Family is central to Sheila Kay Adams’s music and identity. She is, after all, a seventh-generation Appalachian ballad singer.

“The first time I performed was when I was in college, and I totally blacked out. I mean, I was completely sober, but when I got off stage, I turned to my friend and I was like, ‘what happened up there?’”

It seemed so surreal, dropping off art to the Smithsonian in preparation for the Folklife Festival, but when I saw the Big Top on the National Mall, I felt like I was coming home.

Kino Musica is a very D.C. band: the product of colliding music scenes, friendships made during Smithsonian internships, and the influence of Ethiopian community.

A lifelong circus performer, Lucky Malatsi started training as an acrobat at the age of four. Now he is the ringmaster for UniverSoul Circus.

The 50th anniversary of the Folklife Festival came to a close Sunday evening with a Salute to Youth Circus and a ceremonial stomp through the sawdust carpet.

Dylan Wynne: regular teenager by day, circus flier by night. 

Since 2000, this 400-year-old Guatemalan tradition has also been practiced in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., by the Guatemalan communities here.

We’re capping off the 50th anniversary of the Folklife Festival with special discussions and activities about our work behind the scenes and your favorite Festival memories

It starts with psychedelic patchwork of yellows and pinks. From there, broad strokes with a wadded paper towel form abstract shapes of white and black. Suddenly, a clown has emerged.