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Chincoteague and Assateague
Resident Associate Program
Assateague Island National Seashore and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge are home to natural splendor, cultural treasures, and coastal charm. Spend two days with naturalist and educator Liana Vitali immersed in island life, exploring the natural wonders the barrier islands have to offer—and hear the lore of the Chincoteague ponies’ origin.
Event Location: Detailed information for overnight tours is emailed approximately FOUR WEEKS. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262532?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 7:00 AM – Monday, April 28, 2025, 9:15 PM.
DC | Living Earth Festival: Protecting the Elements
One-Time Events
Oversight of protecting the earth’s natural resources and expansive habitats and ecosystems are taken seriously by Indigenous communities throughout the world. Their efforts are focused on the well-being of their homelands through conservation and sustainable management of the elements of nature: air, fire, water, and earth. Learn how Native innovators and practitioners are using Indigenous knowledge to steward and sustain the environment.
SCHEDULE, 11 AM ET, Rasmuson Theater, Level 1 FILM| Scha'nexw Elhtal'nexw Salmon People: Preserving a Way of Life Scha’nexw Elhtal’nexw Salmon People: Preserving a Way of Life (USA, 2024, 60 min.) is inspired by the late Chexanexwh Larry Kinley, a Lummi fisherman and tribal leader. The film follows two Lummi families fishing for sockeye. As they come to grips with a depleting fishery, Larry asks: “Who Are We Without Salmon?” Celebrating the resilience and adaptive natures of salmon and the people, the film is a reflection on a spiritual life way centered on respect and…
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 1: Potomac Atrium, Rasmuson Theater. Cost: Free. Categories: Films. Lectures & Discussions. Kids & Families. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program.
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 10:00 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, April 27, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.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.
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Shadows First: An Alternative Approach to Drawing Portraits
Resident Associate Program
Explore a fresh approach to drawing portraits by prioritizing the shadows of the face instead of fussing over details right from the start.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263058?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263058?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 10:00 AM – 1:00 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, April 27, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Figure Drawing - In Person
Resident Associate Program
In this intermediate level class, students revisit fundamentals of human anatomy and experiment with techniques and approaches.
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/263059?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Workshops.
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 10:15 AM – 12:45 PM.
Art & Me | Virtual Family Workshop: Art Puzzles
Kids and Family
Introduce your children ages 3–8 to the fascinating world of ceramic repair in this hands-on virtual workshop. Learn about how our conservators repair ceramics at the museum as well as some traditional repair techniques, such as the Japanese practice of kintsugi, or gold lacquer repairs. Children and their caregivers will take a virtual tour of the exhibition Japanese Art from the Collection and create kintsugi-inspired artwork using materials at home. Image: Department of Conservation and Scientific Research.
Event Location: Zoom. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1292645791359?aff=oddtdtcreator. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops. Webcasts & Online. Related Exhibition: Japanese Art from the Collection. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible. ASL-interpreted program.
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM.
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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Mimouna Festival
One-Time Events
Celebrate Mimouna — a special time when Moroccan Jews and Muslims break bread together—at the National Museum of African Art! The festival marks the end of Passover and the advent of spring, and is based on Moroccan narratives of unity, commemoration, goodwill, and friendship. Visit the souk, sample tantalizing sweets, and enjoy traditional music. Be sure to visit the Museum Shop!
12:30 P.M. Performance, Pavilion
1:00 P.M. Remarks
1:30 P.M. Performance, Pavilion
1:30 P.M.—4:30 P.M. Moufleta Stations, Research Gallery, Sublevel 1
1:30 P.M.—4:30 P.M. Traditional Sweets and Tea Stations, Sublevel 3
1:30 P.M.—4:30 P.M. Souk and Traditional Tea Display, Mezzanine, Sublevel 1
1:30 P.M.—4:30 P.M. Coloring Station, Lecture Hall, Sublevel 2
2:00 P.M.—3:00 P.M. Performance featuring Neta Elkayam, Pavilion
3:30 P.M.—4:30 P.M. Performance, Pavilion
4:30 P.M. Event Concludes
Presented by Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art…
Venue: African Art Museum. Event Location: throughout the Museum (Pavilion, Sublevel 1, Sublevel 2, Sublevel 3). Cost: FREE. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mimouna-2025-tickets-1320071121259?aff=oddtdtcreator. Categories: Culinary Arts. Celebrations. Performances. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 12:30 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Portrait Gallery Art Studio
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Calling all artists – Join the National Portrait Gallery for a free, drop-in art program. Every weekend, visitors of all ages are invited to explore a different artistic medium while drawing inspiration from the Portrait Gallery’s collection and exhibitions. On select weekends, learn from a featured guest artist, who will lead specialized workshops and share their expertise in various artistic disciplines. To stay informed about upcoming guest artist workshops, please check the Portrait Gallery’s Eventbrite page.
Venue: Portrait Gallery. Event Location: Education Center, E151. Cost: Free. No Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-gallery-art-studio-tickets-1112707681629?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops.
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. On-Location Photography - In Person
Resident Associate Program
Great shoots start with great locations—and Washington, D.C. offers plenty of unbeatable visual inspiration. Learn to capture this vibrant city and sharpen your way of thinking about shooting outdoors as you deploy a minimal amount of equipment and a lot of fresh perspective.
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/263060?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Workshops.
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 1:45 PM – 4:45 PM.
Tours | Arts of Japan
Gallery Talks & Tours
As the seasons change, enjoy a free, hour-long guided tour of the museum’s renowned collection of Japanese art. Experience a variety of artworks, including paintings, prints, screens, ceramics, metalwork, and more. Trees, Master of I-nen Seal (1600–1630), Japan, mid-17th century, ink, color, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1962.30.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. No registration or tickets (walk-up only). Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Japanese Art from the Collection , Knotted Clay: Raku Ceramics and Tea , The Print Generation , The Peacock Room , Striking Objects: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM.
Intermediate Oil Painting - In Person
Resident Associate Program
Expand on your technical background and grow your practice as an oil painter. This class provides students with the opportunity to work on personal projects, set up a still-life arrangement, and explore figure painting from a live model. Unfurl your style with support and feedback from the instructor.
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/263061?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Workshops.
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 2:30 PM – 5:30 PM.
Curator Tour: “Earth, Fields, Land: Honoring Earth Day Through Our Permanent Collection”
One-Time Events
Join the Portrait Gallery’s Curator of Painting, Sculpture and Latine Art and History Taína Caragol for a lively tour of works from the museum’s permanent collection related to Earth Day’s homage to nature.
Event Location: G Street Lobby. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-gallery-curator-tour-earth-fields-land-honoring-earth-day-tickets-1115928475109?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Sunday, April 27, 2025, 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM.
For more info visit asia.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.
Monday, April 28, 2025, 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.
Image Credit: Phillip R. Lee, Smithsonian Institution.
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, April 28, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Information Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, April 28, 2025, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Portrait Gallery Kids
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Children and families are invited to learn, play and create at the National Portrait Gallery. Join educators every Monday to explore a new topic and different materials. Participants will look at art, enjoy hands-on activities, listen to music and participate in story time. Portrait Gallery Kids is a fun way to engage with art and each other. Our friends from DC Public Library will join us on the second Monday of each month for a special story time about the day’s theme.
Venue: Portrait Gallery. Event Location: Education Center, E151. Cost: Free. No Regsitration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-gallery-portrait-gallery-kids-tickets-654254040447?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops.
Monday, April 28, 2025, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, April 28, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
England's Historic Royal Palaces: A Step Inside
Resident Associate Program
Palaces were the residences of monarchs, but they were also buildings where the business of state was carried out. Within their walls intrigues, murders, love affairs, and deaths—the full pageant of British history—took place and royal magnificence was displayed. Siobhan Clarke, a guide for the independent charity Historic Royal Palaces, introduces the splendid corridors of royal power and pleasure through four significant sites: the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, the Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace, and Kensington Palace.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262996?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262996?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Monday, April 28, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM.
Big Objects, Big Stories: Point of Pines Plantation Slave Cabin
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Join us for a docent-led tour to get a fresh look into the Museum's featured object. At each of these 15-minute talks visitors will hear incredibly big stories about a big object.
About this Program: Visitors cannot overlook the Point of Pines Plantation Slave Cabin, a circa early 1800s slave cabin from the Point of Pines Plantation on Edisto Island, S.C. The cabin is one of two remaining slave dwellings on Edisto Island. Its story provides a revealing glimpse into the most formative and troubling chapters in American history.
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Program meets at the Point of Pines Planation Slave Cabin, Level C3. Talks take place at: 1:30 PM, 2:30 PM, and 3:30 PM. Cost: Free; walk-in
Tours are subject to docent availability; last minute cancellations may occur. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Monday, April 28, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Big Objects, Big Stories: The Paradox of the Liberty
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Join us for a docent-led tour to get a fresh look into the Museum's featured object. At each of these 15-minute talks visitors will hear incredibly big stories about a big object.
About this Program:
The paradox of the American Revolution is the fight for liberty in an era of widespread slavery. Talk with a museum docent and explore the tension between slavery and freedom—who belongs and who is excluded. Consider how this paradox resonates through the nation’s history and spurs the American people to wrestle constantly with building “a more perfect Union.”.
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Program meets at the Paradox of Liberty section, Level C3. Talks take place at: 1:30 PM, 2:30 PM, and 3:30 PM. Cost: Free; walk-in
Tours are subject to docent availability; last minute cancellations may occur. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Monday, April 28, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Making A Way Out of No Way Highlight 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 1:30 PM and 2:45 PM. Cost: Free; walk-in
Tours are subject to docent availability; last minute cancellations may occur. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Making A Way Out of No Way.
