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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 – 2:00 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
ABOUT STORYTIME STUDIO
Storytime Studio is a captivating blend of play, educator-led read-alouds, and art exploration designed for kids from birth to age 8 and their caregivers. Every Wednesday morning in July, at 10 am and 11 am, visitors are welcomed into our studio and enjoy a special Storytime adventure.
Storytime Studio has limited capacity. Entry is first-come, first-served. 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, KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Storytime Studio is a One-hour Experience.
There are two sessions each Wednesday in July with entry times at 10 AM and 11 AM. Participation for each adult and child is limited to one hour.
No Pre-Registration Required.
Entry to Storytime Studio is first-come, first-served. Once the 10 AM session reaches capacity, you will be given the option to return for entry to the…
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 – 11:00 AM.
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.
Storytime Studio: Let’s Go to the Beach!
One time events
ABOUT STORYTIME STUDIO
Storytime Studio is a captivating blend of play, educator-led read-alouds, and art exploration designed for kids from birth to age 8 and their caregivers. Every Wednesday morning in July, at 10 am and 11 am, visitors are welcomed into our studio and enjoy a special Storytime adventure.
Storytime Studio has limited capacity. Entry is first-come, first-served. 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, KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Storytime Studio is a One-hour Experience.
There are two sessions each Wednesday in July with entry times at 10 AM and 11 AM. Participation for each adult and child is limited to one hour.
No Pre-Registration Required.
Entry to Storytime Studio is first-come, first-served. Once the 10 AM session reaches capacity, you will be given the option to return for entry to the…
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, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit hirshhorn.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.
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
ABOUT STORYTIME STUDIO
Storytime Studio is a captivating blend of play, educator-led read-alouds, and art exploration designed for kids from birth to age 8 and their caregivers. Every Wednesday morning in July, at 10 am and 11 am, visitors are welcomed into our studio and enjoy a special Storytime adventure.
Storytime Studio has limited capacity. Entry is first-come, first-served. 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, KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Storytime Studio is a One-hour Experience.
There are two sessions each Wednesday in July with entry times at 10 AM and 11 AM. Participation for each adult and child is limited to one hour.
No Pre-Registration Required.
Entry to Storytime Studio is first-come, first-served. Once the 10 AM session reaches capacity, you will be given the option to return for entry to 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 – 11:00 AM.
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.
Storytime Studio: Let’s Go to the Beach!
One time events
ABOUT STORYTIME STUDIO
Storytime Studio is a captivating blend of play, educator-led read-alouds, and art exploration designed for kids from birth to age 8 and their caregivers. Every Wednesday morning in July, at 10 am and 11 am, visitors are welcomed into our studio and enjoy a special Storytime adventure.
Storytime Studio has limited capacity. Entry is first-come, first-served. 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, KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Storytime Studio is a One-hour Experience.
There are two sessions each Wednesday in July with entry times at 10 AM and 11 AM. Participation for each adult and child is limited to one hour.
No Pre-Registration Required.
Entry to Storytime Studio is first-come, first-served. Once the 10 AM session reaches capacity, you will be given the option to return for entry to 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, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit hirshhorn.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 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.
Beyond the Myth: Frida Kahlo at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Resident Associate Program
Despite being one of the most documented artists of the 20th century, Frida Kahlo remains an elusive figure, clouded by a mythology that was partly of her own making. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts exhibition “Frida: Behind the Myth” explores the defining moments of Kahlo’s life as depicted through self-portraits plus prints and photographs of her. The day also includes a visit with the Latin Ballet of Virginia. Arts journalist Richard Selden leads the tour.
Event Location: Departs from the Holiday Inn Capitol at 550 C St SW (corner of 6th & C Sts). Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263966?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 17, 2025, 7:30 AM – 6:30 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.
Thursday, July 17, 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 17, 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.
Thursday, July 17, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Ocean Topics Cart Chat
One-Time Events
Looking for a deeper dive into ocean topics? Come and find one of our Ocean Educators to explore some of the latest discoveries in marine science, stationed at an interactive cart in the Sant Ocean Hall.
Image Credit: Phillip R. Lee, Smithsonian Institution.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Related Exhibition: The Sant Ocean Hall. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, July 17, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Sketch Break
One-Time Events
Join us for a sketching session in our galleries. Create, connect and sketch with fellow artists while drawing inspiration from the Portrait Gallery’s collection. Participants can expect guided instruction from an artist educator before heading into the galleries to sketch on their own. Open to all skill levels, ages 18 and up. All materials will be provided. Participants are welcome to bring their own sketchbooks.
Event Location: In the Galleries. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-gallery-sketch-break-tickets-991180235767?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile&utm-share-source=organizer-profile.
Thursday, July 17, 2025, 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. U.S. Marine Corps plays American music
One-Time Events
"The President’s Own” United States Marine Band was established by an Act of Congress in 1798, and its mission is to provide music for the President of the United States and the Commandant of the Marine Corps. The band's ensemble "Free Country" pays tribute to the men and women in uniform with country classics, patriotic favorites, and original works.
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 17, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Santorini: Pompeii of the Aegean
Resident Associate Program
The island of Santorini boasts one of the most well-preserved archaeological sites of the Greek Bronze Age. It is often described as the “Pompeii of the Aegean” because around 1600 B.C.E. a cataclysmic volcanic eruption engulfed the island in layers of pumice and ash up to 60 yards deep. It was not until 1967 that systematic excavations began in earnest. Art historian Renee Gondek delves into the ancient site and discusses the colorful frescoes found in many of the preserved structures.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263921?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/263921?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 17, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:30 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/263791?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/263791?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 17, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
U.S. Marine Corps plays American music
One-Time Events
"The President’s Own” United States Marine Band was established by an Act of Congress in 1798, and its mission is to provide music for the President of the United States and the Commandant of the Marine Corps. The band's ensemble "Free Country" pays tribute to the men and women in uniform with country classics, patriotic favorites, and original works.
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 17, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
Feeling Abstract
Resident Associate Program
Learn the difference between Abstract art and Abstract Expressionism by discovering their basic elements, characteristics, and principles while creating fun, enlightening experiments using an array of media.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263655?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/263655?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 17, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Take 5: Jazz at SAAM with Zoë Jorgenson
One-Time Events
Celebrate a uniquely American art form with Take 5: Jazz at SAAM, a series of free, live performances in the Kogod Courtyard. Zoë Jorgenson is a bassist, composer, and educator whose music is deeply rooted in jazz, indie, folk, and ambient genres. She has been hailed for her innovative approach to melodic bass and vocal lines. Jorgensen will perform a variety of original compositions and jazz standards with her quartet.
Borrow a board game to play during the concert and stop by the Courtyard Café to purchase refreshments.
Image credit: Keith Butler Jr.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: Kogod Courtyard. Cost: Free | Registration encouraged
Tickets available beginning June 16. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/5a2bVR1iXxN.
Thursday, July 17, 2025, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM.
Design on the Water: Washington, DC, Architecture Cruise
Resident Associate Program
Spend a summer evening sailing on the Potomac, taking in Washington, D.C.’s architectural icons and history from a new perspective. Cast off from Georgetown with your architecture guide from DC Design Tours and professional crew from Capitol River Cruises. As you cruise south on the Potomac, soak in sunset views of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and Georgetown waterfront, then sail past Theodore Roosevelt Island, under Arlington Memorial Bridge, and along the National Mall and Tidal Basin.
