Public programs from the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Upcoming events
From Memory to Hope: A Service of Poetry and Prayer to Honor the Ancestors (People’s Poetry Gathering)
St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery New York, NY · St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery New York, NY
Join a special All Saints’ Day service and community sing to honor and celebrate those we have loved and lost, and whose lives continue to inspire us. A collaborative presentation by St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, NEWorks Productions, the People’s Poetry Gathering, and Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals, the service will weave together liturgy from the Episcopal tradition and original music by American composer Nolan Williams, Jr., rendered by the NEWorks Voices of America, the St. Mark’s Choir, and the gathered assembly. Through poetry, prayer, and song, we will lift our voices in remembrance and gratitude, honoring those who have gone before us and celebrating the love, courage, and hope that continue to connect us across generations. The service is open to the public and everyone is welcome. Nolan Williams, Jr.—multihyphenate creative and chief music editor of the landmark, bestselling African American Heritage Hymnal—has become a preeminent leader of community sings that bring together people across generations, cultures, faiths, and backgrounds. Through these shared musical experiences, he creates spaces that celebrate our common humanity while honoring the distinct voices, traditions, and stories that shape our communities.
The largest and longest-running event of its kind, Exposure is an annual festival, fundraiser, competition, and skate clinic in Encinitas, California, that champions the growing and dynamic universe of women’s skateboarding. Exposure Skate brings together world-renowned skateboarding legends, rising stars, and young aspiring athletes to activate their mission of empowering women and girls in the skateboarding community through service, mindfulness, and compassion.
Self Help Graphics & Art Los Angeles, CA · Self Help Graphics & Art Los Angeles, CA
A cornerstone of the public art movement, Self Help Graphics & Art is home to one of the nation’s longest-running celebrations of Día de los Muertos, a pillar of Mexican, Indigenous, and Mexican American heritage that honors and commemorates ancestors and those who have passed. Each year, weeks of seasonal arts workshops culminate in a one-day festival complete with a procession, traditional Aztec dance, public altars, vendors, music, and more.
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens San Marino, CA · The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens San Marino, CA
11 a.m.–2 p.m. PT The Huntington’s “This Land Is ...” initiative invites visitors to reflect on the American story through the lens of land, drawing from library, art, and botanical collections to spotlight relationships between place, U.S. history, and American identities. In this family-friendly event, visitors can participate in artmaking workshops with AMBOS: Art Made Between Opposite Sides, and join a national conversation at the We Hold These Truths interviewing booth.
Nyob Zoo Xyoo Tshiab! Blessings from the Hmong New Year Table
American History Museum · American History Museum
Rhythms, Roots, Recipes: Community Stories of Food and Music brings together cooking demonstrations, live music, and storytelling. Each program in the series explores traditions that animate families and communities across the United States—and beyond. Hmong New Year is a time to celebrate the end of the harvest season while washing away any bitterness and hardship faced during the previous year. Across the Hmong diaspora, it also is an opportunity to renew ancestral ties and impart cultural lessons to the next generation. Join us as Minneapolis-based, award-winning chef Diane Moua prepares traditional Hmong dishes including nqaj npua tsawg (Hmong pulled pork), pickled mustard greens, sticky rice, and tuav kuas txoj (hot sauce). While Moua cooks, Tiffany Xyooj will perform Hmong folksongs that reference staple ingredients and migration, each echoing the voices and hopes of those who came before. This lively conversation will be facilitated by KaYing Yang of the social enterprise RedGreen Rivers. Noj Tsab/Tsiab Peb Caug!
Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts Louisville, KY · Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts Louisville, KY
Marking its thirtieth year in 2026, the Festival of Faiths brings spiritual and religious leaders, scholars, artists and creative thinkers together for two days of dialogue on pressing social issues. As the preeminent interfaith event in Louisville, Kentucky, the Festival of Faiths highlights the diversity of faith traditions, and their interconnections, in Louisville and beyond. The Festival of Faiths is produced by the Center for Interfaith Relations and is recognized nationally as a model for interfaith work.
Founded in 1934, the National Folk Festival is the longest-running multicultural celebration of the traditional arts in the United States. The flagship program of the National Council for the Traditional Arts, this traveling festival celebrates the artistic traditions of all Americans and honors the nation’s finest traditional artists. In residence in Jackson, Mississippi, from 2025 to 2027, “the National” features over 300 artists on six stages, nonstop music and dance, parades, a Mississippi folklife area, a family area, regional and international cuisine, and a crafts marketplace.
We Tell These Truths: Still We Sing (Concert of Colors Neighborhood Program)
Ford Community & Performing Arts Center Dearborn, MI · Ford Community & Performing Arts Center Dearborn, MI
7–10 pm ET Through collaborations with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and community-based organizations across Metro Detroit, the Concert of Colors will host a series of free neighborhood events celebrating the cultural traditions that have helped shape our nation. Together, these programs remind us that the journey toward a more perfect union begins with listening, sharing, and creating solutions together. Featured artists: Omar Offendum, Lubana Al Quntar, Rewa Zeinati. Presented in partnership with the Arab American National Museum.
Nourish Body, Nourish Spirit: Harvest, Seeds, and Songs from Indigenous Wisconsin
American History Museum · American History Museum
Rhythms, Roots, Recipes: Community Stories of Food and Music brings together cooking demonstrations, live music, and storytelling. Each program in the series explores traditions that animate families and communities across the United States—and beyond. In many Indigenous communities, the autumn harvest is marked by hard work followed by a period of gratitude and reflection. Often anchored in food, songs, and stories, seasonal rituals of connection and regeneration are essential both to individual and communal care. The 2026 edition of Rhythms, Roots, Recipes concludes with a program featuring chef and restauranteur Elena Terry (Hoocąk/Prairie Band Potawatomi) and her agroecologist daughter Zoe Lea Fess (Hoocąk/Prairie Band Potawatomi). As they prepare sweet corn mush and wild rice dumplings in mushroom soup, father-and-son musicians Wade and Quintin Fernandez (Menominee) will share songs and stories inspired by the many gifts given to us by the natural world. Their conversation will be moderated by master beader and NEA National Heritage Fellow Karen Ann Hoffman (Oneida).