Whereas the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, founded by the Smithsonian Institution on July 1, 1967, is commemorating 50 years of cultural exploration, exchange, and engagement on the National Mall of the United States this year; Whereas the purposes of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival are to collaborate with individuals and communities throughout the United States and around the world to present diverse, community-based traditions in an engaging, accessible, and culturally appropriate way, to show the connections between traditional and emerging practices, skills, and knowledge through research, performance, demonstration, conversation, and documentation, and to support the efforts of individuals and communities working to promote the resilience, integrity, vitality, and sustainability of the cultural heritage of those individuals and communities; Whereas the Smithsonian Folklife Festival continues to collaborate with the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, the Folk and Traditional Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Park Service, scholarly societies, and State and local arts agencies to deepen and advance public curiosity and appreciation of rich folk and traditional arts and practices as vital and integral to the social fabric of families, communities, and other countries; Whereas the Smithsonian Folklife Festival has inspired similar cultural exhibitions and festivals across the United States and around the world; Whereas the Smithsonian Folklife Festival has generated educational curricula, scholarly publications, documentary films, and nongovernmental organizations committed to the documentation and presentation of folk and traditional arts; Whereas the Smithsonian Folklife Festival fosters intercultural dialogue, cross-generational learning, and cultural equity; Whereas the Smithsonian Folklife Festival celebrates the diversity of artistic expression and the dignity, delight, and innovation found in the creative process