The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Scope and Contents note:
This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the 2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Materials may include photographs, audio recordings, motion picture film and video recordings, notes, production drawings, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, informational materials, publications, and ephemera. Such materials were created during the Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in the featured communities, before or after the Festival itself.
The Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998.
The 2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival was produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and cosponsored by the National Park Service.
For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
Introduction:
As in preceding years, the 2010 Festival featured many of the finest practitioners of diverse, living traditions - both old and new. The Festival's overall goal is to strengthen and preserve these traditions by presenting them on the National Mall in a respectful way to promote mutual understanding. The 2010 Festival featured three major programs.
The Asian Pacific American program offered visitors the opportunity to meet Asian Pacific Americans from the Washington, D.C., area who speak dozens of different languages, teach classes that emphasize ethnic identity, participate in traditional practices, and contribute to the cultural landscape of our nation's capital. Mexico is home to more than sixty-two indigenous groups, making it one of the richest countries in the world in terms of ethnic diversity. Festival audiences were able to meet people from communities whose histories and cultures reach back to pre-Columbian civilizations. The third program, Smithsonian Inside Out, invited visitors to step behind the scenes of the Smithsonian Institution and meet the curators, archivists, conservators, security experts, exhibition fabricators, and many more workers who shared their research, knowledge, and passion with the public.
In planning this year's Festival, curators traveled throughout Mexico with partners from that country's National Council for Culture and the Arts (Conaculta) and the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH); around the Asian Pacific American communities of the Washington, D.C., area with collaborators from the University of Maryland, George Mason University, and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program; and within the museums, research centers, and workshops of the Smithsonian itself, guided by colleagues who are intimately familiar with many of the Institution's hidden hallways and secluded collections seldom seen by members of the public. Through the Festival, visitors could meet, talk with, and learn from many of the most interesting people those curators and researchers have found in the course of their travels.
The 2010 Festival took place for two five-day weeks (June 24-28 & July 1-5) between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive and between 10th Street and 14th Street, south of the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History (see site plan). It featured three programs and the Rinzler Concert.
The 2010 Program Book included participant lists for each program; keynote essays provided background on each of the programs; a separate brochure provided a site plan and daily schedules.
The Festival was co-presented by the Smithsonian Institution and National Park Service and organized by the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Daniel Sheehy, Director; Smithsonian Folklife Festival: Stephen Kidd, Acting Festival Director
Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Advisory Council
Kurt Dewhurst (chair), J. Scott Raecker (vice chair), Michael Asch (ex officio), Mounir Bouchenaki, G. Wayne Clough (ex officio), Anthony Gittens, Mickey Hart, John Herzog, Debora Kodish, Richard Kurin (ex officio), Ellen McCulloch-Lovell, Libby O'Connell, Robert Santelli, Cathy Sulzberger
National Park Service
Jonathan B. Jarvis, Director; Peggy O'Dell, Regional Director; John Piltzecker, Superintendent, National Mall and Memorial Parks
The Festival was supported by federally appropriated funds; Smithsonian trust funds; contributions from governments, businesses, foundations, and individuals; in-kind assistance; and food, recording, and craft sales. Support for select musical performances at the Festival came from the Music Performance Fund, with general in-kind support provided by WAMU-88.5 FM and WashingtonPost.com.
Shared Stewardship of Collections:
The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://doi.org/10.25573/data.21771155.
Forms Part Of:
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival forms part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival records .
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: Papers
1967 Festival of American Folklife records - [Ongoing]
Related Archival Materials note:
Within the Rinzler Archives, related materials may be found in various collections such as the Ralph Rinzler papers and recordings, the Lily Spandorf drawings, the Diana Davies photographs, the Robert Yellin photographs, and the Curatorial Research, Programs, and Projects collection. Additional relevant materials may also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives concerning the Division of Performing Arts (1966-1983), Folklife Program (1977-1980), Office of Folklife Programs (1980-1991), Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies (1991-1999), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present), and collaborating Smithsonian units, as well as in the administrative papers of key figures such as the Secretary and respective deputies. Users are encouraged to consult relevant finding aids and to contact Archives staff for further information.
Restrictions:
Access to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections is by appointment only. Visit our website for more information on scheduling a visit or making a digitization request. Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies.
Rights:
Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. Please visit our website to learn more about submitting a request. The Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections make no guarantees concerning copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Other usage conditions may apply; please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for more information.
