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Little Artists, Big Stories
One-Time Events
Discover the magic of creativity with our storybook reading program for early learners! Through engaging stories, vibrant exhibits, and hands-on art activities, children will explore the legacy of Black arts education in Washington, D.C. building curiosity, confidence, and a lifelong appreciation for artistic expression.
Recommended Audience: 18 months – 7 years
Time and Schedule: 10: 15 a.m. Select Tuesdays and Thursdays through September 25, 2025
Duration: About 1 hour
For all guided experiences, advanced registration for groups of 10 or more is required at least one week prior to your visit. When registering for groups of 10 more, groups may request free bus transportation. Bus transportation is available on a first come, first served basis. Please fill out the guided student tour form available here at least one week prior to your group's arrival.
Questions? Email the ACM Education team at ACMTours@si.edu.
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/little-artists-big-stories-tickets-1396883820109?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Tuesday, July 1, 2025, 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM.
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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, July 1, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
DC | Cradleboards and Crawlers
One-Time Events
Designed for early learners (ages 0-2), their caregivers, and families, this drop-in program offers young visitors the opportunity to enjoy a book by a Native author or illustrator read by a Museum Educator, engage in free play and sensory enrichment, and participate in other hands-on learning.
*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 0-2 years old accompanied by an adult caregiver.
Event Location: Level 3, imagiNATIONS Activity Center. Cost: FREE.
Tuesday, July 1, 2025, 11:15 AM – 11:45 AM.
Great Hall Story Time
One-Time Events
Join us in the Portrait Gallery’s picturesque Great Hall for an interactive story time that gets up close and personal with art. Participants will look closely at portraits and read stories as they learn more about the people who have shaped history.
Event Location: Great Hall. Cost: Free. Registration Encouraged. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/great-hall-story-time-tickets-1335479447979?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-share-source=organizer-profile&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile.
Tuesday, July 1, 2025, 11:45 AM – 12:15 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Visionaries in Art: Exploring Black Creativity & Expression
One-Time Events
Explore the rich legacy of Black Arts Education in Washington, DC through an immersive experience designed for youth audiences. Engage in close-looking activities featuring works by influential local artists and art educators, then bring your own creativity to life through hands-on artmaking. Through inquiry-based discussions and artistic exploration, young learners will deepen their understanding of self-expression and connect their observations to their own creative process.
Recommended Audience: Youth 8+
Time and Schedule: 1:00 p.m. Select Tuesdays and Thursdays through September 25, 2025
Duration: About 75 minutes
For all guided experiences, advanced registration for groups of 10 or more is required at least one week prior to your visit. When registering for groups of 10 more, groups may request free bus transportation. Bus transportation is available on a first come, first served basis. Please fill out the guided student tour form available here at least one week prior to your group's arrival.…
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/visionaries-in-art-exploring-black-creativity-expression-tickets-1396981753029?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Tuesday, July 1, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:15 PM.
Storytime Studio: Music Makers
One time events
Looking for a creative community? Each week at Storytime, you’ll find opportunities to connect with your littlest artist through joyful play and art-making.
This Week: With help from a National Symphony Orchestra musician, we’ll explore connections between visual art and music. Learn how music influences the street art of twin artists OSGEMEOS, and make your own music maker.
Featured Book: Listen by Gabi Snyder
Program Schedule
Storytime Studio is a one-hour experience, with entry times at 10 and 11 AM. No registration or ticket is required. Visitors receive their entry time upon arrival. Depending on availability, you may be asked to enjoy the galleries prior to your start time. 10 AM–noon: Open play (felt, blocks, sketching) , 10:15 AM: Read-aloud #1 in Art School , 10:30 AM: Art-making begins , 10:45 AM: Gallery tour #1 , 11:15 AM: Read-aloud #2 in Art School , 11:30 AM: Art-making begins , 11:45 AM: Gallery tour #2
Meet in the Hirshhorn Art School on the Lower Level. ABOUT STORYTIME STUDIO
…
Venue: Hirshhorn Museum. Event Location: Art School on the Lower Level. Cost: Free. Related Exhibition: Storytime Studio, About Hirshhorn Kids, Art Project: Hidden Noise Maker.
Wednesday, July 2, 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. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Wednesday, July 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. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, July 2, 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. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, July 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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, July 2, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Smithsonian Folklife Festival: July 2–7, 2025
Smithsonian Sponsored Events
The Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival returns to the National Mall from July 2–7, 2025 with the theme “Looking Forward: Youth and the Future of Culture.”
In 2025, Youth and the Future of Culture will explore creativity, vitality, resilience, and intergenerational learning and exchange through the contributions and experiences of youth. The program will underscore how young people influence and engage with culture, and how they create, innovate, and sustain cultural practices and traditions.
Drawing from diverse communities and perspectives, Youth and the Future of Culture will feature youth-centered—and often youth-led—projects and organizations, and individuals who are generating new ideas, transforming their communities, and confronting contemporary challenges. By bringing people together in conversation, the program will foster intergenerational connections and explore how young people engage with tradition, influence future generations, and agitate for change.
Youth have participated in many Festival pr…
Venue: Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Event Location: National Mall. Cost: Free.
Wednesday, July 2, 2025, 11:00 AM – 5:30 PM.
For more info visit festival.si.edu. DC | Cradleboards and Crawlers
One-Time Events
Designed for early learners (ages 0-2), their caregivers, and families, this drop-in program offers young visitors the opportunity to enjoy a book by a Native author or illustrator read by a Museum Educator, engage in free play and sensory enrichment, and participate in other hands-on learning.
*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 0-2 years old accompanied by an adult caregiver.
Event Location: Level 3, imagiNATIONS Activity Center. Cost: FREE.
Wednesday, July 2, 2025, 11:15 AM – 11:45 AM.
Civic Season 2025: Curator Theo Gonzalves, NMAH’s 250th anniversary team, and the White House Historical Association
One-Time Events
Join us in our Civic Pavilion for Ask a Curator with NMAH’s Theo Gonzalves and programming with NMAH’s 250th anniversary team and the White House Historical Association. The Civic Pavilion on 2 East will bring Civic Season to life with daily activities. Can’t join us in person? Follow us on social media and get involved with hybrid activities all season long! The National Museum of American History welcomes visitors of all ages and abilities. This event is wheelchair accessible. ASL services, captioning, and assistive listening devices will be provided. Additional accommodations are available upon request; please email nmahprograms@si.edu. Two weeks’ notice is preferred.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: 2 East. Cost: Free. Related Events: Learn more about the 2025 Civic Season. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program. Wheelchair accessible. Assisted listening devices. Captioning.
Wednesday, July 2, 2025, 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Ancestral Artistry: The Influence of Africans & Creoles of Color on Louisiana Architecture
One-Time Events
Ancestral Artistry: The Influence of Africans and Creoles of Color on Louisiana Architecture explores the rich architectural legacy that began 300 years ago with the arrival of enslaved Africans skilled in the building trades in French colonial Louisiana. This special film screening is presented in partnership with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. The film highlights these trades and tells the stories of contemporary master craftsmen in New Orleans, including plasterer Jeffrey Poree, blacksmith Darryl Reeves, and the late brick mason Teddy Pierre. After the screening, stay for a conversation with Poree, Reeves, and Jonn Hankins from the New Orleans Master Crafts Guild. They will share their hopes for preserving their fragile traditions and training apprentices to continue their crafts. The film, produced by the Louisiana Architecture Foundation, was made possible through public and private donations, with special thanks to the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development, Division of…
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Oprah Winfrey Theater. Cost: Free; Registration is Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/95413154/ancestral-artistrythe-influence-of-africans-creoles-of-color-on-louisiana-architecture-washington-national-museum-of-african-american-history-culture-public-programs. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Audio description. Captioning.
Wednesday, July 2, 2025, 2:30 PM – 4:45 PM.
Virtual The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture Artist Conversation with Young Joon Kwak and Glenn Kaino
One-Time Events
This artist conversation explores the relationship between community, power, and monument making. Focusing on the dynamic practices of Young Joon Kwak and Glenn Kaino, this conversation examines how these artists intervene in public spaces to create sculptures that center communities and histories often erased from collective memory. The conversation is moderated by Grace Yasumura, assistant curator at SAAM and co-curator of The Shape of Power.
Image credit: Glenn Kaino, Bridge, 2013-2014, fiberglass, steel, wire and gold paint, dimensions variable, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Smithsonian Secretary and the Smithsonian National Board and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2022.34A-C, © 2013-2014, Glenn Kaino.
Event Location: Online via Zoom. Cost: Free | Registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/5a2bVR1ojiv. Related Exhibition: The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture. Accessibility: Captioning.
Wednesday, July 2, 2025, 7:00 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. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Thursday, July 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. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, July 3, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Little Artists, Big Stories
One-Time Events
Discover the magic of creativity with our storybook reading program for early learners! Through engaging stories, vibrant exhibits, and hands-on art activities, children will explore the legacy of Black arts education in Washington, D.C. building curiosity, confidence, and a lifelong appreciation for artistic expression.
Recommended Audience: 18 months – 7 years
Time and Schedule: 10: 15 a.m. Select Tuesdays and Thursdays through September 25, 2025
Duration: About 1 hour
For all guided experiences, advanced registration for groups of 10 or more is required at least one week prior to your visit. When registering for groups of 10 more, groups may request free bus transportation. Bus transportation is available on a first come, first served basis. Please fill out the guided student tour form available here at least one week prior to your group's arrival.
Questions? Email the ACM Education team at ACMTours@si.edu.
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/little-artists-big-stories-tickets-1396883820109?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Thursday, July 3, 2025, 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM.
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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, July 3, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Smithsonian Folklife Festival: July 2–7, 2025
Smithsonian Sponsored Events
The Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival returns to the National Mall from July 2–7, 2025 with the theme “Looking Forward: Youth and the Future of Culture.”
In 2025, Youth and the Future of Culture will explore creativity, vitality, resilience, and intergenerational learning and exchange through the contributions and experiences of youth. The program will underscore how young people influence and engage with culture, and how they create, innovate, and sustain cultural practices and traditions.
Drawing from diverse communities and perspectives, Youth and the Future of Culture will feature youth-centered—and often youth-led—projects and organizations, and individuals who are generating new ideas, transforming their communities, and confronting contemporary challenges. By bringing people together in conversation, the program will foster intergenerational connections and explore how young people engage with tradition, influence future generations, and agitate for change.
Youth have participated in many Festival pr…
Venue: Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Event Location: National Mall. Cost: Free.
Thursday, July 3, 2025, 11:00 AM – 5:30 PM.
For more info visit festival.si.edu. Civic Season 2025: Curator Katherine Ott and NMAH’s Archives Center
One-Time Events
Join us in our Civic Pavilion for Ask a Curator with NMAH’s Katherine Ott and programming with NMAH’s Archives Center. The Civic Pavilion on 2 East will bring Civic Season to life with daily activities. Can’t join us in person? Follow us on social media and get involved with hybrid activities all season long! The National Museum of American History welcomes visitors of all ages and abilities. This event is wheelchair accessible. ASL services, captioning, and assistive listening devices will be provided. Additional accommodations are available upon request; please email nmahprograms@si.edu. Two weeks’ notice is preferred.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: 2 East. Cost: Free. Related Events: Learn more about the 2025 Civic Season. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program. Wheelchair accessible. Assisted listening devices. Captioning.
Thursday, July 3, 2025, 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Sketching the Smithsonian: Weekly Lunchtime Drawing Series
Resident Associate Program
Pull out your sketchbook and pencil to take an artful break as you explore the Smithsonian while drawing objects from vast and fascinating collections. Option to register for this program as a 6-session series.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263789?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/263789?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 3, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
“The Ride Ahead” Film Screening and Discussion
One-Time Events
Join us for a screening of The Ride Ahead, a documentary by Emmy-Award winning father-son filmmaker duo Samuel and Dan Habib. The Ride Ahead follows Samuel Habib, a typical twenty-one-year-old, itching to move out, start a career, and find love. But no one tells you how to be an adult, let alone an adult with a disability.
