and for che Smithsonian's "Art Night on the Mall" 

 program of extended summer hours on Thursdays, a 

 concert series titled "Latin Music on the Plaza," cospon- 

 sored with the Prince George's Arts Council, attracted 

 some 8,000 visitors. 



June 18 



■ Exhibition/Partnership SITES began a strategic 

 relationship with Silver Dollar Gty, a theme park located 

 in Branson, Missouri a popular midwestern vacation spot. 

 The first exhibition to be shown at Silver Dollar City was 

 "Earth to You, Exploring Geography," sponsored by 

 Nissan Motor Corporation U.S.A. In September 1998, 

 "American Glass: Masters of the Art," an exhibition that 

 examined the work of 13 American glass artists, opened as 

 a part of Silver Dollar City's National Crafts Festival. The 

 alliance between SITES and Silver Dollar City is impor- 

 tant because of the park's large visitorship — 1.8 million 

 visitors a year, all ages, drawn mostly from the South and 

 Midwest — generates high visibility for the Smithsonian 

 and its exhibitions. Over 400,000 people visited each 

 exhibition during its run in Branson. In addition, Silver 

 Dollar City has provided financial support to SITES in 

 conjunction with these exhibitions. 



June 20 



■ Elephant Birthday Ambika, one of the Zoo's Asian 

 elephants, was feted in honor of her 50th birthday. 

 Nancy, Shanti, Tony, and Ambika showed their training 

 routine to the public in a series of interpretive demon- 

 strations. Historic photo displays and panels on elephant 

 conservation provided the public with information on the 

 role of elephants in the Zoo's history. Visitors also had a 

 chance to add handmade cutout fabric decoradons to an 

 elephant blanket made for Ambika. 



June 23-27 



■ Seminar The Center for Folklife Programs and Cul- 

 tural Studies held its fifth annual seminar for teachers, 

 "Bringing Folklife into Your Classroom: A Multi- 

 cultural Learning Experience." The teacher seminar 

 drew upon the Smithsonian Folklife Festival as a 

 "living laboratory" for using multicultural resources 

 and folklife techniques in the K-12 classroom. 



June 24-28 and July 1—5 



■ Folklife Festival The Center for Folklife Programs 

 and Cultural Studies produced the 32nd annual 



Smithsonian Folklife Festival featuring "Wisconsin," 

 "Pahiyas: A Philippine Harvest," "The Rio Grande/Rio 

 Bravo Basin," and "The Baltic Nations: Estonia, Latvia, 

 and Lithuania." The Office of Public Affairs developed a 

 local and national publicity campaign for the festival. 

 Media coverage included network and local morning 

 shows, a number of articles in the Washington Post, and 

 coverage in the New York Times, USA Today, and 

 Washingtonian magazine. 



June 26 and June 28 



■ Concerts Smithsonian Folkways Recordings cele- 

 brated "Folkways at 50" with three concerts. A 

 children's matinee featured Ella Jenkins, Larry Long, 

 and children from rural schools in Alabama. "Folkways 

 Founders" featured Arlo Guthrie, Toshi Reagon, the 

 Willie Foster Blues Band, and Josh White, Jr., who 

 have carried on the traditions of Folkways artists 

 Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Josh White, and Sonny 

 Terry — honored with stamps issued by the U.S. Postal 

 Service. And "Heartbeat" honored Native American 

 women singers from across the continent and celebrated 

 the release of a new Smithsonian Folkways album. 



June 29— July 10 



■ Program The Center for Museum Studies and the 

 Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR) 

 host the annual seminar, "Interpreting Latino Cultures: 

 Research and Museums." This program offers hands-on 

 training in methods of researching and interpreting 

 museum and archival collections. This year's program 

 challenged students to develop strong research skills while 

 exploring issues of interpretation and representation of 

 cultural materials and traditions in museums. 



June 30 



■ Publication The Office of Public Affairs issued an 

 updated version of "Native American Resources at the 

 Smithsonian," one in its series of Institution-wide "Resour- 

 ces" brochures. The "Resources" brochures encourage 

 readers to participate in and partake of cultural activ- 

 ities as well as research, employment, internship, and 

 fellowship opportunities at the Smithsonian. 



July 



■ Research Curator of Paintings Judith Zilczer presented 

 a striking discovery regarding the subject of a Willem 



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