Monday, April 28, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Monday, April 28, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Information Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, April 28, 2025, 2:00 PM – 2:45 PM.
Tours | Arts of Japan
Gallery Talks & Tours
As the seasons change, enjoy a free, hour-long guided tour of the museum’s renowned collection of Japanese art. Experience a variety of artworks, including paintings, prints, screens, ceramics, metalwork, and more. Trees, Master of I-nen Seal (1600–1630), Japan, mid-17th century, ink, color, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1962.30.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. No registration or tickets (walk-up only). Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Japanese Art from the Collection , Knotted Clay: Raku Ceramics and Tea , The Print Generation , The Peacock Room , Striking Objects: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, April 28, 2025, 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM.
The Great American Road Trip
Resident Associate Program
From early settlers arriving on the Mayflower to white settlers moving west in wagon trains in the 1800s to Black Americans making the great migration to the North in the 1930s, scholars argue that the culture of the United States has been shaped by people pushing into new territory in search of better opportunity. Historian Allen Pietrobon looks at the ways Americans traveled in the past, the rapid growth of interstates in the 1960s, the associated rise of fast food and roadside motels, and, most importantly, the birth of the notion that the open road is the epitome of American freedom.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263335?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263335?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Monday, April 28, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:15 PM.
Little Critters: Nature Play at the Bird House (Camping)
NZP Kids and Families
Take a hike! Join us for creative, drop-in play at the zoo to celebrate National Parks Week!
Explore the wonders of the great outdoors through sensory play and art activities to help our young friends feel more at home outside in the natural world!
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, April 29, 2025, 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, April 29, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Mother Earth and Me
Resident Associate Program
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/261879?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: Kids & Families.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 10:15 AM – 11:00 AM.
Play Date at NMNH: Playful Pets
One-Time Events
Tuesday, April 29th is all about some of our favorite animals...our pets! Together, families will make observations of animals in our collection that are sometimes pets, learn about ways we take care of our pets, and create their own take-home artwork highlighting their pet or favorite animal! Feel free to bring a photo of your pet for your artwork if you would like or to just show and share. We love to hear all about animals special to you.
The event is part of our drop-in program, Play Date at NMNH. Play Date at NMNH is a program designed for early learners (0-5) and their caregivers and families.
Location: This program is held in the Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals exhibit on the 1st floor of the museum. Please note that space is dependent on the location of that week's event. Some locations have less capacity than others. It is possible that the program might be at capacity when you arrive. If this happens, please enjoy other areas of the museum and try again later in the program.
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Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals (1st Floor). Cost: Free. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM.
Flights of Fancy Story Time
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Museum staff read stories about famous aviators, hot-air balloon flights, trips to Mars, characters visible in the night sky, or creatures that have their own wings. Each session includes one story and a hands-on activity. The featured book changes each month. See the full schedule.
Takes place at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center each Tuesday and Thursday at 11 am and 11:30 am.
These programs are made possible through the generous support of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
Venue: Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center. Event Location: At the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Ask at the Welcome Center for the exact location of that day's story time. Cost: Free, Parking $15. Categories: Kids & Families.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit airandspace.si.edu. Mother Earth and Me
Resident Associate Program
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/261880?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: Kids & Families.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Meditation and Mindfulness
Workshops
Register to join the sessions.
Join a free online guided meditation. In these 30-minute sessions, DC-based meditation teachers lead a variety of mindfulness practices. Friday sessions take inspiration from art in our museum’s collections.
All are welcome! No previous experience is required. Image: Hishikawa Sori / Landscape: two of the four seasons; autumn and winter, Japan, late 18th–early 19th century, color, ink, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1906.234.
Event Location: Online. Online Link: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/NeVySe_xTkGKsbcKbl_syQ. Cost: Free; registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/NeVySe_xTkGKsbcKbl_syQ. Categories: Workshops. Webcasts & Online. Related Events: Meditation and Mindfulness (Online).
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM.
Objects Out of Storage: Jazz Afternoons
One-Time Events
The National Museum of American History is home to jazz collections that include 100,000 pages of Duke Ellington’s unpublished music and such objects as Ella Fitzgerald’s dresses, Dizzy Gillespie’s angled trumpet, John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme manuscript and Benny Goodman’s clarinet. Each year during Jazz Appreciation Month, visitors to the museum on Tuesday afternoons can engage with museum curators and see a small number of jazz treasures brought out of storage that represent the extraordinary heritage and history of jazz. During these Objects-Out-of-Storage events, musicians from the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra will host pop-up jam sessions, as well as interact with and educate visitors about their instruments and artistry.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: 3 West. Cost: Free. Categories: Lectures & Discussions. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Microbial Mavericks: How Sharks Stay Healthy
One-Time Events
Sharks have been swimming the seas for millions of years, but what’s their secret to survival? Their skin and guts are home to trillions of microbes that help keep them healthy, heal wounds, and even fight infections! Dive into the microscopic world of the shark microbiome and discover how scientists are unlocking new medical and conservation breakthroughs from these ocean predators.
Presented by: Anna Quintrell, Marine Biologist, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, Atlantic Highly Migratory Species
Image Credit: Anna Quintrell.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 1:00 PM – 3:00 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Essence Over Detail: Expression and Sketching in Watercolor
Resident Associate Program
Discover how to capture your subject with expressive, sketch-like painting that emphasizes the most essential elements over excessive detail.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263062?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263062?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM.
Tours | Arts of Japan
Gallery Talks & Tours
As the seasons change, enjoy a free, hour-long guided tour of the museum’s renowned collection of Japanese art. Experience a variety of artworks, including paintings, prints, screens, ceramics, metalwork, and more. Trees, Master of I-nen Seal (1600–1630), Japan, mid-17th century, ink, color, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1962.30.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. No registration or tickets (walk-up only). Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Japanese Art from the Collection , Knotted Clay: Raku Ceramics and Tea , The Print Generation , The Peacock Room , Striking Objects: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM.
Depicting the Jefferson Memorial and Cherry Blossoms in Watercolor
Resident Associate Program
With brushwork of soft pinks and gentle lavender, explore techniques to portray the cherry blossoms’ ethereal quality, while adding colorful dimension to the Jefferson Memorial’s stately architecture.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263063?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263063?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 6:15 PM – 9:15 PM.
Contemporary Mosaics: Ancient Motifs, Modern Materials
Resident Associate Program
Work with unglazed porcelain to create a modern interpretation of a classical mosaic inspired by motifs and subjects from the Roman and Byzantine periods.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263346?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263346?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM.
Playing with Pulp - In Person
Resident Associate Program
Take a dive into making dimensional materials from raw paper pulp. Using molds and other forms, cast into a multitude of shapes and colors that can be mounted on two-dimensional surfaces to provide 3D elements that are unique and lightweight.
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/263064?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
Sherman's March to the Sea: A Journey Towards Freedom
Resident Associate Program
In the fall of 1864, Gen. William T. Sherman and his army set off for the sea and the most important city at the time: Savannah. Plantation owners fled the approaching troops, but even before they did so, slaves self-emancipated to Union lines—with many as 20, 000 enslaved people ultimately attaching themselves to Sherman’s army. Historian Bennett Parten, author of Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman's March and the Story of America's Largest Emancipation, reframes this seminal episode in Civil War history, discussing how Sherman’s still-controversial March to the Sea played a significant role in bringing the conflict to a close, due in no small part to the efforts of thousands of enslaved people who took part in it.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263349?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263349?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM.
William Dalrymple, The Golden Road: Book Talk and Signing
Lectures & Discussions
We are excited to welcome William Dalrymple, the internationally bestselling author, for an exclusive book-signing and talk on his groundbreaking new work, The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World. This event will take place on the day of the book’s US release.
For over a millennium, India was a beacon of intellectual, artistic, and scientific achievement, sharing its ideas and innovations across continents. In The Golden Road, William Dalrymple takes us on a captivating journey through time, from India’s pioneering contributions to mathematics to its role in shaping religions, astronomy, trade, and art throughout Asia and Europe. With a masterful blend of history and travelogue, Dalrymple shifts our understanding of ancient India's vast global influence.
In conversation with curator Debra Diamond, the author will discuss the book's key themes, including the importance of India’s cultural and technological exchanges, its influence on the rise of Buddhism in East Asia, and how Indian trade…
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1145735970129?aff=oddtdtcreator. Categories: Lectures & Discussions. After Five. Shopping/Book Signing. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM.
A History of Freedom in Modern Life: The Age of Choice
Resident Associate Program
Historian Sophia Rosenfeld explores how, between the 17th century and the present, the practice of making choices from menus of options came to shape many aspects of our existence, from consumer culture to human rights. Rosenfeld discusses the lives of women—who often have the fewest choices and who have frequently been the drivers of this change—as she examines how reproductive rights became a symbolic flashpoint in the contemporary struggles over the association of liberty with choice. She draws on sources ranging from the latest findings in economics and psychology to novels and restaurant menus.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263336?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263336?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:15 PM.
Storytime Studio: Mix it Up!
One time events
Creativity is in full bloom every Wednesday at Storytime Studio. Celebrate spring with your littlest artist. Every week offers a new adventure.
This week: Let’s mix it up! We will explore primary colors and mix colors to make new colors. Young artists will choose a favorite color to mix and then use to create a painting.