Following the screening, Samuel and Dan will be joined by lawyer, scholar, activist, and community organizer Ly Xīnzhèn M. Zhǎngsūn Brown (they/them) for a post-film discussion with the audience.
ASL interpretation, live real-time (CART) captioning, embedded audio description, and assistive listening will be available. For more accessibility information for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival or National Museum of American History, please visit our websites.
To learn more about the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, we invite you to visit our website: festival.si.edu.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Warner Bros. Theater, 1 Center. Cost: Free, but ticketed. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-ride-ahead-film-screening-and-discussion-tickets-1394743026939?aff=trumba. Related Events: To learn more about the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, we invite you to visit our website: festival.si.edu. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program. Captioning. Audio description. Assisted listening devices.
Thursday, July 3, 2025, 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Visionaries in Art: Exploring Black Creativity & Expression
One-Time Events
Explore the rich legacy of Black Arts Education in Washington, DC through an immersive experience designed for youth audiences. Engage in close-looking activities featuring works by influential local artists and art educators, then bring your own creativity to life through hands-on artmaking. Through inquiry-based discussions and artistic exploration, young learners will deepen their understanding of self-expression and connect their observations to their own creative process.
Recommended Audience: Youth 8+
Time and Schedule: 1:00 p.m. Select Tuesdays and Thursdays through September 25, 2025
Duration: About 75 minutes
For all guided experiences, advanced registration for groups of 10 or more is required at least one week prior to your visit. When registering for groups of 10 more, groups may request free bus transportation. Bus transportation is available on a first come, first served basis. Please fill out the guided student tour form available here at least one week prior to your group's arrival.…
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/visionaries-in-art-exploring-black-creativity-expression-tickets-1396981753029?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Thursday, July 3, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:15 PM.
Introduction to Water-Soluble Colored Pencils
Resident Associate Program
Loved by artists for their versatility, water-soluble colored pencils emulsify when water is added, making them a viable alternative to watercolor paints. Students learn about the many types of water-soluble colored pencils on the market and how to use them.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263644?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/263644?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 3, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Story Time
One-Time Events
Stamp your calendar for Story Time! Join us every week for a fresh story, a stroll through the Museum, hands-on postal play, and more. Together, we’ll explore mail and all the ways it connects us to people, places, and big ideas.
Stop by anytime—whether you stay for one activity or the whole session, this program will get everyone’s “stamp of approval”.
Meet in the Museum Lobby.
If there are services or accommodations that can improve your experience (e.g. ASL interpretation, etc.), please contact NPMprograms@si.edu; 1–2 week’s advance notice is recommended but not required.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Meet in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free ; no registration required.
Friday, July 4, 2025, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM.
Spark!Lab
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation invites children between the ages of 6 and 12 to create, collaborate, explore, test, experiment and invent. Activities for children and families incorporate traditional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with art, history and creativity.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Spark!Lab, First Floor, West Wing. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Friday, July 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. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, July 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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, July 4, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Smithsonian Folklife Festival: July 2–7, 2025
Smithsonian Sponsored Events
The Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival returns to the National Mall from July 2–7, 2025 with the theme “Looking Forward: Youth and the Future of Culture.”
In 2025, Youth and the Future of Culture will explore creativity, vitality, resilience, and intergenerational learning and exchange through the contributions and experiences of youth. The program will underscore how young people influence and engage with culture, and how they create, innovate, and sustain cultural practices and traditions.
Drawing from diverse communities and perspectives, Youth and the Future of Culture will feature youth-centered—and often youth-led—projects and organizations, and individuals who are generating new ideas, transforming their communities, and confronting contemporary challenges. By bringing people together in conversation, the program will foster intergenerational connections and explore how young people engage with tradition, influence future generations, and agitate for change.
Youth have participated in many Festival pr…
Venue: Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Event Location: National Mall. Cost: Free.
Friday, July 4, 2025, 11:00 AM – 5:30 PM.
For more info visit festival.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.
Friday, July 4, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Drop-In Arts & Crafts: Art Imagination
One-Time Events
Mark your calendar to drop by the museum for arts and crafts. Grab someone and come! Bring the whole family out to create, imagine and visually express yourself through arts and crafts.
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: Program room. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/drop-in-arts-crafts-tickets-1442463670669?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Saturday, July 5, 2025, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM.
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.
Saturday, July 5, 2025, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM.
Open Studio: What’s Your Story?
One time events
Join Art School this July as we take inspiration from the best of summer camp with that extra-special Art School flair. Every Saturday throughout the month, come together at the Hirshhorn’s Open Studio for community camp-style crafts inspired by artists on view at the Museum. Each week, we’ll gather to create crafts including woven bracelets influenced by Anni Albers, sand art modeled on the work of André Masson, and journals and storytelling driven by Laurie Anderson’s narratives.
This Saturday, we’ll take inspiration from Laurie Anderson, exploring ways to tell stories by using mixed media (combining materials such as paper, paint, and images) to create a visual narrative!
Meet in the Art School on the Lower Level. ABOUT OPEN STUDIO
Let your creativity run wild at Open Studio! Drop in to explore modern and contemporary art through interactive hands-on activities inspired by the Hirshhorn collection and artworks on view. Open Studio helps you transform your ideas into reality.
Every session introduces…
Venue: Hirshhorn Museum. Event Location: Art School on the Lower Level. Cost: Free. Related Exhibition: Open Studio, Hirshhorn Art School, Art School Everywhere, Art Project: Story Layers.
Saturday, July 5, 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. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Saturday, July 5, 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. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, July 5, 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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, July 5, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Joy of African Movement
One-Time Events
Mentally and physically recharge with our Joy of African Movement series using a variety of dance movements from the African diaspora, including Capoeira, Contemporary Dance, Stepping, Hip Hop, and Traditional West African Dance.
On Saturday, July 5, join Afrochique, the premier African female choreography team at the University of Maryland, College Park. Learn contemporary African dance techniques.
Join us on the first Saturday of the month from 10:30am-11:45am. Saturday July 5, 10:30am-11:45am , Saturday August 2, 10:30am-11:45am , Saturday September 6, 10:30am-11:45am , Saturday October 4, 10:30am-11:45am , Saturday November 1, 10:30am-11:45am, Ages: 16+.
Venue: African Art Museum. Event Location: Sylvia Williams Gallery, Sublevel 1. Cost: FREE. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/joy-of-african-movement-tickets-1431351433669?aff=oddtdtcreator. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, July 5, 2025, 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM.
For more info visit africa.si.edu. CANCELLED - 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-1374578825269?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Saturday, July 5, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM.
Smithsonian Folklife Festival: July 2–7, 2025
Smithsonian Sponsored Events
The Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival returns to the National Mall from July 2–7, 2025 with the theme “Looking Forward: Youth and the Future of Culture.”
In 2025, Youth and the Future of Culture will explore creativity, vitality, resilience, and intergenerational learning and exchange through the contributions and experiences of youth. The program will underscore how young people influence and engage with culture, and how they create, innovate, and sustain cultural practices and traditions.
Drawing from diverse communities and perspectives, Youth and the Future of Culture will feature youth-centered—and often youth-led—projects and organizations, and individuals who are generating new ideas, transforming their communities, and confronting contemporary challenges. By bringing people together in conversation, the program will foster intergenerational connections and explore how young people engage with tradition, influence future generations, and agitate for change.
Youth have participated in many Festival pr…
Venue: Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Event Location: National Mall. Cost: Free.
Saturday, July 5, 2025, 11:00 AM – 5:30 PM.
For more info visit festival.si.edu. DC | Hula with Hālau I Ka Leo Ola O Nā Mamo
One-Time Events
The museum welcomes Hālau I Ka Leo Ola O Nā Mamo (School of the Living Voice of the Descendants), a hula school from the island of Hawaiʻi for a full-length performance that includes the entire hālau (school) and features hula (dances) and mele (songs) celebrating Ke Aukahi Hoʻōla ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian Language Revitalization Movement.
The students grew up in Pūnana Leo nests and are either current students or alumni of immersion schools. Kumu hula (teachers) Pelehonuamea (Pele) and Kekoa Harman have dedicated their lives to the Hawaiian revitalization movement. Uniquely, Hālau I Ka Leo Ola O Nā Mamo teaches hula exclusively through ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. The hālau embraces Kumu Honua Mauli Ola, a core philosophy to cultivate mauli Hawaiʻi, the unique life force of each Hawaiian person, through ʻōlelo (language), pili ʻuhane (spirituality), lawena (behavior, mannerisms), and ʻike kuʻuna (traditional knowledge). Pele is the great-granddaughter of the late Hawaiian scholar Mary Kawena Pukui, who was honored…
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 1: Potomac Atrium. Cost: FREE.
Saturday, July 5, 2025, 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM.
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.
Saturday, July 5, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. DC | Kodiak Alutiiq Dancers
One-Time Events
The museum welcomes the Kodiak Alutiiq Dancers to perform traditional and new songs and dances. The Kodiak Alutiiq Dancers were formed in 1987 in Kodiak, Alaska. They continue to learn and share their Alutiiq/Sugpiaq ancestral heritage and increase pride through reawakening their dance traditions. The Alutiiq/Sugpiaq people have always danced as a community to perform rituals and ceremony, to share stories, and to entertain each other. Today, the group honors their ancestors by dancing their stories and living their culture.
At the 2025 Smithsonian Folklife Festival (July 2-7), they will also hold dance workshops where visitors can try Alutiiq social dances. Visitors can watch and participate in Kakangaq, a traditional game to hone hunting skills, where players toss disks at a target on a seal hide. In the group’s tent, visitors can see salve making and headdress beading while learning about Alutiiq dress and regalia.
Image: Members of the Kodiak Alutiiq Dancers perform at the Sobriety Celebration. Photo…
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 1: Potomac Atrium. Cost: FREE.
Saturday, July 5, 2025, 3:00 PM – 3:45 PM.
Spark!Lab
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation invites children between the ages of 6 and 12 to create, collaborate, explore, test, experiment and invent. Activities for children and families incorporate traditional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with art, history and creativity.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Spark!Lab, First Floor, West Wing. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Sunday, July 6, 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. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, July 6, 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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, July 6, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Smithsonian Folklife Festival: July 2–7, 2025
Smithsonian Sponsored Events
The Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival returns to the National Mall from July 2–7, 2025 with the theme “Looking Forward: Youth and the Future of Culture.”
In 2025, Youth and the Future of Culture will explore creativity, vitality, resilience, and intergenerational learning and exchange through the contributions and experiences of youth. The program will underscore how young people influence and engage with culture, and how they create, innovate, and sustain cultural practices and traditions.
Drawing from diverse communities and perspectives, Youth and the Future of Culture will feature youth-centered—and often youth-led—projects and organizations, and individuals who are generating new ideas, transforming their communities, and confronting contemporary challenges. By bringing people together in conversation, the program will foster intergenerational connections and explore how young people engage with tradition, influence future generations, and agitate for change.
Youth have participated in many Festival pr…
Venue: Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Event Location: National Mall. Cost: Free.
Sunday, July 6, 2025, 11:00 AM – 5:30 PM.
For more info visit festival.si.edu. DC | Hula with Hālau I Ka Leo Ola O Nā Mamo
One-Time Events
The museum welcomes Hālau I Ka Leo Ola O Nā Mamo (School of the Living Voice of the Descendants), a hula school from the island of Hawaiʻi for a full-length performance that includes the entire hālau (school) and features hula (dances) and mele (songs) celebrating Ke Aukahi Hoʻōla ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian Language Revitalization Movement.
The students grew up in Pūnana Leo nests and are either current students or alumni of immersion schools. Kumu hula (teachers) Pelehonuamea (Pele) and Kekoa Harman have dedicated their lives to the Hawaiian revitalization movement. Uniquely, Hālau I Ka Leo Ola O Nā Mamo teaches hula exclusively through ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. The hālau embraces Kumu Honua Mauli Ola, a core philosophy to cultivate mauli Hawaiʻi, the unique life force of each Hawaiian person, through ʻōlelo (language), pili ʻuhane (spirituality), lawena (behavior, mannerisms), and ʻike kuʻuna (traditional knowledge). Pele is the great-granddaughter of the late Hawaiian scholar Mary Kawena Pukui, who was honored…
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 1: Potomac Atrium. Cost: FREE.
