The 43rd annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival will be held outdoors on the National Mall in Washington, DC, Wednesday, June 24, through Sunday, June 28, and Wednesday, July 1, through Sunday, July 5, 2009. Produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the Festival is a living exhibition of traditional culture featuring outstanding musicians, craftspeople, storytellers, cooks, occupational specialists, and more.
Volunteers are critical to the success of the Festival and work closely with Smithsonian staff, as well as with Festival participants of various backgrounds. Past volunteers say they keep coming back to the Festival year after year because it offers "great fun, great people, and lots to learn." Some volunteers have returned for as many as 33 years!
This year's programs are:
Giving Voice: The Power of Words in African American Culture
"Giving Voice" will present the deep, rich threads of the African American oral tradition. Through the power of words, African Americans have given voice to the needs, hopes, aspirations, and dreams of a people whose traditions are a major force in American culture. The program will showcase this living legacy by featuring exemplary bearers of oral traditions in the genres of theater, poetry, storytelling, radio, and humor.
Las Americas: Un Mundo Musical/ The Americas: A Musical World
"Las Americas" is the final and most extensive program of the Nuestra
Musica: Music in Latino Culture "living exhibitions" series. It features outstanding artists from the United States and Latin America who represent a rich diversity of musical styles, including Puerto Rican bomba, plena, and jibaro music, Mexican mariachi music, corridos, and sones from various regions, Colombian vallenato, joropo, and currulao, Dominican merengue tipico, Venezuelan joropo oriental and Afro-Venezuelan drumming, Paraguayan polca, and Salvadoran chanchona music.
Wales Smithsonian Cymru
"Wales Smithsonian Cymru" highlights the creative culture of this dynamic country, which is one of the first in the world to promote sustainable development as a core principle. Tying old to new and heritage to innovation, the program will show how language, foodways, crafts, building skills, music, and literature have been retained, recycled, and reimagined in every region of Wales and in Welsh communities around the globe.
As a volunteer you may be asked to assist Festival participants or stage managers, sell programs, help with the audiovisual recording of performances and presentations, or lend a hand with the many administrative duties essential to the success of the Festival. If you would like to volunteer your service, and if you have access to the Internet, please complete the Volunteer Questionnaire on-line and return it via e-mail as soon as possible. E-mailing your application will save time, paper, and resources! Otherwise, you may fax the questionnaire to (202) 633-6476.
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If you have questions or comments, please email Laura Jenkins, Volunteer Coordinator Smithsonian Folklife Festival, call (202) 633-6484, or send correspondence to P.O. Box 37012, MRC 520 Washington, DC 20013-7012.