Note: All submitted events must be approved before they appear in the calendar.
Stretch your legs and your mind during the 35th Annual Dupont Kalorama Museum Walk. Five diverse museums will open their doors free of charge for this weekend long celebration in one of Washington, D.C.’s most beautiful neighborhoods. Discover Anderson House, Dumbarton House, NSCDA Museum & Headquarters, National Museum of American Jewish Military History, The Phillips […]
This family-friendly event celebrates Indigenous games from the Arctic to Argentina. Visitors can meet Talibah Begay (Navajo) as she shares a traditional Navajo shoe game and test their skill with Leihua Stewart (Native Hawaiian) in traditional Hawaiian games. Participants learn to play Bolivian games with Julia Garcia (Aymara). The day features hands-on activities and “make-and-takes.”
Join the National Archives for an afternoon of cocktails and discussion with area mixologist and author Derek Brown as he discusses his new book. The event will feature a cocktail reception from and a theater program following. The reception will also feature five of D.C.’s top bartenders including Gina Chersevani (Buffalo & Bergen), Duane Sylvestre […]
Join a tradition like no other: the annual Independence Day celebration at the National Archives in Washington, DC - home of the original Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Boo the list of grievances against King George III, and cheer ‘Huzzah!’ as we declare our independence on the steps of […]
Wednesday, April 21; 12 p.m. ET Free, registration required for Zoom. Live stream also available on YouTube and Facebook Live. Rachel Harrison will be joined in conversation by art history professor Darby English, author of the catalog essay “A Way Beyond Art” for the 2019 Whitney Museum exhibition “Rachel Harrison Life Hack.” Harrison and English will discuss her work “Pretty Discreet,” in the […]
Wednesday, May 12, 2:30–5 p.m. ET Thursday, May 13, 2:30–5 p.m. ET Friday, May 14, 2:30–5 p.m. ET Join the 2020–2021 class of Smithsonian American Art Museum research fellows as they present new scholarship on a range of topics and time periods, media, and messages. This series of lectures presented entirely online highlights a new […]
The Smithsonian American Art Museum and its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, reopen to the public Friday, May 14. This is the second reopening of the museum following closures on March 14, 2020 and on Nov. 23, 2020 as a public health precaution due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The museum has negotiated extensions into […]
If you’ve ever crossed a suspension bridge, you’ve used Andean Indigenous technology. Open through June 27, “The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire” explores the foundations of the Inka Road in earlier Andean cultures, technologies that made building the road possible, the cosmology and political organization of the Inka world, and the legacy of the […]
How did American Indians become national and commercial symbols? Pervasive, powerful, at times demeaning, the images, names and stories in “Americans” highlight the ways in which American Indians have been part of the nation’s identity since before the United States was founded. The exhibition surrounds visitors with images, delves into three historic stories important to […]
Girlhood (It's complicated) Closes Jan. 2, 2023 Second Floor, West While the nursery rhyme tells us that girls are “made of sugar and spice and everything nice,” history demonstrates that […]
Native Americans created and used many shapes, designs, colors, and materials as an expression of their cultures and identities. Native art designs became a way to communicate tribal and family traditions and individual artistic skill and expression. These art forms have adapted over time and ensure that future generations continue traditions and reinforce tribal identity. […]
Exhibitions Positive Fragmentation: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation January 29–May 22, 2022 at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center Organized by […]
Playing games is an important tradition shared by all ages in numerous Native communities. Many games are designed to build strength in both body and spirit through exercise, group cooperation, and practicing important skills such as hand-eye coordination. Games are an integral part of Native community life, they connect communities and teach cultural values, history, […]
Wherever we may be, whenever we provide an address, and find our place on Washington, D.C.’s streets, we spell out and utter street numbers, state names, and in many cases, […]
In addition, NMWA will present a virtual program, “Sneak Peek at the Future National Museum of Women in the Arts,” on Wednesday, August 4 from 6 to 7 p.m. This free program offers a look at plans for the renewed building and shares information about how to connect and engage with the museum and its […]
Join us as we celebrate the anniversary of Dolley Madison’s flight from the White House to Dumbarton House in 1814. During the War of 1812, the British burned the White House and Capitol buildings. After directing enslaved individuals to save precious documents and paintings from the White House, Dolley fled the fire and the British. […]
Opens Sept. 3; Closes Oct. 5 Flag Hall, Second Floor, Center During a visit to see his great uncle in Mississippi, 14-year-old Emmett Till, of Chicago, was brutally lynched Aug. 28,1955. When his mutilated body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River, his mother insisted on an open-casket funeral in Chicago. Starting in 2008, the Emmett […]
The Barnes Foundation presents Suzanne Valadon: Model, Painter, Rebel, the first exhibition dedicated to the French artist and model Suzanne Valadon at a major US arts institution. The first self-taught woman to […]
The Walters is excited to invite guests back to the museum on Saturday, October 16, for The Walters Gala 2021: Armor & Adornment, celebrating the Walters’ lustrous collection of silver, gold, and metal across the ages and the groundbreaking exhibition of Baltimore icon Betty Cooke. Supporters of the Gala will have the opportunity to choose between participating […]
Thursdays, October 21, November 18, December 16; 5:30–6:30 p.m. Celeste Beatty, founder of the Harlem Brewing Company, hosts a monthly happy hour to highlight topics in beer making, the restaurant industry, art, politics, […]
Wednesday, December 8, 1–1:45 p.m. Join a colorful conversation with Gwen Manthey, paintings conservator at Smithsonian American Art Museum, on the Smithsonian’s research into Alma Woodsey Thomas’s artistic process. Learn about […]
COOKING UP HISTORY "Bakers Against Racism: The Power of Community Activism through Food" Guest Chef: Paola VelezFeb. 22; Virtual demonstration at 6:45 p.m. For more information, see https://americanhistory.si.edu/topics/food/pages/cooking-historyChef Paola Velez, co-founder of Bakers Against Racism, will share a recipe from her home kitchen that reflects and embodies her identity as an Afro-Latina chef rooted in her family’s Dominican heritage. […]
Visitors can join acclaimed artist Preston Singletary at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian May 7 and 8 and hear him discuss his art, his evolution as an artist and the inspiration for the exhibition “Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight,” which is on view at the museum in Washington, D.C., […]
Art in Bloom DC returns for its third annual exhibition at Anderson House this spring, from March 27 to March 30, 2023. This prestigious exhibition celebrates both fine art and […]
Join us for a conversation with Joy Harjo, the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, curator of The Land Carries Our Ancestors, about the exhibition theme of reverence, study, and concern for the land. Harjo's poem "Once the World Was Perfect" from her 2015 book Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings is featured in […]
Take a close look into the life and influence of photographer Dorothea Lange through historic, archival documentaries. Included are a documentary produced towards the end of Lange’s prolific life and films made with the support of the US Farm Securities Administration during the New Deal. These titles highlight legacies of recorded cultural histories and long-present […]
The DC Youth Orchestra’s Young Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Evan Ross Solomon, perform a short program of works by composers from the African diaspora. The program will include Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint George’s Symphony No. 2, Scott Joplin’s Solace, and Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s The Bamboula. Performances at 1:30 and 3:00 p.m. […]
