Smithsonian Meets Kickstarter Goal, Encourages Backers To Continue Giving To Preorder a Copy of Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap

Founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, Lonnie G. Bunch III, and Huib Schippers, director of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, have announced the success of the Hip-Hop Kickstarter campaign and are encouraging the public to continue donations to preorder a copy of the Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap. At 1 a.m. Nov. 8, the 1,928th Kickstarter backer pushed the campaign over its goal of $250,000. All money raised over the goal will go toward producing more copies of the anthology, making it more widely accessible.

"It's exciting to see that by backing the Kickstarter campaign so generously, the hip-hop community has made it clear they really want to see this massive Smithsonian project happen," Schippers said. "We're getting around the table with our colleagues from the National Museum of African American History and Culture this week to look at the next steps to complete the 300-page book and nine-CD box set. There are still six days left to pre-order the set through Kickstarter at production cost."

"With the success of the Kickstarter to produce the 'Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap', we have shown how the world has fully embraced the importance of hip-hop to American culture," Bunch said. "The impact that hip-hop has made across the globe over the past 40 years will be studied and revisited for generations to come, and I can't wait to see the anthology inside Americans' homes."

The last day of the campaign is Nov. 15; it can be accessed at kickstarter.com/projects/smithsonian/smithsonian-anthology-of-hip-hop-and-rap

About Smithsonian Folkways Recordings:

Going into its 70th year, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, the "National Museum of Sound," makes available close to 60,000 tracks in physical and digital format as the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian, with a reach of 80 million people per year. A division of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the non-profit label is dedicated to supporting cultural diversity and increased understanding among people through the documentation, preservation, production and dissemination of sound. Its mission is the legacy of Moses Asch, who founded Folkways Records in 1948 to document "people's music" from around the world. For more information about Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, visit folkways.si.edu

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Official Website: folkways.si.edu

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About the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC):

The National Museum of African American History and Culture opened Sept. 24, 2016, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Occupying a prominent location next to the Washington Monument, the nearly 400,000-square-foot museum is the nation's largest and most comprehensive cultural destination devoted exclusively to exploring, documenting and showcasing the African American story and its impact on American and world history. For more information about the museum, visit nmaahc.si.edu, follow @NMAAHC on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat--or call Smithsonian information at 202-633-1000.

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Official Website: nmaahc.si.edu

Facebook: facebook.com/NMAAHC

Twitter: twitter.com/nmaahc

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About Kickstarter:

Kickstarter, a crowdfunding platform, has enabled the funding of more than 132,000 projects with the support of more than 13 million backers pledging over $3.3 billion since it began in 2009. It adheres to an all-or-nothing method: If the project succeeds in reaching its funding goal, all backers' credit cards are charged when the campaign ends. If the project falls short, no one is charged and the anthology will not be produced. To date, the Smithsonian has raised more than $1 million from nearly 16,000 backers in two campaigns, for the conservation of Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit and Dorothy's Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz.

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Official Website: kickstarter.com

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