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In 2022, chef and artist Feng-Feng Yeh founded the Chinese Chorizo Project to celebrate the longstanding solidarity betw...
10/16/2026

In 2022, chef and artist Feng-Feng Yeh founded the Chinese Chorizo Project to celebrate the longstanding solidarity between Chinese and Mexican immigrants in Tucson, Arizona.

Fast forward to 2026, the project is hosting its fifth annual Chinese Chorizo Festival, and Yeh is in her third year of participating in Tucson Meet Yourself, educating the American public on underrepresented Tucson history. At Tucson Meet Yourself, a collaborator in "Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals," Yeh will be presenting in the Culture Kitchen.

On the Festival Blog, learn more about this cross-cultural culinary tradition and its larger story of immigrant solidarity, cultural memory, and community resilience: https://s.si.edu/4jrhmW2

Photo by Rusty Ramirez

A tortilla made by hand, seeds planted for the next season, recipes passed down through generations. 🌽At this year's Far...
10/14/2026

A tortilla made by hand, seeds planted for the next season, recipes passed down through generations. 🌽

At this year's Farm Aid, one of the collaborating events for "Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals," farmers and foodways practitioners from Virginia’s Eastern Shore demonstrated how food connects us to our land, our communities, and our cultural heritage.

On the Festival Blog, meet farmer Thelonius Cook and chef Silvia Cruz and discover how they’re sharing traditional knowledge while cultivating a more sustainable future: https://s.si.edu/4hTRNKF

This article received support from the American Folklore Society.

Photos by Georgia Ellie Dassler

Louis David Valenzuela, a Yoeme carver, visual artist, and educator, has been carving and painting 'pascola' masks for o...
10/12/2026

Louis David Valenzuela, a Yoeme carver, visual artist, and educator, has been carving and painting 'pascola' masks for over forty years. He demonstrated his process on the National Mall at the 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

This month, Valenzuela will share his work and his stories at Tucson Meet Yourself, an outdoor festival celebrating community relationships and cultural exchange in Southern Arizona and beyond, October 16 to 18.

The festival is a collaborator in our "Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals" marking the 250th anniversary of the United States, though demonstrations like Valenzuela’s and a performance of the Yoeme/Yaqui deer dance—rarely seen by the general public—will remind us that many of our cultural expressions long predate the Declaration of Independence.

Learn more about the Yoeme people and Valenzuela's artistry on the Festival Blog: https://s.si.edu/3VUwNvZ

Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

“This is what energizes me. This is what I love to do and share. And hopefully I’ve shared enough that it keeps going.” ...
10/10/2026

“This is what energizes me. This is what I love to do and share. And hopefully I’ve shared enough that it keeps going.” 🏜️

Raised by his great-grandmother in Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico, adobe craftsman Albert Parra has been working with adobe since he was nine years old.

Parra specializes in the design, construction, and restoration of traditional adobe homes and churches in Hispanic communities throughout northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. But he also is committed to preserving and sharing the longstanding adobe tradition with the next generation, and rallying communities together around rebuilding their past and embracing their heritage.

Learn more about Parra in "Built By Hand," our digital education resource spotlighting master craftspeople in the traditional building trades: https://s.si.edu/4hlSzRK

Photos by Paul Wagner

Our hearts are filled with joy and our stomachs are filled with mooncakes after last weekend's Mid-Autumn Festival. 🥮Phi...
10/09/2026

Our hearts are filled with joy and our stomachs are filled with mooncakes after last weekend's Mid-Autumn Festival. 🥮

Philadelphia’s Mid-Autumn Festival was founded by Asian Americans United to bring together families and community members in Chinatown to celebrate the harvest season. This year marks the festival’s 31st year since its founding, and the event is supported by hundreds of youth volunteers. 🌙

Throughout the day, crowds gathered to watch traditional dance and music performances on the main stage, play folk arts games, learn about local organizations and civic resources at community tables, and joined in a lantern parade led by the Philadelphia Suns lion and dragon dancers to close out the evening.

As a collaborating festival in this year's "Of The People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals," our team traveled to Philadelphia and partnered with AAU's media team to activate "We Hold These Truths," documenting the stories of festival attendees and volunteers about what this gathering means to them.

