Join Smithsonian staff in the historic Arts and Industries Building and online, Tuesdays through Saturdays, June 16 to July 11, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET for their For the Common Good series. In this conversation series, Smithsonian staff explore how their work in museums, research and education centers, and a zoological park illuminates the ideals of a nation and contributes to our shared future.
News from the Field
Beginning with the 2026–27 academic year, Goucher College's MA in Cultural Sustainability becomes the MA in Cultural Leadership & Management (MACLM). Applications for the first MACLM cohort are now open through July 24, 2026.
The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage has launched Built by Hand, a new digital exhibition that features the inspiring stories of a wide range of craftspeople in the building arts, highlighting their pathways to craftsmanship, their traditional knowledge and skills, and their dedication to passing on their craft traditions to the next generation.
The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+) is conducting a 15-min survey to better understand the conditions shaping craft artists’ lives and work today. The survey will be open until June 26, 2026.
The Missouri Folk Arts Program is excited to announce the recipients of the 2026 Missouri Living Traditions Fellowship, an award to recognize the artistic excellence and exceptional lifetime achievement of living traditional artists and community scholars in the Show Me State.
The Americans for the Arts Action Fund released a statement urging constituents to sign the petition to fund NEA and NEH at $213 million each for FY 2027 and to maintain NEA's 40% state arts agency formula, which will protect the percentage of funding available to local arts organizations.
The Southern Music Research Center and Whole South Heritage Works have announced that a full, free digital archive of The Old-Time Herald magazine is now live.
Our Common Life: Folksong from the Front Porch to the Concert Hall (University of Illinois Press) by Stephen Wade illuminates the truth that creative freedom within informal tradition, fundamental to the artists and their processes, speaks to a resourcefulness inscribed in America’s founding charter and expressed in its common life.
The True Texas Collection consists of photographs and oral histories taken and conducted by independent folklorist Douglas Manger. These materials are now available online through Angelo State University's digital repository.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) encourages nominations of master folk and traditional artists to recognize artistic excellence, lifetime achievement, and contributions to our nation's traditional arts heritage. Nominations for the 2027 class of NEA National Heritage Fellows are due May 11, 2026.