Next Breakfast Speaker: Executive Director of Dumbarton Oaks 

On Thursday, Nov. 17, from 8 to 9:30 a.m., The Georgetowner’s Cultural Leadership Breakfast Series will welcome Yota Batsaki, executive director of Dumbarton Oaks, the Harvard University-owned research institute, library, museum and garden on 32nd Street in Georgetown.  

Diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife Mildred Barnes Bliss gave the Dumbarton Oaks estate, their library and their Byzantine and Pre-Columbian art collections to Harvard, Robert Bliss’s alma mater, in 1940. The centennial of the famed garden, designed by Beatrix Farrand in collaboration with Mildred Bliss, is being celebrated this year with the exhibition “A Century in the Gardens.”   

Executive director since 2011, Dr. Batsaki holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Harvard. Among her research interests is the cultural history of plants, which she continues to pursue at Dumbarton Oaks as principal investigator of the Mellon Plant Humanities Initiative. At the breakfast, she will talk about the challenges and rewards of managing this uniquely multifaceted center, serving researchers in several disciplines as well as museum and garden visitors.  

Admission to the breakfast, held at the Tabard Inn, 1739 N St. NW, is $30, payable in advance via Eventbrite. 

Since 2014, The Georgetowner’s monthly Cultural Leadership Breakfast Series has presented 45 insider talks by heads of area museums, theater and dance companies, performing arts venues and other arts organizations.  

To purchase tickets to the Nov. 17 breakfast, click here.  

tagsBeatrix FarrandDumbarton OaksHarvard UniversityMellon Plant Humanities InitiativeMildred Barnes BlissRobert Woods BlissThe Tabard InnYota Batsaki“A Century in the Gardens”