Sunday, July 6, 2025, 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM.
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.
Sunday, July 6, 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.
Sunday, July 6, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
DC | Kodiak Alutiiq Dancers
One-Time Events
The museum welcomes the Kodiak Alutiiq Dancers to perform traditional and new songs and dances. The Kodiak Alutiiq Dancers were formed in 1987 in Kodiak, Alaska. They continue to learn and share their Alutiiq/Sugpiaq ancestral heritage and increase pride through reawakening their dance traditions. The Alutiiq/Sugpiaq people have always danced as a community to perform rituals and ceremony, to share stories, and to entertain each other. Today, the group honors their ancestors by dancing their stories and living their culture.
At the 2025 Smithsonian Folklife Festival (July 2-7), they will also hold dance workshops where visitors can try Alutiiq social dances. Visitors can watch and participate in Kakangaq, a traditional game to hone hunting skills, where players toss disks at a target on a seal hide. In the group’s tent, visitors can see salve making and headdress beading while learning about Alutiiq dress and regalia.
Image: Members of the Kodiak Alutiiq Dancers perform at the Sobriety Celebration. Photo…
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 1: Potomac Atrium. Cost: FREE.
Sunday, July 6, 2025, 3:00 PM – 3:45 PM.
Freedom Was in Sight: Exploring Reconstruction in the Washington, D.C. Region (Educator Professional Learning)
One-Time Events
Note: This is a multiday workshop - Monday, July 7- Friday, July 11; 9am-4pm daily
Join the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture for a deep dive into the era of Reconstruction in the Washington, D. C region. Using the new graphic history, Freedom Was in Sight! A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington D.C. Region, we will take an in-depth look at how African Americans sought to build lives for themselves, their families and their communities. In addition to content and discussion sessions, participants will explore historic sites in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and meet with curators, historians and other experts on Reconstruction. This seminar investigates Reconstruction through a local lens while drawing connections to the national story of the years following the Civil War and the end of slavery. Throughout the week, sessions will demonstrate effective history teaching strategies and activities designed to meet teachers' personal and professional…
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: 2nd Floor Classrooms. Cost: $200 (application should be submitted first; payment link will be sent upon acceptance). Get Tickets/Register: http://s.alchemer.com/s3/REGISTRATION-Freedom-Was-in-Sight-Exploring-Reconstruction-in-the-Washington-DC-Area-Educator-Professional-Learning-Event.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Abstract Artists
Resident Associate Program
Abstract art opens up a boundless realm of creativity. From finger painting and blending watercolors campers explore colors, shapes, and textures in unique ways. Visits to the Hirshhorn, American Art Museum, and the National Gallery introduce campers to artists such Kandinsky, Pollack Gillam, and Alma Thomas. Throughout the week, campers create their own works of art using various mediums for a colorful end of the week exhibit.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263832?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
American Pastimes
Resident Associate Program
The nation's passion for sports is obvious every day—in football, baseball, kickball, capture the flag, soccer, and many other competitive arenas. From a handball used by Abraham Lincoln to Chris Evert's tennis racket to a baseball signed by Jackie Robinson, campers find many sports-related stories in Smithsonian museums. They design baseball cards, their own team logo, and their own sports-themed mini-museum. The week ends with an “out-of-the-park” presentation for family and friends.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262671?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Collect Them All!
Resident Associate Program
Inspired by the anime world of Pokémon, campers visit exhibits across the Smithsonian making connections to the fictional world and its inhabitants. Trips to the Air and Space, Natural History, and American History museums help campers create their own creatures, cards, and decks unique to the Smithsonian. Campers play games, solve trivia, and beat the nefarious Team Rocket.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262673?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
CSI: Campers Solve It
Resident Associate Program
Campers discover how police and detectives use science and technology to help them solve crimes in this investigative camp with the Science Guys of Baltimore. After trips to the International Spy Museum and the American History Museum to uncover the heroes and villains of historic crimes, they conduct experiments with DNA and fiber analysis, become fingerprint experts, and study anatomy. They collect clues, identify suspects, and crack cases using their crime-fighting tool kits. At the end of the week, the budding detectives work together and use their new skills to solve a mystery—and save the Science Guys!
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262670?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Eco-Heroes
Resident Associate Program
Campers discover fun ways to make our planet a bit greener—and better for all of us—as they learn about the ecological connections between the people and creatures that call it home. They explore many kinds of living organisms as they dig into gardening, explore ocean conservation efforts, conduct their own science experiments, and create eco-themed art. Visits to museums and gardens inspire campers to build an eco-friendly world.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262665?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Gross Me Out
Resident Associate Program
Know someone intrigued by the nasty, icky, and disgusting parts of nature? They can enjoy a week uncovering the science behind snot, the bacteria that live in our belly buttons, and gross creatures inside and outside our bodies. Bones and bodies at the Natural History Museum, insect-eating and poisonous plants at the U.S. Botanic Garden spark campers’ curiosity and inspire their experiments and creations. They share their own “Grossology” exhibit at the end of the week.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262668?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Home Sweet Home
Resident Associate Program
Campers explore the lives and conservation of animals around the world as they explore habitats such as grasslands, rainforests, desert, and the poles and the animals that live there. The week includes hands-on activities, craft projects, science experiments, and a visit to the National Zoo. Campers create a natural habitat of their own for guests to view at the end of the week.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262666?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Mammal Mania
Resident Associate Program
Did you know there are more than 4, 000 different kinds of mammals in the world—including such different animals as bats, pandas, buffalo, and dolphins? Campers investigate their world to discover these animals are great communicators, have highly developed senses, and can make unusual friends. In addition to games, crafts, and storytelling, visits to the National Zoo, and the Natural History, American Indian, and African Art museums inspire campers to create their own animal kingdom.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263831?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Marine Quest
Resident Associate Program
Campers spend a week discovering the amazing watery worlds hidden beneath the waves. They explore the creatures that live in the depths of the ocean and the diverse ecosystems through visits to the National Zoo and the Natural History Museum. Campers conduct experiments, create artworks, and play games designed to develop a new perspective on the 71% of the earth’s surface covered by water.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262667?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
President for a Week
Resident Associate Program
Campers follow in the footsteps of the presidents who guided our country throughout its history. They learn about democracy, the electoral process, and our government by devising team-led political campaigns and running for office. They use resources and inspirations found in the American History Museum, Portrait Gallery, and local historic sites to develop their political platforms, create campaign materials, and enhance their public-speaking skills as they write and deliver speeches designed to land them in the White House.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262672?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Soldiers and Dioramas ACW Petersburg, 1864
Resident Associate Program
The Richmond–Petersburg Campaign was a series of Civil War battles fought around Petersburg, Virginia, from June 1864 to March 1865. More popularly known as the Siege of Petersburg, it was not a classic military siege, but rather nine months of trench warfare waged by Union forces commanded by Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Campers explore the battle through discussions and historical simulations using information from maps, timelines, and museum visits. They create dioramas and fight battles with miniature soldiers, as well as engage in group-strategy games using large geographical maps. Fictional and nonfiction accounts, graphic novels, reference books, and related films and documentaries give campers a grounding in the period’s history.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262674?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Water Ways
Resident Associate Program
Our world is made of water. Campers take a deep look at this essential component of life on our planet, which is relied on biologically, environmentally, and symbolically. Visits to the Natural History Museum and Smithsonian art museums help campers understand how our local waterways impact and inspire water-themed artworks, erosion experiments, and conservation campaigns.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262669?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Garden Play: Plant Care!
Smithsonian Gardens
Venue: Smithsonian Gardens. Event Location: Enid A. Haupt Garden. Cost: Join Smithsonian Gardens in the Enid A. Haupt Garden for hands-on activities and a story time exploring this month’s topic, plant care! While you are in the Haupt Garden, be sure to check out plants from our tropical collection on display for the summer.
Location: Find us on the East Terrace of the Enid A. Haupt Garden, near the Spencer Fullerton Baird statue by the Arts and Industries Building, southeast of the Smithsonian Castle.
Garden Play is a drop-in program designed for children ages 2 and up… Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM.
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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Smithsonian Folklife Festival: July 2–7, 2025
Smithsonian Sponsored Events
The Smithsonian’s Folklife Festival returns to the National Mall from July 2–7, 2025 with the theme “Looking Forward: Youth and the Future of Culture.”
In 2025, Youth and the Future of Culture will explore creativity, vitality, resilience, and intergenerational learning and exchange through the contributions and experiences of youth. The program will underscore how young people influence and engage with culture, and how they create, innovate, and sustain cultural practices and traditions.
Drawing from diverse communities and perspectives, Youth and the Future of Culture will feature youth-centered—and often youth-led—projects and organizations, and individuals who are generating new ideas, transforming their communities, and confronting contemporary challenges. By bringing people together in conversation, the program will foster intergenerational connections and explore how young people engage with tradition, influence future generations, and agitate for change.
Youth have participated in many Festival pr…
Venue: Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Event Location: National Mall. Cost: Free.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 11:00 AM – 5:30 PM.
For more info visit festival.si.edu. 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.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. DC | Hula with Hālau I Ka Leo Ola O Nā Mamo
One-Time Events
The museum welcomes Hālau I Ka Leo Ola O Nā Mamo (School of the Living Voice of the Descendants), a hula school from the island of Hawaiʻi for a full-length performance that includes the entire hālau (school) and features hula (dances) and mele (songs) celebrating Ke Aukahi Hoʻōla ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian Language Revitalization Movement. The final performance on Monday, July 7 at 1 PM ET will be webcast at americanindian.si.edu/livestream.
The students grew up in Pūnana Leo nests and are either current students or alumni of immersion schools. Kumu hula (teachers) Pelehonuamea (Pele) and Kekoa Harman have dedicated their lives to the Hawaiian revitalization movement. Uniquely, Hālau I Ka Leo Ola O Nā Mamo teaches hula exclusively through ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. The hālau embraces Kumu Honua Mauli Ola, a core philosophy to cultivate mauli Hawaiʻi, the unique life force of each Hawaiian person, through ʻōlelo (language), pili ʻuhane (spirituality), lawena (behavior, mannerisms), and ʻike kuʻuna (traditional…
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 1: Potomac Atrium. Online Link: https://americanindian.si.edu/livestream. Cost: FREE.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM.
For more info visit americanindian.si.edu. DC | Kodiak Alutiiq Dancers
One-Time Events
The museum welcomes the Kodiak Alutiiq Dancers to perform traditional and new songs and dances. The final performance on Monday, July 7 at 3 PM ET will be webcast at americanindian.si.edu/livestream. The Kodiak Alutiiq Dancers were formed in 1987 in Kodiak, Alaska. They continue to learn and share their Alutiiq/Sugpiaq ancestral heritage and increase pride through reawakening their dance traditions. The Alutiiq/Sugpiaq people have always danced as a community to perform rituals and ceremony, to share stories, and to entertain each other. Today, the group honors their ancestors by dancing their stories and living their culture.
At the 2025 Smithsonian Folklife Festival (July 2-7), they will also hold dance workshops where visitors can try Alutiiq social dances. Visitors can watch and participate in Kakangaq, a traditional game to hone hunting skills, where players toss disks at a target on a seal hide. In the group’s tent, visitors can see salve making and headdress beading while learning about Alutiiq dress…
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 1: Potomac Atrium. Online Link: https://www.americanindian.si.edu/livestream. Cost: FREE.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 3:00 PM – 3:45 PM.