Featured Book: Mix It Up by Hervé Tullet
Program Schedule:
Storytime Studio is a one-hour experience, with entry times at 10, 10:20, 10:40, and 11 AM. No registration is required. Visitors receive their entry time upon arrival. 10 AM–Noon: Open Play (felt, blocks, sketching) , 10:20 AM Read-aloud #1 in Art School , 10:30 AM Artmaking begins , 10:50 AM Gallery Tour #1 , 11:20 AM Read-aloud #2 in Art School , 11:30 AM Artmaking begins , 11:50 AM Gallery Tour #2
Meet in the Hirshhorn Art School on the Lower Level. ABOUT STORYTIME STUDIO
Join us at the Hirshhorn Art School for Storytime Studio—a captivating blend of play, educator-led read-alouds, and art exploration designed for…
Venue: Hirshhorn Museum. Event Location: Meet in the Hirshhorn Art School on the Lower Level. Cost: Free. Categories: Kids & Families. Related Events: Storytime Studio, About Hirshhorn Kids, Visiting with Kids, Mini Art Lesson: Red, Yellow, Blue.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit hirshhorn.si.edu. 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, April 30, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.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, April 30, 2025, 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 and Friday at 10 a.m. from April 30 through September 26, 2025, weather permitting.
Meet one of our knowledgeable volunteers by the tour sign near the northwest entrance to the Enid A. Haupt Garden on Jefferson Drive, SW. No reservation is required.
Venue: Smithsonian Gardens. Event Location: Enid A. Haupt Garden, Meet at the northwest entrance to the garden on Jefferson Drive, SW. Cost: Free
Tours may be subject to cancellation in the event of inclement weather. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 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, April 30, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Mother Earth and Me
Resident Associate Program
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/261881?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: Kids & Families.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 10:15 AM – 11:00 AM.
Dead Letter Office: Gallery Experience
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Could you be a postal clerk? In this activity, a volunteer challenges you to sort mail, deciding which letters will be delivered and which would be sent to the Dead Letter Office. Complete the challenge and leave with a prize!
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Moving the Mail Atrium. Cost: Free. Categories: Demonstrations. Gallery Talks & Tours. Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 11:00 AM – 2:00 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.
Image Credit: Phillip R. Lee, Smithsonian Institution.
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.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Information Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: FREE. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Mother Earth and Me
Resident Associate Program
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/261882?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2024FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=273765. Categories: Kids & Families.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Curator Tour | The Court and Beyond: Ming- and Qing-Dynasty Arts
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join curator Jan Stuart for a special tour of the exhibition Looking Out, Looking In: Art in Late Imperial China. Explore the art of China’s last two dynasties, the Ming and Qing, that spanned 1368 to 1912. Featured objects include porcelain and paintings made for the imperial court as well as paintings made for the scholar class.
Please meet at gallery 13 for the tour. We recommend you register in advance. Image: Dish with design of dragons and clouds (detail), China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen, Ming dynasty, Xuande reign, 1426–1435, porcelain with cobalt under clear glaze, enamel over glaze, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1965.4.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Gallery 13. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/curator-tour-the-court-and-beyond-ming-and-qing-dynasty-arts-tickets-1263005145389?aff=oddtdtcreator. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Looking Out, Looking In: Art in Late Imperial China. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Assisted listening devices.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe
Resident Associate Program
At its peak, the Roman empire extended from Britain to the Sahara Desert, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Euphrates River. Yet in 476, the last western Roman emperor was deposed. In a 4-part series, historian David Gwynn analyzes the dramatic events which shaped the decline and fall of the Roman empire in the west, exploring the transformation from the ancient to the medieval world that laid the foundations for modern Europe. This session focuses on new kingdoms and the rise of papacy.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262522?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262522?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Workshops.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM.
Botanical Illustration in Redwork
Resident Associate Program
Learn the history of redwork quilts and how this type of embroidery, primarily done in red but also in blue and black, can be used to make beautiful, delicate botanical illustrations. Students create designs based on plants native to their area, transfer those designs onto fabric, and then make a basic small quilt using their embroideries.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263065?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263065?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 12:30 PM – 2:30 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 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, April 30, 2025, 1:00 PM – 1:30 PM.
Birds and Nature in Collage
Resident Associate Program
Sketch birds and nature, then combine your drawings with painting, paper, and paint, adding textures to create mixed-media art.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263066?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263066?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 1:30 PM – 4:00 PM.
Tours | Arts of Japan
Gallery Talks & Tours
As the seasons change, enjoy a free, hour-long guided tour of the museum’s renowned collection of Japanese art. Experience a variety of artworks, including paintings, prints, screens, ceramics, metalwork, and more. Trees, Master of I-nen Seal (1600–1630), Japan, mid-17th century, ink, color, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1962.30.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. No registration or tickets (walk-up only). Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Japanese Art from the Collection , Knotted Clay: Raku Ceramics and Tea , The Print Generation , The Peacock Room , Striking Objects: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM.
Thomas Paine: Revolutions of a Founding Father
Resident Associate Program
Once lionized as our most relatable and revolutionary founding father Thomas Paine died a pariah: too radical and uncompromising for the cautious new country he had helped call into being. Historian Richard Bell examines Paine’s meteoric rise to celebrity status during the American Revolution and his equally dramatic fall from grace in the decades afterward.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262997?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262997?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM.
Little Critters: Nature Play at the Bird House (Camping)
NZP Kids and Families
Take a hike! Join us for creative, drop-in play at the zoo to celebrate National Parks Week!
Explore the wonders of the great outdoors through sensory play and art activities to help our young friends feel more at home outside in the natural world!
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 1, 2025, 9:30 AM – 1:30 PM.
For more info visit nationalzoo.si.edu. 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 1, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.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 1, 2025, 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 1, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Flights of Fancy Story Time
Ongoing Activities
Museum staff read stories about famous aviators, hot-air balloon flights, trips to Mars, characters visible in the night sky, or creatures that have their own wings. Each session includes one story and a hands-on activity. The featured book changes each month. See the full schedule.
Takes place each at the National Air and Space Museum in DC each Thursday at 11 am.
These programs are made possible through the generous support of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
Venue: Air and Space Museum. Event Location: At the National Air and Space Museum in DC. Ask at the Welcome Center for that day's exact location. Cost: This is a free drop-in story time. You will need free timed-entry passes to enter the Museum. Categories: Kids & Families.
Thursday, May 1, 2025, 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM.
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.
Image Credit: Phillip R. Lee, Smithsonian Institution.
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 1, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Flights of Fancy Story Time
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Museum staff read stories about famous aviators, hot-air balloon flights, trips to Mars, characters visible in the night sky, or creatures that have their own wings. Each session includes one story and a hands-on activity. The featured book changes each month. See the full schedule.
Takes place at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center each Tuesday and Thursday at 11 am and 11:30 am.
These programs are made possible through the generous support of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
Venue: Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center. Event Location: At the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Ask at the Welcome Center for the exact location of that day's story time. Cost: Free, Parking $15. Categories: Kids & Families.
Thursday, May 1, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit airandspace.si.edu. 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/e/in-gallery-sketch-break-tickets-991180235767?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile. Categories: Workshops.
Thursday, May 1, 2025, 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 Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Information Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 1, 2025, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
U.S. Navy Commodore Septet presenting New Orleans Traditional Jazz
One-Time Events
U.S. Navy Commodores Septet
Jazz is America's music and the U.S. Navy Band Commodores, the Navy's premier jazz ensemble, have been performing the very best of big band jazz for the Navy and the nation for 50 years. A septet from the ensemble will perform a program of New Orleans traditional jazz. Their concerts are an eclectic mix of traditional big band music, exciting jazz vocal arrangements and fresh new instrumental music written specifically for the Commodores of today. This vibrant, dynamic musical group is constantly striving for musical excellence and the pursuit of new and exciting ways to communicate with their audiences.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: 2nd Floor, Flag Hall. Cost: Free! Categories: Performances. Related Exhibition: The Price of Freedom—Americans at War, 3 East.
Thursday, May 1, 2025, 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 1, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
U.S. Navy Commodore Septet presenting New Orleans Traditional Jazz
One-Time Events
U.S. Navy Commodores Septet
Jazz is America's music and the U.S. Navy Band Commodores, the Navy's premier jazz ensemble, have been performing the very best of big band jazz for the Navy and the nation for 50 years. A septet from the ensemble will perform a program of New Orleans traditional jazz. Their concerts are an eclectic mix of traditional big band music, exciting jazz vocal arrangements and fresh new instrumental music written specifically for the Commodores of today. This vibrant, dynamic musical group is constantly striving for musical excellence and the pursuit of new and exciting ways to communicate with their audiences.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: 2nd Floor, Flag Hall. Cost: Free! Categories: Performances. Related Exhibition: The Price of Freedom—Americans at War, 3 East.
Thursday, May 1, 2025, 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Thursday, May 1, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Tours | Arts Across Asia
Gallery Talks & Tours
Enjoy a guided tour of our East Building and its range of exhibitions. These tours can feature art from any of the exhibitions currently on view, with works from cultures as diverse as ancient Iran to contemporary Japan.
Please meet at the East Building info desk for the tour.
Bank of America is the Founding Sponsor of the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art “IlluminAsia” Arts and Culture Festival.
