Arkansas Folklife Festival

06/24/2026

06/24/2026

Thank you to KARK 4 News for having Rachel Reynolds on this morning to talk about this weekend! We can't wait to see everyone on the banks of the Arkansas River in North Little Rock. Visit www.arkansasfolklifefestival.org for all of the details!
FB Event: Arkansas Folklife Festival | FREE | June 26–28

06/23/2026

💃 ANUPRIYA KRISHNAN & SANGAMITRA RESHMY ARE COMING TO THE ARKANSAS FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL.

Three decades carrying Bharatanatyam across continents.

For more than 30 years, Anupriya Krishnan has dedicated her life to Bharatanatyam, one of the oldest and most revered classical dance traditions of South India. Trained under renowned gurus and holding a Master's degree in Bharatanatyam from Tamil University in India, she has performed and taught across continents while inspiring the next generation of dancers through her deep commitment to the art.

One of those dancers is Sangamitra "Sangu" Reshmy, who began studying Bharatanatyam under Krishnan at the age of eight. Through years of disciplined training, performance, and mentorship, she now carries this centuries-old tradition forward as both a performer and teacher.

Together, master and apprentice embody one of the central themes of the Arkansas Folklife Festival: the passing of cultural knowledge, artistry, and tradition from one generation to the next.

Experience the beauty of Bharatanatyam through rhythmic footwork, expressive storytelling, sculptural movement, and a living tradition that continues to thrive here in Arkansas.

💃 Bharatanatyam: Indian Classical Dance
📍 The Common Thread Stage
🗓 Saturday, June 27
🕑 2:00 PM

💃 Classical Indian Dance with Sangamitra Reshmy
📍 Cultural Crossroads Stage
🗓 Saturday, June 27
🕞 3:45 PM

📍 Arkansas Folklife Festival
📅 June 26–28, 2026
📍 Riverfront Park, North Little Rock
🎟 FREE ADMISSION

06/23/2026

Culture belongs to all of us. ❤️♿️🤟🦮

At the Arkansas Folklife Festival, we believe our traditions are strongest when everyone can participate in them. Culture is not something we simply observe—it’s something we create together. Every voice, every body, and every lived experience helps tell the story of Arkansas.

That’s why accessibility is woven into this year’s festival experience.

We believe people of all abilities and access needs are an essential part of Arkansas culture—not separate from it. Creating spaces of belonging means removing barriers so everyone can gather, learn, dance, sing, and celebrate together.

We’re grateful for the organizations and advocates helping us build a more welcoming festival experience.

✨ Creative Descriptions is partnering with us to expand access for blind and low-vision visitors by providing:

• Braille schedules available at the Accessibility Tent

• Tactile maps of the festival grounds

• Sighted guide assistance throughout the festival

• Braille song lyrics for the Movement Music Parade

• Audio description during the parade crossing and the Sunday evening closing celebration at White Water Tavern

• Outreach to Arkansas’s blind community to invite participation and celebration

✨ Reinvesting With Arkansas is making ASL interpretation and mobility transportation, including golf carts, possible throughout the festival.

✨ I CAN is providing wheelchair and walker lending so visitors can comfortably explore the festival grounds.

Additional accessibility features include:

• An Accessibility Tent staffed with support volunteers

• An ADA-compliant dance floor at the Cultural Crossroads Stage

• Accessible parking

• ADA portable restrooms

• An adult caregiver changing table near to festival site

• Accessible viewing areas and reserved seating
Sensory Refresh Area

Accessibility is community care in action.

Because Arkansas culture has always been shaped by people with different abilities, perspectives, and ways of experiencing the world. When we create spaces of welcome and belonging, we make room for more stories, more joy, and more opportunities to learn from one another.

We can’t wait to celebrate with you June 26–28. ❤️



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.

06/23/2026

🎶 PAPA RAP IS COMING TO THE ARKANSAS FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL.

For more than 33 years, Al "Papa Rap" López has been building bridges through music, creating connections between cultures, communities, and generations across Arkansas.

Born in Puerto Rico and now a longtime Arkansas resident, Papa Rap is the creator of ArkanSalsa, a joyful fusion of Caribbean rhythms and Arkansas soul that reflects the evolving cultural landscape of the Natural State. His music celebrates the idea that Arkansas culture is not one story, but many stories coming together.

A self-taught musician, educator, and arts advocate, Papa Rap is the winner of the International John Lennon Songwriting Contest for his song "What's Up, Qué Pasa!", a recipient of the Arkansas Governor's Arts Award, and an inductee into the Arkansas Latino Hall of Fame.

His work is guided by two simple beliefs: "Smart Starts With Arts" and "Together Is Better."

Join Papa Rap as he brings the energy, rhythm, and spirit of ArkanSalsa to The People's Stage.

🎵 Papa Rap
📍 The People's Stage
🗓 Saturday, June 27
🕐 1:00 PM

📍 Arkansas Folklife Festival
📅 June 26–28, 2026
📍 Riverfront Park, North Little Rock
🎟 FREE ADMISSION

06/23/2026

LITTLE ROCK WEEKEND
proud as hell to be kicking off Arkansas Folklife Festival on the People’s Stage at 4:30 on Friday, June 26…it’s an all-Arkansas weekend down in Little Rock, not to be missed! Best part: it’s FREE! see y’all on the function…

06/23/2026

🎶 THE DELTA SOUL SINGERS ARE COMING TO THE ARKANSAS FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL.

