2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

[Guest]

The Silk Road at the <br>2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival<br>June 26 - 30, July 3 - 7<br>National Mall, Washington, DC<p><br>The 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will feature The Silk Road, a living exhibition of the music, crafts, culinary, and narrative traditions involved in the historical cultural interchange between the "East" and the "West." <p>The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, now in its 36th year, is held annually outdoors on the National Mall in Washington, DC, for two weeks overlapping the Fourth of July holiday. The Festival helps educate the public about the diverse cultural traditions that contribute to the American and human experience. The Festival typically attracts over one million visitors. It is produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. For 2002, the Festival program will be produced in collaboration with The Silk Road Project - an organization founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma and supporting concerts, activities, and educational programs across the United States, Europe, and Asia on Silk Road themes.<p>The Silk Road program illustrates connections between the cultures of Asia, Europe, and America based upon historical trade routes. It emphasizes the development of many living traditions - from silk textiles to tea drinking, from stringed instruments to paper making, from noodle traditions to blue and white "chinaware." The program highlights how the "East" and the "West" were brought closer together through a creative commercial and cultural exchange that still enriches our lives today. The Silk Road, as an early form of globalization, has relevance to current forms of cultural and commercial exchange as contacts between Europe, Asia, and America continue to expand.<p>The 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will feature some 400 traditional artists - musicians, dancers, craftsmen, storytellers, artists, cooks and more from 18 nations including the United States, Italy, Turkey, Syria, Armenia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, China, Mongolia, and Japan. These artists, from the Silk Road and its American diaspora, will sing, dance, play musical instruments, cook, tell stories, demonstrate pottery making, textile weaving, carpet making, martial arts, puppetry, jewelry making, glass blowing, and more. All of the performances and demonstrations will be framed by scholarly presentations. A particular emphasis will be placed on children's programming. The Festival site will occupy about 25 acres and include large decorated, tent-like structures outfitted in a style suggestive of the cultures along the Silk Road. Plans for ancillary educational programs include websites, publications for students, a Smithsonian Folkways Recording, teacher workshops, and a symposium. <p>The Festival is curated by a distinguished group of scholars and aided by research and support services from a variety of cultural and educational organizations in the participating countries. A large grant to the Smithsonian from The Silk Road Project supports program costs. Major donors to The Silk Road Project include the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Ford Motor Company and Siemens. Federal appropriations and Smithsonian trust funds support Festival infrastructure. The Festival is co-sponsored by the National Park Service.<br>