The 2004 Smithsonian Folklife Festival featured Haiti: Freedom and Creativity from the Mountains to the Sea; Nuestra Música: Music in Latino Culture; and Water Ways: Mid-Atlantic Maritime Communities. Photo by Jeff Tinsley, Smithsonian Institution.

The Smithsonian Folk Life Festival kicks off its second week starting today and runs through Monday. Explore the culture of Asian Pacific Americans, Mexico and the Smithsonian during this 44th annual festival. Enjoy the various performances, demonstrations and food from the chosen cultures including opera, dance, martial arts, tequila making, and dance parties every day from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

This year’s festival is sponsoring artists and musicians from Haiti to help in the ongoing recovery and revitalization in that country. A special evening concert will take place and 77 craftsmans’ wares are on sale in the marketplace which will directly support the reinvigoration of traditional crafts in Haiti.

>> Two contemporary film makers, inspired by the work of Norman Rockwell, have accumulated collections of his charming compositions of American life. In Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg opening at the American Art Museum on Friday, a simple connection between movies and Americana is explored. See over 57 pieces by Rockwell from the collections of Lucas and Spielberg that succinctly tell a story in one frame.

>> At the National Building Museum, take a grown up view on a childhood staple in LEGO® Architecture: Towering Ambition. Fifteen buildings from around the world have been made entirely from LEGO bricks and are the centerpiece of the exhibition. Built by Adam Reed, see LEGO models of buildings of architectural fame such as the Empire State Building, St. Louis’ Gateway Arch, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, among others.