Happy 50th birthday to the Folklife Festival! Our jubilee anniversary kicked off this morning with an Opening Ceremony in the Big Top
The conversation usually ends one of two ways: “It’s wonderful and timely that you’re focusing on circus and migration for the Festival’s 50th,” or “Circus is great, but I’m not sure it’s suitable for the 50th. And where’s the country focus?”
Traditional culture permeates our lives. It includes things like what we eat for breakfast, how we greet our family, and how close or far we stand from other people when we encounter them in public places.
In addition to acknowledging our work, the resolution also proclaims June 26 to 30, 2017, Folk and Traditional Arts and Culture Week.
Throughout the week, we’ll post photos of selected items in the Marketplace. Tag a friend who you would like to shop at the Marketplace with and be entered for a chance to win a vintage Folklife Festival T-shirt.
In this excerpted interview, former circus clown David Carlyon recalls his time as a performer, focusing on his adventures aboard the circus train as it wound its way through the country.
Kiran Singh Sirah is no stranger to the many mispronunciations of his name. In fact, he enjoys hearing the innumerable iterations of “Kiran,” a Sanskrit name that translates to “light from the sun” or “ray of sunshine.”
Cajun music is rooted in the songs and fiddle tunes of the Acadians—French speakers who migrated from France to Canada in the seventeenth century, and from Canada to Louisiana in the eighteenth century.
Elena Panova is a Russian-born aerialist currently living in the United States. She was active in the circus for twenty years, starting her career in 1985 with the Moscow Circus, then in 1991 she went to New York City to work with the Big Apple Circus.