The festival will feature Hungarian folk artisans and craftspeople from around the world, with 60 folk art communities showcasing their work.

Punters can watch demonstrations, buy handmade products, and participate in nearly 100 interactive workshops to learn about traditional crafts.

This year's highlight is pottery, a craft deeply rooted in the Carpathian Basin's culture. Visitors can follow the journey of pottery from clay to finished product, explore regional traditions, and observe masters at work.

Other crafts on display will include blacksmithing, weaving, embroidery, leatherwork, basketry, and jewellery-making.

To mark the 250th anniversary of US independence, 18 American artisans will demonstrate traditional crafts such as woodcarving, pottery, printing, and embroidery.

The Hot Buttered Rum bluegrass band and the TwoShields Native American arts group will also perform, showcasing beadwork, drum-making, and other indigenous techniques.

The festival will also include workshops, storytelling, and performances for children, as well as concerts and a fashion show reimagining traditional Hungarian costumes with a modern twist.

Artisans will also arrive from Japan, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Kazakhstan, China, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan. Visitors can explore traditions such as Japanese bamboo weaving, 17th-century sashiko embroidery, and mizuhiki paper-cord art, as well as Kyrgyz felt-making, Kazakh textile art, Chinese blue dyeing, Azerbaijani kelaghayi silk scarf-making, and suzani embroidery and jewellery craftsmanship.

Every morning on the main stage, there will be a demonstration of the Kirgiz elechek, showcasing the traditional Kyrgyz women’s headwear and its intricate wrapping technique, which is listed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Hungary joined the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage 20 years ago, so communities featured on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists will receive special attention.

More on US as guest of honour at Budapest Festival of Folk Arts

Marking the 250th anniversary of the United States' foundation, the US will be guest of honour at Hungary's 40th annual Festival of Folk Arts, to be held in Budapest from Aug 20 to 23, the embassy said in a statement.
 

The festival will host 18 US artists and artisans who will "demonstrate how time-honoured techniques and modern creativity come together to keep American folk traditions alive," the statement said.

Stefan Romero and Karen Wallach, of America's Tapestry Fiber Artists, will create a community tapestry "inspired by Benjamin Franklin's famous rattlesnake, a symbol of the American colonies uniting as one". 

Festivalgoers can take part by signing, drawing a picture, or writing a wish on a fabric strip, stitching traditional Hungarian embroidery to fill the snake's body, or sewing fabric strips for the background, the statement said.

Brush Creek Pottery Ceramic artists Mark and Joyce Nafziger will demonstrate each stage of the pottery-making process in live demonstrations each day of the festival.

Thayer NG Bray printmaker will showcase the artistic process of bookbinding, relief printmaking, and zine making through live demonstrations, uniting traditional print media with a distinctly contemporary form.

On the final day, all three forms of media will come together in one hand-printed, multi-section bound book.

Additional highlights include performances by bluegrass band Hot Buttered Rum and by TwoShields Production Co., a Native American multi-disciplinary arts ensemble, which will perform American Indian dances accompanied by traditional instruments and also demonstrate beadworking, drum- and flute-making and other traditions, the statement said.

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Folk Arts Festival

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