- Smithsonian Folklife Festival shines spotlight on Haitian art and culture

When Richard Kurin heard about the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti last January, he was heartbroken. As point man for decades for the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, he knew the Smithsonian had to do something.
In 2004 about 100 Haitian artists came to the Mall as an official centerpiece of the festival, marking Haiti's 200 years of independence from the French. So, Kurin said, "we knew the cultural workers." His immediate concern for the safety of individual artists morphed into worries about the condition of the nation's paintings, musical instruments and art galleries.
Once he started hearing from artists who had survived and he saw televised images of injured people pulling art from the rubble, Kurin developed a plan to get the Smithsonian involved in the recovery. "Culture is important as a basic part of people's survival. The Smithsonian had the context there and we had the tools," he said. Lire la suite...