For more info visit www.americanindian.si.edu. Birth of a City: From New Amsterdam to New York
Resident Associate Program
In 1664, England decided to invade the Dutch-controlled city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island in New Netherland. The British had dreams of empire, and the Dutch were in the way. But Richard Nicolls, the military officer who led the English flotilla, changed his strategy once he encountered Peter Stuyvesant, New Netherland’s canny director general. Drawing on his new book, Taking Manhattan, author Russell Shorto reveals the founding of New York to be the result of creative negotiations that blended the multiethnic, capitalistic society of New Amsterdam with the power of the rising English empire.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263875?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/263875?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM.
Carve and Create: Learning to Love Linocuts
Resident Associate Program
Learn to love the linocut, a relief printmaking process. Go through each step and come away with a beautiful edition of prints.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263645?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/263645?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 7, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:45 PM.
Freedom Was in Sight: Exploring Reconstruction in the Washington, D.C. Region (Educator Professional Learning)
One-Time Events
Note: This is a multiday workshop - Monday, July 7- Friday, July 11; 9am-4pm daily
Join the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture for a deep dive into the era of Reconstruction in the Washington, D. C region. Using the new graphic history, Freedom Was in Sight! A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington D.C. Region, we will take an in-depth look at how African Americans sought to build lives for themselves, their families and their communities. In addition to content and discussion sessions, participants will explore historic sites in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and meet with curators, historians and other experts on Reconstruction. This seminar investigates Reconstruction through a local lens while drawing connections to the national story of the years following the Civil War and the end of slavery. Throughout the week, sessions will demonstrate effective history teaching strategies and activities designed to meet teachers' personal and professional…
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: 2nd Floor Classrooms. Cost: $200 (application should be submitted first; payment link will be sent upon acceptance). Get Tickets/Register: http://s.alchemer.com/s3/REGISTRATION-Freedom-Was-in-Sight-Exploring-Reconstruction-in-the-Washington-DC-Area-Educator-Professional-Learning-Event.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Little Artists, Big Stories
One-Time Events
Discover the magic of creativity with our storybook reading program for early learners! Through engaging stories, vibrant exhibits, and hands-on art activities, children will explore the legacy of Black arts education in Washington, D.C. building curiosity, confidence, and a lifelong appreciation for artistic expression.
Recommended Audience: 18 months – 7 years
Time and Schedule: 10: 15 a.m. Select Tuesdays and Thursdays through September 25, 2025
Duration: About 1 hour
For all guided experiences, advanced registration for groups of 10 or more is required at least one week prior to your visit. When registering for groups of 10 more, groups may request free bus transportation. Bus transportation is available on a first come, first served basis. Please fill out the guided student tour form available here at least one week prior to your group's arrival.
Questions? Email the ACM Education team at ACMTours@si.edu.
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/little-artists-big-stories-tickets-1396883820109?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025, 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM.
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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
DC | Cradleboards and Crawlers
One-Time Events
Designed for early learners (ages 0-2), their caregivers, and families, this drop-in program offers young visitors the opportunity to enjoy a book by a Native author or illustrator read by a Museum Educator, engage in free play and sensory enrichment, and participate in other hands-on learning.
*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 0-2 years old accompanied by an adult caregiver.
Event Location: Level 3, imagiNATIONS Activity Center. Cost: FREE.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025, 11:15 AM – 11:45 AM.
Great Hall Story Time
One-Time Events
Join us in the Portrait Gallery’s picturesque Great Hall for an interactive story time that gets up close and personal with art. Participants will look closely at portraits and read stories as they learn more about the people who have shaped history.
Event Location: Great Hall. Cost: Free. Registration Encouraged. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/great-hall-story-time-tickets-1335479447979?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-share-source=organizer-profile&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025, 11:45 AM – 12:15 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Palazzo Vecchio
Resident Associate Program
Constructed in 1299, Palazzo Vecchio was built to be the town hall of Florence. Although it remains a symbol and center for local government, Palazzo Vecchio is now a museum that is home to frescoes by Giorgio Vasari and Domenico Ghirlandaio as well as statues by Michelangelo, Donatello, and Giambologna. Italian Renaissance art expert Rocky Ruggiero highlights this lesser-known museum that has become a symbol of Florence. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit).
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263540?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/263540?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
Visionaries in Art: Exploring Black Creativity & Expression
One-Time Events
Explore the rich legacy of Black Arts Education in Washington, DC through an immersive experience designed for youth audiences. Engage in close-looking activities featuring works by influential local artists and art educators, then bring your own creativity to life through hands-on artmaking. Through inquiry-based discussions and artistic exploration, young learners will deepen their understanding of self-expression and connect their observations to their own creative process.
Recommended Audience: Youth 8+
Time and Schedule: 1:00 p.m. Select Tuesdays and Thursdays through September 25, 2025
Duration: About 75 minutes
For all guided experiences, advanced registration for groups of 10 or more is required at least one week prior to your visit. When registering for groups of 10 more, groups may request free bus transportation. Bus transportation is available on a first come, first served basis. Please fill out the guided student tour form available here at least one week prior to your group's arrival.…
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/visionaries-in-art-exploring-black-creativity-expression-tickets-1396981753029?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:15 PM.
The Backstory of Washington, D.C.'s Bedrock
Resident Associate Program
The capital of the United States is underlain by rocks that have a history as turbulent as that of the nation itself. Geologist Callan Bentley explores the variety of rocks found in Washington, D.C. area, and what they tell us about geologic events stretching back a billion years into Deep Time.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263853?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/263853?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM.
When Washington Burned: The British Invasion of the Capital and a Nation's Rise from the Ashes
Resident Associate Program
The capture of Washington, D.C. on August 24, 1814, threatened the survival of the nation, but this event during the War of 1812 and the reasons behind it are little remembered. Historian Robert P. Watson examines the British campaign and American missteps that led to the fall of the city, as well how courageous young clerks and first lady Dolley Madison risked their lives to save priceless artifacts and documents, including the Constitution, from the flames.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263943?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/263943?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:15 PM.
Freedom Was in Sight: Exploring Reconstruction in the Washington, D.C. Region (Educator Professional Learning)
One-Time Events
Note: This is a multiday workshop - Monday, July 7- Friday, July 11; 9am-4pm daily
Join the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture for a deep dive into the era of Reconstruction in the Washington, D. C region. Using the new graphic history, Freedom Was in Sight! A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington D.C. Region, we will take an in-depth look at how African Americans sought to build lives for themselves, their families and their communities. In addition to content and discussion sessions, participants will explore historic sites in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and meet with curators, historians and other experts on Reconstruction. This seminar investigates Reconstruction through a local lens while drawing connections to the national story of the years following the Civil War and the end of slavery. Throughout the week, sessions will demonstrate effective history teaching strategies and activities designed to meet teachers' personal and professional…
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: 2nd Floor Classrooms. Cost: $200 (application should be submitted first; payment link will be sent upon acceptance). Get Tickets/Register: http://s.alchemer.com/s3/REGISTRATION-Freedom-Was-in-Sight-Exploring-Reconstruction-in-the-Washington-DC-Area-Educator-Professional-Learning-Event.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Storytime Studio: Weaving Together
One time events
Looking for a creative community? Each week at Storytime, you’ll find opportunities to connect with your littlest artist through joyful play and art-making.
This Week: We’ll explore Anni Albers’s textile art and discover different fabrics and materials. We’ll enjoy a read-aloud of Rainbow Weaver / Tejedora del arcoíris by Linda Elovitz Martin and create our own woven artworks.
Featured Book: Rainbow Weaver / Tejedora del arcoíris by Linda Elovitz Martin
Program Schedule
Storytime Studio is a one-hour experience, with entry times at 10 and 11 AM. No registration or ticket is required. Visitors receive their entry time upon arrival. Depending on availability, you may be asked to enjoy the galleries prior to your start time. 10 AM–noon: Open play (felt, blocks, sketching) , 10:15 AM: Read-aloud #1 in Art School , 10:30 AM: Art-making begins , 10:45 AM: Gallery tour #1 , 11:15 AM: Read-aloud #2 in Art School , 11:30 AM: Art-making begins , 11:45 AM: Gallery tour #2 Meet in the Hirshhorn Art School on…
Venue: Hirshhorn Museum. Event Location: Meet in the Art School on the Lower Level. Cost: Free. Related Exhibition: Storytime Studio, About Hirshhorn Kids, Art Project: Weave It Together.
Wednesday, July 9, 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. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Wednesday, July 9, 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. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, July 9, 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. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, July 9, 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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
DC | Cradleboards and Crawlers
One-Time Events
Designed for early learners (ages 0-2), their caregivers, and families, this drop-in program offers young visitors the opportunity to enjoy a book by a Native author or illustrator read by a Museum Educator, engage in free play and sensory enrichment, and participate in other hands-on learning.
*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 0-2 years old accompanied by an adult caregiver.
Event Location: Level 3, imagiNATIONS Activity Center. Cost: FREE.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025, 11:15 AM – 11:45 AM.
Collage and Mixed Media: Animals and Nature
Resident Associate Program
Learn to sketch animals and objects found in nature, then combine your drawings with painting and additional elements and textures to create whimsical or serious mixed-media art.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263646?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/263646?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025, 1:30 PM – 4:00 PM.
Godzilla
Films
Godzilla (a.k.a. Gojira) is the roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. It’s also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama, made in Japan at a time when the country was reeling from nuclear bombing and H-bomb testing in the Pacific. The film’s rampaging, radioactive beast—the poignant embodiment of an entire population’s fears—became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning almost thirty sequels. (Description adapted from Janus Films.)
(Dir.: Ishiro Honda, Japan, 1954, 96 min. DCP, Japanese with English subtitles), Image courtesy of Janus Films.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://nmaamatinees.eventive.org/films. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program. Captioning. Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:45 PM.
Dinner at Casa Teresa
Resident Associate Program
Inspired by the life and cooking of his abuela Teresa, chef Rubén García founded Casa Teresa in downtown Washington as an homage to the home cooks who created the tradition of Catalan cuisine. Enjoy a three-course menu designed for Smithsonian Associates that reflects García’s roots in simple, wood-fired dishes that offer diners a taste of the big family feasts from his childhood in Catalonia.
Event Location: Casa Teresa 919 19th St NW, Washington, DC. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263507?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
Drawing and Abstracting Inspired by the National Zoo
Resident Associate Program
Get inspired by the beloved animals at the Smithsonian's National Zoo. Explore the line, shape, color, and texture of depicting animals in drawing and painting.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263647?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/263647?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:45 PM.
Bamiyan Buddhas
Resident Associate Program
The stone statues in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, were the largest representations of standing Buddhas in the world until their destruction by the Taliban in 2001. Historian Justin M. Jacobs delves into the history of the Bamiyan Buddhas, their construction and original purpose and function, and how they exemplified Buddhist civilization in Central Asia. He also examines their complex and surprising relationship with successive Muslim rulers of Afghanistan.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263541?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/263541?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:15 PM.
Jefferson, Madison, and the Forging of a Friendship
Resident Associate Program
In the spring of 1791, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison journeyed together through Upstate New York and parts of New England. Some observers at the time wondered whether this excursion into Federalist New England by the two most prominent southern members of the Democratic-Republican Party, had an ulterior motive. Historian Louis Masur of Rutgers University reveals that their journey, described as one for "health, recreation, and curiosity, " also provided these future presidents with the foundation of a longtime friendship.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263602?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/263602?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM.
The Art of Black-and-White Photography
Resident Associate Program
Learn to harness digital tools to create powerful black-and-white images with the emotive power seen in works by Edward Weston, Paul Strand, and Alfred Hitchcock.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263648?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/263648?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:45 PM.
The Art of Floral Design
Resident Associate Program
Learn the fundamentals of floral arranging as this class covers essential base mechanics, sourcing flowers, working with seasonal blooms, and photographing your work.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263649?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/263649?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Wednesday, July 9, 2025, 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM.