Event Location: Tour begins at Washington Harbour in Georgetown at west (upriver) end. Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263964?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 17, 2025, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
Q?rius After Hours - July
One-Time Events
Q?rius After Hours is back! You have two more chances to hang out in the Coralyn W. Whitney Q?rius Science Education Center after hours this summer. Both nights will feature NMNH collections specimens, crafts, puzzles, and games, but check out these featured experts for July: The Biology of Berries with NMNH botany laboratory technician Gabriel Johnson , Knot tying, Chesapeake Bay Maritime History and Sailing Tools with the crew of Mildred Belle, the Living Classrooms Foundation’s Chesapeake Bay buyboat. , What Was Insect Pollination Like before the Origin of Flowering Plants? NMNH paleoecologist Conrad Labandeira , The Art of Preserving Plants featuring hands-on botany specimen preparation with NMNH museum specialist Erika Gardner , Try your hand at painting insect art with micro-photography Register here for the July 17th program.
After July, your last chance to catch Q?rius After Hours this summer is on August 13th. Register here!
This program is designed for adults. Registration is free and…
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: National Museum of Natural History (Ground Floor). Cost: Free; registration is required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/51366481/qrius-after-hours-july-washington-national-museum-of-natural-history. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, July 17, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM.
For more info visit www.etix.com. Galileo: Lessons from a Great Scientist
Resident Associate Program
Galileo Galilei is one of the larger-than-life heroes of intellectual history. Astrophysicist Mario Livio traces his fascinating life, examining Galileo’s monumental and enduring achievements in astronomy, mechanics, and the development of the scientific method. Livio also analyzes Galileo’s complex and tragic interaction with the Catholic Church, which eventually led to the scientist being denounced as a suspected heretic by the Inquisition.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263892?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/263892?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 17, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM.
Kierkegaard on the Madness of Mass Media
Resident Associate Program
In his published works and private journals, the 19th-century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard presented an analysis of the dangers of the daily press—particularly how it fosters a culture of anonymity and conformity, eroding the foundations of meaning, truth, and moral responsibility. Steven M. Emmanuel, a professor of philosophy at Virginia Wesleyan University, explores the parallels between Kierkegaard’s stance and present-day concerns about the effects of algorithm-driven social media and news culture.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263948?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/263948?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 17, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM.
The Indispensables: How the Marblehead Regiment Saved Washington’s Army
Resident Associate Program
A group of white, Black, Hispanic, and Native American soldier-mariners from Marblehead, Massachusetts, became one of the most indispensable forces of the American Revolution. A special-operations–like regiment, Marbleheads did everything from seizing British ships to ferrying George Washington’s troops across the ice-filled Delaware River on Christmas night of 1776. Military historian Patrick K. O’Donnell discusses the exploits and heroism of this unique group of soldiers.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263922?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/263922?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 17, 2025, 6:30 PM – 7:45 PM.
Heritage, Design, and Culture in the Black Home
One-Time Events
In celebration of the recently released publication Making Home: Belonging, Memory, and Utopia in the 21st Century, join artists and designers Robert Earl Paige, Renée Stout, Jomo Tariku, and Hadiya Williams in conversation with Michelle Joan Wilkinson, curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, as they explore ideas about home through the lens of heritage, culture, and design. The speakers will reflect on their experiences of making home through art, design, and through cultivating spaces for the nourishment of self and community. In their work, which includes textiles, altars, tablescapes, and furniture, we find examples of how each uniquely addresses refuge, ancestry, and interconnection in home living spaces and the objects they create.
The program highlights the "Making Home – Smithsonian Design Triennial" exhibition, a collaboration between two Smithsonian museums, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and the National Museum of African American History and…
Venue: African American History and Culture Museum. Event Location: Concourse, Oprah Winfrey Theater. Cost: Free; Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/73464537. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, July 17, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
Conversation Circles
One-Time Events
Calling all English-language learners – Join National Portrait Gallery educators and friends from all over the world. Together, we’ll use portraiture to learn about U.S. art, history and culture. This program takes place every other week. Meet new friends, learn about different cultures and practice your English. For more information, email Beth Evans at evansb@si.edu.
Event Location: Online via Zoom. Cost: Free. No Registration Required.
Friday, July 18, 2025, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM.
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 18, 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 18, 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 18, 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/263962?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Friday, July 18, 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 18, 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 18, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Glass Flowers and Royal Chandeliers: Inside the World of Czech Glass
Resident Associate Program
Czech glassmaking has captivated the world for centuries. What began in the medieval regions of Bohemia and Silesia has evolved into a world-renowned tradition celebrated for its artistry and innovation. Art historian Jennie Hirsh explores the development of Czech glassmaking, the distinctive techniques that define it, and the wide range of luxury objects that artisans produce. She also offers a virtual tour of the Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants at Harvard University. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit).
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263978?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/263978?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Friday, July 18, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM.
Privacy, Security, and Safety in Digital Space
One-Time Events
How privacy-aware are you online? Is it safe to share personal information in a group text? How do targeted ads work? Come chat with a team of computer scientists and privacy researchers from the John Hopkins University and the University of Notre Dame. Ask them about digital privacy and test your skills at being safe online!
Presented by:
Dr. Yaxing Yao, Computer Science Professor, Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Toby Li, Computer Science Professor, Johns Hopkins University
Lanjing Liu, Privacy Researcher, University of Notre Dame
Chaoran Chen, Privacy Researcher, University of Notre Dame
Julia Qian, Engineering Professor, University of Notre Dame
Photographs courtesy of the presenters (left to right): Chaoran Chen, Julia Qian, Lanjing Liu, Toby Li, and Yaxing Yao.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 2nd Floor, Cellphone Exhibition Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Related Exhibition: Cellphone: Unseen Connections. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, July 18, 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 18, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Spain on the Brain
Resident Associate Program
Spain’s history has been inexorably linked to wine since the 3rd century B.C.E. As a gastronomic culture, no Spanish table is complete without it. Today, the country boasts over 70 demarcated wine regions. From fresh, bright coastal wines to intense wines from inland areas to unique fortified wines, Spain has something for every palate and every plate.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263856?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/263856?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Friday, July 18, 2025, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
Caught by the Tides
Films
Watch the trailer
One of the world’s greatest living directors, Jia Zhangke (A Touch of Sin, Ash is Purest White) has taken his boldest approach to narrative yet with his marvelous Caught by the Tides. Assembled from footage shot over a span of 23 years—a beguiling mix of fiction and documentary, featuring a cascade of images taken from previous movies, unused scenes, and newly shot dramatic sequences—Caught by the Tides is a free-flowing work of unspoken longing, carried along more by music than dialogue as it looms around the edges of a poignant love story.
The film mostly adheres to the perspective of Qiaoqiao (Jia’s muse and spouse Zhao Tao) as she wanders an increasingly unrecognizable country in search of long-lost lover Bin (Li Zhubin), who left their home city of Datong seeking new financial prospects. The always captivating Zhao carries the film with her delicate expressiveness, while Jia constantly evokes cinema’s ability to capture the passage of time and the persistence of change: of people,…
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://icymi.eventive.org/films. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Captioning. Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, July 18, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:00 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 19, 2025, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM.