, Image: Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, The Alice S. Kandell Collection, Photo by John Bigelow Taylor.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. No registration or tickets (walk-up only). Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 1, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Tours | Arts of Japan
Gallery Talks & Tours
As the seasons change, enjoy a free, hour-long guided tour of the museum’s renowned collection of Japanese art. Experience a variety of artworks, including paintings, prints, screens, ceramics, metalwork, and more. Trees, Master of I-nen Seal (1600–1630), Japan, mid-17th century, ink, color, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1962.30.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. No registration or tickets (walk-up only). Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Japanese Art from the Collection , Knotted Clay: Raku Ceramics and Tea , The Print Generation , The Peacock Room , Striking Objects: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, May 1, 2025, 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM.
First Thursdays: Come Look with Us
One-Time Events
Need to wind down after work? Let the National Portrait Gallery's educators share their favorite portraits with you. Participants spend time slowing down, conversing and looking at an artwork in the galleries.
Event Location: G Street Lobby. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/first-thursdays-come-look-with-us-tickets-1233093649299?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Thursday, May 1, 2025, 5:30 PM – 6:15 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Musicians from Marlboro III
Performances
Seating is limited. Reserve your seat in advance to pick where you sit ($6 fee per order). Join the standby line for remaining seats on the day of the concert, free of charge.
Young virtuosos and veteran artists from the venerable Marlboro Music Festival return for the last performance of our 24–25 concert series. The Washington Post calls the annual Marlboro concerts “among the most invigorating events of the classical season. Dozens of astoundingly gifted young virtuosos [give] . . . performances that radiate vitality and freshness.”
The program features
Haydn's String Quartet in D Minor, op. 76, no. 2
Helmut Lachenmann's Got Lost
Mozart's String Quartet in D Major, K. 575
Artists include soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon, pianist Sahun Sam Hong, violinists Claire Bourg and Leonard Fu, violaist Cara Pogossian, and cellist Maria Bitlloch.
This performance is part of the Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series. Image courtesy of Marlboro Music Festival.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Reserve your seat in advance to pick where you sit ($6 fee per order). Join the standby line for remaining seats on the day of the concert, free of charge. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1138537148259?aff=oddtdtcreator. Categories: After Five. Performances. Related Events: Musicians from Marlboro II. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Assisted listening devices.
Thursday, May 1, 2025, 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
Conversation Circles
One-Time Events
Calling all English-language learners – Join National Portrait Gallery educators and friends from all over the world to learn about U.S. art, history and culture through portraiture. Meet new friends, learn about different cultures and practice your English. For more information, email Beth Evans at evansb@si.edu.
Event Location: G Street Lobby. Cost: Free. No Registration Required. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Lectures & Discussions.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 10:00 AM – 12:00 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.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.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.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Flights of Fancy Story Time: The Noisy Airplane Ride by Mike Downs
Ongoing Activities
Join us for a reading of The Noisy Airplane Ride by Mike Downs! This delightful story takes young readers on an adventure through the rhythms and sounds of a bustling airplane ride, from boarding to takeoff.
ASL interpretation will be provided during this program.
Event Location: Zoom. Cost: Free with registration. Categories: Kids & Families. Webcasts & Online. Related Events: Soar Together at Air and Space Family Program. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program. Captioning.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 10:00 AM – 10:45 AM.
Southwest Washington
Resident Associate Program
Washington, D.C.'s Southwest Waterfront is a study in contrasts: The neighborhood retains some of the most historic architecture in the federal capital and boasts one of the largest private development projects in the city, the District Wharf. Laid out by the Carroll family in the 1770s, the neighborhood teemed with commercial activity by the 1830s. In the mid-20th century, huge swaths of the area were demolished in the name of urban renewal. Carolyn Muraskin, founder of DC Design Tours, leads a tour of the historic neighborhood.
Event Location: Tour meets outside the main entrance to Arena Stage. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263359?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Enid A. Haupt Garden Tour
Smithsonian Gardens
Free weekly tours of the Enid A. Haupt Garden are offered every Wednesday and Friday at 10 a.m. from April 30 through September 26, 2025, weather permitting.
Meet one of our knowledgeable volunteers by the tour sign near the northwest entrance to the Enid A. Haupt Garden on Jefferson Drive, SW. No reservation is required.
Venue: Smithsonian Gardens. Event Location: Enid A. Haupt Garden, Meet at the northwest entrance to the garden on Jefferson Drive, SW. Cost: Free
Tours may be subject to cancellation in the event of inclement weather. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 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.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Dive Into Your National Marine Sanctuaries!
One-Time Events
Have you ever wanted to explore a shipwreck or see a giant humpback whale breaching above the waves? Your national marine sanctuaries offer the opportunity to see some of the world's most breathtaking marine ecosystems and species! Sanctuary habitats include beautiful coral reefs, lush kelp forests, whale migration corridors, spectacular deep-sea canyons, and underwater archaeological sites. Sanctuaries span more than 629,000 square miles and act as natural classrooms, cherished recreational spots, and valuable areas for commercial industries. Come explore with us and dive into your national marine sanctuaries!
Presented by:
Dr. Danielle Becker, Marine Scientist and Educator, NOAA Knauss Marine Policy Fellow, NOAA National Ocean Service Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and Eleri Griffiths, Marine Scientist and Educator, NOAA Knauss Marine Policy Fellow, NOAA Office of Education
Photo credits: Joe Hoyt/NOAA, Matt McIntosh/NOAA.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Information Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Plato: His Life in Athens
Resident Associate Program
Plato is a key figure from the beginnings of Western philosophy, yet the impact of his lived experience on his thought has rarely been explored. Classicist Carol Atack of Newnham College, University of Cambridge, explores how Plato’s life in Athens influenced his thought, how he developed the Socratic dialogue into a powerful philosophical tool, and how he used the institutions of Athenian society to create a compelling imaginative world.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263337?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263337?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM.
The Last Suppers of Florence
Resident Associate Program
Long before Leonardo da Vinci created his iconic Last Supper in Milan, artists in his native Florence were already experimenting with different ways of painting the final meal of Christ with his disciples. Today, these remarkable depictions of the Last Supper are scattered in quiet locations across the city, offering a rare opportunity to experience these masterpieces away from the bustling crowds. Art historian Laura Morelli leads an exploration of the Florentine versions of the Last Supper, including the pioneering contribution of Plautilla Nelli, the only woman artist of the Florentine Renaissance known to have taken on this subject. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit).
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263420?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263420?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM.
Meditation and Mindfulness
Workshops
Register to join the sessions.
Join a free online guided meditation. In these 30-minute sessions, DC-based meditation teachers lead a variety of mindfulness practices. Friday sessions take inspiration from art in our museum’s collections.
All are welcome! No previous experience is required. Image: Hishikawa Sori / Landscape: two of the four seasons; autumn and winter, Japan, late 18th–early 19th century, color, ink, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1906.234.
Event Location: Online. Online Link: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/NeVySe_xTkGKsbcKbl_syQ. Cost: Free; registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/NeVySe_xTkGKsbcKbl_syQ. Categories: Workshops. Webcasts & Online. Related Events: Meditation and Mindfulness (Online).
Friday, May 2, 2025, 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM.
Flights of Fancy Story Time: The Noisy Airplane Ride by Mike Downs
Ongoing Activities
Join us for a reading of The Noisy Airplane Ride by Mike Downs! This delightful story takes young readers on an adventure through the rhythms and sounds of a bustling airplane ride, from boarding to takeoff.
ASL interpretation will be provided during this program.
Event Location: Zoom. Cost: Free with registration. Categories: Kids & Families. Webcasts & Online. Related Events: Soar Together at Air and Space Family Program. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program. Captioning.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM.
Diving Deep into the Ocean’s Twilight Zone
One-Time Events
The twilight zone is home to the most abundant fish species on the planet, like myctophids and bristlemouths. Some of these fish, along with other twilight zone animals, perform a daily vertical migration that may be the largest migration on the planet. Come discover these creatures and learn why they’re important to other marine animals and even to us humans!
Dr. Helena McMonagle, Ocean Scientist, University of Washington
Image Credits: Marley Parker.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Problematic Powerhouse: The Green Crab Invasion from Coast-to-Coast
One-Time Events
Carcinus maenas—the “raving mad crab”—is a nonnative species disrupting ecosystems on both U.S. coasts. First spotted on the East Coast in the 1800s, green crabs outcompete native species, damage fisheries, and spread fast. Now found across the West Coast, their impacts are growing. Learn how researchers, communities, and you can help protect coastal habitats from this invader.
Presented by: Aina Hori, Knauss Marine Policy Fellow, NOAA Sea Grant
Image credit: Aina Hori.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 1:00 PM – 3:00 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Portrait Gallery Art Studio
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Calling all artists – Join the National Portrait Gallery for a free, drop-in art program. Every weekend, visitors of all ages are invited to explore a different artistic medium while drawing inspiration from the Portrait Gallery’s collection and exhibitions. On select weekends, learn from a featured guest artist, who will lead specialized workshops and share their expertise in various artistic disciplines. To stay informed about upcoming guest artist workshops, please check the Portrait Gallery’s Eventbrite page.
Event Location: Education Center, E151. Cost: Free. No Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-gallery-art-studio-tickets-1112707681629?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Information Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Assisted listening devices.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 2:00 PM – 2:45 PM.
Tours | Arts Across Asia
Gallery Talks & Tours
Enjoy a guided tour of our East Building and its range of exhibitions. These tours can feature art from any of the exhibitions currently on view, with works from cultures as diverse as ancient Iran to contemporary Japan.
Please meet at the East Building info desk for the tour.
Bank of America is the Founding Sponsor of the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art “IlluminAsia” Arts and Culture Festival.