Swipe to see some highlights and learn more about the Festival of Festivals on our website: https://s.si.edu/4uR4rii

Photos by Grace Bowie, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

Are you a culture bearer, traditional artist, musician, or practitioner of living cultural traditions connected to Almat...
10/08/2026

Are you a culture bearer, traditional artist, musician, or practitioner of living cultural traditions connected to Almaty, Kazakhstan?

The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and Music Unbound invite traditional artists, musicians, and other culture bearers connected to Almaty and the Almaty region to apply for participation in the 2027 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

The 2027 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will bring cultural exemplars from Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Tucson, Arizona, USA, to Washington, D.C., for a weeklong festival program that fosters exchange and explores the diversity and commonalities of these two culturally rich regions.

We welcome applications from individuals, ensembles, and community groups working across music, dance, craft, foodways, storytelling, traditional sports and games, and other forms of living culture. Applications are welcome in Kazakh, Russian, or English, and are due November 30, 2026, 11:59 p.m. ALMT.

Learn more: https://s.si.edu/4yCZo7u

Photos courtesy of Music Unbound; by Joshua Davis, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives; by Roman Liberchuk

"A century-old film, a new venture, and lessons we can only learn midflight. Homework complete. Now comes the education....
10/07/2026

"A century-old film, a new venture, and lessons we can only learn midflight. Homework complete. Now comes the education."

In celebration the centennial of the 1926 film "The Flying Ace," ReelAbilities International, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, has launched a special collaborative project to bring this landmark all-Black silent film back into public conversation with Black Film Center & Archive and The Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School.

The film features Steve “Peg” Reynolds, a Black amputee actor and stuntman playing an amputee character, a rarity on screen both then and now. ReelAbilities Film Festival: New York started in 2007, and has grown into an international organization using disability-focused cinema year-round to improve storytelling, access, and opportunity.

Hear from Director of Engagement for ReelAbilities International Lawrence Carter-Long about the significance of this project: https://reelabilities.org/dis-and-that/20-from-humbling-discovery-to-historic-opportunity

Poster courtesy of The Library of Congress

10/07/2026

🎶 DC, the sounds of the Great Steppe are headed to the National Mall!

On Tuesday, October 13, the HasSak ethno-folk ensemble, heard here in Kazakhstan this past August, comes to the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art for a night of live music. The concert will showcase four musicians and more than thirty traditional Kazakh instruments, including the dombyra, zhetygen, sybyzgy, and kyl-qobyz!

📍 Meyer Auditorium, National Museum of Asian Art
🗓️ Tuesday, October 13 | 7:30–9 p.m.
💸 Free

Formed in Almaty in 2013, HasSak takes nomadic music and gives it bold, modern arrangements that have won them fans around the world and the Grand Prix at World Folk Vision. Their concert is part of Heritage in Motion, a collaboration between the Center and Music Unbound that connects culture bearers in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Tucson, Arizona.

Reserved seats are FULL, but don't give up! There will be a free standby line at the door on the night of the concert for any unclaimed seats. Come early, bring a friend, and cross your fingers. See you in line!

Learn more: https://s.si.edu/4dSYTOo

10/06/2026

“Food and music have something in common—that’s love.” 🤍🥘

In the most recent installment of "Rhythms, Roots, Recipes: Community Stories of Food and Music," chef and artist Roscoe Hall and author and food historian Adrian Miller explored why the Sunday supper continues to be a cornerstone of family and cultural life.

As Hall prepared brown butter crab rice and collard greens, Arkansas-based S. Juain Young & Artists United performed songs from the African American church that have long nourished hearts, souls, and movements.

Stay tuned for more Rhythm, Roots, Recipes events in November—all programs are free and open to the public, with American Sign Language interpretation and live captioning provided.

Learn more about the program: https://s.si.edu/44uL6IN

What role does cultural heritage play in classrooms? How can understanding expressive culture help students—and educator...
10/05/2026

What role does cultural heritage play in classrooms? How can understanding expressive culture help students—and educators—better understand American history and identity?

In 2026, "For the People: Exploring Living Traditions for Learning" brought together teaching artists and middle-school classroom educators for a professional development program that uses local festivals as experiential learning laboratories.

Over the course of nine months, through virtual workshops with Smithsonian Folklife Festival staff and an in-person convening, the program aimed to develop cultural competency that inspires curiosity, empathy, and mutual respect.

Learn more on our website: https://s.si.edu/4yApND8

Photo by Craig Fergus, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

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