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Little Critters: Nature Play
Special Zoo Events
Come play with us at the Zoo!
Bring your little zoogoer for a wild time as we explore animals and nature through creative, drop-in play!
Little Critters Nature Play is designed for ages 0-5 and their caregivers and families. Activities are designed with early learners in mind, but all ages are welcome. Parents and guardians must remain with their children.
Location: Bird House Classroom.
Venue: National Zoo. Event Location: Bird House Classroom. Cost: Free drop-in program; no pre-registration required.Parents and guardians must remain with their children. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 9:30 AM – 1:30 PM.
For more info visit nationalzoo.si.edu. Freshfarm ACM Farmstand
One-Time Events
The FRESHFARM ACM Farm Stand takes place on the outdoor plaza of the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum (1901 Fort Place, SE Washington, DC 20020) every Saturday (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) from April 20- November 23, 2024.*
The farm stand offers FreshMatch, FRESHFARM's incentive program, which provides a dollar-to-dollar match on all federal benefits (WIC and Senior and WIC FMNP) spent at the stand, helping shoppers take home more fresh and nutritious produce and local foods. The farm stand also accepts Produce Plus, a benefit program unique to Washington, DC, which provides locally grown, fresh produce to District residents with limited access to fresh, healthy food.
Park View Farms in Poolsville supplies the FRESHFARM ACM Farm Stand with their own homegrown produce and additional fruits and vegetables that they aggregate from neighboring farms.
*Weather permitting. Be sure to follow the Anacostia Community Museum for updated information.
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://anacostia.si.edu/farmstand. Categories: Kids & Families. Culinary Arts.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM.
Growing Community: Nutrients our Organic Gardens Need
One-Time Events
Like us, our gardens need to be enhanced and fortified. In this workshop we will learn the best ways to enhance the soil and add vital nutrients to our gardens.
Growing Community is the longstanding community gardening program at the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum. Through garden programming, residents of all ages can engage with the beauty of the natural world, a healthy food system, and their cultural past. We welcome the community to participate in our monthly workshops, taking place throughout the growing and harvesting seasons. All workshops incorporate themes such as gardens as places of community and connections to our cultural past; gardens as sites of stewardship and nurture; and gardens as sites of empowerment and access to good nutrition and healthy living.
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/growing-community-nutrients-our-organic-gardens-need-tickets-840454059717. Categories: Demonstrations. Lectures & Discussions. Workshops. Kids & Families.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Wonderplace
Ongoing Tours & Activities
This learning space designed especially for children ages six and under combines age appropriate activities with museum collections and touchable objects to provide a gateway to history and a place to exercise curiosity for the youngest historians.
Admission to Wonderplace is on a first come, first-served basis. At busy times, we may use FREE, timed tickets to minimize wait time if needed. Tickets are available for 30-minute visits on a first-come, first-served basis. No tickets are required for the first session from 10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. To visit during a later half-hour session, visitors may pick up a ticket at Wonderplace in 1 West. The last entry using timed tickets is at 3:30 p.m.
Hours are subject to change.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Wonderplace, 1 West. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Drawing Treasures: Sculptures in the National Gallery of Art - In Person
Resident Associate Program
Stretch your creative muscles and deepen your observational skills at the National Gallery of Art. Create a drawn-treasure map as you visually explore time, space, and place in the museum's West Wing sculpture galleries.
Event Location: National Gallery of Art West Building, Ground Floor. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260249?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Categories: Workshops.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM.
The Archaeology of Judaism
Resident Associate Program
The period of post-biblical Judaism is exceedingly rich in archaeological evidence, found both in Israel and in the lands of an ever-widening Diaspora. In an illustrated full-day program, biblical scholar Gary Rendsburg of Rutgers University synthesizes archaeological findings and literary evidence to reveal a multifaceted portrait of Jewish life in late antiquity.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260109?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260109?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: Lectures & Discussions.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Interactive Programs
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Docents offer interactive programming throughout the museum, in the form of Highlights tours of the museum, gallery spotlight talks, and hands-on cart programs.
Tours of the museum’s highlights generally take place daily at 10:15 AM and 1 PM. Additional tours may be offered on the hour between 11 AM and 3 PM as docents are available. Please check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Gallery spotlight talks take place throughout the day. Docents offer a 15-minute overview of an exhibition or briefly discuss a favorite museum object. Look for the "Docent on Duty" signs posted outside the exhibition entrances.
Docents stationed at carts help visitors get their hands on history and learn about the museum's collections. Carts are located throughout the museum, and you can check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Year-Round:
Available most days between 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM.
Notes:
Programs are subject to docent availability; last-minute cancellations may occur.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Multiple floors. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Teen Conversation Circles
One-Time Events
Calling teen English-language learners! Join National Portrait Gallery educators and friends from all over the world. Together, we’ll use portraiture to learn about U.S. art, history and culture. This program takes place every other week and alternates between in-person gatherings (meet in the G Street Lobby) and virtual conversations on Zoom. Meet new friends, learn about different cultures and practice your English. Open to teens, ages 13-19.
Event Location: Online via Zoom. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/national-portrait-gallery-810710525. Categories: Lectures & Discussions.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. NY | Aloha Days Family Festival
One-Time Events
This year’s family festival celebrates all things Hawaiʻi! Enjoy a hula dance performance and learn the history behind it, get to know Hawaiian musical instruments, watch animated short films about ocean safety, and participate in a variety of hands-on activities for all ages. ALL DAY, Level 1: Diker Pavilion, Coconut-leaf weaving: ʻUlana lau niu is the art of weaving coconut leaves. Learn how to weave a coconut leaf into a fish, headband, or rose. , Kapa: Dalani Tanahy (Native Hawaiian), a master in the art of kapa (bark cloth), will share her expertise and demonstrate how to create a kapa bookmark. , Bracelet making: Both hala (also known as screwpine) and kukui nut trees had many uses in ancient Hawaiʻi. Learn about their significance and weave a lauhala (hala leaf) and/or kukui nut bracelet to take home. , Lei making: Enjoy demonstrations of different lei-making techniques, including kui (needle and thread), wiliwili (wrapping), and haku (braiding). Visitors can see and smell different types of lei…
Venue: American Indian Museum NY. Event Location: Levels 1 and 2. Cost: Free. Categories: Celebrations. Kids & Families. Demonstrations. Performances.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
Spark!Lab
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation invites children between the ages of 6 and 12 to create, collaborate, explore, test, experiment and invent. Activities for children and families incorporate traditional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with art, history and creativity.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Spark!Lab, First Floor, West Wing. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.si.edu. Teen Conversation Circles
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Calling teen English language learners! Join National Portrait Gallery Educators and friends from all over the world. Together we’ll use portraiture to learn about U.S. art, history and culture. This program takes place every other week. It alternates between in-person gatherings (meet in the G Street Lobby) and virtual conversations on Zoom. Meet new friends, learn about different cultures and practice your English. Open to teens, ages 13-19.
Event Location: Online via Zoom. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Categories: Lectures & Discussions. Kids & Families.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Embroidered Pendant Workshop - In Person
Resident Associate Program
Create a unique stitched pendant hung from a strand of colorful beads. Learn a variety of easy and lovely stitches, how to mount the embroidered cloth in a pendant bezel, and jewelry-making techniques to finish the piece.
Venue: S. Dillon Ripley Center. Event Location: S. Dillon Ripley Center 1100 Jefferson Dr SW. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260250?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Categories: Workshops.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
DC | Storytime
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Families are invited to an interactive story time featuring a children’s book by a Native author. They will have the opportunity to engage with objects and photographs that can deepen their understanding of the community represented in the story.
Recommended for visitors ages 3 years and up accompanied by an adult caregiver. .
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: imagiNATIONS Activity Center, Level 3. Cost: Free. Categories: Kids & Families.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 11:15 AM – 11:45 AM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Welcome Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Event Location: Starts at the Welcome Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: FREE. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Weekend Workshops
One-Time Events
Calling all artists! Get creative during our drop-in workshops for all ages. Learn about artists and change-makers and create art inspired by their stories.
Event Location: Education Center, E151. Cost: Free. No Registration Required. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Tours | The Art of Women
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join us for a docent-led tour highlighting women’s untold stories in the art world, where their contributions have frequently been overshadowed. Discover the importance of women artists, subjects, patrons, and collectors who’ve shaped history. Celebrate women’s creativity and resilience by exploring captivating narratives that include inspirational subjects, ruling monarchs, and revered figures of divinity. Image: Detail, The Princess from the Land of Porcelain (La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine), James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), United States, 1863–65, oil on canvas, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1903.91a–b.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Collaging: Healing, Identity and Freedom through the Arts
One-Time Events
Inspired by select works on view, join us for an afternoon of collaging as you comb though magazines to create a masterpiece of your own.
In celebration of our 60th anniversary and inspired by select artworks currently on view, join African Art for an afternoon of collaging. Browse through select magazines to create your own masterpiece as you listen to afrobeat’s.
Themes of healing, identity and freedom though the Arts will be explored.
Venue: African Art Museum. Event Location: Pavilion. Cost: FREE. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/art-collage-workshops-tickets-882361616347?aff=erelexpmlt. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 1:00 PM – 4:30 PM.
For more info visit africa.si.edu. Permanent Collection Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art has over 46,000 artworks from across Asia. Enjoy some of the finest on a docent-led tour and learn about commonalities and differences in cultures, aesthetics, and ideas.
The public can schedule reserved group tours using the online reservation form.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meet at Freer Information desk. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. NMAA × CFCH Artisan in Residence Workshop | Calligraphy with Bertrand Mao
Workshops
Registration required. One ticket is required per person. Register through Eventbrite.
There are two iterations of the same workshop: Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19. PLEASE ONLY REGISTER FOR ONE WORKSHOP. The workshops will be the same.
If registration is sold out, you are more than welcome to attend and wait in the standby line; if those who registered do not arrive at least ten minutes before the program starts, those waiting in line will be invited to join the workshop on a first come, first served basis.
The ImaginAsia Studio is located on level B2, one floor below the museum store, of the East Building.
In partnership with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, we welcome artisan in residence Bertrand Mao, an expert in Chinese calligraphy and Shan-Shui painting.
In this engaging workshop, participants have the unique opportunity to explore the craft of Chinese calligraphy and brush painting.
Gain hands-on experience with the artist’s “four treasures”—the round brush, black…
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: ImaginAsia Studio. Cost: Free; advance registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/887843191887?aff=oddtdtcreator. Categories: Workshops. Related Events: NMAA × CFCH Artisan in Residence Series. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
DC | Guided Gallery Tours
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Experience one of the museum's major exhibitions currently on view—Americans or Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations—with a guided tour led by a knowledgeable museum educator. Join fellow visitors to dive deeper into the content and have your questions answered. These walk-in tours include a brief overview of the museum’s mission, history, and even the building itself. Tours are subject to availability and may be canceled without prior notice.
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 1, meet in the Potomac Atrium. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Americans; Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 1:30 PM – 2:15 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 2:00 PM – 2:20 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 18, 2024, 2:45 PM – 3:05 PM.
Wonderplace
Ongoing Tours & Activities
This learning space designed especially for children ages six and under combines age appropriate activities with museum collections and touchable objects to provide a gateway to history and a place to exercise curiosity for the youngest historians.
Admission to Wonderplace is on a first come, first-served basis. At busy times, we may use FREE, timed tickets to minimize wait time if needed. Tickets are available for 30-minute visits on a first-come, first-served basis. No tickets are required for the first session from 10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. To visit during a later half-hour session, visitors may pick up a ticket at Wonderplace in 1 West. The last entry using timed tickets is at 3:30 p.m.
Hours are subject to change.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Wonderplace, 1 West. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Cleveland Park and the National Cathedral Grounds
Resident Associate Program
Dubbed “The Queen of the Washington Suburbs” in 1903, Cleveland Park is one of the District’s most beautiful and architecturally eclectic neighborhoods. With a rich history, the neighborhood boasts fanciful Victorian mansions, gorgeous gardens, and the National Cathedral, the second-largest in the United States. Carolyn Muraskin leads a visit to the National Cathedral’s grounds and explores Cleveland Park highlights including the site of President Grover Cleveland’s summer home, Red Top, and the McLean Gardens apartment complex, built on the grounds of the estate of an owner of the Hope Diamond.
Event Location: Tour meets outside entrance to Washington National Cathedral (near glass elevators). Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260330?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Interactive Programs
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Docents offer interactive programming throughout the museum, in the form of Highlights tours of the museum, gallery spotlight talks, and hands-on cart programs.
Tours of the museum’s highlights generally take place daily at 10:15 AM and 1 PM. Additional tours may be offered on the hour between 11 AM and 3 PM as docents are available. Please check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Gallery spotlight talks take place throughout the day. Docents offer a 15-minute overview of an exhibition or briefly discuss a favorite museum object. Look for the "Docent on Duty" signs posted outside the exhibition entrances.
Docents stationed at carts help visitors get their hands on history and learn about the museum's collections. Carts are located throughout the museum, and you can check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Year-Round:
Available most days between 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM.
Notes:
Programs are subject to docent availability; last-minute cancellations may occur.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Multiple floors. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Handmade Card Workshop: Bold Sentiments
Resident Associate Program
Inspired by bold sentiments and big wishes, create cards for most events on your calendar. Attention is given to card construction, sentiments, a bit of ink blending, and water coloring with dye-based ink.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260251?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260251?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM.