, Image: Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, The Alice S. Kandell Collection, Photo by John Bigelow Taylor.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. No registration or tickets (walk-up only). Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Tours | Arts of Japan
Gallery Talks & Tours
As the seasons change, enjoy a free, hour-long guided tour of the museum’s renowned collection of Japanese art. Experience a variety of artworks, including paintings, prints, screens, ceramics, metalwork, and more. Trees, Master of I-nen Seal (1600–1630), Japan, mid-17th century, ink, color, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1962.30.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. No registration or tickets (walk-up only). Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Japanese Art from the Collection , Knotted Clay: Raku Ceramics and Tea , The Print Generation , The Peacock Room , Striking Objects: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM.
A Hard Day
Films
Watch the trailer
“When was the last time you saw a modern thriller with so much narrative and visual wit that you were simultaneously laughing and crying out in fear?” asked David Edelstein in his rave Vulture review of A Hard Day.
Lee Sun-kyun stars as Choi, a mildly corrupt cop who, while a little drunk and driving to his mother’s funeral, is involved in a fatal hit-and-run. His attempts to cover up his crime over a frenetic twenty-four hours only create an exponential set of new problems, as corpses pile up and a mysterious figure tries to blackmail him. A nail-biting thrill ride, A Hard Day is a perfect showcase for Lee’s talents, who Edelstein calls “a marvelous farceur, frozen-faced while physically hyper-reactive.”
(Dir.: Kim Seong-hun, Korea, 2014, 111 min. DCP, Korean with English subtitles)
Generous support for this program is provided by the National Museum of Korea. Image courtesy of Kino Lorber.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://lsk.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. After Five. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Captioning. Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM.
Paint Ball
One-Time Events
Do you like making art? Taking pictures with your friends? Winning prizes? Our Teen Museum Council planned Paint Ball so visitors aged 13 to 19 can have one last party before the school year ends. Please bring a school ID or some form of identification to verify you are eligible to participate.
Event Location: Kogod Courtyard. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/paint-ball-tickets-1300950972379?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile. Categories: Kids & Families.
Friday, May 2, 2025, 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Little Critters: Nature Play at the Bird House (World Migratory Bird Day)
NZP Kids and Families
Calling all budding birders! Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day with creative, drop-in play at the Zoo!
We are welcoming back our migrating bird friends after their journey south for the winter. Join our flock for engaging activities like feather painting, nest weaving, and bird seed sensory 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 3, 2025, 9:30 AM – 1:30 PM.
For more info visit nationalzoo.si.edu. FRESHFARM ACM Farm Stand
One-Time Events
The FRESHFARM ACM Farm Stand returns for another farm stand season in 2025. It is the only direct-to-consumer farm stand of its kind East of the River in Ward 8.
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 19 - November 22, 2025.*
The FRESHFARM ACM Farm Stand is generously supported by The Hillside Foundation - Allan and Shelley Holt.
*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://www.eventbrite.com/e/freshfarm-acm-farm-stand-tickets-1307850759829?aff=oddtdtcreator. Categories: Kids & Families.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM.
Open Studio: Found Around Town
One time events
This spring, creativity is in full bloom every Saturday at Open Studio! Discover fresh opportunities to express yourself and think like an artist. Each week introduces new artists, ideas, and creative challenges.
This week, we’ll explore artist Louise Nevelson and her work, Black Wall, 1964: an assemblage made from 24 stacked wooden crates, all painted black. Taking inspiration from Nevelson’s artistic use of everyday objects collected from her neighborhood, use wooden scraps, boxes, and other repurposed materials to build your own 3D sculpture.
Meet in the Art School on the Lower Level.
ABOUT OPEN STUDIO
Let your creativity run wild at Open Studio! Drop in and explore modern and contemporary art through interactive, hands-on activities inspired by the Hirshhorn collection and remarkable artworks on view. Open Studio helps you transform your ideas into reality.
Every session introduces a new theme and a fresh perspective on artmaking. Activities are designed to captivate everyone—from budding young…
Venue: Hirshhorn Museum. Event Location: Meet in the Art School on the Lower Level. Cost: Free. Categories: Kids & Families. Related Events: Open Studio , About Hirshhorn Kids , Art School Everywhere , Art Project: Paint it Black like Louise Nevelson.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit hirshhorn.si.edu. 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 3, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.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.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
The World and Me: Amphibian Week Kickoff Celebration with the USDA Forest Service and Friends!
One-Time Events
Learn more about your place in the world through explorations of nature and culture.
Come celebrate Amphibian Week with a special kickoff event at The World & Me inside Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center! Join us Saturday, May 3rd, as we learn about amphibians with our friends from the USDA Forest Service, US Geological Survey, and more. Families with learners of all ages will be invited to explore different stations, see live amphibians, and explore play, art, and related museum collections.
This is a drop-in event. Families can drop in anytime from 10:00am - 12:30pm and stay for as long as your family would like. No registration is required. Cost: Free.
Location: Meet at the entrace of Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center, on the Ground Floor of the museum. Q?rius is located next to the Constitution Avenue entrance.
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.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM.
Excavations at Tell el-Amarna: A Window into Ancient Egypt
Resident Associate Program
Created by the “heretic” Pharaoh Akhenaten as the center of the monotheistic cult of worship of a sun god called the Aten, the ancient city of Tell el-Amarna is one of the most exciting archaeological sites in the world. Its extraordinary level of preservation provides an unmatched window into the population’s daily life and religious practices. Egyptologist Jacquelyn Williamson, a senior member of the Tell el-Amarna archaeological team, examines the latest discoveries at the site.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262998?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262998?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM.
Quick-Sketch for a Day: Celebrating America
Resident Associate Program
Discover how to draw with fluid lines and paint with flowing watercolors as you capture scenes from coast to coast.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263069?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263069?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 10:00 AM – 3:30 PM.
Southwest Washington
Resident Associate Program
Washington, D.C.'s Southwest Waterfront is a study in contrasts: The neighborhood retains some of the most historic architecture in the federal capital and boasts one of the largest private development projects in the city, the District Wharf. Laid out by the Carroll family in the 1770s, the neighborhood teemed with commercial activity by the 1830s. In the mid-20th century, huge swaths of the area were demolished in the name of urban renewal. Carolyn Muraskin, founder of DC Design Tours, leads a tour of the historic neighborhood.
Event Location: Tour meets outside the main entrance to Arena Stage. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263360?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 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.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Crepe Paper Flower Posy
Resident Associate Program
Learn to fashion a hypericum (St. John’s wort) and roses in several stages of bloom, constructing petals and leaves with and without wire, using spun cotton and foam balls to turn paper into a beautiful posy.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263070?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263070?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM.
NY | Haudenosaunee Family Fun Day
One-Time Events
Bring the whole family for a fun day of Haudenosaunee activities. It was through play that Haudenosaunee youth perfected the skills they would eventually use in their adult lives. In this family fun day, join the Haudenosaunee Dancers in a round dance, explore the galleries in a treasure hunt, and enjoy hands-on activities that include making a corn husk dragonfly and learning the significance of lacrosse. Image: Courtesy of the Haudenosaunee Dancers
This program is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Venue: American Indian Museum NY. Event Location: Level 1: imagiNATIONS Activity Center, Level 2: Rotunda. Cost: Free. Categories: Celebrations. Kids & Families. Demonstrations. Performances.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
Highlights Tour in Mandarin 館藏精華導覽
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join free walk-in tours in Mandarin. These one-hour, docent-led tours feature highlights from the museum’s collections, including the famous Peacock Room and select masterpieces of Chinese art. Each tour is unique, so you can learn something new every time. No registration is needed.
國立亞洲藝術博物館邀請您參加免費普通話導覽（無需預約）
在一小時的導覽中，我們的講解員將帶您聚焦博物館中的精華，包括舉世聞名的孔雀廳和精選的中國藝術品。每場導覽都是獨一無二的，讓您每次對藝術品都能有不同的了解。 Image credit: National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1915.103a-b.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: West Building (Freer Gallery of Art) information desk 西樓（佛利爾美術館）咨詢臺. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Wild Nature Play Club: Migratory Birds!
NZP Kids and Families
WILD Nature Play Club meets on the first Saturday of every month at the Anacostia Community Museum where we will explore the half-mile loop trail right next to the museum.
Join us for unstructured play time in nature as well as a child-directed hike through the George Washington Carver Nature Trail. At the end of the hike, we will gather together for a story and nature activity then head back to the museum.
Come prepared for our time together by dressing for the weather, bringing an extra pair of clothes, closed-toe shoes, water, and a snack!
Date / Time: May 3, 2025, 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. ET
Location: Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Pl SE, Washington, DC 20020.
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: Anacostia Community Museum, 1901 Fort Place SE, Washington DC. Cost: FREE. Categories: Kids & Families.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM.
DC | Story Time
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Families are invited to an interactive story time featuring a children’s book by a Native author, illustrator, or created in collaboration with an Indigenous community. They will have the opportunity to engage with objects from the museum's Teaching Collection such as photographs, textiles, or natural materials that can deepen their understanding of the community represented in the story, along with a craft or other activity.
*Due to limited capacity in our spaces, tickets may be needed to enter the Activity Center and therefore the Story room (limited to 25 persons max). Please see staff at the entrance desk of the imagiNATIONS Activity Center on Level 3.
Recommended for visitors ages 3-9 years old accompanied by an adult caregiver. .