Open Studio: Let’s Go Get Away!
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 summer beach vacations and André Masson’s assemblage artwork Caryatid (1939). Assemble your own ocean-inspired artwork using colorful sand, seashells, and sea glass!
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…
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: Paint it black like Louise Nevelson.
Saturday, July 19, 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 19, 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 19, 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 19, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Handmade Cards: Hello Friend!
Resident Associate Program
Surprise friends and family with beautiful greeting cards you made by hand. This class teaches you everything you need to know.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263656?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/263656?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Saturday, July 19, 2025, 10:30 AM – 1:30 PM.
Diversión Storytime: "Paletero Man"
American Latino Museum
Join us for a fun-filled Summer Saturday with special storytimes and music with Multi-Grammy Award-winning musician and author Lucky Diaz. The story times will feature "Paletero Man," a picture book celebrating the strength of community and the tastes of summer.
Enjoy hands-on activities and games in our General Motors Learning Lounge, and learn about the many educational resources available to you via the Smithsonian and the National Museum of the American Latino.
ASL interpretation will be provided.
Event Highlights:
Hands-On Activities in the General Motors Learning Lounge highlighting "Paletero Man" and "Nuestra América: 30 Latinas/Latinos Who Have Shaped the United States," an illustrated anthology from the National Museum of the American Latino.
Schedule: Ongoing (11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) 11:00 a.m. "Paletero Man" Storytime with Lucky Diaz and a Young Ambassador Program participant , 1:00 p.m. Interactive Sing-along with Lucky Diaz , 2:00 p.m. Lucky Diaz Book Signing , 3:30 p.m. "Paletero Man"…
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: General Motors Learning Lounge, Molina Family Latino Gallery. Cost: Free. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program.
Saturday, July 19, 2025, 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Curatorial Tour of "¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States"
American Latino Museum
Join the National Museum of the American Latino in a one-hour curatorial tour of the "¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States" exhibition. This tour will guide visitors through the exhibition, highlighting key objects and stories that tell major chapters in U.S. history from the Latino lens. The tour also allows visitors to understand the formation of the U.S. Latino community from pre-Columbian to present day. After the tour, participants are encouraged to explore the digital components of the gallery including our Somos Theater, which features a 14-minute documentary style video that explores the Latino community's identity answering key questions of who we are as Americans and who we are as Latinos.
American Sign Language (ASL) Interpretation will be provided. For questions, please email: nmalgroupreservations@si.edu.
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Únase al Museo Nacional del Latino Estadounidense en un recorrido curatorial en inglés de la exhibición "¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States". Este recorrido…
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor East, Molina Family Latino Gallery Entrance, National Museum of American History. Cost: Free, No Registration Required. Related Exhibition: ¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program.
Saturday, July 19, 2025, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM.
Origem with the Lucini Bros & Friends: The Influence of Brazilian Music on Jazz
One-Time Events
This event will offer a dynamic and educational exploration of the lasting influence of Brazilian music, especially Samba, Bossa Nova and Baiao, on jazz. Attendees will gain insight into how these rich Brazilian traditions have shaped and been woven into the fabric of jazz music.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Coulter Plaza, 1st Floor West. Cost: Free! Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, July 19, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Crafty Caps
One-Time Events
Join Artist Tamara Thomas as she leads a workshop on designing baseball caps using paint pens, fabric, patches, stickers, gems and other decorative materials. Supplies are provided. This workshop is best for ages 8 and up.
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/crafty-caps-tickets-1374725654439?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Saturday, July 19, 2025, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
In-Gallery Portrait Signs
One-Time Events
Portrait Signs is a Deaf-led tour in American Sign Language. Tours explore portraiture, history and biography through the lens of our special exhibitions and permanent collection. Dates and topics are continually updated.
Event Location: G Street Lobby. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/national-portrait-gallery-810710525. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program.
Saturday, July 19, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. 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 19, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Origem with the Lucini Bros & Friends: The Influence of Brazilian Music on Jazz
One-Time Events
This event will offer a dynamic and educational exploration of the lasting influence of Brazilian music, especially Samba, Bossa Nova and Baiao, on jazz. Attendees will gain insight into how these rich Brazilian traditions have shaped and been woven into the fabric of jazz music.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Coulter Plaza, 1st Floor West. Cost: Free! Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, July 19, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Star Power: Saturday Movie Matinee
One-Time Events
The Portrait Gallery’s Star Power: Saturday Movie Matinee series returns this summer with another beloved vintage Hollywood film inspired by the exhibition “Star Power: Photographs from Hollywood’s Golden Age by George Hurrell.” Enjoy the glamour of the Golden Age and watch some of Hollywood’s most iconic stars in this 1934 classic.
The featured film will be “The Thin Man” (running time: 93 minutes). This comedic murder mystery stars William Powell and Myrna Loy as husband-and-wife detective duo Nick and Nora Charles. Watch the couple sip martinis and exchange witty banter as they investigate the mysterious disappearance of an inventor accused of murder.
Event Location: McEvoy Auditorium. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/star-power-saturday-movie-matinee-tickets-1234756733629?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-share-source=organizer-profile&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile.
Saturday, July 19, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:40 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Curatorial Tour of "¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States"
American Latino Museum
Join the National Museum of the American Latino in a one-hour curatorial tour of the "¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States" exhibition. This tour will guide visitors through the exhibition, highlighting key objects and stories that tell major chapters in U.S. history from the Latino lens. The tour also allows visitors to understand the formation of the U.S. Latino community from pre-Columbian to present day. After the tour, participants are encouraged to explore the digital components of the gallery including our Somos Theater, which features a 14-minute documentary style video that explores the Latino community's identity answering key questions of who we are as Americans and who we are as Latinos.
American Sign Language (ASL) Interpretation will be provided. For questions, please email: nmalgroupreservations@si.edu.
—
Únase al Museo Nacional del Latino Estadounidense en un recorrido curatorial en inglés de la exhibición "¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States". Este recorrido guiar…
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor East, Molina Family Latino Gallery Entrance, National Museum of American History. Cost: Free, No Registration Required. Related Exhibition: ¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States. Accessibility: ASL-interpreted program.
Saturday, July 19, 2025, 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM.
Sounds of Africa Concert Series
One-Time Events
Grab a drink, enjoy the lively beats, and dance the night away!
The National Museum of African Art’s Sounds of Africa concert series features music from the African diaspora. This ongoing series, which runs through November 15, brings together a stellar lineup of artists who are pushing the boundaries of music from Africa while honoring its roots. Enjoy drinks for purchase!
Kicking off the series on Saturday July 19 is Grammy-nominated Malian musician Cheikh Hamala Diabaté! Dubbed “King of the n’goni,” the West African stringed instrument related to the banjo, Cheikh Hamala Diabaté has long explored the connection between America’s traditions and his own griot roots. Born into a griot family in Kita, Mali, he travels all over the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia, performing and teaching. Diabaté is first cousin to kora master Toumani Diabate, and nephew to Super Rail Band guitarist, Djelimady Tounkara. He has collaborated with Bela Fleck and banjo player Bob Carlin.