NY | Aloha Days Family Festival
One-Time Events
This year’s family festival celebrates all things Hawaiʻi! Enjoy a hula dance performance and learn the history behind it, get to know Hawaiian musical instruments, watch animated short films about ocean safety, and participate in a variety of hands-on activities for all ages. ALL DAY, Level 1: Diker Pavilion, Coconut-leaf weaving: ʻUlana lau niu is the art of weaving coconut leaves. Learn how to weave a coconut leaf into a fish, headband, or rose. , Kapa: Dalani Tanahy (Native Hawaiian), a master in the art of kapa (bark cloth), will share her expertise and demonstrate how to create a kapa bookmark. , Bracelet making: Both hala (also known as screwpine) and kukui nut trees had many uses in ancient Hawaiʻi. Learn about their significance and weave a lauhala (hala leaf) and/or kukui nut bracelet to take home. , Lei making: Enjoy demonstrations of different lei-making techniques, including kui (needle and thread), wiliwili (wrapping), and haku (braiding). Visitors can see and smell different types of lei…
Venue: American Indian Museum NY. Event Location: Levels 1 and 2. Cost: Free. Categories: Celebrations. Kids & Families. Demonstrations. Performances.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
Spark!Lab
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation invites children between the ages of 6 and 12 to create, collaborate, explore, test, experiment and invent. Activities for children and families incorporate traditional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with art, history and creativity.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Spark!Lab, First Floor, West Wing. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.si.edu. Cyanotype Workshop - In Person
Resident Associate Program
The cyanotype photographic method uses the sun to expose UV-light–sensitive chemicals in order to create rich, deep blue prints. Learn a short history of cyanotypes and how to use the cyanotype chemicals alongside objects from nature or your home, then put basic techniques to work to create prints.
Venue: S. Dillon Ripley Center. Event Location: S. Dillon Ripley Center 1100 Jefferson Dr SW. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260252?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Categories: Workshops.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 11:00 AM – 1:30 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Welcome Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Welcome Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Weekend Workshops
One-Time Events
Calling all artists! Get creative during our drop-in workshops for all ages. Learn about artists and change-makers and create art inspired by their stories.
Event Location: Education Center, E151. Cost: Free. No Registration Required. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Tours | Whistler's World
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join a walk-in, docent-led tour to explore the many sides of Whistler. Experience Whistler’s paintings along with objects by Asian artists that inspired his style and subjects. Image: Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), United Kingdom, 1876–77, room installation; oil paint and gold leaf on canvas, leather, mosaic tile, glass, and wood, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1904.61.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Virtual Beyond the Studio Workshop: Paper Flower Making with Emily Paluska
One-Time Events
SOLD OUT
Emily Paluska of Revery Paper Flora returns for her popular paper flower making workshop with the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Join us for this engaging virtual workshop and learn the fundamentals of creating paper daisies.
Tickets are $15 and include the cost of materials needed for the activity, instructions, and postage. Materials kits will be shipped to participants in advance of the program. Please note that space is limited for this program, and registration is required. Participants must register by 7 p.m. ET on May 5.
If you live outside of the United States, please contact SAAMPrograms@si.edu before registering.
Image credit: Photo by Laura Metzler Photography. .
Event Location: Online via Zoom. Cost: $15 | Sold out. Waitlist available. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/4a2bVRFCbx. Categories: Workshops. Accessibility: Captioning.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
Permanent Collection Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art has over 46,000 artworks from across Asia. Enjoy some of the finest on a docent-led tour and learn about commonalities and differences in cultures, aesthetics, and ideas.
The public can schedule reserved group tours using the online reservation form.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meet at Freer Information desk. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. NMAA × CFCH Artisan in Residence Workshop | Calligraphy with Bertrand Mao
Workshops
Registration required. One ticket is required per person. Register through Eventbrite.
There are two iterations of the same workshop: Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19. PLEASE ONLY REGISTER FOR ONE WORKSHOP. The workshops will be the same.
If registration is sold out, you are more than welcome to attend and wait in the standby line; if those who registered do not arrive at least ten minutes before the program starts, those waiting in line will be invited to join the workshop on a first come, first served basis.
The ImaginAsia Studio is located on level B2, one floor below the museum store, of the East Building.
In partnership with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, we welcome artisan in residence Bertrand Mao, an expert in Chinese calligraphy and Shan-Shui painting.
In this engaging workshop, participants have the unique opportunity to explore the craft of Chinese calligraphy and brush painting.
Gain hands-on experience with the artist’s “four treasures”—the round brush, black…
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: ImaginAsia Studio. Cost: Free; advance registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/887843191887?aff=oddtdtcreator. Categories: Workshops. Related Events: NMAA × CFCH Artisan in Residence Series. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
The Woman Who Ran
Films
Get tickets, Watch the trailer
Declared the best film of 2020 by James Quandt in Artforum, The Woman Who Ran follows Gamhee (Kim Minhee), who has three separate encounters with friends while her husband is on a business trip. Youngsoon (Seo Youngwha) is divorced, has given up meat, and likes to garden in her backyard. Suyoung (Song Seonmi) has a crush on her architect neighbor and is being hounded by a young poet she met at the bar. Woojin (Kim Saebyuk) works for a movie theater. Their meeting is polite but strained. Before long, their shared history bubbles to the surface. With characteristic humor and grace, Hong takes a simple premise and spins a web of interconnecting philosophies and coincidences. The Woman Who Ran is a subtle, powerful look at dramas small and large faced by women everywhere.
"Working with characteristic wit and sly structural repetitions, [Hong] brings this deft, unassuming story to a startlingly emotional place." (Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times).
Description courtesy of The Cinema…
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free; advance registration recommended. Get Tickets/Register: https://hongsangsoo2024.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Captioning. Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 2:00 PM – 2:20 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 2:45 PM – 3:05 PM.
Curator-Led Tour of “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939”
One-Time Events
Robyn Asleson, the Portrait Gallery’s curator prints and drawings, will reveal how the sitters in “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939” used portraiture to carve out new personal and professional identities. Explore lesser-known stories about renowned women like Josephine Baker and Gertrude Stein and discover the compelling biographies of newly rediscovered figures.
Event Location: G Street Lobby. Cost: Free. No Registration Required. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Woman Is the Future of Man
Films
Get tickets, Watch the trailer
Hong Sangsoo’s recent films, such as The Woman Who Ran (also playing on May 19), often feature women protagonists and treat the complexities of their lives and friendships with subtlety and warmth. By contrast, his earlier films are frequently comedies of misunderstanding centered on clueless young men who are hopelessly hapless at understanding women at all. Such is the case in 2004’s Woman Is the Future of Man. In it, two longtime friends, a filmmaker and a teacher, get drunk and decide to track down the woman they both once pursued romantically.
As Richard Brody wrote in The New Yorker, “What promises to be a nostalgia trip quickly turns into an emotional free fall. Hong delineates character with the lightest of strokes. [ . . . ] There are no shining heroes here, but the quietly frantic striving for tenderness comes off as a noble, doomed quest.”
(Dir.: Hong Sangsoo, Korea, 2004, 88 min. DCP, Korean with English subtitles), Film admission policy: Films are shown in the…
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free; advance registration recommended. Get Tickets/Register: https://hongsangsoo2024.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Captioning.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM.
Frank Lloyd Wright: Masterworks in the Midwest
Resident Associate Program
Frank Lloyd Wright left an indelible signature on the American Midwest: a legacy of buildings that trace the arc of his career as one of the world’s most significant and innovative architects. This 5-day tour led by historian Bill Keene offers a one-of-kind opportunity for a close-up look at a wide range of Wright’s designs in Illinois and Wisconsin, as well as visits to seminal works by other architects of the early and mid-20th century. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit).
Event Location: Detailed information for overnight tours is mailed approximately FOUR WEEKS. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/259336?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Categories: After Five. Gallery Talks & Tours.
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 6:00 PM – Thursday, May 23, 2024, 4:00 PM.
Interactive Programs
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Docents offer interactive programming throughout the museum, in the form of Highlights tours of the museum, gallery spotlight talks, and hands-on cart programs.
Tours of the museum’s highlights generally take place daily at 10:15 AM and 1 PM. Additional tours may be offered on the hour between 11 AM and 3 PM as docents are available. Please check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Gallery spotlight talks take place throughout the day. Docents offer a 15-minute overview of an exhibition or briefly discuss a favorite museum object. Look for the "Docent on Duty" signs posted outside the exhibition entrances.
Docents stationed at carts help visitors get their hands on history and learn about the museum's collections. Carts are located throughout the museum, and you can check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Year-Round:
Available most days between 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM.
Notes:
Programs are subject to docent availability; last-minute cancellations may occur.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Multiple floors. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 20, 2024, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Virtual Story Time
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Join educators from the National Postal Museum for live, interactive story time. Designed for children ages 4-7, but all are welcome!
Mondays at 11:00 (EDT) National Postal Museum educators will read stories aloud and lead related activities in a Zoom meeting for children and their caregivers. Explore a range of postal-related topics and more! Sessions will be interactive and last approximately 45 minutes. Caregivers are expected to be present with children for the duration of the program.
Event Location: Online Only. Online Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/story-time-with-the-national-postal-museum-registration-141338917507. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/story-time-with-the-national-postal-museum-registration-141338917507. Categories: Kids & Families. Webcasts & Online.
Monday, May 20, 2024, 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM.
Portrait Gallery Kids
One-Time Events
Children and families are invited to learn, play and create at the Portrait Gallery! Join educators on select Mondays as we explore topics like colors, emotions, STEM and history. Portrait Gallery Kids incorporates looking at art, hands-on activities, music and movement. This program is a fun way to engage with art and each other.
Event Location: Education Center, E151. Cost: Free. No Registration Required. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops.
Monday, May 20, 2024, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Welcome Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Welcome Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 20, 2024, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Tours | The Art of Women
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join us for a docent-led tour highlighting women’s untold stories in the art world, where their contributions have frequently been overshadowed. Discover the importance of women artists, subjects, patrons, and collectors who’ve shaped history. Celebrate women’s creativity and resilience by exploring captivating narratives that include inspirational subjects, ruling monarchs, and revered figures of divinity. Image: Detail, The Princess from the Land of Porcelain (La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine), James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), United States, 1863–65, oil on canvas, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1903.91a–b.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 20, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Permanent Collection Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art has over 46,000 artworks from across Asia. Enjoy some of the finest on a docent-led tour and learn about commonalities and differences in cultures, aesthetics, and ideas.
The public can schedule reserved group tours using the online reservation form.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meet at Freer Information desk. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Monday, May 20, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Spotlights: Hats Off to Mae Reeves!
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Our 25-minute spotlight tours provide an engaging introduction to a key topic in the Making A Way Out of No Way exhibition.
About this program: African American women have been wearing fancy hats for generations to church. In 1940, Mae Reeves started Mae’s Millinery Shop in 1940 in Philadelphia, PA with a $500 bank loan. Visit a recreated portion of Reeves’ shop in the Power of Place Exhibition and learn about more about this African American tradition.
Photo Credit: NMAAHC.
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Program meets at Mae Reeves Millinery Shop in the Power of Place exhibition located on L3. Each 25 min talk takes place at 1:15 PM, 2:15 PM, and 3:15 PM. Cost: Free; walk-in
Tours are subject to docent availability; last minute cancellations may occur. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Monday, May 20, 2024, 1:15 PM – 3:45 PM.
Ship to Shore: Live from the Research Vessel Sikuliaq
One-Time Events
Travel with us to the northern Gulf of Alaska as we chat—live—with scientists on board the University of Alaska operated Research Vessel Sikuliaq, where their NOAA Ocean Exploration supported research team works to understand these mysterious deepwater habitats and organisms that live there.
Photo by James Buchanan - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34571645.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, Explorer Theater, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Events: Event repeats from 2:30 - 3:00 PM. Related Exhibition: The Sant Ocean Hll. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 20, 2024, 1:30 PM – 2:00 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Welcome Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Welcome Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 20, 2024, 2:00 PM – 2:45 PM.
Ship to Shore: Live from the Research Vessel Sikuliaq
One-Time Events
Travel with us to the northern Gulf of Alaska as we chat—live—with scientists on board the University of Alaska operated Research Vessel Sikuliaq, where their NOAA Ocean Exploration supported research team works to understand these mysterious deepwater habitats and organisms that live there.
Photo by James Buchanan - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34571645.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, Explorer Theater, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: The Sant Ocean Hll. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 20, 2024, 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM.
Words, Words, Words: English-Language Dictionaries and the People Who Made Them
Resident Associate Program
For centuries, dictionaries were works of almost superhuman endurance produced by people who devoted themselves for years, even decades, to the wearisome labor of corralling, recording, and defining the vocabulary of a language. Educators and authors Bryan A. Garner and Jack Lynch share the stories behind these great works of scholarship and the people who produced them, including towering figures of English lexicography such as Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, and the Oxford English Dictionary’s James Murray, as well as more obscure dictionary makers whose achievements are no less fascinating.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260194?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260194?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Monday, May 20, 2024, 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM.
