Smithsonian Center Expands Festivals Acadiens et Créoles
Smithsonian Center Selected 40 Cultural Festivals Across the Country for Its National 250th Anniversary Initiative
LAFAYETTE, La. (press release) – Festivals Acadiens et Créoles, in partnership with the Center for Louisiana Studies (CLS) at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, announced a collaboration with the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage as part of “Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals.”
The Smithsonian project is a nationwide initiative marking the 250th anniversary of the United States, which is reflected in this year’s Festivals Acadiens et Créoles theme, Revolution and Evolution: Celebrating 250 Years of Cultural Fusion on the Bayou.
A National Initiative Rooted in Community Festivals
Between March and November 2026, the Smithsonian is collaborating with approximately forty festivals across the United States and its territories, highlighting festivals as vital spaces for cultural exchange, civic engagement and dialogue.
Through this collaboration, Festivals Acadiens et Créoles joins a national network of only 40 cultural festivals working to showcase the richness and diversity of American culture during this historic celebration.
“With this support from the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, we are organizing an exploration of our own regional version of the American melting pot, our own creolized gumbo of culture, music and cuisine,” added Festivals Acadiens et Créoles co-founder and board president, Barry Jean Ancelet. “And as part of what became America, South Louisiana has been and continues to be influenced by old-time Appalachian music, Delta blues, country music, swing, rock, jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, reggae and hip hop. In turn, we have also influenced the country and other parts of the world with the flavors of our complex cultural blend.”
Smithsonian Collaboration Expands Festival Acadiens et Créoles Programming
This collaboration will broaden the programming of Festivals Acadiens et Créoles while bringing the Smithsonian’s long-standing commitment to documenting and presenting living cultural traditions into direct dialogue with Louisiana’s French-speaking cultural communities.
Through this collaboration, Festivals Acadiens et Créoles — working closely with the Center for Louisiana Studies as a principal programming partner — will present a series of new and expanded initiatives that deepen public engagement with the region’s music, history, and material culture:
- Revolution and Evolution: Pre-Festival Symposium Enhancement
- This year’s pre-festival symposium will be expanded to explore in greater depth this year’s theme, “Revolution and Evolution: Celebrating 250 Years of Cultural Fusion on the Bayou.” The symposium will examine Louisiana’s cultural history within the wider context of the nation’s semiquincentennial. It will also explore the long-standing relationship between Acadiana’s regional culture and the Smithsonian’s folklife work, including connections to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and related efforts that have helped bring Louisiana traditions to national and global audiences.
- Scène’76 – A New Festival Stage
- A newly created performance stage, Scène ’76, will highlight the interplay between Cajun, Creole and zydeco music and other American musical traditions. The stage will explore the influence of genres such as honky-tonk, blues and old-time music, emphasizing Louisiana’s role within a broader national soundscape.
- Scéne Atelier Workshop Series
- Enhancements to the Atelier (workshop stage) will deepen and expand interpretive programming, offering audiences opportunities to engage directly with artists and tradition bearers through demonstrations, conversations and contextual presentations.
- Smithsonian-Related Exhibition at the Hilliard Art Museum
- An exhibition at the Hilliard Art Museum’s A. Hays Town Building will present photography and archival materials documenting the Smithsonian’s decades-long engagement with Louisiana culture. At its core will be rarely seen — and in some cases never-before-exhibited — images and artworks related to past Smithsonian Folklife Festivals, offering a unique visual record of Louisiana French culture on a national stage and highlighting shared efforts in research, documentation and cultural stewardship.
- Expanded Folklife & Material Culture Area
- An expanded folklife area centered in Girard Park’s pond and the Hilliard Art Museum lawn, including the A. Hays Town Building, will foreground traditional crafts, foodways, waterfowl traditions, outdoor heritage and community knowledge. This space will reinforce the festival’s role as a site of cultural transmission and lived experience.
“This collaboration affirms what we know to be true: the regional traditions of Acadiana are not quaint antiquities, but vital expressions of human creativity with national and global significance,” said Dr. Joshua Caffery, director of the Center for Louisiana Studies. “At this moment of the nation’s 250th anniversary, they remind us that American culture is created locally, by the people, but also reflected, refracted, and continually reborn within the national consciousness.”
2024 Festivals Acadiens et Créoles, By Denny Culbert