Sounds of Africa Concert Series …
Venue: African Art Museum. Event Location: Haupt Garden. Cost: FREE. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sounds-of-africa-concert-series-tickets-1431688802749?aff=oddtdtcreator. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Saturday, July 19, 2025, 7:00 PM – 10:00 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/263987?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Saturday, July 19, 2025, 7:00 PM – Sunday, July 20, 2025, 9:00 AM.
Spark!Lab
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors. The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation invites children between the ages of 6 and 12 to create, collaborate, explore, test, experiment and invent. Activities for children and families incorporate traditional science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) with art, history and creativity.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Spark!Lab, First Floor, West Wing. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Related Exhibition: Places of Invention, Inventive Minds, Landmark Object: Ralph Baer's Workshop, Inventing in America.
Sunday, July 20, 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 20, 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 20, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Celebrating Smithsonian Gardens: From Sketching to Creating in 3D - In Person
Resident Associate Program
Explore Smithsonian gardens as you begin with sketching and photographing in the gardens, then head back to the studio to turn your vision into mixed-media artwork.
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/263657?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Sunday, July 20, 2025, 10:30 AM – 4:00 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 20, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. The Monk and the Gun
Films
Followed by a Q&A with director Pawo Choyning Dorji and a reception for all attendees!
Watch the trailer
Set in 2006, in the run-up to Bhutan’s first democratic elections, the plot of this wry ensemble comedy is set in motion when an elderly Buddhist monk sends an assistant out to find two guns that he needs for mysterious reasons. Meanwhile, an American gun collector is on a mission to buy the same weapons, and a put-upon election official is struggling to drum up support for a mock election in advance of the real one. A “droll political satire” (Marya E. Gates, Rogerebert.com) of crossed paths and missed connections, The Monk and the Gun is a true delight. After the screening, join a conversation with director Pawo Choyning Dorji and Bhutan Foundation Executive Director Tshewang Wangchuk, and enjoy free refreshments.
(Dir.: Pawo Choyning Dorji, Bhutan/Taiwan/France/United States/Hong Kong, 2023, DCP, English and Dzongkha with English subtitles), Image Courtesy of Swank Motion Pictures.
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://icymi.eventive.org/films. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Captioning. Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, July 20, 2025, 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM.
Animal Kingdom
Resident Associate Program
Did you know there are more than 4, 000 different kinds of mammals in the world—including such diverse animals as bats, lions, 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/262688?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 21, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Critter Mania!
Resident Associate Program
Insects are the most plentiful animals on earth. Campers embark on an adventure-filled trip through the world of bugs, butterflies, and bees to gain a deeper appreciation for these critters and the benefits they bring. Campers create environments inspired by field trips to the U.S. Botanic Garden, the National Zoo, and the Natural History Museum’s Insect Zoo. Stories and games also help them understand these powerful and beautiful creatures.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262689?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 21, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Deep Blue Dive
Resident Associate Program
Campers plunge in and discover the wonders of the watery world. Through visits to locations including Natural History Museum and the National Zoo, they explore the world beneath the waves as they discover its ocean zones, inhabitants past and present, and watery habitats. Hearing stories of the sea inspires their own magical depictions of the deep. Campers display what they’ve discovered in a marine exhibition at Friday’s show-and-share.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262686?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 21, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Flying Feathered Friends
Resident Associate Program
Let your senses soar as campers discover the amazing world of our feathered friends. From the rhythmic drumming of a woodpecker to the sweet melodies of a songbird to our flightless friend the emu, campers learn to identify birds by sight and sound. Through visits to museums, campers explore the evolution of birds from prehistoric times, the principles of flight, and the migration habits. Through stories, games, and hands-on crafts, campers are immersed in the world of our feathered friends.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263835?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 21, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Galactic Adventures
Resident Associate Program
Astronauts, prepare to take off! Campers spend the week exploring outer space, training to be an astronaut, and learning amazing things about our solar system. They tour the Air and Space Museum and Udvar-Hazy Center to explore the moon and the stars, planets, and the galaxies that fill our universe. The future explorers create crafts, experience simulations, conduct experiments, and take part in other exciting activities with an eye on space.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262687?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 21, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Kitchen Chemistry
Resident Associate Program
Mix it, melt it, make it wiggle! Campers join the Science Guys of Baltimore in this food-based chemical adventure filled with experiments that use edible ingredients. Visits to the American History Museum’s FOOD exhibition and Smithsonian gardens containing edible plants inspire campers’ investigations across the periodic table and through the stages of matter. They explore the hidden secrets of the kitchen, create edible slime, make gummy worms, and concoct edible eruptions in preparation for a delicious Friday demonstration for family and friends. (No major allergens are included in this camp.).
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262691?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 21, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Master of the Elements
Resident Associate Program
Water…earth…fire…air. Campers must balance the four elements in their quest to become bending masters. Through investigations of Asian arts and culture as well as science experiments and games, they enter the world of the Avatar. Campers learn what style of bending best suits them, practice their skills, and create a festival for families to enjoy. Field trips to the Asian Art and Natural History museums and the National Gallery of Art enrich campers' explorations as they track down the four elements on the National Mall.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262694?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 21, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Mission to Mars
Resident Associate Program
The idea of living on Mars has been a staple of science fiction since the 19th century, and NASA hopes to have a manned mission to the planet by 2030. Astronauts-in-training blast off to the Red Planet as they learn about current and past NASA projects, hear from experts, and visit the Air and Space Museum and the Udvar-Hazy Center. Campers complete an astronaut-training obstacle course, design a Mars Rover, and experience a taste of what it’s like to live on the planet.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262690?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 21, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Pop Culture Past
Resident Associate Program
MTV in the ’80s, fashion in the ’70s, Pop Art in the ’60s, and food innovations in the ’50s all helped to define America’s recent past. Each day campers time-travel to a different decade and take a cross-cultural look at history through the lens of popular culture. Visits to the Hirshhorn, American History, and African American History and Culture museums spark poster designs, jingles, and recipes inspired by days gone by.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262693?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 21, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Smithsonian Shark Tank
Resident Associate Program
Americans have spread innovations in culture and science across the globe for centuries. Campers visit the U.S. Patent Office, the Q?rius Lab, and the American History Museum to explore the entrepreneurs and creations that changed America and the world. Camper-inventors then develop their own big-idea innovations, polish their elevator speeches, and build prototypes to be presented before the judges at the end of the week.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262692?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 21, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Soldiers and Dioramas WWII: The Invasion of Okinawa, 1945
Resident Associate Program
Part of Operation Iceberg, the invasion of Okinawa was the last major battle of World War II. Campers visit the Air and Space Museum and Udvar-Hazy Center to learn about the history of kamikaze warfare and examine the events that led to Japan’s final surrender—the dropping of the first atomic bombs. Campers learn about the critical role the island played on the Pacific Front using reference books and documentaries. 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/262695?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 21, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Whirligig and Wild Wheels
Resident Associate Program
Campers mix art and science as they put a spin on the world of kinetic possibility. They discover the engineering design process as they construct machines to solve daily challenges and overcomplicate simple, straightforward tasks just for fun, in the spirit of Rube Goldberg’s wacky machines. They hand-manipulate wire to produce a zany 3D spinning toy, create a colorful interactive pinwheel, and participate in pendulum-powered paintings. Visits to musuems to view patent models inspire campers’ designs throughout the week. Full STEAM ahead!