Feel the Spirit. Hear the Harmony. Experience the Delta.

The Delta Soul Singers are a Little Rock-based vocal collective whose powerhouse sound blends Delta gospel, soul, blues, and country-soul into one unmistakably Arkansas experience.

Featuring Crystal Hayes, Michael Dotson, Kenbria Robinson, Zetoria Curry, Ricardo Richardson, and Paige Johnsey, the group brings more than a decade of shared musical experience to the stage. Their high-energy performances combine soaring harmonies, storytelling, audience participation, call-and-response, and powerful a ca****la moments rooted in the rich traditions of Southern gospel and soul music.

The Delta Soul Singers have performed across the region, including appearances at the Southeast Tourism Society Conference, Americana on Main, and the Macon Road Show hosted by Oxford American. Their music has also been featured in the PBS documentary *Unveiled: Daisy Bates and Johnny Cash*.

Join them for two opportunities to experience one of Arkansas's most dynamic vocal groups.

🎵 Chris DeClerk Band + The Delta Soul Singers
📍 The People's Stage
🗓 Saturday, June 27
🕖 7:00 PM

🎵 The Delta Soul Singers
📍 The People's Stage
🗓 Sunday, June 28
🕜 1:45 PM

📍 Arkansas Folklife Festival
📅 June 26–28, 2026
📍 Riverfront Park, North Little Rock
🎟 FREE ADMISSION

06/23/2026

🚌✨ Introducing the Arkansas People’s Archives: Oral History Bus

Who is Arkansas Culture?

At this year’s Arkansas Folklife Festival, we’re inviting you to help answer that question.

Step aboard the Arkansas People’s Archives: Oral History Bus, an interactive storytelling experience where Arkansans can share memories, traditions, hopes, and reflections about the people, places, and experiences that have shaped our state.

For generations, Arkansas culture has lived in kitchens, churches, barbershops, school cafeterias, front porches, family reunions, farms, rivers, and neighborhood gathering places. This project recognizes that our collective history isn’t only found in textbooks or museums—it lives within each of us.

Visitors will be invited to respond to simple but powerful prompts:

💬 Who is Arkansas Culture?

💬 What is Arkansas Culture?

💬 What stories should we carry into the next 250 years?

These stories will become part of the Arkansas People’s Archives, a growing collection preserved through a shared stewardship model that honors the voices of everyday Arkansans alongside official histories.

Because every voice belongs in this archive, accessibility is built into the experience. Spanish translation services will be available, alongside broader festival accessibility supports including mobility assistance, ASL interpretation, accessible viewing areas, and multilingual resources.

This experience is made possible through partnerships with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Letters to Tomorrow, the Central Arkansas Library System, and the Clinton Presidential Library, whose For the People and Making Amends exhibitions invite us to reflect on our shared past while imagining our collective future.

Because Arkansas culture isn’t something we observe.

It’s something we create together.

📍 Arkansas People’s Archives: Oral History Bus
🗓️ June 26–28, 2026
📍 Arkansas Folklife Festival | NLR Riverfront Park

Come tell your story. Help build Arkansas’s people-powered archive for the next 250 years.

06/23/2026

Bobby Rush. Listen up! Then come see Mr. Rush and his full band Friday at 8pm!

06/23/2026

🎶 CINDY WOOLF & THE CREEK ROCKS ARE COMING TO THE ARKANSAS FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL.

Old ballads. New songs. The hills they call home.

For more than two decades, Batesville singer-songwriter and banjo player Cindy Woolf has been one of the defining voices of the Ozarks, creating music rooted in place, memory, and tradition. Her songs draw from family stories, regional folklore, and the landscapes of the Arkansas hills she calls home.

In 2015, Woolf and her husband, guitarist Mark Bilyeu, formed The Creek Rocks, an Ozark folk duo dedicated to preserving and reimagining traditional music for contemporary audiences. Their music blends original songwriting with ballads and folk songs collected from across the Ozarks, carrying forward a musical tradition that continues to shape the region today.

Their work has taken them to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the Library of Congress, where in 2024 they became the first-ever Artists in Resonance Fellows of the American Folklife Center. Their current project explores historic field recordings made throughout Arkansas and Missouri during the 1930s, bringing those voices into conversation with a new generation.

Join Cindy Woolf for two special festival appearances celebrating the stories, songs, and traditions of the Ozarks.

🎵 Women's Ballads with Jude Brothers, Carolina Mendoza & Cindy Woolf
📍 Cultural Crossroads Stage
🗓 Saturday, June 27
🕑 2:00 PM

🎵 The Creek Rocks
📍 The People's Stage
🗓 Saturday, June 27
🕒 3:00 PM

📍 Arkansas Folklife Festival
📅 June 26–28, 2026
📍 Riverfront Park, North Little Rock
🎟 FREE ADMISSION