Writing Letters, Writing Books with Joyce Carol Oates
Resident Associate Program
Inspired by the letters in her new book, Joyce Carol Oates: Letters to a Biographer (Akashic), Joyce Carol Oates, in a conversation with author and educator Rebecca Boggs Roberts, discusses her writing process and style over the past four decades. The letters in the book were part of a correspondence with a graduate student who eventually became her biographer.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260401?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260401?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Monday, May 20, 2024, 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM.
Little Critters: Nature Play
Special Zoo Events
Come play with us at the Zoo!
Bring your little zoogoer for a wild time as we explore animals and nature through creative, drop-in play!
Little Critters Nature Play is designed for ages 0-5 and their caregivers and families. Activities are designed with early learners in mind, but all ages are welcome. Parents and guardians must remain with their children.
Location: Bird House Classroom.
Venue: National Zoo. Event Location: Bird House Classroom. Cost: Free drop-in program; no pre-registration required.Parents and guardians must remain with their children. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 9:30 AM – 1:30 PM.
For more info visit nationalzoo.si.edu. Spring on Sugarloaf Mountain
Resident Associate Program
Spend a day hiking to the summit of Washington, D.C.’s local mountain, a natural treasure less than an hour’s drive from the city. The picturesque and rocky Sugarloaf offers spectacular views of the surrounding countryside of Montgomery and Frederick counties in Maryland. Guided by study leader Melanie Choukas-Bradley, learn about the mountain’s plants and wildlife, seasonal changes, geology, and history.
Event Location: Tour meets on site at West View parking lot Sugarloaf Mountain Drive, Dickerson, MD. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260331?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 10:00 AM – 1:30 PM.
Interactive Programs
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Docents offer interactive programming throughout the museum, in the form of Highlights tours of the museum, gallery spotlight talks, and hands-on cart programs.
Tours of the museum’s highlights generally take place daily at 10:15 AM and 1 PM. Additional tours may be offered on the hour between 11 AM and 3 PM as docents are available. Please check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Gallery spotlight talks take place throughout the day. Docents offer a 15-minute overview of an exhibition or briefly discuss a favorite museum object. Look for the "Docent on Duty" signs posted outside the exhibition entrances.
Docents stationed at carts help visitors get their hands on history and learn about the museum's collections. Carts are located throughout the museum, and you can check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Year-Round:
Available most days between 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM.
Notes:
Programs are subject to docent availability; last-minute cancellations may occur.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Multiple floors. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Play Date at NMNH: Habitat Focus - Pollinator Garden!
One-Time Events
Join us on Tuesdays for special family play dates with museum educators!
On Tuesday, May 21, we will take a closer look at some of the flowers and insects that can be found outside the museum in the Pollinator Garden! During this Play Date at NMNH, families will make close observations of different museum specimens, make their own artwork inspired by the Pollinator Garden, and leave with a learning invitation to explore the garden as a family.
The event is part of our drop-in program, Play Date at NMNH. Play Date at NMNH is a program designed for early learners (ages 0-5) and their caregivers and families. Activities are designed with early learners in mind, but all ages are welcome.
Location: This program is held in Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center, on the Ground Floor of the museum. Please enter through the Constitution Avenue entrance. Q?rius is located on the right as you enter the museum.
Accessibility: Access services such as American Sign Language interpretation, real-time…
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center (Ground Floor). Cost: Free. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM.
Highlights Tour with the Postal Museum’s Director or Deputy Director
Ongoing Tours & Activities
On this extra special tour with the Postal Museum’s Director or Deputy Director, explore the wonders of our museum like never before! Meet at the Welcome Desk for an exclusive 45-minute tour.
Event Location: Starts at the Welcome Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: FREE. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Tours | Whistler's World
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join a walk-in, docent-led tour to explore the many sides of Whistler. Experience Whistler’s paintings along with objects by Asian artists that inspired his style and subjects. Image: Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), United Kingdom, 1876–77, room installation; oil paint and gold leaf on canvas, leather, mosaic tile, glass, and wood, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1904.61.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Meditation and Mindfulness
Workshops
Meditation helps us build a relationship to a place of inner quietude. Whether you’re a beginner or a skilled practitioner, join us for free online meditation sessions each week led by DC-based meditation teachers on Tuesdays and Fridays. Friday sessions include inspiration from art in the museum collections as well as appearances by special guest teachers and artists. All are welcome! No previous experience is required. Meet our meditation teachers: Aparna Sadananda and Philip Bender.
Register and join the sessions here:
https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIoc-GqpzovHdOwBtMxdm7MCyFA-pa9EuFn, Image: Landscapes of the Four Seasons: Spring and Summer, Hishikawa Sori, Japan, late 18th–early 19th century, color, ink, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1906.233.
Event Location: Online. Online Link: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUpdeuhqjItG9HB6wJ6vIhf5Vk-_Tm-RCtZ. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIoc-GqpzovHdOwBtMxdm7MCyFA-pa9EuFn. Categories: Workshops. Webcasts & Online.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM.
Permanent Collection Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art has over 46,000 artworks from across Asia. Enjoy some of the finest on a docent-led tour and learn about commonalities and differences in cultures, aesthetics, and ideas.
The public can schedule reserved group tours using the online reservation form.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meet at Freer Information desk. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Virtual Tour | Art Across Asian Cultures
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art is home to more than 45,000 objects from the Islamic world, the ancient Near East, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the United States. Join a free, docent-led, virtual tour to explore highlights of the museum’s collections that showcase the richness and diversity of Asian art.
Select your date and register here. Image credit: Boy Viewing Mount Fuji, Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), Japan, 1839, ink and color on silk, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, Freer Collection, F1898.110.
Event Location: Online. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3lBc52AEROWkmbKl9CKX_w. Categories: Webcasts & Online. Gallery Talks & Tours.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
DC | Welcome to a Native Place
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Enjoy tribal songs from Alaska to Florida with Dennis Zotigh (Kiowa/Isanti Dakota/Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) in the Potomac Atrium. At the end of the 30-minute presentation, visitors are encouraged to ask questions pertaining to the museum and Indigenous culture, past and present. Presentations may be canceled without prior notice.
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Potomac Atrium. Cost: Free. Categories: Performances.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 1:00 PM – 1:30 PM.
Ocean Topics Cart Chat
One-Time Events
Looking for a deeper dive into ocean topics? Come and find one of our Ocean Educators to explore some of the latest discoveries in marine science, stationed at an interactive cart in the Sant Ocean Hall.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: The Sant Ocean Hall. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Virtual Writing Hour
One-Time Events
Join us for a virtual creative writing hour at the National Portrait Gallery! We’ve set up an online space where writers can create, connect and draw inspiration from the Portrait Gallery’s collection. Bring a happy hour beverage of choice and write with us. We will provide writing prompts, and participants are welcome to bring their own writing project-in-progress. Attendees will write for about 30 minutes and end each session with a brief discussion or reading.
Event Location: Online via Zoom. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/national-portrait-gallery-810710525. Categories: Workshops. Lectures & Discussions. Demonstrations.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Virtual Art Signs: Artful Conversations in ASL
One-Time Events
Curious about American art? Join us for a 30-minute virtual conversation about selected works from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s collection. This program is presented in American Sign Language (ASL) with voice interpretation for hearing participants.
Image credit: Mary Tait, SAAM Education.
Event Location: Online. Cost: Free | Registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/4a2bVRGD9N. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 5:30 PM – 6:00 PM.
A New Theory of Being Human
Resident Associate Program
Humans have long thought of their bodies and minds as separate spheres of existence, with the body as physical and the mind as mental. But such thinking is a barrier to discovery and understanding, and a new framework is needed, argues neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux. He shares his latest research, which says that human beings are a composite of four fundamental realms of existence—biological, neurobiological, cognitive, and conscious. Together our realms account for all of what and who we are, LeDoux says.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260195?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260195?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 6:30 PM – 7:45 PM.
Brilliant Exiles: Convention-Defying Women in Paris
Resident Associate Program
“Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939” at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery illuminates the accomplishments of 60 women who crossed the Atlantic to pursue personal and professional aspirations in the vibrant cultural milieu of Paris. Robyn Asleson, the gallery’s curator of prints and drawings, provides an overview of the first exhibition to focus on the impact of American women on Paris—and of Paris on American women—as she discusses portraits of Josephine Baker, Isadora Duncan, Zelda Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, and Anna May Wong, among others. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit).
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260196?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260196?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM.
How a Return to Tribal Management is Restoring Landscapes
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Tribal people have lived in North America for at least 10,000 years, shaping how the landscape evolved and functioned. During that time, they developed cultures and traditions that stressed the obligation tribal people had to the foods, medicines and places that sustained and defined their way of life. However, disease and settlement disrupted the balance, replacing it with the extractive management approach that has dominated the landscape for the past three centuries.
On May 21, discover how a return to tribal practices can help restore that balance with Cody Desautel, executive director of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in northern Washington state. He’ll reveal how the last 50 years have seen a resurgence of tribal self-determination, and how indigenous knowledge is helping reestablish healthy relationships between people and the land. Part of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's free "Life on a Sustainable Planet" webinar series.
This webinar will be recorded! Closed cap…
Event Location: Online. Online Link: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/8017103579425/WN_k1NSTRCmQAmLb2RykzVR5w. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/8017103579425/WN_k1NSTRCmQAmLb2RykzVR5w. Categories: After Five. Lectures & Discussions. Webcasts & Online. Related Events: What a Warming World Means for Plants, Pests and Pollinators (June 18, 7pm ET). Accessibility: Captioning.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM.
Comets: Dirty Snowballs A Grand Tour of the Solar System
Resident Associate Program
In the distant past, people were both awed and alarmed by comets. We now know that comets are leftovers from the dawn of our solar system around 4.6 billion years ago. They may yield important clues about the solar system’s formation. Carey Lisse, an astronomer at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, highlights what we know about comets and what we are still hoping to find out.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260402?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260402?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Tuesday, May 21, 2024, 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM.
Birding in the Delaware Bay
Resident Associate Program
Naturalist Matt Felperin leads a two-day adventure for nature lovers that explores the Delaware Bay and its environs, where the diverse life of a tidal marsh and the expanse of the bay come together. From observing horseshoe crabs breeding by moonlight to visits to the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, the Dupont Nature Center, and local beaches, the tour offers insights into a habitat in which a wide range of migratory shorebirds play a key role.
Event Location: Detailed information for overnight tours is mailed approximately FOUR WEEKS. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260094?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 7:00 AM – Thursday, May 23, 2024, 7:30 PM.
Storytime: Why Am I Me?
One time events
Storytime is currently a drop-in experience. Join Hirshhorn educators any time between 10 am–noon; we will host read-alouds at 10:30 am and 11:30 am. ASL interpretation is provided at the 10:30 reading.
What makes you who you are? We’re teaming up with educators from the National Postal Museum and friends from the Washington Ballet to celebrate what makes us special! Express yourself with movement, music, and more at this week’s Storytime. Get inspired by a close look at Mis Cuatro Gracias (Brendan, Camilo, Carlos, Jorge), by artist Aliza Nisenbaum; read Why Am I Me? by Paige Britt; and make our own artworks celebrating ourselves!
Meet on the Plaza. Do this at home! Grab some paper, small objects and scissors and get ready to explore identity and create a collage self-portrait! Instructions here.
, ABOUT STORYTIME
Join Hirshhorn Kids on Wednesdays for a one-of-a-kind Storytime experience! Each week offers a fun and fresh theme for our youngest artists and their adults. Get a fun and hands-on…
Venue: Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden. Event Location: Plaza. Cost: Free. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit hirshhorn.si.edu. Wonderplace
Ongoing Tours & Activities
This learning space designed especially for children ages six and under combines age appropriate activities with museum collections and touchable objects to provide a gateway to history and a place to exercise curiosity for the youngest historians.
Admission to Wonderplace is on a first come, first-served basis. At busy times, we may use FREE, timed tickets to minimize wait time if needed. Tickets are available for 30-minute visits on a first-come, first-served basis. No tickets are required for the first session from 10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. To visit during a later half-hour session, visitors may pick up a ticket at Wonderplace in 1 West. The last entry using timed tickets is at 3:30 p.m.
Hours are subject to change.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Wonderplace, 1 West. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Spring on Sugarloaf Mountain
Resident Associate Program
Spend a day hiking to the summit of Washington, D.C.’s local mountain, a natural treasure less than an hour’s drive from the city. The picturesque and rocky Sugarloaf offers spectacular views of the surrounding countryside of Montgomery and Frederick counties in Maryland. Guided by study leader Melanie Choukas-Bradley, learn about the mountain’s plants and wildlife, seasonal changes, geology, and history.
Event Location: Tour meets on site at West View parking lot Sugarloaf Mountain Drive, Dickerson, MD. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260332?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 10:00 AM – 1:30 PM.
Enid A. Haupt Garden Tour
Smithsonian Gardens
Free weekly tours of the Enid A. Haupt Garden are offered every Wednesday at 10 a.m. from May 22 through September 25, 2024, weather permitting.
Meet one of our knowledgeable docents by the tour sign in the Enid A. Haupt Garden near the south entrance to the Smithsonian Castle. No reservation is required.
Please note there are no tours on federal holidays.
Venue: Smithsonian Castle. Event Location: Enid A. Haupt Garden. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 10:00 AM – 10:45 AM.
