made a real difference.

And as if that weren’t enough, Susan and Cliff closed out the weekend doing what they do best—making music together. Last night, their band, Cliff & Susan, took the stage on the historic Mountain View Courthouse Square, reminding us that the people who support Arkansas culture are often artists and tradition-bearers themselves.

Thank you, Susan and Cliff, for your friendship, your talents, your support, and your belief in the power of bringing people together through culture, community, and music. ❤️

07/06/2026

Tonight on KABF 88.3FM, we'll check out the Sad Daddy album release party and Arkansas Folklife Festival wrap party that went down Sunday, June 28th at The White Water Tavern! We'll hear from Carolina Mendoza-Music with Cason Storey, Pete Masri () with Coral Bradshaw, and Sad Daddy!

Photo credit Nik Cagle

https://on.soundcloud.com/Qz2R0BFspZdGIfOEDQ

07/05/2026

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07/04/2026

This week, Arkansongs remembers Arkansawyer Caroline Tracy Dye. She was not a musician, but so influential in the culture as a seer and finder of lost items that her name can be found in blues dating from the teens, jug band music in the 1930s, and through mid-century songs like "Wang Dang Doodle."
Born to enslaved parents likely in Bird in Jackson County in mid-1800s, in 1867 she married a man from Sulphur Rock in Independence County and they lived in Elgin, Ark. She was so well-known, "Going to see Aunt Caroline Dye" became a catchphrase, and the daily train from Memphis to her home in Newport, Ark. was nicknamed the Caroline Dye Special. Folklorist John Quincy Wolf Jr. speculated "it was doubtful even the name of President Wilson was more generally known."

We're highlighting folk music of the region through June with our underwriting partner, Arkansas Folklife Festival, and squeaking this one under the wire following a wonderful festival this past weekend. Go see next year's fest next summer!

*Portrait of Caroline Dye by artist Katherine Strause as seen in the award-winning book "From Almeda To Zilphia: Arkansas Women Who Transformed American Popular Song" published by Et Alia Press. 📚🎨

Arkansongs has been documenting the musical heritage of the region since 1998. Our syndicated program is heard weekly by thousands of listeners, mostly on public radio stations across the U.S. Midsouth.
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07/02/2026

The perfect "Wish you were here" postcard.

Arkansas Folklife Festival, thank you for an amazing time in North Little Rock!