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: imagiNATIONS Activity Center, Level 3. Cost: Free. Categories: Kids & Families.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 11:15 AM – 11:45 AM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Event Location: Starts at the Information Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: FREE. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
WILD Nature Play Club
One-Time Events
Presented as a pilot program by the National Zoological Park’s Little Critters: Nature Play, our WILD Nature Play Club will meet on the first Saturday of every month at the Anacostia Community Museum where we will explore the half-mile loop trail right next to the museum. Join us for unstructured play time in nature as well as a child-directed hike through the George Washington Carver Nature Trail. At the end of the hike, we will gather together for a story and nature activity then head back to the museum. Come prepared for our time together by dressing for the weather, bringing an extra pair of clothes, closed-toe shoes, water, and a snack!
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wild-nature-play-club-tickets-1269109052339?aff=oddtdtcreator. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Children's Book Fair
Kids and Family
Register in advance to make sure you get the best experience. Activities have a limited capacity, with entry on a first-come, first-served basis.
Join us for a children's book fair to kick off Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month celebrations!
Enjoy book readings, drawing demos, crafts, and giveaways from an all-star lineup of authors and illustrators. Purchase books from the museum store and have them signed! Plus, kids can join our docents in the galleries for fun activities, such as finding patterns in the Peacock Room and drawing their own precious object inspired by a Chinese treasure cabinet.
Featured Authors and Illustrators:
Authors from left to right: Hanh Bui, Lian Cho, Sophia N. Lee, Sanyukta Mathur, Courtney Pippin-Mathur, Pat Tanumihardja, Chiêu Anh Urban
Hanh Bui
Inspired by her first teacher at the refugee camp, Hanh Bui pursued a master’s degree in early childhood education and taught second grade before becoming a children’s book author. Hanh’s stories…
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Flex Space. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/childrens-book-fair-tickets-1264391502019?aff=oddtdtcreator. Categories: Shopping/Book Signing. Kids & Families. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program. Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir with Martha S. Jones
One-Time Events
Join Dr. Martha S. Jones for a presentation of her latest book, The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir, documents the history of her paternal ancestors living on the “color line” while enslaved in Kentucky and as free people in North Carolina during the early 19th century. Dr. Jones shares her search for the intricate details of relationships created within the social and legal barriers of race in the South, and which became a theme for her own life decades later in New York. Selected as The Society of Black Alumni (SOBA) Presidential Professor at Johns Hopkins University in 2017, Dr. Jones is a graduate of Hunter College (BA), and Columbia University (PhD). She received a Doctor of Laws (honorary) from CUNY School of Law. For questions about this program, please email familyhistorycenter@si.edu.
Book signing and sale will be provided by Smithsonian Enterprises.
Philanthropic support provided by the New York Life Foundation.
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Oprah Winfrey Theater + Streaming. Online Link: https://www.youtube.com/live/vQBcYHYZziU. Cost: Free; Registration is required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/35674380/the-trouble-of-coloran-american-family-memoir-with-martha-sjones-washington-national-museum-of-african-american-history-culture-public-programs. Categories: Lectures & Discussions. Webcasts & Online. Shopping/Book Signing.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Portrait Gallery Art Studio
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Calling all artists – Join the National Portrait Gallery for a free, drop-in art program. Every weekend, visitors of all ages are invited to explore a different artistic medium while drawing inspiration from the Portrait Gallery’s collection and exhibitions. On select weekends, learn from a featured guest artist, who will lead specialized workshops and share their expertise in various artistic disciplines. To stay informed about upcoming guest artist workshops, please check the Portrait Gallery’s Eventbrite page.
Event Location: Education Center, E151. Cost: Free. No Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-gallery-art-studio-tickets-1112707681629?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Southwest Washington
Resident Associate Program
Washington, D.C.'s Southwest Waterfront is a study in contrasts: The neighborhood retains some of the most historic architecture in the federal capital and boasts one of the largest private development projects in the city, the District Wharf. Laid out by the Carroll family in the 1770s, the neighborhood teemed with commercial activity by the 1830s. In the mid-20th century, huge swaths of the area were demolished in the name of urban renewal. Carolyn Muraskin, founder of DC Design Tours, leads a tour of the historic neighborhood.
Event Location: Tour meets outside the main entrance to Arena Stage. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263361?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Tours | Arts Across Asia
Gallery Talks & Tours
Enjoy a guided tour of our East Building and its range of exhibitions. These tours can feature art from any of the exhibitions currently on view, with works from cultures as diverse as ancient Iran to contemporary Japan.
Please meet at the East Building info desk for the tour.
Bank of America is the Founding Sponsor of the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art “IlluminAsia” Arts and Culture Festival.
, Image: Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, The Alice S. Kandell Collection, Photo by John Bigelow Taylor.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. No registration or tickets (walk-up only). Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Tours | Arts of Japan
Gallery Talks & Tours
As the seasons change, enjoy a free, hour-long guided tour of the museum’s renowned collection of Japanese art. Experience a variety of artworks, including paintings, prints, screens, ceramics, metalwork, and more. Trees, Master of I-nen Seal (1600–1630), Japan, mid-17th century, ink, color, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1962.30.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. No registration or tickets (walk-up only). Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Japanese Art from the Collection , Knotted Clay: Raku Ceramics and Tea , The Print Generation , The Peacock Room , Striking Objects: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM.
Artists in Dialogue: Tsedaye Makonnen and Kebedech Tekleab
One-Time Events
Join artists Tsedaye Makonnen and Kebedech Tekleab in conversation with Heran Sereke-Brhan, Deputy Director of the National Museum of African Art!
The artists will present their work, participate in a moderated discussion led by Sereke-Brhan about the themes and ideas that spark their creative vision, followed by a Q&A with the audience.
Don’t miss a curator-led tour of the exhibition Tsedaye Makonnen—Sanctuary :: መቅደስ :: Mekdes!
By attending this event, you grant the Smithsonian Institution permission to photograph, film, videotape you and/or record your voice and likeness in connection with or the promotion of the project.
Venue: African Art Museum. Event Location: Sylvia Williams Gallery, Sublevel 1. Cost: FREE. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/artists-in-dialogue-tsedaye-makonnen-and-kebedech-tekleab-tickets-1329081010079?aff=oddtdtcreator. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Lectures & Discussions. Related Exhibition: Tsedaye Makonnen—Sanctuary :: መቅደስ :: Mekdes. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 3:00 PM – 5:00 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. The Axelrod String Quartet: Stradivarius and Amati (Saturday series)
Resident Associate Program
Smithsonian Chamber Music Society audiences are privy to the unparalleled experience of being able to hear two magnificent quartets of instruments—one made by Antonio Stradivari, the other by his teacher Nicoló Amati—in this popular four-concert series on Saturdays. The concert features music composed by Mozart, Beethoven, and Ravel.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: National Museum of American History Nicholas and Eugenia Taubman Hall of Music. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/261540?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five. Workshops.
Saturday, May 3, 2025, 7:30 PM – 9:30 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 4, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.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.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 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 4, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Sketch & Discover Tour
Gallery Talks & Tours
Join docent Sushmita Mazumdar every first Sunday of the month as she guides you to use pencil and paper to consider the unique ideas and expressions of Asian artists from various traditions spanning the continent across centuries. All materials will be provided. No reservation needed.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Information Desk. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Georgia O'Keeffe's Artistic Vision: Artwork Inspired by the Environment - In Person
Resident Associate Program
This 3-session workshop invites participants to delve into the wonders of nature through the artistic vision of Georgia O'Keeffe. Each session emphasizes a different facet of O'Keeffe's life and artistry, intertwining art, environmental consciousness, and culinary experiences.
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/263071?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Workshops.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45-minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Information Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Portrait Gallery Art Studio
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Calling all artists – Join the National Portrait Gallery for a free, drop-in art program. Every weekend, visitors of all ages are invited to explore a different artistic medium while drawing inspiration from the Portrait Gallery’s collection and exhibitions. On select weekends, learn from a featured guest artist, who will lead specialized workshops and share their expertise in various artistic disciplines. To stay informed about upcoming guest artist workshops, please check the Portrait Gallery’s Eventbrite page.
Event Location: Education Center, E151. Cost: Free. No Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-gallery-art-studio-tickets-1112707681629?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Spanish-Language Walk-In Tours
One-Time Events
Join a volunteer docent on select Sundays for lively tours of the Portrait Gallery in Spanish. We hope to see you there.
Event Location: G Street Lobby. Cost: Free. No Registration Required. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Parasite
Films
Watch the trailer
A multiple Oscar winner—and the first non-English language film to win Best Picture—Bong Joon Ho’s masterpiece is a pitch-black comedy-thriller that lays bare Korea’s yawning class divide.
Bong regular Song Kang-ho plays Kim Ki-taek, patriarch of a poor family who schemes to get them all hired by the rich but clueless Park Dong-ik (Lee Sun-kyun) to work in his family’s palatial mansion under false identities. But their plan begins to unravel when the Parks' former housekeeper catches on and threatens to expose them. The result is, according to A.O. Scott of The New York Times, “wildly entertaining, the kind of smart, generous, aesthetically energized movie that obliterates the tired distinctions between art films and popcorn movies.”
As visually stunning as it is expertly plotted, Parasite is filled with standout performances and is well worth experiencing (or reexperiencing) on the big screen.
(Dir.: Bong Joon Ho, Korea, 2019, 132 min. DCP, Korean with English subtitles)
Generous…
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://lsk.eventive.org/films. Categories: Films. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible. Captioning.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM.
Tours | Arts Across Asia
Gallery Talks & Tours
Enjoy a guided tour of our East Building and its range of exhibitions. These tours can feature art from any of the exhibitions currently on view, with works from cultures as diverse as ancient Iran to contemporary Japan.