For more info visit gardens.si.edu. Interactive Programs
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Docents offer interactive programming throughout the museum, in the form of Highlights tours of the museum, gallery spotlight talks, and hands-on cart programs.
Tours of the museum’s highlights generally take place daily at 10:15 AM and 1 PM. Additional tours may be offered on the hour between 11 AM and 3 PM as docents are available. Please check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Gallery spotlight talks take place throughout the day. Docents offer a 15-minute overview of an exhibition or briefly discuss a favorite museum object. Look for the "Docent on Duty" signs posted outside the exhibition entrances.
Docents stationed at carts help visitors get their hands on history and learn about the museum's collections. Carts are located throughout the museum, and you can check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Year-Round:
Available most days between 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM.
Notes:
Programs are subject to docent availability; last-minute cancellations may occur.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Multiple floors. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Virtual Young Portrait Explorers
One-Time Events
Join educators with the National Portrait Gallery as we learn about art, history and more! This 30-minute virtual workshop incorporates close looking at portraiture, movement activities and artmaking. Recommended for children ages three and up and their adult companions.
Event Location: Online via Zoom. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/national-portrait-gallery-810710525. Categories: Kids & Families.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Spark!Lab
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation invites children between the ages of 6 and 12 to create, collaborate, explore, test, experiment and invent. Activities for children and families incorporate traditional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with art, history and creativity.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Spark!Lab, First Floor, West Wing. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.si.edu. Coral Reef Tank Talk
One-Time Events
Swim by the Sant Ocean Hall to meet some of the coral reef species that call the Smithsonian NMNH home! Hosted by an Ocean Educator, this interactive cart experience will walk you through the world of saltwater fish, coral colonies, and invertebrates galore!
Image Credit: Sant Ocean Hall, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, from the main hall, 2nd floor. Photo by Jennifer Renteria, Smithsonian.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: The Sant Ocean Hall. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Welcome Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Event Location: Starts at the Welcome Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: FREE. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
EMS Day at the Museum
One-Time Events
The National Museum of American History invites visitors to join us to learn about Emergency Medical Services (EMS). A panel with John Moon, a paramedic from Freedom House, one of the first EMS agencies, will convene alongside other EMS luminaries, as well as an opportunity to see museum objects out of storage and vintage ambulances, will educate the public on EMS and disaster response.
The National Museum of American History welcomes visitors of all abilities.
Requests for accessibility services can be made by phone at 202-633-3150 or by
email at NMAHPrograms@si.edu. Two weeks prior notice is preferred.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: First Floor West & Warner Bros. Theater. Cost: Free. Categories: Demonstrations. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Gallery Tour | Park Chan-kyong: Gathering
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join us for a curator tour of the exhibition Park Chan-kyong: Gathering led by Carol Huh, the museum’s associate curator of contemporary Asian art. Experience Seoul-based artist Park Chan-kyong's first solo presentation of his work in a major US museum. Explore a range of works highlighting his masterful use of the photographic medium to explore the enduring traces of tradition, history, and disaster in contemporary society.
This exhibition contains disturbing images and brief nudity. Viewer discretion is advised. Image: Detail, Belated Bosal, Park Chan-kyong, 2019, HD film, black and white, 5.1 channel sound, 55 min / Copyright Park Chan-kyong, Courtesy of the artist and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, ELS2023.8.1.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Gallery 28. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Events: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Park Chan-kyong: Gathering. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Conservation Classroom: Exploring Neighborhood Birds
Special Zoo Events
Exploring Neighborhood Birds, Learn about some of our neighborhood birds and techniques used to study them, such as bird banding, from a migratory bird ecologist. Grade/Learning Level: 2-6, Standards: 2-PS1-2, 2-LS2-2, 2-LS4-1, 3-LS1-1, 3-LS3-1, 3-LS3-2, 3-LS4-3, 4-LS1-1, Program Details & Accessibility: Conservation Classroom is a collection of programs that include live virtual programs each month from September through May. These programs are designed for multiple groups of students to join and learn together. We welcome all audiences from individuals and home-schooling families to large groups and schools. Programs are hosted via Zoom in the webinar format. Individual participants’ audio and video will be disabled, but students can actively participate using polls, emoji reactions, Q&A, and chat to hosts. Program includes live captioning, American sign language (ASL) interpretation, and simulcast Spanish translation. The program will be recorded and posted on our website and emailed out to those who…
Event Location: Online. Cost: Free! Registration is required. Categories: Kids & Families. Webcasts & Online. Related Events: This program is part of Conservation Classroom, a collection of monthly lessons aligned to Next Generation Science Standards for grades K-5. Each month we explore a new life science or earth science topic and meet some of the National Zoo's animals to learn about animals and the environment. Visit the Zoo's school program page for more information and additional resources for Conservation Classroom. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program. Captioning.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Spotlights: Freedom Now! The Modern Civil Rights Movement (1945-1968)
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Our 25-minute spotlight tours provide an engaging introduction to a key topic in the Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: The Era of Segregation 1876-1968 exhibition.
About this program: After World War II, a generation of African Americans saw less and less reason to endure attacks on their civil rights. Learn how African Americans survived the challenges set before and explore how the nation emerged more in sync with its pronouncements about freedom, equality, and democracy.
Photo Credit: NMAAHC.
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Program meets at the entrance to Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: The Era of Segregation 1876-1968 exhibition, located on C2. Each 25 min talk takes place at 12:45 PM and 2:45 PM. Cost: Free; walk-in
Tours are subject to docent availability; last minute cancellations may occur. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 12:45 PM – 3:10 PM.
Permanent Collection Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art has over 46,000 artworks from across Asia. Enjoy some of the finest on a docent-led tour and learn about commonalities and differences in cultures, aesthetics, and ideas.
The public can schedule reserved group tours using the online reservation form.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meet at Freer Information desk. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. DC | Welcome to a Native Place
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Enjoy tribal songs from Alaska to Florida with Dennis Zotigh (Kiowa/Isanti Dakota/Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) in the Potomac Atrium. At the end of the 30-minute presentation, visitors are encouraged to ask questions pertaining to the museum and Indigenous culture, past and present. Presentations may be canceled without prior notice.
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Potomac Atrium. Cost: Free. Categories: Performances.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 1:00 PM – 1:30 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 2:00 PM – 2:20 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 2:45 PM – 3:05 PM.
Propagating Orchids
Resident Associate Program
Join an orchid care expert for a fun, informative evening exploring a beautiful, and sometimes challenging to grow, favorite household plant.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260253?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260253?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM.
A Journey through Ancient China
Resident Associate Program
China has more than three thousand years of recorded history, but misconceptions abound at every stage. Historian Justin Jacobs clears up misinterpretations as he takes you on a thematic tour of four important topics in ancient Chinese history. Each lecture includes a rich, nuanced overview based on the latest scholarship and illustrated with copious slides. This session focuses on the maritime voyages of Zheng He.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260043?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260043?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: After Five. Lectures & Discussions.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 6:45 PM – 8:15 PM.
Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue: A Centenary Celebration
Resident Associate Program
A groundbreaking fusion of classical music and jazz, Rhapsody in Blue is one of America's most beloved cultural icons. Pianist and speaker Rachel Franklin celebrates its very big birthday by diving into how George Gershwin conceived the work; the roles of arranger Ferde Grofé and bandleader Paul Whiteman; and the composition's myriad reincarnations since its exuberant February 1924 premiere with its composer at the piano.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260197?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260197?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 6:45 PM – 8:15 PM.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission – Revealing Secrets from the Dawn of our Solar System (Exploring Space Lecture)
One-Time Events
Speaker: Dr. Dante Lauretta
Dr. Lauretta will discuss the findings from the first set of data from analysis of the samples returned from near-Earth asteroid Bennu. Dr. Lauretta heads the OSIRIS-REx research team at the University of Arizona working on this mission. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft launched in September 2016 and began its journey to Bennu, a carbon-rich, near-Earth asteroid. The spacecraft rendezvoused with Bennu in 2018 and successfully obtained a sample in October 2020. The spacecraft embarked on its return voyage to Earth on May 10, 2021. On Sept. 24, 2023, the spacecraft jettisoned the sample capsule and sent it onto a trajectory to touch down in the Utah desert. Analysis of the sample promises to provide insights into the formation of the Earth as a habitable world and the origin of life.
Venue: Air and Space Museum. Event Location: Air and Space Museum Planetarium. Cost: Free with registration. Categories: After Five. Lectures & Discussions. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM.
ONLINE: NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission – Revealing Secrets from the Dawn of our Solar System (Exploring Space Lecture)
One-Time Events
Speaker: Dr. Dante Lauretta
Dr. Lauretta will discuss the findings from the first set of data from analysis of the samples returned from near-Earth asteroid Bennu. Dr. Lauretta heads the OSIRIS-REx research team at the University of Arizona working on this mission. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft launched in September 2016 and began its journey to Bennu, a carbon-rich, near-Earth asteroid. The spacecraft rendezvoused with Bennu in 2018 and successfully obtained a sample in October 2020. The spacecraft embarked on its return voyage to Earth on May 10, 2021. On Sept. 24, 2023, the spacecraft jettisoned the sample capsule and sent it onto a trajectory to touch down in the Utah desert. Analysis of the sample promises to provide insights into the formation of the Earth as a habitable world and the origin of life.
Event Location: Air and Space Museum Planetarium. Cost: Free with registration. Categories: After Five. Lectures & Discussions. Accessibility: Captioning.
Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM.
Little Critters: Nature Play
Special Zoo Events
Come play with us at the Zoo!
Bring your little zoogoer for a wild time as we explore animals and nature through creative, drop-in play!
Little Critters Nature Play is designed for ages 0-5 and their caregivers and families. Activities are designed with early learners in mind, but all ages are welcome. Parents and guardians must remain with their children.
Location: Bird House Classroom.
Venue: National Zoo. Event Location: Bird House Classroom. Cost: Free drop-in program; no pre-registration required.Parents and guardians must remain with their children. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 9:30 AM – 1:30 PM.
For more info visit nationalzoo.si.edu. Wonderplace
Ongoing Tours & Activities
This learning space designed especially for children ages six and under combines age appropriate activities with museum collections and touchable objects to provide a gateway to history and a place to exercise curiosity for the youngest historians.
Admission to Wonderplace is on a first come, first-served basis. At busy times, we may use FREE, timed tickets to minimize wait time if needed. Tickets are available for 30-minute visits on a first-come, first-served basis. No tickets are required for the first session from 10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. To visit during a later half-hour session, visitors may pick up a ticket at Wonderplace in 1 West. The last entry using timed tickets is at 3:30 p.m.
Hours are subject to change.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Wonderplace, 1 West. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Spring on Sugarloaf Mountain
Resident Associate Program
Spend a day hiking to the summit of Washington, D.C.’s local mountain, a natural treasure less than an hour’s drive from the city. The picturesque and rocky Sugarloaf offers spectacular views of the surrounding countryside of Montgomery and Frederick counties in Maryland. Guided by study leader Melanie Choukas-Bradley, learn about the mountain’s plants and wildlife, seasonal changes, geology, and history.
Event Location: Tour meets on site at West View parking lot Sugarloaf Mountain Drive, Dickerson, MD. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260333?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 10:00 AM – 1:30 PM.
Interactive Programs
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Docents offer interactive programming throughout the museum, in the form of Highlights tours of the museum, gallery spotlight talks, and hands-on cart programs.
Tours of the museum’s highlights generally take place daily at 10:15 AM and 1 PM. Additional tours may be offered on the hour between 11 AM and 3 PM as docents are available. Please check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Gallery spotlight talks take place throughout the day. Docents offer a 15-minute overview of an exhibition or briefly discuss a favorite museum object. Look for the "Docent on Duty" signs posted outside the exhibition entrances.
Docents stationed at carts help visitors get their hands on history and learn about the museum's collections. Carts are located throughout the museum, and you can check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Year-Round:
Available most days between 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM.
Notes:
Programs are subject to docent availability; last-minute cancellations may occur.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Multiple floors. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Drawn to Figures
One-Time Events
Discover your inner artist in this live virtual drawing workshop. Facilitated by artist Jill Galloway, each program will highlight a Portrait Gallery exhibition or a portrait from the collection. Open to all skill levels, ages 18 and up.
Event Location: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/national-portrait-gallery-810710525. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/national-portrait-gallery-810710525. Categories: Demonstrations. Lectures & Discussions. Workshops.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Spark!Lab
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation invites children between the ages of 6 and 12 to create, collaborate, explore, test, experiment and invent. Activities for children and families incorporate traditional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with art, history and creativity.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Spark!Lab, First Floor, West Wing. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.si.edu. Science on a Sphere
One-Time Events
Come explore our blue planet with NMNH Ocean Educators. Through NOAA’s Science on a Sphere technology, you’ll encounter a series of interactive visualizations projected on the Sant Ocean Hall’s giant globe. Watch sea turtles migrate coast to coast, track ships through global waters in real-time, explore the changing climate patterns shaping our planet, and much more!
