On September 21, some 25,000 Native people walked down the National Mall of the United States, beginning at the Smithsonian Castle and ending at the foot of the U.S. Capitol, to open the new National Museum of the American Indian. Inuit from Canada and Eskimos from Alaska walked with Suyá of Brazil's Amazon rainforest and Aymara of the Bolivian Andes. Native Hawaiians walked with Navajo, Cheyenne with Choctaw, Hopi with Lumbee. The mood was poignant and joyous, celebratory and profound. In this historic, stirring moment Native people representing more than 650 tribal and cultural groups announced to the world loud and clear, "We are still here!" The museum itself and a six-day First Americans Festival that followed the opening brought home the point that Native cultures are part of a heritage lived by real, con-temporary human beings—indeed millions of them.

It was an honor to be part of this truly incredible event, and part of the magnificent team from the Center and from the National Museum of the American Indian that produced it.

The mood displayed, not only by procession and Festival participants, but by tens of thousands of other Native people who attended the events, was similar to that witnessed at the National World War II Reunion we produced on the Mall in May with the American Battle Monuments Commission. People enjoyed the public recognition and respect given to their experience, knowledge, and accomplishment. They appreciated the opportunity to tell their story to their fel-low citizens and to the next generation. The audience for its part relished the discussion sessions, demonstrations, and performances. For them, it was an overwhelmingly positive learning experience.

The impact of our work this year has truly been enormous. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival occasioned informed, important discussions of the future of waterways and their communities in the Mid-Atlantic states. The Latino music program attracted huge Latino crowds—never before seen on the Mall — and projected the richness and diversity of Latino traditions across the nation through partnerships with Radio Bilingüe, NBC's Latino USA, and others. The well-presented Haitian program was a symbol of pride in a nation continually ravaged by nature and politics. At the opening of the world donor conference on Haitian relief, the Haitian interim Prime Minister and the President of the World Bank lauded the Festival as demonstrating the cultural worth of the Haitian people and their ability to do wonderful things if given the opportunity. The conference netted $1.2 billion in aid pledges, funds that hope-fully will support hospitals, schools, roads, and jobs.

Many other effects of our work were felt well beyond the National Mall in Washington. A multi-media education kit growing out of a program at the 2001 Festival and produced in cooperation with local teachers was distributed to every school in Bermuda. Our El Río exhibition, based upon programs at the 1998 and 2000 Festivals, opened at the Museum of the Desert in Coahuila and later traveled to the Semilla: Museum-Science and Technology Center in Chihuahua, Mexico. Smithsonian Folkways continued to distribute fine documentary recordings around the nation and the globe. A new Smithsonian Folkways Web site enhances our distribution capabilities and can open access to our collections by students, teachers, and culture-bearers around the planet. In this vein, we finally — after many fits and starts — expect to launch Smithsonian Global Sound, our digital music download service, later in the fall.

All of these accomplishments are woven from the cloth of 38 years of Festival work and the parallel efforts of Folkways Records to allow for cultural self-representation, education, and benefit. It is work that is valuable and will continue.

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