Please meet at the East Building info desk for the tour.
Bank of America is the Founding Sponsor of the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art “IlluminAsia” Arts and Culture Festival.
, Image: Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Arthur M. Sackler Collection, The Alice S. Kandell Collection, Photo by John Bigelow Taylor.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Cost: Free. No registration or tickets (walk-up only). Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Tours | Arts of Japan
Gallery Talks & Tours
As the seasons change, enjoy a free, hour-long guided tour of the museum’s renowned collection of Japanese art. Experience a variety of artworks, including paintings, prints, screens, ceramics, metalwork, and more. Trees, Master of I-nen Seal (1600–1630), Japan, mid-17th century, ink, color, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1962.30.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. No registration or tickets (walk-up only). Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Japanese Art from the Collection , Knotted Clay: Raku Ceramics and Tea , The Print Generation , The Peacock Room , Striking Objects: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM.
May the 4th Be With You: The Smithsonian Celebrates Star Wars Day
Resident Associate Program
Star Wars is a global phenomenon that people celebrate on May 4th every year. In conversation, curators from the National Air and Space Museum and National Museum of American History celebrate the Star Wars universe, its monumental legacy in pop culture, and its place in a familiar galaxy not so far, far away.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263416?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263416?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 3:00 PM – 4:30 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Film Screening: Earth, I Thank You: The Garden and Legacy of Anne Spencer
One-Time Events
In conjunction with the Reclaiming My Time exhibition, join us for the premiere of the documentary film, Earth, I Thank You: The Garden and Legacy of Anne Spencer, exploring the historic sanctuary of the Harlem Renaissance poet, civil rights advocate, and gardener. Produced by the Garden Conservancy, the film celebrates the cultural and historical significance of the Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum in Lynchburg, VA. Spencer's beloved garden was an oasis where she wrote much of her poetry, drawing inspiration and insights from the natural beauty surrounding her. It was also a vibrant gathering place, welcoming luminaries and civil rights leaders including Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Zora Neale Hurston, Thurgood Marshall, George Washington Carver, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A panel discussion will follow the film.
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Concourse, Oprah Winfrey Theater. Cost: Free; Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/38948346/earthi-thank-youthe-garden-and-legacy-of-anne-spencer-washington-national-museum-of-african-american-history-culture-public-programs. Categories: Films. Lectures & Discussions. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM.
The Axelrod String Quartet: Stradivarius and Amati (Sunday series)
Resident Associate Program
Smithsonian Chamber Music Society audiences are privy to the unparalleled experience of being able to hear two magnificent quartets of instruments—one made by Antonio Stradivari, the other by his teacher Nicoló Amati—in this popular four-concert series on Sundays. The concert features music composed by Mozart, Beethoven, and Ravel.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: National Museum of American History Nicholas and Eugenia Taubman Hall of Music. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/261544?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five. Workshops.
Sunday, May 4, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:30 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.
Monday, May 5, 2025, 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 (ET) 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 45-60 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 5, 2025, 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM.
International Day of Women and Girls in Science at the National Museum of Natural History
One-Time Events
Join us for The International Day of Women and Girls in Science event! From studying ancient reptiles of the past to how creatures are helping clean up the bottom of the sea, our experts have something to share that is sure to spark curiosity and wonder in our visitors.
Experts from the National Museum of Natural History will be featured at special carts in the following 1st floor exhibits: Sant Ocean Hall , David H. Koch Hall of Fossils - Deep Time , David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins , Kenneth E Behring Family Hall of Mammals, Accessibility: Access services such as American Sign Language interpretation, real-time captioning (CART), or audio-description are available with advanced notice. However, accommodations may not be possible with less than two-weeks advanced notice. To request this service, please call (202) 633-5238 or e-mail NMNHAccessibility@si.edu.
Image Information (credit): Photo by James Di Loreto, Smithsonian Institution.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor Exhibits. Cost: Free. Categories: Kids & Families. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 5, 2025, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Information Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 5, 2025, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Portrait Gallery Kids
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Children and families are invited to learn, play and create at the National Portrait Gallery. Join educators every Monday to explore a new topic and different materials. Participants will look at art, enjoy hands-on activities, listen to music and participate in story time. Portrait Gallery Kids is a fun way to engage with art and each other. Our friends from DC Public Library will join us on the second Monday of each month for a special story time about the day’s theme.
Event Location: Education Center, E151. Cost: Free. No Regsitration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-gallery-portrait-gallery-kids-tickets-654254040447?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile. Categories: Kids & Families. Workshops.
Monday, May 5, 2025, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 5, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Color and Illusion in Modern Quilts
Resident Associate Program
Learn how to use color and design to create the illusion of depth and take your quilting to the next level.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263072?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263072?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Monday, May 5, 2025, 12:00 PM – 2:30 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Monday, May 5, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Information Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 5, 2025, 2:00 PM – 2:45 PM.
Tours | Arts of Japan
Gallery Talks & Tours
As the seasons change, enjoy a free, hour-long guided tour of the museum’s renowned collection of Japanese art. Experience a variety of artworks, including paintings, prints, screens, ceramics, metalwork, and more. Trees, Master of I-nen Seal (1600–1630), Japan, mid-17th century, ink, color, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1962.30.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. No registration or tickets (walk-up only). Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Japanese Art from the Collection , Knotted Clay: Raku Ceramics and Tea , The Print Generation , The Peacock Room , Striking Objects: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, May 5, 2025, 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM.
The Shape of Power Conversation with Monument Lab: Gods and Monsters
One-Time Events
SOLD OUT
SAAM has partnered with Monument Lab, a nonprofit public art, history, and design studio based in Philadelphia, for an engaging series of guided conversations about The Shape of Power exhibition. In each of the three events, Monument Lab curators Yolanda Wisher and Aubree Penney will focus on specific artworks to illustrate ideas and spark dialogue. This program examines the interplay between representations of people, gods, and monsters. Monument Lab will provide a toolkit for creative ways of looking at art and generating conversation around the exhibition. Space is limited.
Rina Banerjee, In Mute Witness... 2015/2023, wooden spindles, aluminum cloth, waxed nylon, wood, steel armature, Murano glass horns, rooster feather, porcupine quill, silk tassel, cowry shell, hemp cord, silkscreen print silk cloth, cotton thread, acrylic paint, tribal jewelry, abacá fibers, and gourd, Courtesy of the artist.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: Meet in G Street Lobby. Cost: SOLD OUT. Categories: After Five. Lectures & Discussions. Related Exhibition: The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture.
Monday, May 5, 2025, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM.
Make Your Mark
Resident Associate Program
In the spirit of our ancestors who first took a tool and made a mark, this class focuses on intuitive exercises using a variety of simple tools to generate many types of marks.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263073?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263073?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Monday, May 5, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM.
Honoring America’s Fallen: The Cemeteries of WWII
Resident Associate Program
After World War II, the federal government sought to honor the sacrifice of American troops who died abroad by creating military cemeteries to commemorate the fallen at sites including the Normandy beachheads, the Ardennes, and the Italian peninsula. Distinguished by their striking rows of white crosses and Stars of David, they have become enduring symbols of the conflict. Historian Christopher Hamner surveys the design and layout of some of those cemeteries and examines how decisions made in the late 1940s and 1950s helped shape the way Americans remember World War II.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263417?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263417?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Monday, May 5, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM.
Little Critters: Nature Play at the Bird House (World Migratory Bird Day)
NZP Kids and Families
Calling all budding birders! Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day with creative, drop-in play at the Zoo!
We are welcoming back our migrating bird friends after their journey south for the winter. Join our flock for engaging activities like feather painting, nest weaving, and bird seed sensory 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 6, 2025, 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 6, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Life of a Sailor
One-Time Events
Have you ever wondered what a sailor's life was like on a traditional wooden ship? Full of hardship and adventure alike, a seagoing life sometimes offered better opportunities than people could find on land. Join our visiting expert to learn about how water has shaped the lives of sailors from the past and present alike. Trace the evolution of sailing from the tall ships of history to the modern ships of today, compare traditional sailing tools with their modern counterparts, test your knot-tying skills, and more!
Presented by: Nick Iannacone, Program Coordinator, Department of Maritime Education, Living Classrooms.
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 6, 2025, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM.
Flights of Fancy Story Time
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Museum staff read stories about famous aviators, hot-air balloon flights, trips to Mars, characters visible in the night sky, or creatures that have their own wings. Each session includes one story and a hands-on activity. The featured book changes each month. See the full schedule.
Takes place at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center each Tuesday and Thursday at 11 am and 11:30 am.
These programs are made possible through the generous support of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
Venue: Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center. Event Location: At the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Ask at the Welcome Center for the exact location of that day's story time. Cost: Free, Parking $15. Categories: Kids & Families.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit airandspace.si.edu. STEM Connections: Bridging the Science, History, and Culture of the Smithsonian
One-Time Events
Join the Smithsonian Science Education Center and the National Museum of African American History and Culture for a dynamic, hands-on celebration of science, history, and culture. To commemorate the Smithsonian Science Education Center’s 40th anniversary, this public event invites learners of all ages to explore interactive science activities drawn from the center’s resources and digital materials. Visitors will also engage with materials
developed by the National Museum of African American History and Culture that lead students through STEM principles and practices, grounded in stories of African American achievement. Come experience how science, learning, and storytelling come together in meaningful ways.
