NASHVILLE (AP) - The National Folk Festival will take a hiatus in 2012 after financial problems stemming from funding shortfalls at the 2011 event in Nashville.

The festival showcases traditional arts of many nations, races and cultural groups. The 2011 festival over Labor Day weekend included performances of bluegrass music, Hawaiian hula, Mexican mariachi and East African rumba.

According to a news release from the festival, the crowds were enthusiastic, but stifling heat followed by tropical downpours kept many people away.

“Because so many people gave so generously of their resources and themselves to help launch the festival in 2011, it has been especially painful for our Board to conclude that we cannot present the Festival in 2012,” the statement reads.

The National Council for Traditional Arts has produced the festival almost continuously since 1934.

Nashville previously won the right to host the festival through the year 2013. A festival still is planned for next year in Music City.

“We still believe deeply in the promise of the National Folk Festival for Nashville,” the NCTA statement reads. “We continue to seek ways to address the current fiscal challenge, as we turn our attention to 2013, the 80th anniversary of the NCTA’s founding.”

Looking beyond Nashville, the Council is also inviting communities nationwide to submit proposals to host the next three-year cycle, 2014 through 2016.