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263836?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 21, 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 21, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Teen Futures Week, Session II
One-Time Events
Join us at the National Portrait Gallery for an exciting 4-day camp tailored just for teens. Teens will explore their future through art, discussions and interactive activities. Participants will connect with peers who share similar interests and dive into thought-provoking artmaking to explore what lies ahead in their life and career. This is a unique opportunity to envision 2025 and beyond in a creative and inspiring setting. Free and open to teens going into 9th through 12th grades. Session I is for rising freshmen and sophomores; Session II is for rising juniors and seniors.
Event Location: Education Center, E151. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/teen-futures-week-session-ii-tickets-1334374071769?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-share-source=organizer-profile&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile.
Monday, July 21, 2025, 10:30 AM – 3:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. 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 21, 2025, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Ocean Topics Cart Chat
One-Time Events
Looking for a deeper dive into ocean topics? Come and find one of our Ocean Educators to explore some of the latest discoveries in marine science, stationed at an interactive cart in the Sant Ocean Hall.
Image Credit: Phillip R. Lee, Smithsonian Institution.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Related Exhibition: The Sant Ocean Hall. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Monday, July 21, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Andalusia: An Empire of Three Faiths
Resident Associate Program
From the 8th to the 14th centuries, Andalusia—Spain under Muslim rule—flourished as an artistic, cultural, scientific, and intellectual hub for the Mediterranean world. Jewish, Christian, and Islamic artisans, translators, philosophers, architects, and scientists all contributed to a vibrant cultural exchange. Art historian Louisa Woodville discusses the region’s artistic legacy and this unique convergence of influences. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit).
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263854?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/263854?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 21, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:00 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 22, 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 22, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Teen Futures Week, Session II
One-Time Events
Join us at the National Portrait Gallery for an exciting 4-day camp tailored just for teens. Teens will explore their future through art, discussions and interactive activities. Participants will connect with peers who share similar interests and dive into thought-provoking artmaking to explore what lies ahead in their life and career. This is a unique opportunity to envision 2025 and beyond in a creative and inspiring setting. Free and open to teens going into 9th through 12th grades. Session I is for rising freshmen and sophomores; Session II is for rising juniors and seniors.
Event Location: Education Center, E151. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/teen-futures-week-session-ii-tickets-1334374071769?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-share-source=organizer-profile&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile.
Tuesday, July 22, 2025, 10:30 AM – 3:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. 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.
Tuesday, July 22, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 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 22, 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 22, 2025, 11:45 AM – 12:15 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. ONLINE | California Native American Survival and Resilience During the Mission Period (NK360° Educator Professional Development)
One-Time Events
Historian Dr. Olivia Chilcote (Luiseño/San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians) provides a history of Native people’s resilience during California’s Spanish mission period. Native Knowledge 360° program manager Irene Kearns (Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria) guides educators through how to analyze sources to answer the question "How did Native Americans of California resist and persist in the face of extreme adversity?"
This professional development opportunity is free to attend, registration is required.
Event Location: Online only. Online Link: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yrPtbstYTYid_lTyvpLTfQ#/registration. Cost: Free, registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yrPtbstYTYid_lTyvpLTfQ#/registration.
Tuesday, July 22, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:30 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 22, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:15 PM.
Spacious Skies in Watercolors
Resident Associate Program
Embrace the beauty of open horizons and endless skies as you learn to capture the vastness of nature with flowing brushstrokes and luminous colors. Learn a variety of approaches and colors to depict expansive, stunning skies, including everything from large cumulus clouds to wispy cirrus clouds.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263658?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/263658?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Tuesday, July 22, 2025, 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM.
Collage Jumpstart
Resident Associate Program
Discover a variety of approaches to creating mixed-media collages and learn techniques for creating interesting, personalized papers for art applications. Find out how to capitalize on everyday materials; learn to use household tools and utensils to make stencils and create patterns and textures on papers.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263659?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/263659?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Tuesday, July 22, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM.
The Stories We Tell: The Role of Storytelling in Evolution
Resident Associate Program
Whether around a campfire, in a café or in a theater, storytelling is ubiquitous in human culture—suggesting that it has deep roots. It also raises the question of why humans find stories so compelling. Drawing on examples from cave art, archaeologist April Nowell presents evidence for storytelling and narrative in the Ice Age and considers the role it has played in human survival over the millennia.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263923?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/263923?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Tuesday, July 22, 2025, 6:30 PM – 7:45 PM.
Are We Alone?: The Search for Life Beyond Earth
Resident Associate Program
Our galaxy likely contains more planets than stars, so what are the odds of finding distant Earth-like worlds that teem with life? Is it possible inhabitants of another planet are trying to contact us—and would we be able to recognize extraterrestrial life if it exists? Kelly Beatty, senior editor of Sky & Telescope magazine, examines how astronomers and scientists are investigating the possibilities.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263855?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/263855?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Tuesday, July 22, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM.
Jules Verne and the Invention of the Future
Resident Associate Program
The novels of Jules Verne thrilled and entertained, as well as predicted innovations and technological advancements that in time would become everyday realities. Brimming with intellect, science, adventure, and paradoxes, his work dared to imagine a world beyond the limits of what was thought possible—and inspired others to bring it about. Biographer Laurence Bergreen offers an overview of a singular visionary who profoundly shaped the modern world.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263949?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/263949?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Tuesday, July 22, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:00 PM.
Storytime Studio: Pet Palooza
One time events
ABOUT STORYTIME STUDIO
Storytime Studio is a captivating blend of play, educator-led read-alouds, and art exploration designed for kids from birth to age 8 and their caregivers. Every Wednesday morning in July, at 10 am and 11 am, visitors are welcomed into our studio and enjoy a special Storytime adventure.
Storytime Studio has limited capacity. Entry is first-come, first-served. THIS WEEK
Woof, woof! We’ll search for animals in the exhibit Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960. We’ll also make our very own pet rocks to take home.
Featured Book: They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel, KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Storytime Studio is a One-hour Experience.
There are two sessions each Wednesday in July with entry times at 10 AM and 11 AM. Participation for each adult and child is limited to one hour.
No Pre-Registration Required.
Entry to Storytime Studio is first-come, first-served. Once the 10 AM session reaches capacity, you will be given the option to return for entry to the 11 AM…
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: Picasso Rocks!
Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM.
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 23, 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 23, 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 23, 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 23, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Teen Futures Week, Session II
One-Time Events
Join us at the National Portrait Gallery for an exciting 4-day camp tailored just for teens. Teens will explore their future through art, discussions and interactive activities. Participants will connect with peers who share similar interests and dive into thought-provoking artmaking to explore what lies ahead in their life and career. This is a unique opportunity to envision 2025 and beyond in a creative and inspiring setting. Free and open to teens going into 9th through 12th grades. Session I is for rising freshmen and sophomores; Session II is for rising juniors and seniors.
