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Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage

Backshot of two men work together to pin blueprints of a building design to a corkboard wall.

In Charleston, American College of the Building Arts Educates the Next Generation of Craftspeople

Synthesizing liberal arts education with hands-on experience in architectural trades, ACBA strives to encourage the preservation, enrichment, and understanding of global architectural heritage.

Three men, two holding acoustic guitars, pose in front of a festival tent.

A Life in Folklore: Frank Proschan’s Community Work and New Internship Endowment

After fifty years in culture work, Proschan has gifted his research as a folklorist and anthropologist to the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections.

A performance in an opera hall, looking sideways across the orchestra pit. The performers are both on stage, lit in blue on the left, and in the first rows of red seats, on the right.

A Catalan Opera Adapts Greek Myth to Understand the Refugee Crisis

Since 1993, 33,293 people have drowned in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic trying to reach a safe place to start a new life.

American Sign Language alphabet

Hearing the Voices of Deaf Culture at the 1981 Folklife Festival

The landmark event introduced many hearing visitors to the stories, poems, sign play, jokes and traditions of the deaf community

(Photo courtesy of Sandra Chandler)

A Folkways Challenge Reveals a Love for Sacred Harp Singing in Georgia

Douglasville, Georgia, the home of Alexander High School, represents the divide where urban meets rural.

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