Freedom Was in Sight: Exploring Reconstruction in the Washington, D.C. Region (Educator Professional Learning)
One-Time Events
Note: This is a multiday workshop - Monday, July 7- Friday, July 11; 9am-4pm daily
Join the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture for a deep dive into the era of Reconstruction in the Washington, D. C region. Using the new graphic history, Freedom Was in Sight! A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington D.C. Region, we will take an in-depth look at how African Americans sought to build lives for themselves, their families and their communities. In addition to content and discussion sessions, participants will explore historic sites in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and meet with curators, historians and other experts on Reconstruction. This seminar investigates Reconstruction through a local lens while drawing connections to the national story of the years following the Civil War and the end of slavery. Throughout the week, sessions will demonstrate effective history teaching strategies and activities designed to meet teachers' personal and professional…
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: 2nd Floor Classrooms. Cost: $200 (application should be submitted first; payment link will be sent upon acceptance). Get Tickets/Register: http://s.alchemer.com/s3/REGISTRATION-Freedom-Was-in-Sight-Exploring-Reconstruction-in-the-Washington-DC-Area-Educator-Professional-Learning-Event.
Thursday, July 10, 2025, 9:00 AM – 4:00 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. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Thursday, July 10, 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. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, July 10, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Little Artists, Big Stories
One-Time Events
Discover the magic of creativity with our storybook reading program for early learners! Through engaging stories, vibrant exhibits, and hands-on art activities, children will explore the legacy of Black arts education in Washington, D.C. building curiosity, confidence, and a lifelong appreciation for artistic expression.
Recommended Audience: 18 months – 7 years
Time and Schedule: 10: 15 a.m. Select Tuesdays and Thursdays through September 25, 2025
Duration: About 1 hour
For all guided experiences, advanced registration for groups of 10 or more is required at least one week prior to your visit. When registering for groups of 10 more, groups may request free bus transportation. Bus transportation is available on a first come, first served basis. Please fill out the guided student tour form available here at least one week prior to your group's arrival.
Questions? Email the ACM Education team at ACMTours@si.edu.
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/little-artists-big-stories-tickets-1396883820109?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Thursday, July 10, 2025, 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM.
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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, July 10, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Drawn to Figures
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Discover your inner artist in this live virtual drawing workshop. Facilitated by artist Jill Galloway, each program will highlight a Portrait Gallery exhibition or a portrait from the collection. Open to all skill levels, ages 18 and up.
Event Location: Online via Zoom. Online Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-drawn-to-figures-tickets-880971558647?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-drawn-to-figures-tickets-880971558647?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile.
Thursday, July 10, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. U.S. Navy Country Current performs Bluegrass music
One-Time Events
The United States Navy Band Country Current is the Navy's premier country-bluegrass ensemble. The group is nationally renowned for its versatility and "eye-popping" musicianship, performing a blend of modern country music and cutting-edge bluegrass. This seven-member ensemble employs musicians from diverse backgrounds with extensive high-profile recording and touring experience in the music scenes of Nashville, New York, New Orleans and more. In the tradition of country music, each member is a skilled performer on multiple instruments.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: 2nd Floor, Flag Hall. Cost: Free. Related Exhibition: The Price of Freedom: Americans at War. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, July 10, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Sketching the Smithsonian: Weekly Lunchtime Drawing Series
Resident Associate Program
Pull out your sketchbook and pencil to take an artful break as you explore the Smithsonian while drawing objects from vast and fascinating collections. Option to register for this program as a 6-session series.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263790?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/263790?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 10, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
U.S. Navy Country Current performs Bluegrass music
One-Time Events
The United States Navy Band Country Current is the Navy's premier country-bluegrass ensemble. The group is nationally renowned for its versatility and "eye-popping" musicianship, performing a blend of modern country music and cutting-edge bluegrass. This seven-member ensemble employs musicians from diverse backgrounds with extensive high-profile recording and touring experience in the music scenes of Nashville, New York, New Orleans and more. In the tradition of country music, each member is a skilled performer on multiple instruments.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: 2nd Floor, Flag Hall. Cost: Free. Related Exhibition: The Price of Freedom: Americans at War. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, July 10, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
Visionaries in Art: Exploring Black Creativity & Expression
One-Time Events
Explore the rich legacy of Black Arts Education in Washington, DC through an immersive experience designed for youth audiences. Engage in close-looking activities featuring works by influential local artists and art educators, then bring your own creativity to life through hands-on artmaking. Through inquiry-based discussions and artistic exploration, young learners will deepen their understanding of self-expression and connect their observations to their own creative process.
Recommended Audience: Youth 8+
Time and Schedule: 1:00 p.m. Select Tuesdays and Thursdays through September 25, 2025
Duration: About 75 minutes
For all guided experiences, advanced registration for groups of 10 or more is required at least one week prior to your visit. When registering for groups of 10 more, groups may request free bus transportation. Bus transportation is available on a first come, first served basis. Please fill out the guided student tour form available here at least one week prior to your group's arrival.…
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/visionaries-in-art-exploring-black-creativity-expression-tickets-1396981753029?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Thursday, July 10, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:15 PM.
Arms and Armor: Bringing the Past into the Future
Resident Associate Program
In our modern world, arms and armor reign supreme in the fantasy realms of pop culture. One of the world’s largest private collections of arms and armor holds more than 6, 000 objects, spanning 6, 000 years. It includes pre-Middle Age Viking swords, a rare ancient Greek iron breastplate, and one of the best examples in the world of a Chalcidian bronze helmet (ca. 450 B.C.E.). Nick Richey, “keeper of the arms, ” introduces the collection and discusses avenues of preservation that range from traditional restoration to cutting-edge digitization for a burgeoning metaverse.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263918?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/263918?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 10, 2025, 6:30 PM – 7:45 PM.
The History of the TV Talk Show: From Carson to Oprah to Stephen Colbert
Resident Associate Program
From its start in the early 1950s, the talk show has been one of television’s most durable formats. Pioneering programs like “Today, ” “Person-to-Person, ” and “Tonight” established the basic features that have guided the format, later embraced by Oprah Winfrey, David Letterman, and Jon Stewart, among others. Media historian Brian Rose looks at the history of the television talk show and examines its changing appeal.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263542?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/263542?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 10, 2025, 6:30 PM – 7:45 PM.
Freedom Was in Sight: Exploring Reconstruction in the Washington, D.C. Region (Educator Professional Learning)
One-Time Events
Note: This is a multiday workshop - Monday, July 7- Friday, July 11; 9am-4pm daily
Join the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture for a deep dive into the era of Reconstruction in the Washington, D. C region. Using the new graphic history, Freedom Was in Sight! A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington D.C. Region, we will take an in-depth look at how African Americans sought to build lives for themselves, their families and their communities. In addition to content and discussion sessions, participants will explore historic sites in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and meet with curators, historians and other experts on Reconstruction. This seminar investigates Reconstruction through a local lens while drawing connections to the national story of the years following the Civil War and the end of slavery. Throughout the week, sessions will demonstrate effective history teaching strategies and activities designed to meet teachers' personal and professional…
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: 2nd Floor Classrooms. Cost: $200 (application should be submitted first; payment link will be sent upon acceptance). Get Tickets/Register: http://s.alchemer.com/s3/REGISTRATION-Freedom-Was-in-Sight-Exploring-Reconstruction-in-the-Washington-DC-Area-Educator-Professional-Learning-Event.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 9:00 AM – 4:00 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.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Story Time
One-Time Events
Stamp your calendar for Story Time! Join us every week for a fresh story, a stroll through the Museum, hands-on postal play, and more. Together, we’ll explore mail and all the ways it connects us to people, places, and big ideas.
Stop by anytime—whether you stay for one activity or the whole session, this program will get everyone’s “stamp of approval”.
Meet in the Museum Lobby.
If there are services or accommodations that can improve your experience (e.g. ASL interpretation, etc.), please contact NPMprograms@si.edu; 1–2 week’s advance notice is recommended but not required.
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: Meet in the Historic Lobby. Cost: Free ; no registration required.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM.
Spark!Lab
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation invites children between the ages of 6 and 12 to create, collaborate, explore, test, experiment and invent. Activities for children and families incorporate traditional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with art, history and creativity.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Spark!Lab, First Floor, West Wing. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Friday, July 11, 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. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Botany and Bugs: Behind the Scenes at the National Museum of Natural History
Resident Associate Program
Spend the morning behind the scenes with curators at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, uncovering two of the museum’s collections that showcase the wonders of flora and fauna: the United States National Herbarium and the entomology collection. At the herbarium, explore how specimens are crucial in advancing research in taxonomy, ecology, and conservation. Then discover the importance of insect diversity and its impact on ecosystems.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: Tour meets in the Constitution Ave lobby of the National Museum of Natural History. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263961?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Friday, July 11, 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. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, July 11, 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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
DC | Children's Kapa Workshop with Page Chang
One-Time Events
Learn the art of Hawaiian kapa making with Kumu (teacher) Page Chang of Pūkoʻa Studios from Waimānalo, Hawaii. Made primarily from the paper mulberry or "wauke," kapa (barkcloth) is the traditional fabric of Hawai‘i. Brought to Hawai‘i by Polynesian voyagers more than a thousand years ago, wauke is still grown and harvested locally on the islands. The outer bark of the stalk is stripped and the baste, or inner bark, is peeled, pounded over a rock with a wooden mallet, and set in water to ferment. Additional hand-carved wooden beaters called i‘e kuku are used to spread the bark into a thin cloth, which is then dried and decorated to create fabric for use in clothing, artwork, adornments, and more. Participants will have the opportunity to strip a branch of wauke and pound the baste fiber with traditional tools, and to make and take home their own piece of kapa. All ages welcome. *Visitors 18 and under must be accompanied by an adult. First come, first served, capacity and supplies are limited. .
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 3, imagiNATIONS Activity Center. Cost: FREE.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM.
Science on a Sphere
One-Time Events
Come explore our blue planet with NMNH Ocean Educators. Through NOAA’s Science on a Sphere technology, you’ll encounter a series of interactive visualizations projected on the Sant Ocean Hall’s giant globe. Watch sea turtles migrate coast to coast, track ships through global waters in real-time, explore the changing climate patterns shaping our planet, and much more!
Photo credit: Jennifer Renteria, Smithsonian Institution.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Related Exhibition: The Sant Ocean Hall. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
DC | Children's Kapa Workshop with Page Chang
One-Time Events
Learn the art of Hawaiian kapa making with Kumu (teacher) Page Chang of Pūkoʻa Studios from Waimānalo, Hawaii. Made primarily from the paper mulberry or "wauke," kapa (barkcloth) is the traditional fabric of Hawai‘i. Brought to Hawai‘i by Polynesian voyagers more than a thousand years ago, wauke is still grown and harvested locally on the islands. The outer bark of the stalk is stripped and the baste, or inner bark, is peeled, pounded over a rock with a wooden mallet, and set in water to ferment. Additional hand-carved wooden beaters called i‘e kuku are used to spread the bark into a thin cloth, which is then dried and decorated to create fabric for use in clothing, artwork, adornments, and more. Participants will have the opportunity to strip a branch of wauke and pound the baste fiber with traditional tools, and to make and take home their own piece of kapa. All ages welcome. *Visitors 18 and under must be accompanied by an adult. First come, first served, capacity and supplies are limited. .
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 3, imagiNATIONS Activity Center. Cost: FREE.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM.
Hidden Histories of the Viking Age
Resident Associate Program
Historian Eleanor Barraclough digs into the day-to-day lives of the real Vikings—not the storied kings, raiders, and saga heroes but the ordinary people: the merchants, artisans, slaves, and storytellers who shaped the medieval Nordic world. Barraclough’s tools are artifacts such as a comb engraved with the earliest traces of a new writing system, a pagan shrine found deep beneath a lava field, and a note from an angry wife to a husband too long at the tavern.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263919?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/263919?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM.