Event Location: Education Center, E151. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/teen-futures-week-session-ii-tickets-1334374071769?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-share-source=organizer-profile&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile.
Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 10:30 AM – 3:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Storytime Studio: Pet Palooza
One time events
ABOUT STORYTIME STUDIO
Storytime Studio is a captivating blend of play, educator-led read-alouds, and art exploration designed for kids from birth to age 8 and their caregivers. Every Wednesday morning in July, at 10 am and 11 am, visitors are welcomed into our studio and enjoy a special Storytime adventure.
Storytime Studio has limited capacity. Entry is first-come, first-served. THIS WEEK
Woof, woof! We’ll search for animals in the exhibit Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960. We’ll also make our very own pet rocks to take home.
Featured Book: They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel, KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Storytime Studio is a One-hour Experience.
There are two sessions each Wednesday in July with entry times at 10 AM and 11 AM. Participation for each adult and child is limited to one hour.
No Pre-Registration Required.
Entry to Storytime Studio is first-come, first-served. Once the 10 AM session reaches capacity, you will be given the option to return for entry to the 11 AM…
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: Picasso Rocks!
Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit hirshhorn.si.edu. Oyster EMTs: Environmental Monitoring Technicians of the Sea
One-Time Events
Did you know that oysters are nature’s first responders to environmental change? Join our experts as they answer questions about how seashells form, the role oysters play in cleaning our coastal waters, and the challenges and solutions surrounding their growth.
Presented by: Dr. Carly LaRoche and Dr. Elizabeth (Lizz) Whitney, Marine Chemists, The College of William and Mary and the University of Delaware
Photos from Dr. Carly LaRoche (left) and Dr. Elizabeth (Lizz) Whitney (right).
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.
Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM.
Tiny Critters, Big Jobs
One-Time Events
They are tiny, but plankton power the planet! In life, these ocean critters create the oxygen we breathe and feed the food web. When they die, plankton sink to the seafloor, where they preserve a time capsule of Earth’s changing climate.
Come learn more about Earth’s unseen engineers and historians – they help us survive and understand how our planet works!
Presented by: Dr. Maddie Wood and Dr. Allie Smith, Marine Geochemist and Marine Biogeochemist, University of California, Santa Cruz and University of South Alabama/Dauphin Island Sea Lab
Photograph of diatoms arranged on a microscope slide by W.M. Grant.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/casgeology/8982703970/.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 11:00 AM – 1:00 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 23, 2025, 11:15 AM – 11:45 AM.
Abstract Embroidery
Resident Associate Program
Learn to apply the principles of abstract art to making embroidery. Develop a free-flowing approach to embroidery that emphasizes form, color, line, texture, pattern, composition, and process.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263660?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/263660?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
ONLINE | California Native American Survival and Resilience During the Mission Period (NK360° Educator Professional Development)
One-Time Events
Historian Dr. Olivia Chilcote (Luiseño/San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians) provides a history of Native people’s resilience during California’s Spanish mission period. Native Knowledge 360° program manager Irene Kearns (Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria) guides educators through how to analyze sources to answer the question "How did Native Americans of California resist and persist in the face of extreme adversity?"
This professional development opportunity is free to attend, registration is required.
Event Location: Online only. Online Link: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yrPtbstYTYid_lTyvpLTfQ#/registration. Cost: Free, registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yrPtbstYTYid_lTyvpLTfQ#/registration.
Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM.
Busy Beavers: Restoring Riverscapes
One-Time Events
Beavers are ecosystem engineers that build dams and lodges. Today, beaver populations are lower than their historic amount, but we still need beavers to shape streams. So, some restoration efforts are taking inspiration from beavers! Learn about Beaver Dam Analogs as one example of low-tech process-based restoration techniques that improve water quality, fish habitat, and water table levels.
Presented by: Christy Mueller, Watershed Restoration Ecologist, Knauss Marine Policy Fellow, Connecticut Sea Grant
Images from Christy Mueller.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, Hall of Mammals. Cost: Free and open to the public. Related Exhibition: The Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
Beyond the Frame: An Inside Look at the Portrait Gallery
One-Time Events
Curious about the inner workings of a museum? Ever wondered how conservators care for centuries-old artworks or how lighting designers illuminate exhibitions? Peek behind the curtain at the National Portrait Gallery and hear from staff who work behind the scenes to bring our collection to life. July will feature conservation and August will center around art handling.
Event Location: G Street Lobby. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-the-frame-an-inside-look-at-the-portrait-gallery-tickets-1334324994979?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-share-source=organizer-profile&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile.
Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Thomas Cromwell: Villain or Victim?
Resident Associate Program
Did Thomas Cromwell, chief courtier of Henry VIII and architect of the English Protestant Reformation, resemble the pragmatic striver of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy or the sinister nemesis of the martyr Sir Thomas More in Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons? Historian Jennifer Paxton uncovers the intrigues of Henry’s court, where religion, politics, bureaucracy, and sex were entangled in a dangerous mix that led Cromwell to follow his enemy.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263893?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/263893?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 6:30 PM – 8:15 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.
Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:00 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 24, 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 24, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Art & Memory: Telling Your Story Through Creativity
One-Time Events
Celebrate the power of storytelling through artistic expression. In A Bold and Beautiful Vision: A Century of Black Arts Education in Washington, D.C. 1900–2000, discover how DC’s most influential artists and educators wove their family, community, and personal experiences into their work. Then, create your own meaningful piece incorporating portraits or photos from your life, connecting your story to the legacy of Black arts education.
Recommended Audience: Lifelong Learners
Time and Schedule: 10:15 a.m. on July 24, August 21, and September 18, 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.
Questions? Email the ACM Education team at ACMTour…
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/art-memory-telling-your-story-through-creativity-tickets-1397015664459?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Thursday, July 24, 2025, 10:15 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.
Thursday, July 24, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Teen Futures Week, Session II
One-Time Events
Join us at the National Portrait Gallery for an exciting 4-day camp tailored just for teens. Teens will explore their future through art, discussions and interactive activities. Participants will connect with peers who share similar interests and dive into thought-provoking artmaking to explore what lies ahead in their life and career. This is a unique opportunity to envision 2025 and beyond in a creative and inspiring setting. Free and open to teens going into 9th through 12th grades. Session I is for rising freshmen and sophomores; Session II is for rising juniors and seniors.
Event Location: Education Center, E151. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/teen-futures-week-session-ii-tickets-1334374071769?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-share-source=organizer-profile&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile.
Thursday, July 24, 2025, 10:30 AM – 3:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Ocean Topics Cart Chat
One-Time Events
Looking for a deeper dive into ocean topics? Come and find one of our Ocean Educators to explore some of the latest discoveries in marine science, stationed at an interactive cart in the Sant Ocean Hall.
Image Credit: Phillip R. Lee, Smithsonian Institution.
