The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is dedicated to the research, preservation, and promotion of traditional cultures around the world. The Center works to amplify the voices of communities by showcasing their music, foodways, oral histories, craftsmanship, and other expressive traditions. Through exhibitions, publications, and collaborative programs, it fosters greater understanding of the richness and diversity of cultural heritage and supports cultural sustainability in a rapidly changing world. The annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. brings cultural practitioners from around the globe to share living traditions through performance, demonstration, and dialogue, while Smithsonian Folkways Recordings preserves and distributes a vast archive of music from diverse cultures.
Why it matters: Traditional cultures carry accumulated wisdom, beauty, and ways of being that risk being lost in a rapidly changing world—and their preservation requires not just archiving but active amplification and community collaboration. By centering the voices of cultural practitioners themselves through performance, demonstration, and dialogue rather than presenting traditions as museum objects, the Center supports living heritage that continues to evolve and inspire. The combination of the Folklife Festival’s public engagement and Folkways Recordings’ vast archive ensures that music, stories, and traditions reach both present audiences and future generations who will need these cultural resources.
