Olivia Cadaval is Curator and Chair of Cultural Research and Education at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Since joining the Center in 1988, she has curated numerous Smithsonian Folklife Festival programs including El Rio (2000), México (2010), Colombia: The Nature of Culture (2011), and PERÚ: Pachamama (2015).

In addition to her work with the Festival, Olivia produces curriculum enrichment materials, exhibitions, and online portals, including the bilingual site “Assembling the Festival Program: Colombia.” She has worked extensively on documentation, public programs, and education projects in the Latino community of Washington, D.C.

Her publications include Creating a Latino Identity in the Nation's Capital: The Latino Festival (1998). Olivia has contributed to such publications as Urban Odyssey, Creative Ethnicity, Washington at Home, New York Folklore, the Journal of Folklore Research, and The Public Historian. Olivia holds a Ph.D. in American Studies and Folklife from George Washington University.

Article

• Cadaval, Olivia. 2018. "Memoria histórica, un conjuro contra la amnesia colectiva." El Espectador, Bogotá, Columbia. 2018
• Cadaval, Olivia. 2017. "A Lesson in Presenting: The Smithsonian Folklife Festival Model." Journal of American Folklore, 130, (516) 193. https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerfolk.130.516.0193. 2017
• Cadaval, Olivia and Diaz-Carrera, Cristina. 2014. "The Smithsonian Folklife Festival and Cultural Heritage Policy in Colombia: A Case Study." Curator: The Museum Journal, 57, (4) 423–436. https://doi.org/10.1111/cura.12083. 2014
• Cadaval, Olivia. 2007. "Pots of Promise: Mexicans and Potter at Hull-House, 1920-40." CRM: The Journal of Heritage Stewardship, 4, (1) 80–82. 2007
• Cadaval, Olivia. 2007. "The Borderlands of Culture: Américo Paredes and the Transnational Imaginary." The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, 12, (1) 261–263. https://doi.org/10.1525/jlat.2007.12.1.261. 2007

Chapter

• Cadaval, Olivia. 2018. "My Tongue is Divided in Two." In Race and Cultural Practice in Popular Culture. Perez, Domino Renee and Gonzalez, Rachel Valentina, editors. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. 2018
• Cadaval, Olivia. 2016. "Imagining a Collaborative Curatorial Relationship: A Reordering of Authority over Representation." In Curatorial Conversations: Cultural Representation and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Cadaval, Olivia, Kim, Sojin, and N'Diaye, Diana Baird, editors. 155. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. 2016
• N'Diaye, Diana Baird, Cadaval, Olivia, and Kim, Sojin. 2016. "Introduction." In Curatorial Conversations: Cultural Representation and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Cadaval, Olivia, Kim, Sojin, and N'Diaye, Diana Baird, editors. 19. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. 2016
• Cadaval, Olivia. 2010. "Adams Morgan: Diversity with a Latin Beat." In Washington at Home: An Illustrated History of Neighborhoods in the Nation's Capital. 2nd ed. Smith, Kathryn Schneider, editor. 433–448. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2010
• Rodolfo, Palma Rojo and Cadaval, Olivia. 2010. "México: From Unknown Mexico to Amazing Mexico." In The 2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival [Program Book]: México, Asian Pacific Americans, Smithsonian Inside Out. Deutsch, James I., editor. 11–37. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. 2010

Book

• Cadaval, Olivia, Kim, Sojin, and N'Diaye, Diana Baird, editors. 2016. Curatorial Conversations: Cultural Representation and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. 2016