This past year at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, we have been crafting our strategic plan for the future, sizing up our own past, passions, strengths, and position in the world that surrounds us. We are carefully considering how we will continue to fulfill our mission--"promoting understanding and sustainability of diverse traditional cultures"--in the coming decades. And we find the brightest stars that guide us are the people with whom we have interacted over the past four decades--Festival goers and participants, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings artists and fans, researchers who use our archives, educators and learners who access our publications and teaching tools, and those involved in our cultural policy deliberations on the international stage.

As Festival visitor Larry McGehee points out, of all the Center's activities, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in particular brings "worldwide commoners" together in face-to- face contact to learn directly about one another's