Dr Michael Mason

Ias Spotlight Series: Design Leadership Summit: Applied Storytelling

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Smithsonian Institute, USA

Michael Mason is responsible for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections and educational and cultural programs at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

Under Mason鈥檚 leadership, the Center completed its first strategic plan, increased work on cultural sustainability and intercultural dialogue, and expanded community-based cultural heritage documentation and collaboration. During his tenure, the Center has strengthened its financial base by starting an endowment, raising more than $2.5 million as part of the Smithsonian鈥檚 Capital Campaign and accepting the second-largest gift in the center鈥檚 history. Mason has invested in bringing talented staff to the center, hired a new Smithsonian Folklife Festival director, a deputy director and a curator for cultural and linguistic revitalization.

Mason earned his bachelor鈥檚 degree in American studies at the University of Oregon. Trained as a folklorist, he earned his master鈥檚 and doctorate degrees at Indiana University. He has been studying the cultures of the African diaspora since 1987. His book, Living Santeria: Rituals and Experiences in an Afro-Cuban Religion, was published by the Smithsonian Institution Press in 2002 and was nominated for the Victor Turner Award for Ethnographic Writing. He is also part of the founding faculty of the Masters of Arts in Cultural Sustainability Program at Goucher College in Towson, Md.