Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
odd: label: Introduction
content: For ten days in the summer of 2002, the great geographical and cultural distance that lies between the heart of Europe and the far reaches of Asia was reduced to the length of a leisurely afternoon stroll on the National Mall. For the first time in its 36-year history, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival had a single - and remarkably ambitious - theme: the Silk Road. The name denotes the network of trade routes, over both land and sea, along which merchants and travelers began to move across Asia and Europe from the first millennium B.C.E. The most famous east-west component of the Silk Road began in Xi'an, the ancient capital of China, broke north and south of China's Takla Makan Desert, and traversed a vast stretch of Central and Western Asia on its way to the eastern end of the Mediterranean. Along those staggering distances lay a wealth of cultures and traditions. They are still there; during the Folklife Festival, they came to life in the heart of Washington as well.

Merchants took to the Silk Road for commercial gain. But their movement also brought riches of another kind: the cultural traditions that were transported along the Silk Road. The ingenious, distinctive emblems of peoples - their science, technology, religions, customs, crafts, music, food, architecture, fashions - made the journey, too, and the dazzling variety of the world that commerce opened was diffused, welcomed, and adapted.

That's the tale that was told in the 2002 Folklife Festival, The Silk Road: Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust. Produced in association with the Silk Road Project, Inc., an organization founded by the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, supported in large part by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, and featuring exhibits designed by Rajeev Sethi, the Festival turned the National Mall into a mammoth visual representation of the Silk Road, with the Great Gate in Nara, Japan, at the eastern end, toward the Capitol, and St. Mark's Square in Venice at the western end, in the shadow of the Washington Monument. And between the two, visitors could wander Eurasia, through Istanbul, Samarkand, and Xi'an. On the way they moved among hundreds of musicians, artists, dancers, crafts workers, and chefs from some two dozen nations of the Silk Road, working side by side with Americans who trace their origins to the region or have been culturally influenced by its traditions.

An especially valuable aspect of the event was its focus on Central Asia, a region to which Americans were all too indifferent before events of the preceding year. We now know the names of the nations in that part of the world, but the Festival gave the people of those nations and their traditions a human face. Visitors who made the journey across the Festival site could immerse themselves in the energy and larger educational purpose of the Festival; they had an opportunity to travel across continents, centuries, and cultures. They could meet with a diversity of artists who, through their demonstrations of skill - with silk, jewelry, ceramics, carpets, paintings, paper, calligraphy, food, and, not least, music - did more than merely affirm their cultural traditions. They embodied them. The 2002 Folklife Festival, like every other, celebrated humanity and breathed a spirit of human engagement. On a great green stretch of this nation's capital, people from many different societies were brought together face to face. And those chance, transient encounters might affect the way they think about the world.

The 2002 Festival took place during two five-day weeks (June 26-30 and July 3-7) between Madison Drive and Jefferson Drive and between 10th Street and 14th Street, south of the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History (see site plan). 

The Program Book provided information on the history and culture of the Silk Road and included a schedule and participant information.

The Silk Road: Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival was a partnership of the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the Silk Road Project, Inc. The Festival site was designed by Rajeev Sethi Scenographers and produced in cooperation with the Asian Heritage Foundation. The Festival was co-sponsored by the National Park Service.

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Richard Kurin, Director; Richard Kennedy, Deputy Director; Smithsonian Folklife Festival: Diana Parker, Festival Director; Carla M. Borden, Program/Publications Manager; Arlene L. Reiniger, Program Specialist; Charlie Weber, Media Specialist; Smithsonian Folkways Recordings: Daniel Sheehy, Director; Anthony Seeger, Director Emeritus; D.A. Sonneborn, Assistant Director; Ralph Rinzler Archives: Jeffrey Place, Archivist; Stephanie Smith, Assistant Archivist; Save Our Sounds: Frank Proschan, Project Director; Smithsonian GlobalSound: Jon Kertzer, Project Director; Cultural Heritage Policy: James Early, Director; Cultural Research and Education: Olivia Cadaval, Chair; Thomas Vennum, Jr., Senior Ethnomusicologist Emeritus; Betty J. Belanus, Nancy Groce, Marjorie Hunt, Diana Baird N'Diaye, Peter Seitel, Cynthia Vidaurri, Nilda Villalta, Curators, Folklorists, Education and Cultural Specialists; John W. Franklin, Program Manager; Gigi Bradford, Roland Freeman, Ivan Karp, Corinne Kratz, Alan Lomax, Worth Long, René López, Kate Rinzler, Rajeev Sethi, Research Associates; Rhea Combs, Steven Garabedian, Mark Jackson, Ajaya Khanal, Anthony McCann, Fellows

Center Advisory Council

Kurt Dewhurst, Anthony Gittens, Pat Jasper, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Enrique Lamadrid, David Maybury-Lewis, Judy Mitoma, J. Scott Raecker, Ricardo Trimillos (Chair)

Folkways Advisory Board

Michael Asch (Chair), Phyllis Barney, Hal Cannon, Don DeVito, Ella Jenkins, Fred Silber

The Silk Road Project, Inc.