Stories from Space
One-Time Events
Meteorites are rocks that came from space, fell through the sky and crashed to Earth. Each meteorite records the story of the formation and evolution of our solar system. Come touch a meteorite and talk to Dr. Glenn Macpherson, Curator of Meteorites, about the science stories from the National Meteorites Collection.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 2nd Floor, Geology, Gems, and Minerals Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Related Exhibition: The Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
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.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. DC | Children's Kapa Workshop with Page Chang
One-Time Events
Learn the art of Hawaiian kapa making with Kumu (teacher) Page Chang of Pūkoʻa Studios from Waimānalo, Hawaii. Made primarily from the paper mulberry or "wauke," kapa (barkcloth) is the traditional fabric of Hawai‘i. Brought to Hawai‘i by Polynesian voyagers more than a thousand years ago, wauke is still grown and harvested locally on the islands. The outer bark of the stalk is stripped and the baste, or inner bark, is peeled, pounded over a rock with a wooden mallet, and set in water to ferment. Additional hand-carved wooden beaters called i‘e kuku are used to spread the bark into a thin cloth, which is then dried and decorated to create fabric for use in clothing, artwork, adornments, and more. Participants will have the opportunity to strip a branch of wauke and pound the baste fiber with traditional tools, and to make and take home their own piece of kapa. All ages welcome. *Visitors 18 and under must be accompanied by an adult. First come, first served, capacity and supplies are limited. .
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 3, imagiNATIONS Activity Center. Cost: FREE.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 1:30 PM – 2:15 PM.
DC | Close Look: Making a Statement
One-Time Events
Curator Anya Montiel (Mestiza/Tohono O'odham descent) offers a close look at the museum’s special installation Making a Statement, featuring custom Gucci gowns worn by actress Lily Gladstone (Siksikaitsitapi [Blackfeet]/Nimiipuu [Nez Perce]) at the 96th Academy Awards. Then join Montiel and one of our museum educators to get hands-on and learn more about different types of quillwork in the museum’s Teaching Collection.
Image: Photos by Norwood Photography for the National Museum of the American Indian.
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 3: "Making a Statement" special installation. Cost: Free. Related Exhibition: Making a Statement.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 2:00 PM – 2:30 PM.
DC | Children's Kapa Workshop with Page Chang
One-Time Events
Learn the art of Hawaiian kapa making with Kumu (teacher) Page Chang of Pūkoʻa Studios from Waimānalo, Hawaii. Made primarily from the paper mulberry or "wauke," kapa (barkcloth) is the traditional fabric of Hawai‘i. Brought to Hawai‘i by Polynesian voyagers more than a thousand years ago, wauke is still grown and harvested locally on the islands. The outer bark of the stalk is stripped and the baste, or inner bark, is peeled, pounded over a rock with a wooden mallet, and set in water to ferment. Additional hand-carved wooden beaters called i‘e kuku are used to spread the bark into a thin cloth, which is then dried and decorated to create fabric for use in clothing, artwork, adornments, and more. Participants will have the opportunity to strip a branch of wauke and pound the baste fiber with traditional tools, and to make and take home their own piece of kapa. All ages welcome. *Visitors 18 and under must be accompanied by an adult. First come, first served, capacity and supplies are limited. .
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 3, imagiNATIONS Activity Center. Cost: FREE.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 2:30 PM – 3:15 PM.
Asia After Dark | Eiko Ishibashi: GIFT
Performances
Register in advance to get the best experience.
Join us for a special outdoor screening and performance featuring multi-instrumentalist composer and musician Eiko Ishibashi. GIFT is a collaboration with acclaimed filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car, Happy Hour), accompanied by a live soundtrack performed by Ishibashi. For each performance, Hamaguchi edits a new, silent version of his award-winning film Evil Does Not Exist, making each performance of GIFT a completely unique experience.
Seating is limited. You can bring a blanket or small folding chair to sit on the plaza, but you cannot bring these inside the museum. Do not bring tents, large folding tables, or beach umbrellas.
Food and drinks will be available for purchase.
GIFT Synopsis
Located on a plateau rich in nature, Mizubiki Village in Nagano is not so far from Tokyo, and the number of immigrants is on the rise with very gradual development. Takumi and his daughter Hana, who have lived there for generations, lead a modest life, following…
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Freer Plaza. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1412740588129?aff=oddtdtcreator. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 5:30 PM – 9:30 PM.
Smithsonian Sleepover at the Natural History Museum
Resident Associate Program
In-person Program: Go on an interactive exploration of the Natural History Museum and participate in hands-on crafts projects and games. Then roll out your sleeping bag and dream away in the darkened halls of one of the world’s most famous museums! Geared for children ages 8 to 14 years old, accompanied by an adult.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: National Museum of Natural History 10th St & Constitution Ave NW. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263986?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 7:00 PM – Saturday, July 12, 2025, 9:00 AM.
NY | Native Sounds Downtown with Elisapie
One-Time Events
Bring your friends and family for a fun concert featuring acclaimed Inuit artist Elisapie, who will be performing live in French, English, and her beloved mother tongue, Inuktitut at the National Museum of the American Indian. With unconditional love for her Inuit homeland, culture is entrenched in her work as storyteller, singer-songwriter, actor, and director. Elisapie was born and raised in Salluit, a small village in Nunavik, in northern Quebec, Canada.
Elisapie earned a Juno Award in the Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year category, as well as five awards at the 2024 ADISQ (Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo/Québec Association for the Recording, Concert and Video Industries) Gala. Her album Inuktitut, which covers ten classic rock and pop songs from a wide array of artists including Metallica, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Cyndi Lauper and more, all performed in Inuktitut, was nominated at the 2025 Juno Award for Best Album of the year and was awarded Best…
Venue: American Indian Museum NY. Event Location: Level 1, Diker Pavilion. Cost: Free, first come, first served.
Friday, July 11, 2025, 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM.
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.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM.
Growing Community: Summer in the City
One-Time Events
Join us as we discuss the importance of maintaining the garden in the late summer, including methods to extend harvest times and keep garden beds healthy even on the hottest days of summer.
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/growing-community-summer-in-the-city-tickets-1248205328739?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Open Studio: Weaving Friendships
One time events
Join Art School this July as we take inspiration from the best of summer camp with that extra-special Art School flair. Every Saturday throughout the month, come together at the Hirshhorn’s Open Studio for community camp-style crafts inspired by artists on view at the Museum. Each week, we’ll gather to create crafts including woven bracelets influenced by Anni Albers, sand art modeled on the work of André Masson, and journals and storytelling driven by Laurie Anderson’s narratives.
This Saturday, we’ll take inspiration from Anni Albers and her artfully designed weavings. We’ll make friendship bracelets to celebrate the meaningful relationships in our lives!
Meet in the Art School on the Lower Level. ABOUT OPEN STUDIO
Let your creativity run wild at Open Studio! Drop in to explore modern and contemporary art through interactive hands-on activities inspired by the Hirshhorn collection and artworks on view. Open Studio helps you transform your ideas into reality.
Every session introduces a new theme and a…
Venue: Hirshhorn Museum. Event Location: Meet in the Art School on the Lower Level. Cost: Free. Related Exhibition: Open Studio, About Hirshhorn Kids, Art School Everywhere, Art Project: Weave It Together.
Saturday, July 12, 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. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Saturday, July 12, 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. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
The World & Me: Caring for the Future of our Planet with Company E and Sound Impact
One-Time Events
Join us for a special The World & Me as we celebrate diversity found in nature, movement, and the planet we call home with local dancers from Company | E, musicians from Sound Impact, and educators from the National Museum of Natural History. Watch a performance titled Letters to Earth*, explore different hands-on activities with museum specimens, and discover ways to make an impact in taking care of Earth for future generations.
Performances will be 10:20 - 10:50 & 11:30 - 12:00.
Hands-on stations and activities will be open 10:50 - 11:30. More about Letters to Earth
The Earth is made of the magic of nature. Wondrous ecosystems – biomes – which make up the world we call home. For one special morning, the dancers and storytellers of Company | E and the Musicians of Sound Impact invite you to explore the Letters we write to Earth. A celebration and, at the same time, a cautionary tale of our impact on those biomes as told in the stories of “We Hear You – A Climate Archive.” 77 young people from around the…
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: Ground Floor. Cost: Free and open to the public. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Techniques in Modernist Painting
Resident Associate Program
Experiment with painting styles such as Cubism, Suprematism, and Abstract Expressionism to learn practical applications of the concepts and techniques of Modernism. Move beyond the basics to discover and develop your unique visual language. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit).
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263651?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/263651?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Saturday, July 12, 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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
DC | Children's Kapa Workshop with Page Chang
One-Time Events
Learn the art of Hawaiian kapa making with Kumu (teacher) Page Chang of Pūkoʻa Studios from Waimānalo, Hawaii. Made primarily from the paper mulberry or "wauke," kapa (barkcloth) is the traditional fabric of Hawai‘i. Brought to Hawai‘i by Polynesian voyagers more than a thousand years ago, wauke is still grown and harvested locally on the islands. The outer bark of the stalk is stripped and the baste, or inner bark, is peeled, pounded over a rock with a wooden mallet, and set in water to ferment. Additional hand-carved wooden beaters called i‘e kuku are used to spread the bark into a thin cloth, which is then dried and decorated to create fabric for use in clothing, artwork, adornments, and more. Participants will have the opportunity to strip a branch of wauke and pound the baste fiber with traditional tools, and to make and take home their own piece of kapa. All ages welcome. *Visitors 18 and under must be accompanied by an adult. First come, first served, capacity and supplies are limited. .
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 3, imagiNATIONS Activity Center. Cost: FREE.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM.
90’S Hip-Hop Yoga
One-Time Events
Join us in a 1-hour Yoga Session to Hip-Hop songs of the 1990’s. Sessions are suitable for all levels, welcoming beginners, and experienced yogis alike. Ideal for those who enjoy the fusion of music and movement. Participants should: Wear clothing that allows for the ease of movement and expression. , Bring a yoga , Bring optionally, water or a towel to stay hydrated and comfortable throughout the class.
The workshop is for ages 18 and over. Session facilitated by Khepera Wellness.Spaces are very limited. Reserve your spot now. If for some reason you are not able to make it, please cancel your reservation so others can attend since we are only able to accommodate a limited number of spots for the comfortability of participants.
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/90s-hip-hop-yoga-tickets-1374630570039?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Family Workshop | Draw and Display
Kids and Family
Join us for a creative challenge! Kids ages 6–11 engineer a safe way to display art—just like museum professionals do—in this workshop designed for families. Tour the exhibition Delighting Krishna and create your own fabric artwork inspired by South Asian pichwai paintings. Then use a variety of craft materials to experiment with different ways to mount and display your art. Image: Department of Conservation and Scientific Research, Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: ImaginAsia Studio. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1411229107249?aff=oddtdtcreator. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Assisted listening devices.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM.
NY | Story Time
American Indian Museum NY
Families are invited to an interactive story time on the second Saturday of each month* 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, which can deepen their understanding of the community represented in the story, along with a craft or other activity. All are welcome. Recommended for visitors ages 3–9 years old accompanied by an adult caregiver. *Schedule subject to change.
Venue: American Indian Museum NY. Event Location: Level 1: imagiNATIONS Activity Center Classroom. Cost: Free.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 11:15 AM – 11:45 AM.
Rick Franklin performs the Piedmont Blues
One-Time Events
Rick's musical style is an acoustic finger style blues with vocals known as the "Piedmont Blues" identified with legendary players like Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller and William Moore along with late local players and friends like "Bowling Green," John Cephas, John Jackson and Archie Edwards.
Rick has been playing acoustic guitar and singing the Blues at community events, local festivals, international festivals, as well as various clubs, cafes and other venues since 1981.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Coulter Plaza, 1st Floor West. Cost: Free. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
DC | Children's Kapa Workshop with Page Chang
One-Time Events
Learn the art of Hawaiian kapa making with Kumu (teacher) Page Chang of Pūkoʻa Studios from Waimānalo, Hawaii. Made primarily from the paper mulberry or "wauke," kapa (barkcloth) is the traditional fabric of Hawai‘i. Brought to Hawai‘i by Polynesian voyagers more than a thousand years ago, wauke is still grown and harvested locally on the islands. The outer bark of the stalk is stripped and the baste, or inner bark, is peeled, pounded over a rock with a wooden mallet, and set in water to ferment. Additional hand-carved wooden beaters called i‘e kuku are used to spread the bark into a thin cloth, which is then dried and decorated to create fabric for use in clothing, artwork, adornments, and more. Participants will have the opportunity to strip a branch of wauke and pound the baste fiber with traditional tools, and to make and take home their own piece of kapa. All ages welcome. *Visitors 18 and under must be accompanied by an adult. First come, first served, capacity and supplies are limited. .