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: The Sant Ocean Hall. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Welcome Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Welcome Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Tours | Whistler's World
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join a walk-in, docent-led tour to explore the many sides of Whistler. Experience Whistler’s paintings along with objects by Asian artists that inspired his style and subjects. Image: Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), United Kingdom, 1876–77, room installation; oil paint and gold leaf on canvas, leather, mosaic tile, glass, and wood, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1904.61.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Spotlights: Freedom Now! The Modern Civil Rights Movement (1945-1968)
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Our 25-minute spotlight tours provide an engaging introduction to a key topic in the Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: The Era of Segregation 1876-1968 exhibition.
About this program: After World War II, a generation of African Americans saw less and less reason to endure attacks on their civil rights. Learn how African Americans survived the challenges set before and explore how the nation emerged more in sync with its pronouncements about freedom, equality, and democracy.
Photo Credit: NMAAHC.
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Program meets at the entrance to Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: The Era of Segregation 1876-1968 exhibition, located on C2. Each 25 min talk takes place at 12:45 PM and 2:45 PM. Cost: Free; walk-in
Tours are subject to docent availability; last minute cancellations may occur. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 12:45 PM – 3:10 PM.
Permanent Collection Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art has over 46,000 artworks from across Asia. Enjoy some of the finest on a docent-led tour and learn about commonalities and differences in cultures, aesthetics, and ideas.
The public can schedule reserved group tours using the online reservation form.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meet at Freer Information desk. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Virtual Tour | Art Across Asian Cultures
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art is home to more than 45,000 objects from the Islamic world, the ancient Near East, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the United States. Join a free, docent-led, virtual tour to explore highlights of the museum’s collections that showcase the richness and diversity of Asian art.
Select your date and register here. Image credit: Boy Viewing Mount Fuji, Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), Japan, 1839, ink and color on silk, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, Freer Collection, F1898.110.
Event Location: Online. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3lBc52AEROWkmbKl9CKX_w. Categories: Webcasts & Online. Gallery Talks & Tours.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
Slavery and Freedom Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Explore the complex story of slavery and freedom. Visitors will view priceless objects, connect to the past, and hear about the actions of ordinary men and women, demanding freedom and transforming our nation.
Photo Credit: NMAAHC.
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Program meets in the Slavery and Freedom exhibition, located on C3. One hour tours take place at 1:15 PM and 2:30 PM. Cost: Free; walk-in
Tours are subject to docent availability; last minute cancellations may occur. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 1:15 PM – 3:30 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 2:00 PM – 2:20 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 2:45 PM – 3:05 PM.
Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women Lecture with Janneken Smucker
One-Time Events
Join Pattern and Paradox contributor and textile historian Janneken Smucker for insights into the history of Amish quilts and the works featured in SAAM’s exhibition, Pattern and Paradox, that were donated to SAAM by Faith and Stephen Brown. Smucker traces the journey of quilts from Amish homes to SAAM, revealing the ways the quilts’ limitless colors and patterns delight the eye and intrigue the mind. She also will discuss the significance behind the prolific creative time period in quilt making, from 1880 to 1950.
Leslie Umberger, curator of folk and self-taught art, will introduce Smucker, assistant professor of history at West Chester University and former SAAM fellow.
This program was generously supported by Mary Anne Goley.
Image Credit:Courtesy the speaker.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: McEvoy Auditorium and YouTube. Cost: Free | Registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/4a2bVRDrrJ. Categories: After Five. Lectures & Discussions. Webcasts & Online. Related Exhibition: Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women. Accessibility: Captioning.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 6:30 PM.
The Lord of the Flies
Resident Associate Program
Ever since its publication in 1954, Nobel laureate William Golding’s Lord of the Flies has been a mainstay of syllabi and reading lists throughout the world. Literature professor Joseph Luzzi leads a detailed analysis and examination of the harrowing story of a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island during a time of war.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260408?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260408?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Thursday, May 23, 2024, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM.
Wonderplace
Ongoing Tours & Activities
This learning space designed especially for children ages six and under combines age appropriate activities with museum collections and touchable objects to provide a gateway to history and a place to exercise curiosity for the youngest historians.
Admission to Wonderplace is on a first come, first-served basis. At busy times, we may use FREE, timed tickets to minimize wait time if needed. Tickets are available for 30-minute visits on a first-come, first-served basis. No tickets are required for the first session from 10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. To visit during a later half-hour session, visitors may pick up a ticket at Wonderplace in 1 West. The last entry using timed tickets is at 3:30 p.m.
Hours are subject to change.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Wonderplace, 1 West. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 24, 2024, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Interactive Programs
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Docents offer interactive programming throughout the museum, in the form of Highlights tours of the museum, gallery spotlight talks, and hands-on cart programs.
Tours of the museum’s highlights generally take place daily at 10:15 AM and 1 PM. Additional tours may be offered on the hour between 11 AM and 3 PM as docents are available. Please check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Gallery spotlight talks take place throughout the day. Docents offer a 15-minute overview of an exhibition or briefly discuss a favorite museum object. Look for the "Docent on Duty" signs posted outside the exhibition entrances.
Docents stationed at carts help visitors get their hands on history and learn about the museum's collections. Carts are located throughout the museum, and you can check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Year-Round:
Available most days between 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM.
Notes:
Programs are subject to docent availability; last-minute cancellations may occur.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Multiple floors. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 24, 2024, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Spark!Lab
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation invites children between the ages of 6 and 12 to create, collaborate, explore, test, experiment and invent. Activities for children and families incorporate traditional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with art, history and creativity.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Spark!Lab, First Floor, West Wing. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Friday, May 24, 2024, 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.si.edu. Ocean Explorer Theater Spotlight
One-Time Events
Looking for a deeper dive into ocean topics like animal adaptations, behavior, biodiversity, or ecology? Come and join one of our Ocean Educators in Explorer Theater to watch short videos, explore specimens, and learn more about our blue planet!
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, Explorer Theater in the Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: The Sant Ocean Hall. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 24, 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women Gallery Talk
One-Time Events
SOLD OUT
Join Janneken Smucker, professor of history at West Chester University, and Leslie Umberger, curator of folk and self-taught art, for an in-depth tour of SAAM’s exhibition Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women. Learn more about the creative practice of Amish quilters in the United States between 1880 and 1950, as well as the stories of the women who created these extraordinary artworks.
Image Credit: Unidentified Maker Crazy Star; ca. 1920 Arthur, Illinois cotton and wool; 74 x 63 ½ in. (detail), Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown, Promised gift to the Smithsonian American Art Museum .
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: Meet in G Street Lobby. Cost: SOLD OUT
Free | Registration encouraged . Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/4a2bVRDsll. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Pattern and Paradox: The Quilts of Amish Women.
Friday, May 24, 2024, 11:30 AM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Welcome Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Welcome Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 24, 2024, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Tours | The Art of Women
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join us for a docent-led tour highlighting women’s untold stories in the art world, where their contributions have frequently been overshadowed. Discover the importance of women artists, subjects, patrons, and collectors who’ve shaped history. Celebrate women’s creativity and resilience by exploring captivating narratives that include inspirational subjects, ruling monarchs, and revered figures of divinity. Image: Detail, The Princess from the Land of Porcelain (La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine), James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), United States, 1863–65, oil on canvas, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1903.91a–b.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 24, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Meditation and Mindfulness
Workshops
Meditation helps us build a relationship to a place of inner quietude. Whether you’re a beginner or a skilled practitioner, join us for free online meditation sessions each week led by DC-based meditation teachers on Tuesdays and Fridays. Friday sessions include inspiration from art in the museum collections as well as appearances by special guest teachers and artists. All are welcome! No previous experience is required. Meet our meditation teachers: Aparna Sadananda and Philip Bender.
Register and join the sessions here:
https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIoc-GqpzovHdOwBtMxdm7MCyFA-pa9EuFn, Image: Landscapes of the Four Seasons: Spring and Summer, Hishikawa Sori, Japan, late 18th–early 19th century, color, ink, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1906.233.
Event Location: Online. Online Link: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUpdeuhqjItG9HB6wJ6vIhf5Vk-_Tm-RCtZ. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUpdeuhqjItG9HB6wJ6vIhf5Vk-_Tm-RCtZ. Categories: Workshops. Webcasts & Online.
Friday, May 24, 2024, 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM.
Permanent Collection Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art has over 46,000 artworks from across Asia. Enjoy some of the finest on a docent-led tour and learn about commonalities and differences in cultures, aesthetics, and ideas.
The public can schedule reserved group tours using the online reservation form.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meet at Freer Information desk. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Friday, May 24, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. DC | Guided Gallery Tours
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Experience one of the museum's major exhibitions currently on view—Americans or Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations—with a guided tour led by a knowledgeable museum educator. Join fellow visitors to dive deeper into the content and have your questions answered. These walk-in tours include a brief overview of the museum’s mission, history, and even the building itself. Tours are subject to availability and may be canceled without prior notice.
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 1, meet in the Potomac Atrium. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Americans; Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations.
Friday, May 24, 2024, 1:30 PM – 2:15 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 24, 2024, 2:00 PM – 2:20 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 24, 2024, 2:45 PM – 3:05 PM.
Black Birders Week Bird Walk at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens
One-Time Events
This special bird walk is open to everyone of all ages, and it is dedicated to the Black Birders Week 2024 theme, Wings of Justice: Soaring for Change. Bird walks like this one can raise awareness about the ways African Americans engage with nature and celebrate, uplift and support their appreciation for birds, and acknowledge the barriers to a more equitable access to nature. Adjacent to the Ward 8 neighborhoods of Eastland Gardens and Mayfair, Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens is one of the best places in the District for bird watching. Over 250 species of birds have been seen in the park! Together, Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of African American History and Culture are supporting this event.
What to bring: Family and friends, clothes that provide protection from the sun, sunblock, plenty of water, and binoculars if you have them. The Park has a limited number of binoculars to share.
LOCATION: Meet in front of the Vi…
Event Location: Meet in front of the Visitor Center at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, 1550 Anacostia Ave NE, Washington, DC 20019. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/30195761/black-birders-week-bird-walk-at-kenilworth-aquatic-gardens-washington-national-museum-of-natural-history. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops. Related Exhibition: Our Places: Connecting People and Nature.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM.
For more info visit www.etix.com. Little Critters: Nature Play
Special Zoo Events
Come play with us at the Zoo!
Bring your little zoogoer for a wild time as we explore animals and nature through creative, drop-in play!
Little Critters Nature Play is designed for ages 0-5 and their caregivers and families. Activities are designed with early learners in mind, but all ages are welcome. Parents and guardians must remain with their children.
Location: Bird House Classroom.
Venue: National Zoo. Event Location: Bird House Classroom. Cost: Free drop-in program; no pre-registration required.Parents and guardians must remain with their children. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 9:30 AM – 1:30 PM.
For more info visit nationalzoo.si.edu. Freshfarm ACM Farmstand
One-Time Events
The FRESHFARM ACM Farm Stand takes place on the outdoor plaza of the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum (1901 Fort Place, SE Washington, DC 20020) every Saturday (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) from April 20- November 23, 2024.*
The farm stand offers FreshMatch, FRESHFARM's incentive program, which provides a dollar-to-dollar match on all federal benefits (WIC and Senior and WIC FMNP) spent at the stand, helping shoppers take home more fresh and nutritious produce and local foods. The farm stand also accepts Produce Plus, a benefit program unique to Washington, DC, which provides locally grown, fresh produce to District residents with limited access to fresh, healthy food.
Park View Farms in Poolsville supplies the FRESHFARM ACM Farm Stand with their own homegrown produce and additional fruits and vegetables that they aggregate from neighboring farms.
*Weather permitting. Be sure to follow the Anacostia Community Museum for updated information.
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://anacostia.si.edu/farmstand. Categories: Kids & Families. Culinary Arts.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM.
Wonderplace
Ongoing Tours & Activities
This learning space designed especially for children ages six and under combines age appropriate activities with museum collections and touchable objects to provide a gateway to history and a place to exercise curiosity for the youngest historians.
Admission to Wonderplace is on a first come, first-served basis. At busy times, we may use FREE, timed tickets to minimize wait time if needed. Tickets are available for 30-minute visits on a first-come, first-served basis. No tickets are required for the first session from 10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. To visit during a later half-hour session, visitors may pick up a ticket at Wonderplace in 1 West. The last entry using timed tickets is at 3:30 p.m.
Hours are subject to change.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Wonderplace, 1 West. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Interactive Programs
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Docents offer interactive programming throughout the museum, in the form of Highlights tours of the museum, gallery spotlight talks, and hands-on cart programs.
Tours of the museum’s highlights generally take place daily at 10:15 AM and 1 PM. Additional tours may be offered on the hour between 11 AM and 3 PM as docents are available. Please check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Gallery spotlight talks take place throughout the day. Docents offer a 15-minute overview of an exhibition or briefly discuss a favorite museum object. Look for the "Docent on Duty" signs posted outside the exhibition entrances.
Docents stationed at carts help visitors get their hands on history and learn about the museum's collections. Carts are located throughout the museum, and you can check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Year-Round:
Available most days between 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM.
Notes:
Programs are subject to docent availability; last-minute cancellations may occur.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Multiple floors. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Making A Way Out of No Way Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Learn about the ways in which African Americans created possibilities in a world that denied them opportunities. On this docent led tour visitors will reflect on the perseverance, resourcefulness, and resilience required by African Americans to survive and thrive in America.
Photo Credit: NMAAHC.