Venue: Natural History Museum. Event Location: 1st Floor, The Sant Ocean Hall. Cost: Free and open to the public. Related Exhibition: The Sant Ocean Hall. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Thursday, July 24, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 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 24, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Abstract Watercolor: The Next Level
Resident Associate Program
Through various exercises, students gain mastery over their technique, tools, and use of color while experimenting with mixed-media additions of their choice. Students develop their own visual language while formulating a focused idea for a cohesive series, which is worked on during the course of the class.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263661?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/263661?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 24, 2025, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
Deep Listening: Shaping Transformative Conversations
Resident Associate Program
Why do some conversations leave us feeling unheard and disconnected? Former BBC journalist, executive coach, and mediator Emily Kasriel argues that it’s because we've forgotten how to truly listen. Drawing from her book Deep Listening, she introduces an innovative approach to transformative conversations, illustrating how shifting from surface-level exchanges to more profound encounters can enrich our relationships as friends, parents, and partners—and in the process we can reconnect with others and bridge divides.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/264018?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/264018?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 24, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:15 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/263792?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/263792?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 24, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
Express Yourself: Art & Identity in Your Community
One-Time Events
Unleash your creativity and explore the impact of Black Arts Education in Washington, DC! In A Bold and Beautiful Vision: A Century of Black Arts Education in Washington, D.C. 1900–2000, see how local artists and educators reflected their identity, community, and experiences in their work. Then, express yourself by creating a unique artwork using portraits or photos from your own life, connecting your story to the legacy of Black artistic expression.
Recommended Audience: Teens 13+
Time and Schedule: 1:00 p.m. on July 24, August 21, and September 18, 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.
Questions? Email the ACM Education team at A…
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/express-yourself-art-identity-in-your-community-tickets-1397043517769?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Thursday, July 24, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:15 PM.
Portrait Gallery Reading Rhythms
One-Time Events
Join the Portrait Gallery and Reading Rhythms for a reading party designed to make it easy for people to gather and read socially. We invite folks to bring any book they want while we facilitate silent reading periods, one-on-one breakouts and group discussions to pull on the threads of the books and art that everyone is engaging with. This adult program unites a community of readers to learn together and to experience the wonder of beautiful art in a breathtaking venue with curated music.
Event Location: Great Hall. Cost: Free. Registration Required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/portrait-gallery-reading-rhythms-tickets-1334389417669?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-share-source=organizer-profile&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=organizer-profile.
Thursday, July 24, 2025, 5:15 PM – 7:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Virtual America InSight: Verbal Description Tours
One-Time Events
Join the Smithsonian American Art Museum for a docent-led virtual tour designed for participants who are blind or have low vision. Discover highlights from the collection through rich verbal descriptions that invoke a multisensory experience.
Image credit: Photo by Mary Tait.
Event Location: Online. Cost: Free | Registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://events.blackthorn.io/5f4ZMUx7/5a2bVR1j8ld.
Thursday, July 24, 2025, 5:30 PM.
The Birth of the Mafia: Crime, Power, and the Making of Modern Sicily
Resident Associate Program
The Mafia conjures images of violence, secrecy, and strict codes of honor—but how did it all begin? Far from being a relic of the distant past, the Mafia emerged at a pivotal moment in 19th-century Italian history, exploiting political instability, corrupt officials, and lucrative industries. Author Ross King sheds light on a dark but fascinating chapter in Sicilian history that still shapes the island’s identity.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263924?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/263924?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Thursday, July 24, 2025, 6:30 PM – 7:45 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 25, 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 25, 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 25, 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 25, 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/263963?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Friday, July 25, 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 25, 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 25, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Art Bites Gallery Talk
One-Time Events
Join SAAM’s research fellows for this lunchtime series of gallery talks as they share new discoveries about artworks on view. Learn the stories behind these objects and what each one tells us about the ever-changing cultural landscape of the United States. Brandon O. Scott, Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellow, discusses Minnie Evans’s Airlie Oak (1954).
Image credit: Minnie Evans, Airlie Oak, 1954, oil paint on wood, 14 × 18 × 2 in. (35.6 × 45.7 × 5.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Josh Feldstein, 2017.35.2.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: In-person | Smithsonian American Art Museum. Cost: Free | Meet in G Street Lobby.
Friday, July 25, 2025, 12:15 PM – 12:45 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.
Friday, July 25, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. 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 25, 2025, 2:00 PM – 2:30 PM.
All We Imagine as Light
Films
Watch the trailer
The light, the lives, and the textures of contemporary, working-class Mumbai are explored and celebrated by writer/director Payal Kapadia, who won the Grand Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for her revelatory fiction feature debut.
Centering on two roommates who also work together in a city hospital—head nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and recent hire Anu (Divya Prabha)—plus their coworker, cook Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), Kapadia’s film alights on moments of connection and heartache, hope and disappointment. Prabha, while her husband from an arranged marriage is living in faraway Germany, is courted by a doctor at her hospital; Anu carries on a romance with a Muslim man, which she must keep a secret from her strict Hindu family; Parvaty finds herself dealing with a sudden eviction from her apartment.
Kapadia captures the bustle of the metropolis and the open-air tranquility of a seaside village with equal radiance, articulated by her superb actresses and by the camera with a lyrical nat…
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://icymi.eventive.org/films. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Captioning. Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, July 25, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:00 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 26, 2025, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM.
Growing Community: Garden Friends III
One-Time Events
In this final youth workshop, students will work with a certified cooking educator to learn all about healthy eating habits. They will then get the opportunity to explore the garden, harvest veggies and prepare a healthy snack using their harvested produce.
All participating students must be accompanied by an adult.
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/growing-community-garden-friends-iii-tickets-1248208357799?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Saturday, July 26, 2025, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Growing Community: Summer Slowdown
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-slowdown-tickets-1248209772029?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Saturday, July 26, 2025, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM.
Open Studio: Dog Days of Summer
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.
Stay cool during the dog days of summer at Open Studio! This Saturday, we’ll take inspiration from our pets and from animals featured in works on view at the Museum. Bring a photo of your pet and make an artwork inspired by them!
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…
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: Picasso Rocks!
Saturday, July 26, 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 26, 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 26, 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 26, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Watercolor Quick-Sketch for a Day: Expressive Florals
Resident Associate Program
Spend the day learning to render the bright florals of summer with flowing lines and painterly colors. Discover how to simplify your subject as you compose and draw more organically and confidently. This technique is perfect for studies, travel journals, and finished fine art.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263662?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/263662?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Saturday, July 26, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:00 PM.
Postal Party
One-Time Events
The United States Postal Service turns 250 years old this month, and to commemorate two-and-a-half centuries of connecting friends, families, and communities, the Postal Museum is throwing a birthday extravaganza!
Join us for a special family festival. Explore hands-on activities, crafts, games, and stories inspired by the people, places, and technologies that have delivered mail across the country for generations.
This free, drop-in event invites families to create, explore, and play together throughout the museum.
On Saturday, July 26, exactly 250 years since the Postal Service began, for a day full of family-friendly events celebrating our rich American experience, made and shared in the mail. This special day will include: Meet Ben Franklin! Hear the story of the founding of the Postal Service directly from the Founding Father , Forensic investigations to learn about the Postal Service’s law enforcement unit, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service , Create Owney the postal pup inspired artwork with Erin…
Venue: Postal Museum. Event Location: National Postal Museum. Cost: Free; no registration required.