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Explore More! Gallery. Cost: Free. Categories: Kids & Families. Celebrations. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Information Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: FREE. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
From Bach and Beethoven to Balanchine and Baryshnikov: First the Music, Then the Dance
Resident Associate Program
Discover the inherent physicality in great concert music, compositions never intended for dance brought to visual life through the imaginations of modern choreographers. Using works by Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, and some of the greatest music from the Romantic era and beyond, classical music expert Saul Lilienstein examines how these masterworks inspired George Balanchine, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Twyla Tharp, and other creators, and were performed by renowned dancers and ensembles.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263378?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263378?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: Webcasts & Online.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM.
Meditation and Mindfulness
Workshops
Register to join the sessions.
Join a free online guided meditation. In these 30-minute sessions, DC-based meditation teachers lead a variety of mindfulness practices. Friday sessions take inspiration from art in our museum’s collections.
All are welcome! No previous experience is required. Image: Hishikawa Sori / Landscape: two of the four seasons; autumn and winter, Japan, late 18th–early 19th century, color, ink, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art Collection, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1906.234.
Event Location: Online. Online Link: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/NeVySe_xTkGKsbcKbl_syQ. Cost: Free; registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/meeting/register/NeVySe_xTkGKsbcKbl_syQ. Categories: Workshops. Webcasts & Online. Related Events: Meditation and Mindfulness (Online).
Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
For more info visit asia.si.edu. Tours | Arts of Japan
Gallery Talks & Tours
As the seasons change, enjoy a free, hour-long guided tour of the museum’s renowned collection of Japanese art. Experience a variety of artworks, including paintings, prints, screens, ceramics, metalwork, and more. Trees, Master of I-nen Seal (1600–1630), Japan, mid-17th century, ink, color, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1962.30.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. No registration or tickets (walk-up only). Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Japanese Art from the Collection , Knotted Clay: Raku Ceramics and Tea , The Print Generation , The Peacock Room , Striking Objects: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM.
On-Location Photography with Neutral Density Filters - In Person
Resident Associate Program
Neutral-density filters can be used to achieve very slow shutter-speed photos in bright sunshine. Learn these controls in the classroom and then head out to practice in the field.
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/263075?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five. Workshops.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM.
The NASA Landolt Space Mission
Resident Associate Program
George Mason University will be the home of the recently approved NASA Landolt space mission that will put an artificial star into orbit around Earth. It will allow scientists to calibrate telescopes and more accurately measure the brightnesses of stars. The science associated with the mission and what astronomers hope to learn from it are explained by Peter Plavchan, the mission’s principal investigator and associate professor of physics and astronomy at George Mason University. Following the talk and a question-and-answer period, Rob Parks, director of the George Mason Observatory, brings the skies into your living room with remote control of the university observatory, weather permitting.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263338?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263338?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Tuesday, May 6, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM.
Storytime Studio: Iggy Peck, Architect
One time events
Creativity is vibrant on Wednesdays at Storytime Studio. Celebrate spring with your littlest artist. Every week offers a new adventure.
This week: Be an architect! Join us as we explore architecture through a read-aloud of Iggy Peck, Architect. We’ll take a close look at the Hirshhorn’s largest sculpture: our building! Then we’ll learn more about architecture and design through a hands-on building activity.
Featured Book: Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beaty
Program Schedule
Storytime Studio is a one-hour experience, with entry times at 10, 10:20, 10:40, and 11 AM. No registration is required. Visitors receive their entry time upon arrival. 10 AM–noon: Open play (felt, blocks, sketching) , 10:20 AM: Read-aloud #1 in Art School , 10:30 AM: Art-making begins , 10:50 AM: Gallery tour #1 , 11:20 AM: Read-aloud #2 in Art School , 11:30 AM: Art-making begins , 11:50 AM: Gallery tour #2 Meet in the Hirshhorn Art School on the Lower Level. ABOUT STORYTIME STUDIO
Join us at the Hirshhorn Art School for…
Venue: Hirshhorn Museum. Event Location: Meet in Art School on the Lower Level. Cost: Free. Categories: Kids & Families. Related Events: Storytime Studio, About Hirshhorn Kids, Visiting with Kids, Art Project: Balance Build.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit hirshhorn.si.edu. 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 7, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.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 7, 2025, 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 and Friday at 10 a.m. from April 30 through September 26, 2025, weather permitting.
Meet one of our knowledgeable volunteers by the tour sign near the northwest entrance to the Enid A. Haupt Garden on Jefferson Drive, SW. No reservation is required.
Venue: Smithsonian Gardens. Event Location: Enid A. Haupt Garden, Meet at the northwest entrance to the garden on Jefferson Drive, SW. Cost: Free
Tours may be subject to cancellation in the event of inclement weather. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 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 7, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Information Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: FREE. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM.
Curator Tour | Delighting Krishna: The Design Journey
Gallery Talks & Tours
In this exclusive tour, follow the design journey of our exhibition Delighting Krishna: Paintings of the Child-God. Hear how the designer and the curator used graphics, color, and light to create an immersive experience that reflects the mood and meaning of the monumental paintings of Krishna.
Please meet at gallery 24 for the tour. We recommend you register in advance.
Bank of America is the Founding Sponsor of the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art “IlluminAsia” Arts and Culture Festival.
, Image: National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, photo by Colleen Dugan.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: National Museum of Asian Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Gallery 24. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1312955869349?aff=oddtdtcreator. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Delighting Krishna: Paintings of the Child-God. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
SAAM Fellows Lectures
One-Time Events
Come hear the 2024–2025 SAAM Fellows present new scholarship on a range of topics and time periods, media and messages. This multi-afternoon program will highlight a new generation of scholars who are engaging the Smithsonian’s collections and archives in order to tell new stories about American art. The lectures will be held in person and online; registration is required. View the full schedule of topics and presenters.
Image/Credit: SAAM 2024–2054 Fellows, courtesy of subjects.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: McEvoy Auditorium, Online via YouTube. Cost: Free | Registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/5a2bVR1RPOL. Categories: Lectures & Discussions. Webcasts & Online. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 1:00 PM – 5:00 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: Information Desk (West Building). Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 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 7, 2025, 1:00 PM – 1:30 PM.
Highlights Tour
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45-minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Starts at the Information Desk in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Assisted listening devices.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 1:30 PM – 2:15 PM.
For more info visit maps.google.com. Conservation Classroom: Discovering Amphibians
NZP Kids and Families
Discovering Amphibians
Join us for this special program as we celebrate Amphibian Week. Learn about amphibians, get an up-close look of some of them and chat with an amphibian expert.
This virtual school program is part of Conservation Classroom, a collection of monthly lessons for K-5 students. Each lesson has four elements: wonder (video), engage (live virtual program), act (activities), and connect (video). Follow along with all four parts or pick and choose the videos and activities you want to explore.
Grade/Learning Level: K-5
Standards: Supports NGSS K-LS1-1, K-ESS2-2, K-ESS3-1, 1-LS1-2, 2-LS4-1, 3-LS3-1, 3-LS3-2, 3-LS4-3, 4-LS1-1
Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns, systems and system models, structure and function
Program Details & Accessibility:
Live virtual programs take place monthly from October 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 or…
Event Location: Online. Cost: Free! Registration required. Categories: Kids & Families. Webcasts & Online. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program. Captioning.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Tours | Arts of Japan
Gallery Talks & Tours
As the seasons change, enjoy a free, hour-long guided tour of the museum’s renowned collection of Japanese art. Experience a variety of artworks, including paintings, prints, screens, ceramics, metalwork, and more. Trees, Master of I-nen Seal (1600–1630), Japan, mid-17th century, ink, color, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1962.30.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Gallery of Art. Cost: Free. No registration or tickets (walk-up only). Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Related Exhibition: Japanese Art from the Collection , Knotted Clay: Raku Ceramics and Tea , The Print Generation , The Peacock Room , Striking Objects: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 2:15 PM – 3:15 PM.
Curator Tour: “Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Always to Return”
One-Time Events
Join curators Charlotte Ickes and Josh Franco for a tour of “Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Always to Return.” This exhibition focuses on artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s deep engagement with portraiture and how history is told and inherited.
Event Location: G Street Lobby. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-gallery-curator-tour-felix-gonzalez-torres-always-to-return-tickets-1116923270569?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Digital Drawing Fundamentals
Resident Associate Program
Learn to use the iPad, Apple Pencil, and Procreate for illustration and animation. Students get an introductory lecture on the basics of digital art production, demonstrations, and experience drawing in Procreate on an iPad.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263076?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263076?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 6:15 PM – 9:15 PM.
Germany’s Surrender in WWII
Resident Associate Program
On May 7, 1945, after almost six years of brutal combat and death and destruction in the European Theater, German military leaders unconditionally surrendered to the Allies. On the 80th anniversary of this significant event, historian Mitchell Yockelson discusses how the death of President Roosevelt, the decision by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower not to enter Berlin before the Russians, the war’s final battles, and the suicide of Adolf Hitler led to Nazi Germany’s capitulation.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263418?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263418?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 6:30 PM – 7:45 PM.
The Hidden World of Baby Animals
Resident Associate Program
Entire ecosystems rest on the shoulders (or tentacles or jointed exoskeletons) of animal babies. Biologist Danna Staaf invites you to explore these tiny lives and discover some of nature’s most ingenious workings. For example, a salamander embryo breathes with the help of algae inside its cells, the young grub of a Goliath beetle dwarfs its parents, and the spotted beak of a parasitic baby bird tricks adults of other species into feeding it. Our planet needs them all, the maggots as much as the kittens.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263339?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263339?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223. Categories: After Five. Webcasts & Online.
Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:15 PM.