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Program meets in the Making A Way Out of No Way exhibition, L3. Each 1-hour tour takes place at 10:30 AM and 11:45 AM. Cost: Free; walk-in
Tours are subject to docent availability; last minute cancellations may occur. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 10:30 AM – 12:45 PM.
Spark!Lab
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation invites children between the ages of 6 and 12 to create, collaborate, explore, test, experiment and invent. Activities for children and families incorporate traditional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with art, history and creativity.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Spark!Lab, First Floor, West Wing. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.si.edu. DC | Storytime
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Families are invited to an interactive story time featuring a children’s book by a Native author. They will have the opportunity to engage with objects and photographs that can deepen their understanding of the community represented in the story.
Recommended for visitors ages 3 years and up accompanied by an adult caregiver. .
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: imagiNATIONS Activity Center, Level 3. Cost: Free. Categories: Kids & Families.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 11:15 AM – 11:45 AM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Welcome Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Event Location: Starts at the Welcome Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: FREE. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Weekend Workshops
One-Time Events
Calling all artists! Get creative during our drop-in workshops for all ages. Learn about artists and change-makers and create art inspired by their stories.
Event Location: Education Center, E151. Cost: Free. No Registration Required. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Tours | The Art of Women
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join us for a docent-led tour highlighting women’s untold stories in the art world, where their contributions have frequently been overshadowed. Discover the importance of women artists, subjects, patrons, and collectors who’ve shaped history. Celebrate women’s creativity and resilience by exploring captivating narratives that include inspirational subjects, ruling monarchs, and revered figures of divinity. Image: Detail, The Princess from the Land of Porcelain (La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine), James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), United States, 1863–65, oil on canvas, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1903.91a–b.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Collaging: Healing, Identity and Freedom through the Arts
One-Time Events
Inspired by select works on view, join us for an afternoon of collaging as you comb though magazines to create a masterpiece of your own.
In celebration of our 60th anniversary and inspired by select artworks currently on view, join African Art for an afternoon of collaging. Browse through select magazines to create your own masterpiece as you listen to afrobeat’s.
Themes of healing, identity and freedom though the Arts will be explored.
Venue: African Art Museum. Event Location: Pavilion. Cost: FREE. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/art-collage-workshops-tickets-882361616347?aff=erelexpmlt. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 1:00 PM – 4:30 PM.
For more info visit africa.si.edu. Permanent Collection Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art has over 46,000 artworks from across Asia. Enjoy some of the finest on a docent-led tour and learn about commonalities and differences in cultures, aesthetics, and ideas.
The public can schedule reserved group tours using the online reservation form.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meet at Freer Information desk. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. DC | Guided Gallery Tours
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Experience one of the museum's major exhibitions currently on view—Americans or Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations—with a guided tour led by a knowledgeable museum educator. Join fellow visitors to dive deeper into the content and have your questions answered. These walk-in tours include a brief overview of the museum’s mission, history, and even the building itself. Tours are subject to availability and may be canceled without prior notice.
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 1, meet in the Potomac Atrium. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Americans; Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 1:30 PM – 2:15 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 2:00 PM – 2:20 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 25, 2024, 2:45 PM – 3:05 PM.
Wonderplace
Ongoing Tours & Activities
This learning space designed especially for children ages six and under combines age appropriate activities with museum collections and touchable objects to provide a gateway to history and a place to exercise curiosity for the youngest historians.
Admission to Wonderplace is on a first come, first-served basis. At busy times, we may use FREE, timed tickets to minimize wait time if needed. Tickets are available for 30-minute visits on a first-come, first-served basis. No tickets are required for the first session from 10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. To visit during a later half-hour session, visitors may pick up a ticket at Wonderplace in 1 West. The last entry using timed tickets is at 3:30 p.m.
Hours are subject to change.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Wonderplace, 1 West. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 26, 2024, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Interactive Programs
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Docents offer interactive programming throughout the museum, in the form of Highlights tours of the museum, gallery spotlight talks, and hands-on cart programs.
Tours of the museum’s highlights generally take place daily at 10:15 AM and 1 PM. Additional tours may be offered on the hour between 11 AM and 3 PM as docents are available. Please check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Gallery spotlight talks take place throughout the day. Docents offer a 15-minute overview of an exhibition or briefly discuss a favorite museum object. Look for the "Docent on Duty" signs posted outside the exhibition entrances.
Docents stationed at carts help visitors get their hands on history and learn about the museum's collections. Carts are located throughout the museum, and you can check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Year-Round:
Available most days between 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM.
Notes:
Programs are subject to docent availability; last-minute cancellations may occur.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Multiple floors. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 26, 2024, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Spark!Lab
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation invites children between the ages of 6 and 12 to create, collaborate, explore, test, experiment and invent. Activities for children and families incorporate traditional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with art, history and creativity.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Spark!Lab, First Floor, West Wing. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Sunday, May 26, 2024, 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.si.edu. Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Welcome Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Welcome Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 26, 2024, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Weekend Workshops
One-Time Events
Calling all artists! Get creative during our drop-in workshops for all ages. Learn about artists and change-makers and create art inspired by their stories.
Event Location: Education Center, E151. Cost: Free. No Registration Required. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops.
Sunday, May 26, 2024, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Tours | Whistler's World
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join a walk-in, docent-led tour to explore the many sides of Whistler. Experience Whistler’s paintings along with objects by Asian artists that inspired his style and subjects. Image: Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), United Kingdom, 1876–77, room installation; oil paint and gold leaf on canvas, leather, mosaic tile, glass, and wood, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1904.61.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 26, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Permanent Collection Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art has over 46,000 artworks from across Asia. Enjoy some of the finest on a docent-led tour and learn about commonalities and differences in cultures, aesthetics, and ideas.
The public can schedule reserved group tours using the online reservation form.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meet at Freer Information desk. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Sunday, May 26, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 26, 2024, 2:00 PM – 2:20 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 26, 2024, 2:45 PM – 3:05 PM.
Interactive Programs
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Docents offer interactive programming throughout the museum, in the form of Highlights tours of the museum, gallery spotlight talks, and hands-on cart programs.
Tours of the museum’s highlights generally take place daily at 10:15 AM and 1 PM. Additional tours may be offered on the hour between 11 AM and 3 PM as docents are available. Please check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Gallery spotlight talks take place throughout the day. Docents offer a 15-minute overview of an exhibition or briefly discuss a favorite museum object. Look for the "Docent on Duty" signs posted outside the exhibition entrances.
Docents stationed at carts help visitors get their hands on history and learn about the museum's collections. Carts are located throughout the museum, and you can check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Year-Round:
Available most days between 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM.
Notes:
Programs are subject to docent availability; last-minute cancellations may occur.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Multiple floors. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 27, 2024, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Ocean Topics Cart Chat
One-Time Events
Looking for a deeper dive into ocean topics? Come and find one of our Ocean Educators to explore some of the latest discoveries in marine science, stationed at an interactive cart in the Sant Ocean Hall.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: The Sant Ocean Hall. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 27, 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Welcome Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Welcome Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 27, 2024, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Tours | The Art of Women
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join us for a docent-led tour highlighting women’s untold stories in the art world, where their contributions have frequently been overshadowed. Discover the importance of women artists, subjects, patrons, and collectors who’ve shaped history. Celebrate women’s creativity and resilience by exploring captivating narratives that include inspirational subjects, ruling monarchs, and revered figures of divinity. Image: Detail, The Princess from the Land of Porcelain (La Princesse du pays de la porcelaine), James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), United States, 1863–65, oil on canvas, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1903.91a–b.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 27, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Spotlights: Freedom Now! The Modern Civil Rights Movement (1945-1968)
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Our 25-minute spotlight tours provide an engaging introduction to a key topic in the Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: The Era of Segregation 1876-1968 exhibition.
About this program: After World War II, a generation of African Americans saw less and less reason to endure attacks on their civil rights. Learn how African Americans survived the challenges set before and explore how the nation emerged more in sync with its pronouncements about freedom, equality, and democracy.
Photo Credit: NMAAHC.
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Program meets at the entrance to Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: The Era of Segregation 1876-1968 exhibition, located on C2. Each 25 min talk takes place at 12:45 PM and 2:45 PM. Cost: Free; walk-in
Tours are subject to docent availability; last minute cancellations may occur. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Monday, May 27, 2024, 12:45 PM – 3:10 PM.
Permanent Collection Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art has over 46,000 artworks from across Asia. Enjoy some of the finest on a docent-led tour and learn about commonalities and differences in cultures, aesthetics, and ideas.
The public can schedule reserved group tours using the online reservation form.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meet at Freer Information desk. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Monday, May 27, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. DC | Memorial Day: Honoring Native Servicemembers
One-Time Events
Honor Indigenous servicemembers who lost their lives while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Join the museum for a film screening, book talk, and book signing. Visitors are welcome to pay their respects and remember loved ones at the National Native American Veterans Memorial on the museum grounds. Level 1: Rasmuson Theater, 2 PM: Film screening, The Warrior Tradition tells the astonishing, heartbreaking, inspiring, and largely untold story of Native Americans in the United States military. Why would Indigenous men and women put their lives on the line for the very government that took their homelands? (Director: Lawrence R. Hott, USA, 2019, 56 min.), 3 PM: Book talk, Co-author Alexandra N. Harris will discuss the conception and creation of the book Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces. The book chronicles the generations of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians who have served in the United States Armed Forces during every military conflict since the…
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Rasmuson Theater, Level 1. Cost: Free. Categories: Lectures & Discussions. Films. Shopping/Book Signing. Related Exhibition: Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces.
Monday, May 27, 2024, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Welcome Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Welcome Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 27, 2024, 2:00 PM – 2:45 PM.
Meditation Mondays: Freedom to Rest
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Join us for a special edition of our Meditation Monday program to commemorate the opening of our new exhibit in the Visual Arts gallery, Reclaiming My Time. This 40-minute meditation session provides an opportunity for participants of any experience level to explore the notion that rest is resilience. Together we will experience the restorative practice of meditation and contemplate the journey of Black Americans toward liberation.
Event Location: Online. Cost: Free! Registration is Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwoc--trTMpGNV3lK6qKeC0vR1fDduTMLGd. Categories: Webcasts & Online. After Five. Related Exhibition: Reclaiming My Time.
Monday, May 27, 2024, 6:00 PM – 6:45 PM.
Little Critters: Nature Play
Special Zoo Events
Come play with us at the Zoo!
Bring your little zoogoer for a wild time as we explore animals and nature through creative, drop-in play!
Little Critters Nature Play is designed for ages 0-5 and their caregivers and families. Activities are designed with early learners in mind, but all ages are welcome. Parents and guardians must remain with their children.
Location: Bird House Classroom.
Venue: National Zoo. Event Location: Bird House Classroom. Cost: Free drop-in program; no pre-registration required.Parents and guardians must remain with their children. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 9:30 AM – 1:30 PM.
For more info visit nationalzoo.si.edu. Interactive Programs
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Docents offer interactive programming throughout the museum, in the form of Highlights tours of the museum, gallery spotlight talks, and hands-on cart programs.
Tours of the museum’s highlights generally take place daily at 10:15 AM and 1 PM. Additional tours may be offered on the hour between 11 AM and 3 PM as docents are available. Please check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Gallery spotlight talks take place throughout the day. Docents offer a 15-minute overview of an exhibition or briefly discuss a favorite museum object. Look for the "Docent on Duty" signs posted outside the exhibition entrances.
Docents stationed at carts help visitors get their hands on history and learn about the museum's collections. Carts are located throughout the museum, and you can check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Year-Round:
Available most days between 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM.
Notes:
Programs are subject to docent availability; last-minute cancellations may occur.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Multiple floors. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Slavery and Freedom Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Explore the complex story of slavery and freedom. Visitors will view priceless objects, connect to the past, and hear about the actions of ordinary men and women, demanding freedom and transforming our nation.
Photo Credit: NMAAHC.
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Program meets in the Slavery & Freedom exhibition, located on C3. One hour tours take place at 10:15 AM and 11:30 AM. Cost: Free; walk-in
Tours are subject to docent availability; last minute cancellations may occur. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 10:15 AM – 12:30 PM.
Hello, Museo
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Join educators from the National Postal Museum every other Tuesday for a bilingual program featuring music, stories, crafts, and gallery exploration. Designed for children ages 1-3 and their caregivers, but all are welcome!
Please note that due to space limitations, strollers will not be permitted in the program space. Stroller parking will be provided in the museum lobby.
Únase a los educadores del Museo Postal Nacional cada dos martes para un programa bilingüe que presenta música, historias, artesanías y exploración de galerías. Diseñado para niños de 1 a 3 años y sus cuidadores, ¡pero todos son bienvenidos!
Tenga en cuenta que, debido a las limitaciones de espacio, no se permitirán cochecitos en el espacio del programa. Se proporcionará estacionamiento para cochecitos en el vestíbulo del museo.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Byrne Classroom, 3rd floor. Cost: Free. Categories: Kids & Families.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM.
Play Date at NMNH: Birdwatching!
One-Time Events
Join us on Tuesdays for special family play dates with museum educators!
On Tuesday, May 28, we invite you to join us to celebrate Black Birders Week! Together through play and art-making, families will engage in different ways to observe and record their own observations of birds they see outside (or even inside) the museum. Come and join us for a fun time learning through play and exploration!
