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[[continued from page 15]] program for 1995. A team of sixteen staff and the director of the cultural Olympiad for the Atlanta Olympic Games studied the Festival in preparation for a joint effort to produce a program on the American South for the Smithsonian Festival in 1996. The executive director and other staff of the Iowa sesquicentennial visited the Mall as a prelude to a public announcement later this summer of Iowa's participation in the 1996 Festival. During their visit, South African officials reiterated their desire for South Africa to be the featured country at the 1997 Festival.

American Festival Japan '94

After three years of planning, The Smithsonian's America, the central exhibition and the accompanying music festival of the American Festival Japan '94, opened at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Makuhari Messe convention center outside Tokyo on July 8 for a fifty-four day period. President Jimmy Carter and Secretary Adams participated in the opening ceremonies, led on the Japanese side by Prince Akishino and former Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu. Also representing the Smithsonian was Regent Jeannine Clarke, Under Secretary Connie Newman and the Smithsonian team, led by Dr. Lonnie Bunch, Assistant Director for Curatorial Affairs of the National Museum of American History.

An extensive publicity campaign by the co-sponsors of the Festival, the public television network NHK and Yomiuri Shimbun, a national newspaper with ten million circulation, resulted in forty-one thousand visitors during the opening weekend. More than 1.5 million people are projected to visit the festival. The exhibition and accompanying music festival were praised for their high educational value and balanced portrayal of American society. The comment book revealed that Japanese visitors were intrigued by the portrayal of America's pluralistic society. Many paused to read the labels, taking more time than is customary in Japanese museums, also a testament to the exhibition's power. The Smithsonian team were very impressed by the execution of design, the quality of materials, and the efficient teamwork of the Japanese exhibit fabricators.

The Festival also provided an opportunity to promote Smithsonian activities in Japan. The Office of Development invited Japanese Corporate Members to a dinner hosted by the Secretary, followed by a talk by Dr. Bunch. Smithsonian magazine, which devoted its July cover story to the roots of Japanese-American interaction, invited potential advertisers and others to a day at the Festival and a reception, where they were addressed by the Publisher and the Under Secretary. The Museum Shop, situated at the exit of the Smithsonian exhibition, also provided an opportunity to test the Japanese market for Smithsonian-related products.

Exhibitions

The masking traditions of one geographic area of Africa --- the Zaire River Basin of central Africa -- are featured at the National Museum of African Art. The masks in this exhibition reveal the diversity of forms and styles found among 40 ethnic groups in the Zaire River Basin, an area that encompasses the Republic of Zaire and northern Angola. Face of the Spirits: Masks from the Zaire Basin runs through September 25.

From aspirin to the atom, science has dramatically changed the way Americans have lived over the last 125 years. Science in American Life, a permanent exhibition at the National Museum of American History, charts many of these changes. The "Hands On Science Center" allows visitors to examine the exhibit's science and history messages by doing more than 25 activities, such as water-sample testing, exploring DNA fingerprinting and detecting radioactivity in common household objects.

The National Museum of American Art is presenting Thomas Cole: Landscape into History through August 7. This comprehensive survey features the rich variety of the landscape format Cole [[continued on page 17]]