Levitt at the Falls announces its Mitakuye Owas’iƞ * All My Relatives * Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ Festival has been selected to participate in Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals, a series of curated programs marking the 250th anniversary of the United States and showcasing the nation’s remarkable cultural landscape.
Now in its fourth year, the Mitakuye Owas’iƞ * All My Relatives * Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ Festival is a free, multigenerational celebration of Indigenous excellence through performance, design, and community hosted at the Levitt at the Falls in downtown Sioux Falls, SD. Set against the scenic backdrop of Falls Park, the event combines live music, traditional and contemporary performances, art, and cultural experiences, inviting all ages to connect, learn, and celebrate. Presented by Levitt at the Falls and the Wokini Initiative at South Dakota State University, All My Relatives celebrates the cultures of the region’s Oceti Sakowin as well as the wider Native diaspora, with a strong emphasis on inspiring and engaging youth through family-friendly, interactive experiences, including live music, dance, a vendor market, and a fashion show.
“We’re honored to once again partner with the Wokini Initiative of South Dakota State University and the Smithsonian. After the incredible experience collaborating with the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center on Innoskate in 2022, it’s an honor to build on that momentum with a second major collaboration. We’re especially honored to be selected to represent our community and share a festival centered on Native excellence—an opportunity that is deeply meaningful and uniquely rooted in our identity as a South Dakota–based arts organization. Working alongside institutions that share our commitment to creativity, community, and cultural connection brings a new level of excitement and possibility to everything we do at Levitt,” said Nancy Halverson, President and CEO of the Levitt at the Falls.
The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage selected approximately 40 festivals to participate based on regional representation and a diversity of presentation styles—from jazz and bluegrass concerts to marketplaces and traditional artisan folklife festivals. Curators also looked for brand-new festivals and ones with ongoing relationships with the Smithsonian. After nearly 60 years of presenting the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., this is an opportunity for the Smithsonian to join millions more Americans in their home communities.
“The 250th anniversary is a time to celebrate our extraordinary cultural democracy, to visit with the people, places, and traditions within it, and to contemplate our shared future,” said Clifford Murphy, director of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. “By taking the Folklife Festival beyond Washington, we recommit to our original purpose to take the Smithsonian beyond objects and buildings; we also carry out our mission to connect communities across cultures—cultivating curiosity, understanding and belonging for all people.”
The Festival of Festivals is part of a larger initiative at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage to commemorate this national milestone, Culture of, by, and for the People. This encompasses By the People: Conversations Beyond 250, produced in collaboration with the Federation of State Humanities Councils and hosted in 51 states and territories, and For the People: Exploring Living Traditions for Learning, a workshop for middle school educators and teaching artists in six U.S. cities.
This project received funding from the Smithsonian’s “Our Shared Future: 250,” a Smithsonian-wide initiative supported by private philanthropy and created to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary and advance the Smithsonian vision for the next 250 years.
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