The event is part of our drop-in program, Play Date at NMNH. Play Date at NMNH is a program designed for early learners and their caregivers and families. Activities are designed with early learners in mind, but all ages are welcome.
Location: This program is held in Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center, on the Ground Floor of the museum. Please enter through the Constitution Avenue entrance. Q?rius is located on the right as you enter the museum.
Accessibility: Access services such as American Sign Language interpretation, real-time captioning (CART), or audio-description are available with…
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center (Ground Floor). Cost: Free. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM.
Ocean Topics Cart Chat
One-Time Events
Looking for a deeper dive into ocean topics? Come and find one of our Ocean Educators to explore some of the latest discoveries in marine science, stationed at an interactive cart in the Sant Ocean Hall.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: The Sant Ocean Hall. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Welcome Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Event Location: Starts at the Welcome Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: FREE. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Ancient Yemen: Looking East and West
Lectures & Discussions
Register here
Ancient Yemen was a cultural and economic hub that reached its height between the 1st millennium BCE and the turn of the CE. The ancient kingdoms that ruled in Yemen were key players in the establishment of the incense trade, which fostered economic as well as cultural exchanges between neighboring and distant regions.
This program looks at ancient Yemen’s relationship in a broader geographical context. In particular, it will discuss the recent research in Ethiopia that has shed light on the close relationship of Yemen with east Africa and will look at Yemen’s connection eastward with India.
Speakers Include:
Dr. Iris Gerlach, Head of the Sanaa Branch, German Archaeological Institute, Oriental Department, Germany
Dr. Alexia Pavan, University L’Orientale of Naples, Italy
Iris Gerlach, PhD (Munich 1997) in Near Eastern archaeology, classical archaeology, and Assyriology, has been the head of the Sanaa Branch of the Oriental Department at the German Archaeological Institute since 2000. She…
Event Location: Online. Cost: Free; tickets required. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Fi9HdScyS92YEigvQ2KlqA. Categories: Lectures & Discussions. Webcasts & Online. Related Exhibition: Ancient Yemen: Incense, Art, and Trade. Accessibility: Captioning.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Tours | Whistler's World
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join a walk-in, docent-led tour to explore the many sides of Whistler. Experience Whistler’s paintings along with objects by Asian artists that inspired his style and subjects. Image: Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), United Kingdom, 1876–77, room installation; oil paint and gold leaf on canvas, leather, mosaic tile, glass, and wood, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1904.61.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Igor Stravinsky: The Classicist
Resident Associate Program
Stravinsky’s spectacular early ballet scores such as Le Sacre du Printemps can distract us from where this prolific artist went next. Classical music and opera expert Saul Lilienstein examines a selection of classically inspired masterworks spanning 1918 through 1951—from L’Histoire du Soldat to The Rake’s Progress. Film excerpts of Stravinsky in conversation with other artists enhance the portrait of the man and the conductor.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260227?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260227?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM.
Meditation and Mindfulness
Workshops
Meditation helps us build a relationship to a place of inner quietude. Whether you’re a beginner or a skilled practitioner, join us for free online meditation sessions each week led by DC-based meditation teachers on Tuesdays and Fridays. Friday sessions include inspiration from art in the museum collections as well as appearances by special guest teachers and artists. All are welcome! No previous experience is required. Meet our meditation teachers: Aparna Sadananda and Philip Bender.
Register and join the sessions here:
https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIoc-GqpzovHdOwBtMxdm7MCyFA-pa9EuFn, Image: Landscapes of the Four Seasons: Spring and Summer, Hishikawa Sori, Japan, late 18th–early 19th century, color, ink, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1906.233.
Event Location: Online. Online Link: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUpdeuhqjItG9HB6wJ6vIhf5Vk-_Tm-RCtZ. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIoc-GqpzovHdOwBtMxdm7MCyFA-pa9EuFn. Categories: Workshops. Webcasts & Online.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM.
Permanent Collection Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art has over 46,000 artworks from across Asia. Enjoy some of the finest on a docent-led tour and learn about commonalities and differences in cultures, aesthetics, and ideas.
The public can schedule reserved group tours using the online reservation form.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meet at Freer Information desk. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Virtual Tour | Art Across Asian Cultures
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art is home to more than 45,000 objects from the Islamic world, the ancient Near East, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the United States. Join a free, docent-led, virtual tour to explore highlights of the museum’s collections that showcase the richness and diversity of Asian art.
Select your date and register here. Image credit: Boy Viewing Mount Fuji, Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), Japan, 1839, ink and color on silk, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, Freer Collection, F1898.110.
Event Location: Online. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3lBc52AEROWkmbKl9CKX_w. Categories: Webcasts & Online. Gallery Talks & Tours.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
DC | Welcome to a Native Place
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Enjoy tribal songs from Alaska to Florida with Dennis Zotigh (Kiowa/Isanti Dakota/Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) in the Potomac Atrium. At the end of the 30-minute presentation, visitors are encouraged to ask questions pertaining to the museum and Indigenous culture, past and present. Presentations may be canceled without prior notice.
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Potomac Atrium. Cost: Free. Categories: Performances.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 1:00 PM – 1:30 PM.
Trivia Night: AANHPI Heritage Month
One-Time Events
This month we’re celebrating Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders with trivia about AANHPI sitters from our collection. From athletes and activists to entertainers and engineers, test your knowledge with our friends from New Columbia Pub Quiz.
Our free collections-themed trivia game can be played individually or in teams of up to six people. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the evening. The Courtyard Café will be open during the event, and snacks and beverages will be available for purchase.
Event Location: Kogod Courtyard. Cost: Free. Registration Encouraged. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/national-portrait-gallery-810710525. Categories: After Five.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 5:00 PM – 6:45 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Working the Night Shift: The Ancient World After Dark
Resident Associate Program
As twilight settled in the ancient world, a host of activities began, some of which were significantly different from what was done during the day. Paleolithic archaeologist April Nowell reveals the people who worked the night shift in ancient societies: the hunters, sewage workers, poets, ironsmiths, rebellion leaders, and others. Drawing on archaeological data and textual evidence, she argues that night in the ancient world was anything but sleepy.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260198?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260198?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 6:30 PM – 7:45 PM.
SOLD OUT - Discovery Days at the National Museum of Asian Art
National Museum of Asian Art
Visit us on-site for gallery activities, artmaking, and more
s.si.edu/NMAADiscoveryDay
Plan for a day of discovery and experiential learning at the National Museum of Asian Art. Choose your own adventure and explore our galleries at your own pace with gallery activities and interactions with pop-up museum educators along the way. You can also select a time slot for a thirty-minute guided art activity. If you want to extend your visit to the National Mall, a room for eating brown-bagged lunches can be arranged upon request. Free bus transportation can also be arranged for DC public and public charter schools.
Select from one of four Wednesday dates: February 21, 2024 , March 13, 2024 , April 24, 2024 , May 29, 2024 E-mail AsiaTeachers@si.edu with questions. Complete the registration form at https://s.si.edu/NMAADiscoveryDay.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: National Museum of Asian Art. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://s.si.edu/NMAADiscoveryDay. Categories: Kids & Families.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM.
Storytime: Express Yourself!
One time events
Storytime is currently a drop-in experience. Join Hirshhorn educators any time between 10 am–noon; we will host read-alouds at 10:30 am and 11:30 am. ASL interpretation is provided at the 10:30 reading.
Join us and the Washington Ballet for an exploration of how we express who we are. We will look closely at Your oceanic feeling by Olafur Eliasson; read Julián Is a Mermaid, by Jessica Love; and participate in our own playful art-making.
Meet on the Plaza. Do this at home! Create a complementary colors suncatcher inspired by our 2019 exhibition, Pat Steir: Color Wheel. Instructions here.
, ABOUT STORYTIME
Join Hirshhorn Kids on Wednesdays for a one-of-a-kind Storytime experience! Each week offers a fun and fresh theme for our youngest artists and their adults. Get a fun and hands-on introduction to a new artwork each week, and participate in a joyful read-aloud filled with music, stories, and tons of movement. Then, stay and play while your little artist creates. No reservations or tickets required.…
Venue: Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden. Event Location: Plaza. Cost: Free. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit hirshhorn.si.edu. Wonderplace
Ongoing Tours & Activities
This learning space designed especially for children ages six and under combines age appropriate activities with museum collections and touchable objects to provide a gateway to history and a place to exercise curiosity for the youngest historians.
Admission to Wonderplace is on a first come, first-served basis. At busy times, we may use FREE, timed tickets to minimize wait time if needed. Tickets are available for 30-minute visits on a first-come, first-served basis. No tickets are required for the first session from 10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. To visit during a later half-hour session, visitors may pick up a ticket at Wonderplace in 1 West. The last entry using timed tickets is at 3:30 p.m.
Hours are subject to change.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Wonderplace, 1 West. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Enid A. Haupt Garden Tour
Smithsonian Gardens
Free weekly tours of the Enid A. Haupt Garden are offered every Wednesday at 10 a.m. from May 22 through September 25, 2024, weather permitting.
Meet one of our knowledgeable docents by the tour sign in the Enid A. Haupt Garden near the south entrance to the Smithsonian Castle. No reservation is required.
Please note there are no tours on federal holidays.
Venue: Smithsonian Castle. Event Location: Enid A. Haupt Garden. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 10:00 AM – 10:45 AM.
For more info visit gardens.si.edu. Interactive Programs
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Docents offer interactive programming throughout the museum, in the form of Highlights tours of the museum, gallery spotlight talks, and hands-on cart programs.
Tours of the museum’s highlights generally take place daily at 10:15 AM and 1 PM. Additional tours may be offered on the hour between 11 AM and 3 PM as docents are available. Please check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Gallery spotlight talks take place throughout the day. Docents offer a 15-minute overview of an exhibition or briefly discuss a favorite museum object. Look for the "Docent on Duty" signs posted outside the exhibition entrances.
Docents stationed at carts help visitors get their hands on history and learn about the museum's collections. Carts are located throughout the museum, and you can check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Year-Round:
Available most days between 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM.
Notes:
Programs are subject to docent availability; last-minute cancellations may occur.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Multiple floors. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Spark!Lab
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation invites children between the ages of 6 and 12 to create, collaborate, explore, test, experiment and invent. Activities for children and families incorporate traditional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with art, history and creativity.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Spark!Lab, First Floor, West Wing. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.si.edu. Coral Reef Tank Talk
One-Time Events
Swim by the Sant Ocean Hall to meet some of the coral reef species that call the Smithsonian NMNH home! Hosted by an Ocean Educator, this interactive cart experience will walk you through the world of saltwater fish, coral colonies, and invertebrates galore!
Image Credit: Sant Ocean Hall, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, from the main hall, 2nd floor. Photo by Jennifer Renteria, Smithsonian.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: The Sant Ocean Hall. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Welcome Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Event Location: Starts at the Welcome Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: FREE. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Gallery Tour | Imagined Neighbors: Japanese Visions of China, 1680–1980
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join us for a curator tour led by Frank Feltens, the museum's curator of Japanese art, of the special exhibition Imagined Neighbors: Japanese Visions of China, 1680–1980. Learn about the creative ways in which Japanese artists engaged with their neighbor, China, through stunning paintings and calligraphies in the galleries. Image: Southern star, the bestower of long life, Aoki Mokubei 青木木米 (1767–1863), Japan, 1830, Hanging scroll; ink and light color on satin, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, The Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, F2022.2.1a–f.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Gallery 5, Gallery 6, Gallery 6a, Gallery 7, Gallery 8. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Imagined Neighbors: Japanese Visions of China, 1680–1980. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
More Stories from the American Songbook
Resident Associate Program
Filmmaker and cultural historian Sara Lukinson explores more glorious songs from the Great American Songbook with stories about their long, often-unexpected lives. The spring lineup covers songs that are considered “simply the best”—ageless and favorite beauties by Lerner and Loewe.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260191?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260191?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: Workshops.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM.
Permanent Collection Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art has over 46,000 artworks from across Asia. Enjoy some of the finest on a docent-led tour and learn about commonalities and differences in cultures, aesthetics, and ideas.
The public can schedule reserved group tours using the online reservation form.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meet at Freer Information desk. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. DC | Welcome to a Native Place
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Enjoy tribal songs from Alaska to Florida with Dennis Zotigh (Kiowa/Isanti Dakota/Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) in the Potomac Atrium. At the end of the 30-minute presentation, visitors are encouraged to ask questions pertaining to the museum and Indigenous culture, past and present. Presentations may be canceled without prior notice.
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Potomac Atrium. Cost: Free. Categories: Performances.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 1:00 PM – 1:30 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 2:00 PM – 2:20 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 2:45 PM – 3:05 PM.
Hog Island: Maine’s Showcase of Nature
Resident Associate Program
Tucked away along coastal Maine, Hog Island is the home of a National Audubon Society camp that has been operation since 1936. Isolated from the outside world and filled with both pristine forest and coastal habitats, the surrounding Muscongus Bay teems with terns, bald eagles, common eiders, and seals. Naturalist Matt Felperin shares his experiences at the camp, displays striking wildlife photos, and reveals why Hog Island should be on your bucket list of nature-education programs.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260228?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260228?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM.
