About the Festival: The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is an international exposition of living cultural heritage annually produced outdoors on the National Mall of the United States in Washington, D.C., by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

 

Initiated in 1967, the Festival has become a national and international model of a research-based presentation of contemporary living cultural traditions. Over the years, it has brought more than 25,000 musicians, artists, performers, craftspeople, workers, cooks, storytellers, and others to the National Mall to demonstrate the skills, knowledge, and aesthetics that embody the creative vitality of community-based traditions.

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About Ruby Ibarra: Ruby Ibarra is a rapper, director, and spoken word artist from the Bay Area, CA who released her debut album, CIRCA91, at the end of 2017 and has since toured across the United States and the Philippines. Ruby has been featured on notable publications such as NPR, Huffington Post, Paper Mag, Vogue Philippines, CNN Philippines, Buzzfeed, XXL Magazine, NY Times, LA Times, SF Chronicle, and in a Grammys/MasterCard TV commercial and billboard campaign with R&B singer SZA. In 2018, Ruby co-founded the Pinays Rising Scholarship program.

 

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