The 50th annual Folklife Festival continues to grow, as more participants arrive in Washington, D.C., and as artwork emerges in our venues.

Happy 50th birthday to the Folklife Festival! Our jubilee anniversary kicked off this morning with an Opening Ceremony in the Big Top

This year the Folklife Festival focused on resilient communities: groups of people who have survived and thrived through political oppression, forced migration, social discrimination, and more.

The process of writing a song has always seemed daunting to me. Especially at the Folklife Festival, surrounded by wildly talented musicians steeped in generations of tradition and bursting with innovative ideas, I can’t even imagine how to begin.

Many ancient cultures tell tales of why the sun shines during the day and the moon at night. In some stories the sun and the moon are siblings, in others they are lovers.

The 2016 Folklife Festival ended today with whip cracks, a mass dance to accordion melodies, and last-minute lemonade and taco runs.

Thanks to warm weather, over a hundred talented artisans and performers, and all our sponsors, we enjoyed another beautiful day of the Folklife Festival on the National Mall.

Kaixo! 今日は! Kamthum muvak! Ողջույն! ¡Hola! سلام! Hawka! That’s “hello” in Basque, Japanese, Quechan, Armenian, Spanish, Pashto, and Kumeyaay

It’s time for Week Two of the 2016 Folklife Festival! After the Fourth of July, we bid farewell to FandangObon, Klaperttaŕak, the Joaldunak, and several other Basque and Californian groups.

Each year in the last week of January, up to sixty people march from one village to another, with clanging bells strapped on their backs.