Impressionism’s Roots in Normandy and Beyond
Resident Associate Program
Impressionism ignited in the rolling green countryside of Normandy, France, where Claude Monet and other local artists developed this new way of painting, shocking many traditionalists. In a spring lecture series, travel writer Barbara Noe Kennedy takes you to visit the sites where Impressionism was born and evolved—including the exact places where well-known paintings were created. Maps, photos, videos, and other visuals accompany the journey through the countryside and the Paris area. This session focuses on the origins of Impressionism. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit).
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260334?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260334?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Categories: After Five. Lectures & Discussions.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM.
Historically Speaking: Michele Norris: Our Hidden Conversations
One-Time Events
Join us for a book talking highlighting Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity by Peabody Award–winning journalist Michele Norris. The author offers a transformative dialogue on race and identity in America, unearthed through her decade-long work at The Race Card Project. The prompt seemed simple: Race. Your Thoughts. Six Words. Please Send. The answers, though, have been challenging and complicated. In the twelve years since Norris first posed that question, over half a million people have submitted their stories to The Race Card Project inbox. The stories are shocking in their depth and candor, spanning the full spectrum of race, ethnicity, identity, and class. Our Hidden Conversations is a unique compilation of stories, richly reported essays, and photographs providing a window into America during a tumultuous era. This powerful book offers an honest, if sometimes uncomfortable, conversation about race and identity, permitting us to eavesdrop on deep-seated thoughts,…
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Concourse, Oprah Winfrey Theater + streaming. Online Link: https://www.youtube.com/c/NMAAHC/videos. Cost: Free; Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/55747446/historically-speakingmichele-norrisour-hidden-conversationsgp-washington-national-museum-of-african-american-history-culture-public-programs. Categories: Shopping/Book Signing. After Five. Lectures & Discussions. Webcasts & Online. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
Little Critters: Nature Play
Special Zoo Events
Come play with us at the Zoo!
Bring your little zoogoer for a wild time as we explore animals and nature through creative, drop-in play!
Little Critters Nature Play is designed for ages 0-5 and their caregivers and families. Activities are designed with early learners in mind, but all ages are welcome. Parents and guardians must remain with their children.
Location: Bird House Classroom.
Venue: National Zoo. Event Location: Bird House Classroom. Cost: Free drop-in program; no pre-registration required.Parents and guardians must remain with their children. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 9:30 AM – 1:30 PM.
For more info visit nationalzoo.si.edu. Wonderplace
Ongoing Tours & Activities
This learning space designed especially for children ages six and under combines age appropriate activities with museum collections and touchable objects to provide a gateway to history and a place to exercise curiosity for the youngest historians.
Admission to Wonderplace is on a first come, first-served basis. At busy times, we may use FREE, timed tickets to minimize wait time if needed. Tickets are available for 30-minute visits on a first-come, first-served basis. No tickets are required for the first session from 10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. To visit during a later half-hour session, visitors may pick up a ticket at Wonderplace in 1 West. The last entry using timed tickets is at 3:30 p.m.
Hours are subject to change.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Wonderplace, 1 West. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Interactive Programs
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Docents offer interactive programming throughout the museum, in the form of Highlights tours of the museum, gallery spotlight talks, and hands-on cart programs.
Tours of the museum’s highlights generally take place daily at 10:15 AM and 1 PM. Additional tours may be offered on the hour between 11 AM and 3 PM as docents are available. Please check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Gallery spotlight talks take place throughout the day. Docents offer a 15-minute overview of an exhibition or briefly discuss a favorite museum object. Look for the "Docent on Duty" signs posted outside the exhibition entrances.
Docents stationed at carts help visitors get their hands on history and learn about the museum's collections. Carts are located throughout the museum, and you can check either Welcome Desk for today’s schedule.
Year-Round:
Available most days between 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM.
Notes:
Programs are subject to docent availability; last-minute cancellations may occur.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Multiple floors. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Slavery and Freedom Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Explore the complex story of slavery and freedom. Visitors will view priceless objects, connect to the past, and hear about the actions of ordinary men and women, demanding freedom and transforming our nation.
Photo Credit: NMAAHC.
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Program meets in the Slavery & Freedom exhibition, located on C3. One hour tours take place at 10:15 AM and 11:30 AM. Cost: Free; walk-in
Tours are subject to docent availability; last minute cancellations may occur. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 10:15 AM – 12:30 PM.
Galapagos George with Barefoot Puppets
Resident Associate Program
For Ages 4 to 8. This engaging and uplifting eco-fable shares an important lesson about human impact on the environment.
Venue: S. Dillon Ripley Center. Event Location: S. Dillon Ripley Center Discovery Theater, 3rd Sublevel. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/258563?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Categories: Kids & Families.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 10:15 AM – 11:00 AM.
Spark!Lab
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation invites children between the ages of 6 and 12 to create, collaborate, explore, test, experiment and invent. Activities for children and families incorporate traditional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with art, history and creativity.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Spark!Lab, First Floor, West Wing. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Categories: Kids & Families. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.si.edu. Science on a Sphere
One-Time Events
Come explore our blue planet with NMNH Ocean Educators. Through NOAA’s Science on a Sphere technology, you’ll encounter a series of interactive visualizations projected on the Sant Ocean Hall’s giant globe. Watch sea turtles migrate coast to coast, track ships through global waters in real-time, explore the changing climate patterns shaping our planet, and much more!
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: The Sant Ocean Hall. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Sketch Break
One-Time Events
Join us for a sketching session in our galleries! Create, connect and sketch with fellow artists while drawing inspiration from the Portrait Gallery’s collection. Participants can expect guided instruction from an artist educator before heading into the galleries to sketch on their own. Open to all skill levels, ages 18 and up. All materials will be provided. Participants are welcome to bring their own sketchbooks.
Event Location: In the Galleries. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/national-portrait-gallery-810710525. Categories: Workshops.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Welcome Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Welcome Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Galapagos George with Barefoot Puppets
Resident Associate Program
For Ages 4 to 8. This engaging and uplifting eco-fable shares an important lesson about human impact on the environment.
Venue: S. Dillon Ripley Center. Event Location: S. Dillon Ripley Center Discovery Theater, 3rd Sublevel. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/258564?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Categories: Kids & Families.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Tours | Whistler's World
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join a walk-in, docent-led tour to explore the many sides of Whistler. Experience Whistler’s paintings along with objects by Asian artists that inspired his style and subjects. Image: Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), United Kingdom, 1876–77, room installation; oil paint and gold leaf on canvas, leather, mosaic tile, glass, and wood, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1904.61.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Adventures in the Archives—and Beyond: An Historian’s Unconventional Research
Resident Associate Program
For historians like Megan Kate Nelson, the “archive, ” usually a library, university, museum, or historical society collection, is a sacred place. But what happens when these sources don’t contain the answers they seek? Nelson unfolds three research adventures that led her to places beyond the traditional archives—including a mountain pass in New Mexico—during her preparation for The Three-Cornered War, a book about the Civil War in the desert Southwest.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260229?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260229?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM.
Permanent Collection Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art has over 46,000 artworks from across Asia. Enjoy some of the finest on a docent-led tour and learn about commonalities and differences in cultures, aesthetics, and ideas.
The public can schedule reserved group tours using the online reservation form.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meet at Freer Information desk. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Virtual Tour | Art Across Asian Cultures
Gallery Talks & Tours
The National Museum of Asian Art is home to more than 45,000 objects from the Islamic world, the ancient Near East, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the United States. Join a free, docent-led, virtual tour to explore highlights of the museum’s collections that showcase the richness and diversity of Asian art.
Select your date and register here. Image credit: Boy Viewing Mount Fuji, Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), Japan, 1839, ink and color on silk, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, Freer Collection, F1898.110.
Event Location: Online. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3lBc52AEROWkmbKl9CKX_w. Categories: Webcasts & Online. Gallery Talks & Tours.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
Slavery and Freedom Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Explore the complex story of slavery and freedom. Visitors will view priceless objects, connect to the past, and hear about the actions of ordinary men and women, demanding freedom and transforming our nation.
Photo Credit: NMAAHC.
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Program meets in the Slavery and Freedom exhibition, located on C3. One hour tours take place at 1:15 PM and 2:30 PM. Cost: Free; walk-in
Tours are subject to docent availability; last minute cancellations may occur. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 1:15 PM – 3:30 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 2:00 PM – 2:20 PM.
In-Focus Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Take a deep dive to look slowly at an individual artwork. NMAA docents share their unique perspectives on specific artworks through interactive gallery talks. These twenty-minute talks allow you to consider an artwork thoroughly and thoughtfully. Ask at the information desk to see what's being featured that day. Image: Seated Ganesha, India, Karnataka state, Halebid, 12th–13th century, chloritic schist, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, S1987.960.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 2:45 PM – 3:05 PM.
Anna May Wong: Hollywood’s Unsung Heroine
Resident Associate Program
The taboo-smashing star Anna May Wong challenged Hollywood at its own game by speaking out about the industry’s blatant racism. Unhappy with being typecast as a China doll or dragon lady, she used her international fame to reshape Asian American representation in film. Biographer Katie Gee Salisbury discusses Wong’s career as a groundbreaking artist, bringing an unsung heroine to light and reclaiming her place in cinema history.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260325?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260325?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM.
Koji: The Secret Ingredient
Resident Associate Program
One of the biggest food trends today is a traditional Japanese ingredient called koji, the mold-inoculated grains responsible for miso, soy sauce, sake, mirin, and a host of other ingredients. Although it has been a culinary mainstay in Asia for centuries, it's only recently that Western chefs have started catching on to its transformative powers as a seasoning and a curing agent. Takashi Sato, an eighth-generation member of the founding family of a tamari and miso brewery, shares how koji creates the flavors behind your favorite Japanese foods. After the presentation, savor the secret ingredient as you sample foods and beverages that have been flavored with koji.
Venue: S. Dillon Ripley Center. Event Location: S. Dillon Ripley Center 1100 Jefferson Dr SW. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/260199?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2023FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=264355. Categories: After Five. Culinary Arts.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 6:45 PM – 8:45 PM.
History Film Forum presents: HIGH NOON (1952)
One-Time Events
The History Film Forum presents High Noon (1952) in a special screening followed by a panel discussion with experts and family members of the original cast and crew.
The iconic Western High Noon stars Gary Cooper as small-town marshal Will Kane, who faces a moral and ethical crisis when a violent outlaw from his past comes seeking revenge on the town's citizens. Setting aside plans for a peaceful retirement with his pacifist Quaker wife (Grace Kelly), Kane tries to rally the citizens. But, finding they lack the courage to defend themselves, he commits instead to making a final stand—alone—when the criminal gang arrives at high noon. Written by blacklisted screenwriter Carl Foreman, the film is a scathing indictment of a society unwilling to live up to its principles.
Before the screening, Maria Cooper Janis will be signing copies of her book Gary Cooper Off Camera: A Daughter Remembers.
After the screening, stay for a conversation with Maria Cooper Janis, Dr. Amanda Foreman, and Glenn Frankel,…
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Warner Bros. Theater, 1 Center. Cost: Free; registration recommended. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/history-film-forum-presents-high-noon-1952-tickets-893935484097?aff=affiliate5. Categories: Films. Related Exhibition: Entertainment Nation. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM.
“Adventure is Worthwhile”: A Conversation with Pilot Tammie Jo Shults
One-Time Events
“Adventure is worthwhile,” Amelia Earhart once said. And that has certainly rung true for U.S. Navy pilot and commercial airline captain Tammie Jo Shults (Ret.).
As Shults has faced new challenges as a woman in aviation, she has long held the belief that while adventure isn’t always without adversity, it has a winsome way of pulling people off the bench in life and back on their feet to face even bigger challenges ahead.
Shults became one of the first female fighter pilots in the United States Navy before transitioning to a career with Southwest Airlines. In 2018, she made history when she safely landed Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 safely after it suffered uncontained engine failure.
Join us as Tammie Jo Shults shares why she thinks we are made for adventure and how her career from military aviator to commercial airline pilot has been the adventure of a lifetime.
This program will be presented in-person at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA and will be streamed live on YouTube. Registration…
Venue: Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center. Event Location: Airbus IMAX Theater. Cost: Free with registration. Categories: After Five. Lectures & Discussions. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program. Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM.
ONLINE: “Adventure is Worthwhile”: A Conversation with Pilot Tammie Jo Shults
Air and Space Museum
“Adventure is worthwhile,” Amelia Earhart once said. And that has certainly rung true for U.S. Navy pilot and commercial airline captain Tammie Jo Shults (Ret.).
As Shults has faced new challenges as a woman in aviation, she has long held the belief that while adventure isn’t always without adversity, it has a winsome way of pulling people off the bench in life and back on their feet to face even bigger challenges ahead.
Shults became one of the first female fighter pilots in the United States Navy before transitioning to a career with Southwest Airlines. In 2018, she made history when she safely landed Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 safely after it suffered uncontained engine failure.
Join us as Tammie Jo Shults shares why she thinks we are made for adventure and how her career from military aviator to commercial airline pilot has been the adventure of a lifetime.
This program will be presented in-person at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA and will be streamed live on YouTube. Registration…
Event Location: YouTube. Cost: Free with registration. Categories: After Five. Lectures & Discussions. Webcasts & Online. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Captioning.
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM.