Virginia Musicians to Perform on National Mall in ‘Youth and the Future of Culture’

“Youth and the Future of Culture,” the featured program of this year’s festival, will bring young people from across the globe together to share how they are using culture to understand and shape the world they will inherit. Elsa Howell (Richmond), Alexander Sabet (Washington, DC), and Karlie Keepfer (Blacksburg) were invited by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress (AFC) to participate in the Library of Congress Youth Archive Challenge 2025.

The challenge? These musicians — ranging in age from early teens to early 20s — were matched to documentary field recordings in the AFC’s holdings based on their interests. After reviewing the historic materials, the musicians selected a song or two and developed it for performance on the festival’s main stage. Their sets will include reprises of songs in the archives, reflections on the experience, and additional music of their choosing.

The Youth Archives Challenge is new initiative based on a programming model developed by staff from the AFC, which is also supporting these special performances.

“We are excited to be working with our colleagues at the Smithsonian to bring these amazing young artists onto a national stage,” said John Fenn, head of research and programs at the American Folklife Center. “Through their research in our collections and performance of a piece at the Folklife Festival with their mentors, these musicians are demonstrating the many ways that traditions move through time.”

Joining the former Folklife Apprentices on stage will be family members, close mentors, and 11-year-old Sterling Hollifield. Sterling placed first in the old-time category of the Crooked Road’s Youth Fiddler’s Convention, which took place on May 17 at the Southwest Virginia Cultural Center & Marketplace in Abingdon.

Elsa apprenticed in Appalachian ballad singing with Elizabeth LaPrelle in 2022 and dug into American Folklife Center recordings of Texas Gladden (Salem) in addition to exploring a “spooky” murder ballad in their holdings. She will be joined by her father and key musical mentor, Isak Howell, of the old-time band the Black Twig Pickers.

Alexander apprenticed in playing the tar, a double-chested long-necked lute, with Kazem Davoudian in 2022. The tar is an important instrument in classical Persian music of Iran, along with the santur, a trapezoidal hammered dulcimer. Kazem is a master musician, composer, and educator. Cyrus, Alexander’s older brother and another longtime student of Kazem’s, join the team on stage. Together, they selected pieces from collections of Iranian folk music dating from 1969 and 1959 in the American Folklife Center.

Karlie Keepfer apprenticed in instrument making with luthier Chris Testerman in 2021, successfully building her first banjo. Karlie sings and plays clawhammer banjo with her band, Karlie Keepfer and Smokey Holler. She will be joined by 11-year-old Sterling Hollifield, winner of the old-time category in the Crooked Road’s 2025 Youth Fiddler’s Convention. The two selected pieces from a key American Folklife Center collection, and one important to Virginia: the Henry Reed Collection, recordings of the fiddler from Glen Lyn made by the center’s founding director, Alan Jabbour.

The other Youth Archives Challenge performances include Irish traditional music, Caribbean steel pan music, Hungarian dance, and more. For six days, July 2–5, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival will offer hundreds of free events on the National Mall, as it does annually since its founding in 1967. See the full festival schedule at festival.si.edu/schedule.

Virginia Humanities is the state humanities council. We’re headquartered in Charlottesville at the University of Virginia, but we serve the entire state. We aim to share the stories of all Virginians—or, better yet, find ways for people to share their own stories. We want Virginians to connect with their history and culture and, in doing that, we hope we’ll all get to know each other a little better. Founded in 1974, we are one of fifty-six humanities councils created by Congress with money and support from the National Endowment for the Humanities to make the humanities available to all Americans. To learn more, visit VirginiaHumanities.org.