In an era where nearly 41 percent of the global population is 24 years old or under, the 2025 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will return with a new theme: “Youth and the Future of Culture.”
The free annual event is running through a holiday week—from Wednesday, July 2, through Monday, July 7—and will once again invite Washingtonians to the National Mall for a series of art installations, on-theme activities, and evening performances.
Throughout the festival, you can expect over six hours of programming each day. Notable attractions will include live sets by teenage DJs, short films by youth empowerment groups across the DC area, and hands-on demonstrations by young stone-carvers, painters, and other craftspeople.
A central focus of this year’s Folklife Festival will be a collaboration with the Museum of the Contemporary Teenager, a pop-up founded and run entirely by adolescent students in Maryland’s Montgomery County. For the festival, they’ll be showcasing a series of constructed settings from teenage life—including bedrooms and high school hallways—as well as performances about social media, youth shorthand, and mental health.
Outside of the festival’s main theme, programming will feature a “Language Lodge,” where attendees can learn more about Native Language Reclamation through demonstrations and performances. Additionally, the 2025 Folklife Festival has once again set a waste diversion rate goal of over 90 percent, and will station trash-sorting volunteers across the National Mall.
For more information on the history of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, as well as updated information about this year’s programming, click here.
