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?”

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.

A graffiti-cloaked, smoke-filled, off-yellow school bus idled in front of the Washington Monument, stuffed with a group of 20 ecstatic water protectors. I had a tray of cookies from Costco and they were hungry.

Angel Island Immigration Station was built in 1910 in the San Francisco Bay mainly to process immigrants from China, Japan, and other countries on the Pacific Rim.

Social Explorer created custom data maps to tell the story of America’s immigrant heritage for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival On the Move: Migration and Immigration Today.

On November 3, 1885, the Chinese were driven out of Tacoma, Washington.

Salar Nader and Homayoun Sakhi will perform at the 2016 Folklife Festival during the afternoons of June 29 and 30, and on June 30 they will headline the evening concert at the Ralph Rinzler Concert Stage, starting at 6:30 p.m.

According to the 2010 census, there are fewer than 100,000 Indonesian Americans, a relatively small number given that Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous country. Why do so few Indonesians immigrate to the United States?

Shadow puppetry, like many ancient performance arts, is traditionally used to tell folk stories, literary tales, or religious epics.

In the nineteenth century, American pioneers pushed through the boundaries of the nascent nation to undeveloped western lands, following their dreams of economic opportunity, self-determination, and prosperity.