The 42nd Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, is a living exhibition of traditional culture that enables the public to learn from and interact with exemplary keepers of diverse traditions. This year the Festival features three programs: Bhutan: Land of the Thunder Dragon, NASA: Fifty Years and Beyond, and Texas: A Celebration of Music, Food, and Wine.

Volunteers are critical to the success of the Festival and work closely with Festival staff and participants. As a volunteer, you may be asked to assist stage managers, sell programs, help with the audiovisual recording of performances, or provide general administrative support. These are only a few of the opportunities available to volunteers.  Past volunteers say they keep coming back to the Festival because it offers "great fun, great people, and lots to learn."

We are also looking for volunteers who are fluent in Dzongkha and Certified ASL.

If you are at least sixteen years old and you feel that you can commit to volunteering at the Festival, please click here to download the volunteer application in pdf format.

Submitting the application by e-mail helps to save the Smithsonian Folklife Festival time and money. Please fill in the fields and click "Submit by Email." Then follow the directions in the pop-up window. Saving the file as a pdf will not retain your inputted information, so it is very important that you follow the directions to submit by e-mail.

Click here to download the latest version of Acrobat Reader.

For more information on volunteering at the Festival, please contact Amy Garrett, volunteer coordinator, at garrettamy@si.edu or 202.633.6484.