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 3, imagiNATIONS Activity Center. Cost: FREE.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM.
Micro-Macramé Earrings
Resident Associate Program
Students learn several types of macramé knots and finishing techniques to create a pair of delicate yet durable earrings, plus how to translate the earrings pattern into longer pieces like bracelets or necklaces.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263652?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/263652?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Sightlines Saturday Guided Tour and Activity: Paint, Punk, and Pins
One-Time Events
Join us for our monthly in-gallery program for Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond, an exhibition showcasing the contributions of Asian Americans to Washington, DC. Participants will enjoy a guided tour of the exhibition at noon, followed by a drop-in activity from 1-3 p.m. designing their own pins inspired by artist MISS CHELOVE (aka Cita Sadeli)’s experiences in DC's punk, ska, and hip-hop scenes.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: Sightlines Gallery. Cost: Free | Registration encouraged. Related Events: Summer Sightlines Saturday Feature Programs DC Martial Arts History Showdown (Saturday, July 12, 2025) , Chinatown Show and Tell (Saturday, July 26, 2025). Related Exhibition: Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond, presented by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum through November 30, 2025.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
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.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Off The Wall: Going 3D with Assemblage - In Person
Resident Associate Program
Working primarily with wood and boxes as foundation materials, explore a range of options for creating dimensional art pieces that can be freestanding or wall-mounted.
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/263653?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
DC | Children's Kapa Workshop with Page Chang
One-Time Events
Learn the art of Hawaiian kapa making with Kumu (teacher) Page Chang of Pūkoʻa Studios from Waimānalo, Hawaii. Made primarily from the paper mulberry or "wauke," kapa (barkcloth) is the traditional fabric of Hawai‘i. Brought to Hawai‘i by Polynesian voyagers more than a thousand years ago, wauke is still grown and harvested locally on the islands. The outer bark of the stalk is stripped and the baste, or inner bark, is peeled, pounded over a rock with a wooden mallet, and set in water to ferment. Additional hand-carved wooden beaters called i‘e kuku are used to spread the bark into a thin cloth, which is then dried and decorated to create fabric for use in clothing, artwork, adornments, and more. Participants will have the opportunity to strip a branch of wauke and pound the baste fiber with traditional tools, and to make and take home their own piece of kapa. All ages welcome. *Visitors 18 and under must be accompanied by an adult. First come, first served, capacity and supplies are limited. .
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 3, imagiNATIONS Activity Center. Cost: FREE.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 1:30 PM – 2:15 PM.
Family Workshop | Draw and Display
Kids and Family
Join us for a creative challenge! Kids ages 6–11 engineer a safe way to display art—just like museum professionals do—in this workshop designed for families. Tour the exhibition Delighting Krishna and create your own fabric artwork inspired by South Asian pichwai paintings. Then use a variety of craft materials to experiment with different ways to mount and display your art. Image: Department of Conservation and Scientific Research, Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art.
Venue: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Event Location: ImaginAsia Studio. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1411229107249?aff=oddtdtcreator. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Assisted listening devices.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM.
Rick Franklin performs the Piedmont Blues
One-Time Events
Rick's musical style is an acoustic finger style blues with vocals known as the "Piedmont Blues" identified with legendary players like Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller and William Moore along with late local players and friends like "Bowling Green," John Cephas, John Jackson and Archie Edwards.
Rick has been playing acoustic guitar and singing the Blues at community events, local festivals, international festivals, as well as various clubs, cafes and other venues since 1981.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Coulter Plaza, 1st Floor West. Cost: Free. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
NY | Story Time
American Indian Museum NY
Families are invited to an interactive story time on the second Saturday of each month* 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. All are welcome. Recommended for visitors ages 3-9 years old accompanied by an adult caregiver. *Schedule subject to change.
Image: Photo by Matailong Du for the National Museum of the American Indian.
Venue: American Indian Museum NY. Event Location: Level 1: imagiNATIONS Activity Center Classroom. Cost: Free.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 2:15 PM – 2:45 PM.
DC | Children's Kapa Workshop with Page Chang
One-Time Events
Learn the art of Hawaiian kapa making with Kumu (teacher) Page Chang of Pūkoʻa Studios from Waimānalo, Hawaii. Made primarily from the paper mulberry or "wauke," kapa (barkcloth) is the traditional fabric of Hawai‘i. Brought to Hawai‘i by Polynesian voyagers more than a thousand years ago, wauke is still grown and harvested locally on the islands. The outer bark of the stalk is stripped and the baste, or inner bark, is peeled, pounded over a rock with a wooden mallet, and set in water to ferment. Additional hand-carved wooden beaters called i‘e kuku are used to spread the bark into a thin cloth, which is then dried and decorated to create fabric for use in clothing, artwork, adornments, and more. Participants will have the opportunity to strip a branch of wauke and pound the baste fiber with traditional tools, and to make and take home their own piece of kapa. All ages welcome. *Visitors 18 and under must be accompanied by an adult. First come, first served, capacity and supplies are limited. .
Venue: American Indian Museum DC. Event Location: Level 3, imagiNATIONS Activity Center. Cost: FREE.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 2:30 PM – 3:15 PM.
Summer Teen Studio: Keep It Tight (Knit)
One time events
Teens: Are you ready to level up your art? Join us for Teen Studio, a free art-making program exclusively for teens ages 13–18. Push your artistic boundaries using materials and techniques inspired by artists whose work is on view at the Hirshhorn.
This month, Art School is celebrating summer activities that bring us together. Take inspiration from artist Anni Albers, a fiber artist who experimented with various weaving techniques, allowing her materials to guide her work. Use string, beads, and your creativity to make friendship bracelets. Bonus points if you make a new friend while you work, too!
Summer Teen Studio is the coolest place in town! It’s exclusively for teens to hang out and make art. Drop in any time between 2:30 and 4 PM. Register once by emailing HMSGeducation@si.edu for all summer sessions. Join one or join them all! Meet in the Art School on the Lower Level.
Looking for more? Explore Art School Everywhere, wherever you are, to learn about artists at the Hirshhorn and get creative any…
Venue: Hirshhorn Museum. Event Location: Meet in the Art School on the Lower Level. Cost: Free. Related Exhibition: Teen Studio, Hirshhorn Art School, Art School Everywhere, Weaving with Anni Albers.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit hirshhorn.si.edu. Curator Tour of “Star Power: Photographs from Hollywood’s Golden Age by George Hurrell”
One-Time Events
Please join curator Ann Shumard for a tour of the exhibition “Star Power: Photographs from Hollywood’s Golden Age by George Hurrell.”.
Event Location: G Street Lobby. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-gallery-curator-tour-star-power-tickets-1335485094869?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. DC Martial Arts History Showdown: Summer Sightlines Saturday Feature Program
One-Time Events
Since the 1960s, Washington, DC has been home to a powerful network of disciplines, communities, and practitioners of Asian martial arts. Join us for a lively series of rounds where local competitors go head-to-head, sparring with their stories, in a respectful battle over DC Asian martial arts history!
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: McEvoy Auditorium. Cost: Free | Registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dc-martial-arts-history-showdown-summer-sightlines-saturday-feature-program-tickets-1415272701749?aff=oddtdtcreator. Related Events: Summer Sightlines Saturday Feature Programs DC Martial Arts History Showdown (Saturday, July 12, 2025) , Chinatown Show and Tell (Saturday, July 26, 2025). Related Exhibition: Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond, presented by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum through November 30, 2025. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM.
Eiko Ishibashi Live: For McCoy
Performances
In this solo show, Eiko Ishibashi riffs on her acclaimed album For McCoy, inspired by beloved Law & Order character Jack McCoy. Jam out as Ishibashi blends jazz, lush layers of synths, and hints of pop into immersive and affecting structures. This is your chance to see an artist whose latest release was named one of the best albums of 2025 (The Guardian).
Eiko Ishibashi is a Japan-based musician whose works have been released by labels such as Drag City, Black Truffle, and Editions Mego. In January 2020, she was commissioned to compose music for the exhibition JapanSupernatural at The Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. This composition was later released as the album Hyakki Yagyo. The following year, in 2021, Ishibashi composed the soundtrack for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s film Drive My Car. In 2022, she unveiled her LP For McCoy. Continuing her collaboration with Hamaguchi, she created the score for his 2023 film Evil Does Not Exist. Additionally, they launched the project GIFT, featuring a silent film by…
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eiko-ishibashi-live-for-mccoy-tickets-1417511999549?aff=oddtdtcreator. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, July 12, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:30 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. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Sunday, July 13, 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. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, July 13, 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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, July 13, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Small Sculptures in Wood - In Person
Resident Associate Program
Students create sculptures in wood based on their own ideas, while learning to use basic tools. The course focuses on assembly techniques rather than carving.
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/263654?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Sunday, July 13, 2025, 10:15 AM – 1:15 PM.
Beyond the Studio: Paper Folding with Adi Segal
One-Time Events
SOLD OUT
Adi Segal teaches participants to create folded shapes inspired by Japanese Menko envelopes and Victorian puzzle purses. Adi’s own work incorporates these shapes, which are also decorated in a way to tell stories when unfolded. This program is for all ages; children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Participants must register by 7 p.m. ET on June 29.
$15 | Registration required
Tickets available beginning June 13.
Image: Courtesy of the artist.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: MacMillan Education Center. Cost: SOLD OUT. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/5a2bVR1jOVR.
Sunday, July 13, 2025, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
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.
Sunday, July 13, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. “Stormé at Stonewall” Gallery Talk with LJ Roberts and Charlotte Ickes
One-Time Events
Join us for a conversation with LJ Roberts, the artist behind “Stormé at Stonewall,” and Charlotte Ickes, the National Portrait Gallery’s curator of time-based media art. “Stormé at Stonewall” is a light-box portrait of activist Stormé DeLarverie, who is said to have thrown the first brick at Stonewall—the uprising credited with launching the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement in 1969. Roberts created this unconventional portrait in response to DeLarverie’s absence in mainstream narratives about the history of the Stonewall rebellion.
Event Location: “The Struggle for Justice,” Second Floor. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/storme-at-stonewall-gallery-talk-with-lj-roberts-and-charlotte-ickes-tickets-1335500159929?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-share-source=organizer-profile&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile.
