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[[underline]] 1976 Festival of American Folklife [[/underline]]

The 1976 Festival of American Folklife will mark 200 years of America's national heritage in a very special way. Smithsonian field researchers, ethnomusicologists, and folklorists have sought out and invited more than 5,000 musicians, dancers, craftspeople, and other participants to share their traditions and skills with others. Participants will come from every corner of the United States and over 30 foreign countries. The Festival will open on June 16 and run through September 6, a total of 12 weeks. We are prepared for an anticipated 17 million visitors from all over the world with a staff of Italian, French, Spanish, German, and Japanese translators and with experts in other languages on call. This will be the largest cultural event of its kind in the world's history.

Eight sections of the Festival will give participants and visitors a multi-dimensional view of traditional American culture. These are: Old Ways in the New World, African Diaspora, Native Americans, Working Americans, Transportation, Children's Area, Family Folklore, and Regional America.

The sections "Old Ways in the New World" and "African Diaspora" explore the heritage, past and present, of our diverse ethnic populations. In "Old Ways", Americans of European or Asian descent join together with representative artists from their original homelands for an exploration of the similarities and differences brought about by time and by distance in their traditional arts. Each week of the summer, two different countries and their contributions to American culture will be presented.