The 2025 Smithsonian Folklife Festival runs from Wednesday, July 2 through Monday, July 7, and this year’s theme is “Youth and the Future of Culture,” featuring performances, installations, activities, and more created by young people. Programming takes place on the National Mall for six days from 11 AM to 5:30 PM, plus some extended hours for evening concerts.
“I’m excited about this coming together of generations,” says festival director Sabrina Lynn Motley. “It’s reciprocal: Elders are learning from the youth, just as older folks are teaching younger ones.”
Here are five things we’re looking forward to at this year’s festival.
Make your own music
There’s no shortage of music and dance at the festival, from performances by local go-go and jazz artists to hula demonstrations by Hawaiian school Hālau I Ka Leo Ola O Nā Mamo. For those looking to add their own audio to the mix, you can make and record music in the festival’s New Sounds Lab, a small recording studio set up in a tent. Choose from a selection of instruments, then work with fellow artists and sound engineers to create a composition you can send to your phone or email…