Sunday, July 13, 2025, 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Alchemists and Apothecaries
Resident Associate Program
Magic exists everywhere. From invisible chemical reactions to giant dragon trees, campers find traces of magic in the natural world around them. Discover how to bewitch blossoms and brew an elixir of enlightenment while creating enchanting art pieces and thrilling experiments. Trips to the Museum of Natural History and a special visit to the Apothecary Museum in Old Town Alexandria bring both the science and the magic of alchemy alive.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262683?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Bugs and Botany
Resident Associate Program
What’s growing in our garden—and what creepy crawlies live there? Campers explore the gardens surrounding the Smithsonian museums and view exhibits at the Natural History Museum and U.S. Botanic Garden. They investigate how plants grow; learn the secret power of worms; and recognize the diverse ecosystems surrounding plants, including pollinators. The young naturalists keep a field guide throughout the week to record their observations, cultivate their own seeds, and learn how to propagate succulents.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262676?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Climate Keepers
Resident Associate Program
The future is in our hands! Through museum visits, campers gain a better understanding of our climate and our earth. Throughout the week, they consider ways to reduce consumption, conserve energy, reduce pollution, and inspire civic action as they conduct labs, design campaigns, and develop sustainable solutions.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263834?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Drop the Mic
Resident Associate Program
Rap! DJ-ing! Graffiti art! B-boying and B-girling! Hip-hop has grown from a New York City–based art form created by urban youth into a worldwide cultural force. Campers explore the history of the genre through visits to the African American History and Culture Museum and the American History Museum. Additional collections and multimedia resources help them expand their understanding of hip-hop's main elements, create graffiti-inspired artwork, and write their own Smithsonian-centric rap songs. The week ends with a performance that includes original music and movement.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262684?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Engineering Earth
Resident Associate Program
Young aspiring engineers and problem solvers take a hands-on journey into the world of technology and design. Campers tackle real-world challenges, build impressive structures, and unleash their imaginations through engineering projects. From constructing bridges and launching rockets to programming robots, with the Science Guys of Baltimore as their guides, campers nurture a passion for innovation and teamwork. Visits to the Natural History Museum, Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, and local monuments inspire the next generation of inventors and builders.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262680?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Innovative Inventions
Resident Associate Program
From the wheel to electricity—or the cutting-board bird feeder to the Dogbrella—there are countless amazing inventions, many of which have changed the world. Campers explore Smithsonian museums to discover the works of artists, inventors, and scientists who have created the many things we use every day and make our lives easier. Trips to the American History Museum’s Picturing Women Inventors exhibition and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s National Inventors Hall of Fame inspire campers as they create and market their own inventions. The week concludes with an Invention Expo.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262678?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Junior Paleontologists
Resident Associate Program
Imagine Washington, D.C. 110 million years ago as a swampy landscape filled with dinosaurs. Campers get the chance to investigate it as junior paleontologists, exploring prehistoric eras and the varieties and unique traits of the dinosaurs that roamed our backyards long, long ago. Through museum visits, campers immerse themselves in creatures form the past and learn what it means to be a real paleontologist by doing some fossil digging themselves.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262677?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Mount Olympus on the Mall
Resident Associate Program
The magical Camp Half-Blood comes to the Smithsonian! Campers undertake quests on the National Mall to illuminate the connections among Mount Olympus, local architecture, and the museum collections. History, mythology, and science of the ancient Greeks are brought to life in the exploration of astronomy, botany, and zoology. Whether Team Greek or Team Roman, campers create a themed display featuring the 12 Olympians. Through riddles from the Oracle or roadblocks from Medusa, campers close out the week victorious with a game of capture the flag, Smithsonian style.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262679?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Smithsonian Safari
Resident Associate Program
A journey to explore the hidden treasures at the Smithsonian beckons young campers. After creating personal travel journals to record their sightings and adventures, they embark on a safari to a different museum each day to discover the vast collections of the Smithsonian. They use their findings in art and science to create mobiles, puppets, giant turtles, and clay fossils.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262675?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Smithsonian Spectrum
Resident Associate Program
Campers explore the science, art, history, and diversity of all colors on the visible—and invisible—spectrum across the Smithsonian. Inspired by camouflage and color-changing creatures of the animal world at the Natural History Museum and artworks featured at the Hirshhorn and Cooper Hewitt, campers conduct color and dye experiments, bend the wavelengths of light itself, and create optical masterpieces.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262682?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Soldiers and Dioramas WWII: Operation Garden Market, 1945
Resident Associate Program
Fought for eight days in Netherlands and Germany, Operation Market Garden was the largest Allied airborne operation of all time. The plan hinged on the seizure of bridges across the Maas (Meuse) River and the Rhine. Unable to secure the bridgehead of the Rhine, Operation Market Garden was a failure for Allied forces. Campers explore the end of WWII through discussions and historical simulations using information from maps, timelines, and museum visits. They create dioramas and fight battles with miniature soldiers, as well as engage in group-strategy games using large geographical maps. Fictional and nonfiction accounts, graphic novels, reference books, and related films and documentaries give campers a grounding in the period’s history.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262685?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Splatters, Splotches, and Dots
Resident Associate Program
Campers explore the world of abstract art. Using various techniques campers explore colors, shapes, and textures in unique ways. Visits to the Hirshhorn and the National Gallery introduce campers to artists such Kandinsky, Pollack Gillam, and Alma Thomas. Throughout the week, campers create their own works of art inspired by random museum objects using various mediums for a colorful end of the week exhibit.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263833?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Video Games: Design and Play
Resident Associate Program
Tired of playing those same, boring video games? Learn to design your own in this high-tech camp. Studying characters and video games in the Smithsonian’s collections and drawing inspiration from museum objects, campers use a video-game engine to create characters, game levels, and animation, and learn the ins and outs of game design and development.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262681?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 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.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. The Club: A Haven for American Women Artists in Belle Époque Paris
Resident Associate Program
With its flourishing modern culture, Belle Époque Paris was a haven for artists and intellectuals from around the world. American women artists, unable to thrive or be taken seriously stateside, journeyed to Paris and gathered at a residence for women called the American Girls' Club, opened in 1893. Art historian and author Jennifer Dasal examines how it harbored and nurtured a generation of independent, talented, and driven American women.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263944?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/263944?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM.
William F. Buckley Jr.: Architect of Modern Conservatism
Resident Associate Program
Beginning in the 1950s, William F. Buckley Jr. emerged as a towering figure in American conservatism—founding National Review magazine, shaping political discourse on television, and mentoring a new generation of conservative leaders including Ronald Reagan. In conversation with Rebecca Boggs Roberts, Buckley’s selected biographer, Sam Tanenhaus, unpacks his multifaceted legacy, exploring his influence on American politics and media, his ideological battles, and the complex, often-surprising life of a man who left an enduring mark on American public life.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263977?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/263977?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM.
From Millionaires' Row to Embassy Row: Massachusetts Avenue in the Gilded Age
Resident Associate Program
Washington’s movers and shakers once strolled the streets of Dupont Circle, where Massachusetts Avenue was the city’s most fashionable residential address. Its opulent mansions designed to impress society were converted into embassies, social clubs, and offices after the Great Depression. Carolyn Muraskin of DC Design Tours offers stories of Washington’s premier promenade and examines the past and present of some of its most notable buildings.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263900?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/263900?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 14, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM.
Storytime Studio: Let’s Go to the Beach!
One time events
Looking for a creative community? On two special Tuesday Storytimes this July, you’ll find opportunities to connect with your littlest artist through joyful play and art-making.
This Week: Take a trip to the beach at Storytime! We’ll transport ourselves to the ocean by looking at the work of Brazilian twin artists OSGEMEOS. We’ll also make our own art with colorful sand.
Featured Book: Flotsam by David Wiesner
Program Schedule
Storytime Studio is a one-hour experience, with entry times at 10 and 11 AM. No registration or ticket is required. Visitors receive their entry time upon arrival. Depending on availability, you may be asked to enjoy the galleries prior to your start time. 10 AM–noon: Open play (felt, blocks, sketching) , 10:15 AM: Read-aloud #1 in Art School , 10:30 AM: Art-making begins , 10:45 AM: Gallery tour #1 , 11:15 AM: Read-aloud #2 in Art School , 11:30 AM: Art-making begins , 11:45 AM: Gallery tour #2 Meet in the Hirshhorn Art School on the Lower Level.
ABOUT STORYTIME STUDIO …
Venue: Hirshhorn Museum. Event Location: Art School on the Lower Level. Cost: Free. Related Exhibition: Storytime Studio, About Hirshhorn Kids, Visiting with Kids, Art Project: Layered Landscape.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit hirshhorn.si.edu. Summer's Discoveries: A Reflective Writing Workshop
Resident Associate Program
Experience the power of reflective writing guided by the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, Mary Hall Surface. Inspired by works of art by Georgia O'Keeffe and poetry by Mary Oliver, explore the lessons that the summer season offers us when we slow down, look closely, and reflect. Designed for writers of all levels, and for the curious, the workshop invites you to look at the world through the lens of painting and poetry and to respond through reflective writing.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263945?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/263945?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM.
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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
DC | Cradleboards and Crawlers
One-Time Events
Designed for early learners (ages 0-2), their caregivers, and families, this drop-in program offers young visitors the opportunity to enjoy a book by a Native author or illustrator read by a Museum Educator, engage in free play and sensory enrichment, and participate in other hands-on learning.
*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 0-2 years old accompanied by an adult caregiver.
Event Location: Level 3, imagiNATIONS Activity Center. Cost: FREE.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025, 11:15 AM – 11:45 AM.
Great Hall Story Time
One-Time Events
Join us in the Portrait Gallery’s picturesque Great Hall for an interactive story time that gets up close and personal with art. Participants will look closely at portraits and read stories as they learn more about the people who have shaped history.
Event Location: Great Hall. Cost: Free. Registration Encouraged. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/great-hall-story-time-tickets-1335479447979?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-share-source=organizer-profile&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025, 11:45 AM – 12:15 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Charlie Chaplin and the Art of Screen Comedy
Resident Associate Program
During the last century, the world’s moviegoers were filled with delight as Charlie Chaplin ate his shoe, roller-skated blindfolded, was swallowed by an assembly line, and twirled his cane as the beloved Little Tramp. His remarkable 52-year career, however, was not without its share of personal and political traumas. Film historian Max Alvarez examines the laughter and heartbreak behind one of the geniuses of screen comedy.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263946?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/263946?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM.
Storytime Studio: Let’s Go to the Beach!
One time events
Looking for a creative community? Each week at Storytime, you’ll find opportunities to connect with your littlest artist through joyful play and art-making.
This Week: Take a trip to the beach at Storytime! We’ll transport ourselves to to the ocean by looking at the work of Brazilian twin artists OSGEMEOS. We’ll also make our own art with colorful sand.
Featured Book: Flotsam by David Wiesner
Program Schedule
Storytime Studio is a one-hour experience, with entry times at 10 and 11 AM. No registration or ticket is required. Visitors receive their entry time upon arrival. Depending on availability, you may be asked to enjoy the galleries prior to your start time. 10 AM–noon: Open play (felt, blocks, sketching) , 10:15 AM: Read-aloud #1 in Art School , 10:30 AM: Art-making begins , 10:45 AM: Gallery tour #1 , 11:15 AM: Read-aloud #2 in Art School , 11:30 AM: Art-making begins , 11:45 AM: Gallery tour #2 Meet in the Hirshhorn Art School on the Lower Level. ABOUT STORYTIME STUDIO
Join us at the…
Venue: Hirshhorn Museum. Event Location: Meet in the Art School on the Lower Level. Cost: Free. Related Exhibition: Storytime Studio, About Hirshhorn Kids, Visiting with Kids, Art Project: Layered Landscape.
Wednesday, July 16, 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. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Wednesday, July 16, 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. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, July 16, 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. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, July 16, 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. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, July 16, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
DC | Cradleboards and Crawlers
One-Time Events
Designed for early learners (ages 0-2), their caregivers, and families, this drop-in program offers young visitors the opportunity to enjoy a book by a Native author or illustrator read by a Museum Educator, engage in free play and sensory enrichment, and participate in other hands-on learning.
*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 0-2 years old accompanied by an adult caregiver.
Event Location: Level 3, imagiNATIONS Activity Center. Cost: FREE.
Wednesday, July 16, 2025, 11:15 AM – 11:45 AM.
The Exquisite Enigma of Maurice Ravel: Polished Perfection, Hidden Genius
Resident Associate Program
The music of Maurice Ravel brings a unique form of magnetism, delicacy, passion, and a frisson of disquiet to the concert experience. Concert pianist and speaker Rachel Franklin celebrates Ravel's 150th birthday by exploring a wide range of works from such masterpieces as Daphnis et Chloé and La Valse to solo display works like Tzigane that dazzle with their beauty and technical brilliance.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263947?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/263947?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Wednesday, July 16, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM.
German-Jewish Responses to the Rise of Hitler
Resident Associate Program
The rapid changes brought during the first weeks after Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany in January 1933 made it clear to the country’s Jewish population that they would never be viewed as assimilated German citizens. Historian Michael Brenner explores the broad variety of reactions from Jews to Hitler’s rise—including Zionist, Liberal, and Orthodox branches—ranging from attempts to accommodate the new regime to religious responses to calls for emigration.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263920?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/263920?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Wednesday, July 16, 2025, 6:30 PM – 7:45 PM.