Yo-Yo Ma, Artistic Director; Jean Davidson, Managing Director; Theodore Levin, Project Director

The Asian Heritage Foundation

Rajeev Sethi, Founder Trustee

National Park Service

Fran P. Mainella, Director; Terry R. Carlstrom, Director, National Capital Region

The Festival was supported by federally appropriated funds, Smithsonian trust funds, contributions from governments, businesses, foundations, and individuals, in-kind assistance, volunteers, food and craft sales, and Friends of the Festival. The 2002 Festival was made possible through the following generous sponsors and donors to the Silk Road Project, Inc.:

Lead Funder and Key Creative Partner: The Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Global Corporate Partners: Ford Motor Company; Siemens

Major Funding by: The Starr Foundation; Mr. and Mrs. Henry R. Kravis; Mr. Richard Li; Mr. William Rondina; Wolfensohn Family Foundation; Octavian Society; National Endowment for the Arts; Carolyn G. Mugar/The Armenian Tree Project

and by the following supporters of the Smithsonian Institution:

Lead Donor: ExxonMobil

Donors: U.S. Department of State; Mr. Arthur Pacheco; Trust for Mutual Understanding; Music Performance Trust Funds; Asian Cultural Council; J.S. Lee

In-Kind Donors: Turkish Airlines; Motorola/Nextel; Go-Ped; APL; Fresh Fields/Whole Foods Market
label: Shared Stewardship of Collections
content: The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage acknowledges and respects the right of artists, performers, Folklife Festival participants, community-based scholars, and knowledge-keepers to collaboratively steward representations of themselves and their intangible cultural heritage in media produced, curated, and distributed by the Center. Making this collection accessible to the public is an ongoing process grounded in the Center's commitment to connecting living people and cultures to the materials this collection represents. To view the Center's full shared stewardship policy, which defines our protocols for addressing collections-related inquiries and concerns, please visit https://doi.org/10.25573/data.21771155.
name: label: Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
label: Names
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival
topic: label: Topic
content: Folklore
label: Topic
content: arts and crafts
label: Topic
content: Folk music
label: Topic
content: Folk festivals
label: Topic
content: Folk art
label: Topic
content: Food habits
label: Topic
content: World music
creator: label: Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
setName: label: See more items in
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
abstract: label: Summary
content: The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
bioghist: label: Historical note
content: The Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. 

The 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival was produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and cosponsored by the National Park Service.

For more information, see Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Cubic foot (approximate)
phystech: label: Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements note
content: The Rinzler Archives is continually engaged in digitization of archival materials to facilitate preservation and ready access by users. However, given the diversity of legacy formats of the originals, some older materials may not be available. Notably, certain older audio recordings cannot be played because of deterioration of the tape stock, and the Archives has no playback equipment for EIAJ-1 videoreels (1/2 inch) or multi-track audio recordings. Where listening or viewing copies are available, this is generally indicated for each item. Users are encouraged to contact Archives staff to verify that the materials of interest to them are already accessible, or to determine if they can be digitized as needed.
unitdate: label: Date
content: June 26-July 7, 2002
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
identifier: label: Identifier
content: CFCH.SFF.2002
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Audiotapes
label: Type
content: Memorandums
label: Type
content: Business records
label: Type
content: Video recordings
label: Type
content: Plans (drawings)
label: Type
content: Negatives
label: Type
content: Audiocassettes
label: Type
content: Videotapes
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Photographic prints
label: Type
content: Contracts
label: Type
content: Digital images
label: Type
content: Notes
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Slides (photographs)
arrangement: label: Arrangement note
content: Arranged in 2 series.

Series 1: Program Books, Festival Publications, and Ephemera

Series 2: The Silk Road: Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Audiotapes
label: Genre/Form
content: Memorandums
label: Genre/Form
content: Business records
label: Genre/Form
content: Video recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Plans (drawings)
label: Genre/Form
content: Negatives
label: Genre/Form
content: Audiocassettes
label: Genre/Form
content: Videotapes
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographic prints
label: Genre/Form
content: Contracts
label: Genre/Form
content: Digital images
label: Genre/Form
content: Notes
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence
label: Genre/Form
content: Slides (photographs)
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents note
content: This collection documents the planning, production, and execution of the 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Materials may include photographs, audio recordings, motion picture film and video recordings, notes, production drawings, contracts, memoranda, correspondence, informational materials, publications, and ephemera. Such materials were created during the Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as well as in the featured communities, before or after the Festival itself.
relatedmaterial: label: Forms Part Of
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival forms part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival records .

Smithsonian Folklife Festival records

Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: Papers

1967 Festival of American Folklife records - [Ongoing]
label: Related Archival Materials note
content: Within the Rinzler Archives, related materials may be found in various collections such as the Ralph Rinzler papers and recordings, the Lily Spandorf drawings, the Diana Davies photographs, the Robert Yellin photographs, and the Curatorial Research, Programs, and Projects collection. Additional relevant materials may also be found in the Smithsonian Institution Archives concerning the Division of Performing Arts (1966-1983), Folklife Program (1977-1980), Office of Folklife Programs (1980-1991), Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies (1991-1999), Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present), and collaborating Smithsonian units, as well as in the administrative papers of key figures such as the Secretary and respective deputies. Users are encouraged to consult relevant finding aids and to contact Archives staff for further information.