Public programs from the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Upcoming events
HasSak Ethno-Folk Ensemble
West Building · Asian Art Museum
Seating is limited. Reserve your seat in advance to pick where you sit ($6 fee per seat). Join the standby line for remaining seats on the day of the concert, free of charge. Formed in 2013 in Almaty by PhD and Honored Worker of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Zhamenkeyev, HasSak is one of Kazakhstan’s premier contemporary ethno-folklore groups. The ensemble features four highly skilled multi-instrumentalists—Yerzhan Zhamenkeyev, Darkhan Alimgazy, Askat Sagat, and Aray Kanatbek—who master over thirty traditional Kazakh instruments, including the dombyra, zhetygen, sybyzgy, and kyl-qobyz. Known for bridging ancient Nomadic musical heritage with dynamic, modern arrangements, HasSak won the Grand Prix at the international World Folk Vision competition in 2019. The group has released three studio albums, with a fourth currently in production, and has performed extensively across Kazakhstan and internationally in countries such as Germany, Austria, Türkiye, China, South Korea, Azerbaijan, and Russia.HasSak is currently participating in Heritage in Motion, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the nonprofit organization Music Unbound. The project provides professional development and networking opportunities to culture bearers and intangible cultural heritage practitioners in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Tucson, Arizona, leading up to a program at the 2027 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Experience the Sound of the Great Steppe! This performance aligns with the celebration of 35 years of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and the United States and the 250th anniversary of American independence.Image provided by Raushan Jumaniyazova
Since 1974, Tucson Meet Yourself has invited artists, performers, home cooks, and other culture bearers from across the Arizona-Sonora region to demonstrate their heritage and the practices they pass from generation to generation. The signature public program of the Southwest Folklife Alliance, Tucson Meet Yourself proudly celebrates and interrogates the meaning of folklife, tradition, and community, transforming downtown Tucson into a site of vibrant cultural exchange.
Elgin Area Historical Society & History Museum 360 Park St. Elgin, IL · Elgin Area Historical Society & History Museum 360 Park St. Elgin, IL
2–3 p.m. CT Join one of the foundational founding fathers in a discussion of what rights you hold most dear. Engage in civil debate about how our imperfect nation has endured, and how it might yet “be good and do good.” Share your American story with John Adams, an American whose family roots go back to 1632, the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Mayflower.
Lower Manhattan New York, NY · Lower Manhattan New York, NY
The People’s Poetry Gathering, founded as a biennial event in 1999 by City Lore and Poets House, with Bowery Poetry joining soon after, assembles poets from New York City and beyond to pursue discourse, exchange, and cultural preservation through poetry. In 2026, the gathering returns to Lower Manhattan for the first time in twenty years. It will feature performances and workshops by an array of artists, including Indigenous, folk, youth, and literary poets and musicians, as well as collaborations with iconic venues and restaurants, free writing workshops, and a POEMobile initiative that will visit all five boroughs projecting poems onto walls and buildings alongside live readings and music. See a full schedule of events.
We Tell These Truths: Union Makes Strength (L'unione fa la forza) Italian American Heritage Month Celebration (Concert of Colors Neighborhood Program)
Macomb Center for Performing Arts Clinton Township, MI · Macomb Center for Performing Arts Clinton Township, MI
2–5 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: Maestro Francesco Mamola and Alfonzo Brandi (guitarist). Presented in partnership with the N.O.I. Foundation (Nuovi Orizzonti Italiani).
Zion Episcopal Church Talbotton, GA · Zion Episcopal Church Talbotton, GA
A stunning example of rural Gothic architecture and Georgia’s centuries-old Episcopal infrastructure, Zion Church in Talbotton has stood at the heart of the state’s historical and cultural preservation efforts for many years. Its annual Talbotton Blues Festival is one of the many fundraising and culture-sustaining events produced by Zion Church Restoration, Inc. and the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, and features local artisans, cooks, and blues musicians.
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.
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: In These Dark Times, We Still 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.