Saturday, July 26, 2025, 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Colorful Creations: Tie Dye Workshop
One-Time Events
Join Rain Young, artist, illustrator, and creative guide, for a vibrant tie-dye workshop! Bring a plain white t-shirt or piece of white fabric and transform it into a colorful masterpiece. This workshop is best for ages 8 and up. What participants will learn: , How to twist and use rubber bands to create amazing one-of-a-kind patterns. , Various folding and twisting techniques to achieve incredible designs. , How to use rubber bands strategically for patterns that pop. , Tips for applying dye to ensure vivid, long-lasting color.
Venue: Anacostia Community Museum. Event Location: 1901 Fort Place SE. Cost: Free. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/colorful-creations-tie-dye-workshop-tickets-1374701612529?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Saturday, July 26, 2025, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM.
Visual Journaling: Creativity Workout
Resident Associate Program
In an afternoon of artistic experimentation designed to strengthen creative muscles and deepen skills in visual expression, explore five modes of visual thinking: working from memory, observation, imagination, narrative, and experimental approaches.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263663?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/263663?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Saturday, July 26, 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 26, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Chinatown Show and Tell: Summer Sightlines Saturday Feature Program
One-Time Events
Historically, Chinatowns have served as vibrant hubs of culture, entrepreneurship, and community. However, the landscape of these historic neighborhoods has changed drastically to adapt to displacement, rising cost of living, and current community needs. Featured speakers will bring an object to share a story about their personal connections to and their current work in East Coast Chinatown neighborhoods.
Venue: American Art Museum. Event Location: McEvoy Auditorium. Cost: Free | Registration required. Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chinatown-show-and-tell-summer-sightlines-saturday-feature-program-tickets-1355646508199?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 26, 2025, 4:00 PM – 6:00 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.
Sunday, July 27, 2025, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit invention.si.edu. Wonderplace
Ongoing Tours & Activities
This learning space designed especially for children ages six and under combines age appropriate activities with museum collections and touchable objects to provide a gateway to history and a place to exercise curiosity for the youngest historians.
Admission to Wonderplace is on a first come, first-served basis. At busy times, we may use FREE, timed tickets to minimize wait time if needed. Tickets are available for 30-minute visits on a first-come, first-served basis. No tickets are required for the first session from 10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. To visit during a later half-hour session, visitors may pick up a ticket at Wonderplace in 1 West. The last entry using timed tickets is at 3:30 p.m.
Hours are subject to change.
Venue: American History Museum. Event Location: Wonderplace, 1 West. Cost: Free; first come, first served. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, July 27, 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 27, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 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 27, 2025, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Premiere Screening: Sima's Song
Films
In person: Roya Sadat, director; Aziz Deldar, co-writer and actor; and Helima Ahmadi, actor.
DC Area Premiere!
Watch the trailer
Afghanistan’s most courageous and acclaimed filmmaker, Roya Sadat (A Letter to the President), brings her latest film to the National Museum of Asian Art for its area premiere.
Set in 1978 Afghanistan, Sima’s Song follows two best friends: Suraya, a rising communist women’s leader, and Sima, a romantic musician devoted to traditional art. As political tensions escalate into war, their deep bond is tested by ideology, faith, and survival.
The film is a poignant testament to the courage and loyalty of women in times of upheaval. Sima’s Song is a deeply personal and political narrative of love, friendship, and revolution. Praised for its poetic structure and powerful performances, the film has screened at numerous international film festivals and earned critical acclaim for its authentic portrayal of Afghan women’s resilience. Forced into exile by the return of the Taliban in 2021,…
Venue: Freer Gallery of Art. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/premiere-screening-simas-song-tickets-1417519481929?aff=oddtdtcreator. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Captioning. Wheelchair accessible.
Sunday, July 27, 2025, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Big Art
Resident Associate Program
Campers think big as they create collaborative artworks and large-scale sculptures. Visits to museums around the National Mall, gardens, and art installations on D.C.’s streets provide inspiration. They exercise colossal creativity, paint a full-room mural, and produce individual works for a gargantuan exhibit at the end of the week.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262705?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Cabinets of Wonder
Resident Associate Program
Explore the breadth and splendor of the Smithsonian’s collections through some of its most significant and beautiful artifacts and specimens. Original museum collections were often housed in “cabinets of wonder, ” small collections of extraordinary things. Through in-depth visits to Smithsonian exhibits and sneak peeks behind the scenes, campers discover unusual and curious objects. They construct their own cabinets and have fun imagining, creating, and collecting the oddities to be stored inside them.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262703?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Dino Discovery
Resident Associate Program
Imagine our city of Washington 110 million years ago as a swampy landscape filled with dinosaurs. Campers get the chance to investigate the prehistoric eras and the variety of dinosaurs that roamed our backyards long, long ago. They observe fossils up close at the Natural History Museum and learn what it means to be a paleontologist by doing some fossil digging themselves.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262696?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Explore-ology
Resident Associate Program
The Smithsonian’s museums are filled with professionals in zoology, paleontology, entomology, volcanology, and many more fascinating “-ologies.” Campers follow in the footsteps of famous “-ologists” and explorers through hands-on projects for a deep dive into the wonders of the natural world. Museum visits, games, and stories round out their discovery process. Campers share their new-found expertise as “explore-ologists” at the end of the week.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262700?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Girl Power!
Resident Associate Program
It’s time to celebrate women in history. From anthropologist Jane Goodall to computer programmer Ada Lovelace to civil-rights activist Audrey Faye Hendrick—and many others—campers delve into the extraordinary accomplishments of women who made their mark on our world. Visits to the American History and African American History and Culture museums help tell their stories. Throughout the week, campers explore these women’s achievements and create their own journals, observe animals, dig for dinos, construct airplanes, design posters inspired by civil rights activists, and other activities. Families are invited to a Girl Power celebration on Friday.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262702?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Improv Comedy: Artifacts Reimagined
Resident Associate Program
Campers add a twist to the tales behind the objects at the Smithsonian. They discover and practice the fundamentals of comic improvisation through theater games, character development, and call-and-response challenges. Campers explore museum exhibitions for special objects to inspire their improvised stories and practice their skills. Friday’s showcase features classic improv games and invites the audience to suggest objects they’d like to see get an imaginative twist.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262704?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Mastering the Masters
Resident Associate Program
Ever look at a piece of art in a museum and wonder what went into its creation? Campers get the answers on visits to the National Gallery of Art, African Art Museum, and the Hirshhorn. As they view works by the great masters, they learn about their inspirations and methods. Then they head back to the studio and use their imaginations to create many types of art influenced by what they’ve seen. At the end of the week, they proudly display their own masterpieces in the spirit of Matisse, Kandinsky, and Picasso.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262697?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Music of Note
Resident Associate Program
Music is all around the Smithsonian. Campers spend the week discovering the many musical stylings found in its collections, from the anthem inspired by the Star-Spangled Banner to Hip Hop. Through in-depth visits to the American History and African American History and Culture Museums, campers connect the songs they hear with the historical and cultural changes that influenced popular music. They experience the many styles of American music, exploring its connection to visual art and international roots. At the end of the week, friends and families are invited to a musical experience spotlighting campers’ remix of classic and popular songs.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262699?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Oceans Alive
Resident Associate Program
Campers dive in and discover the wonders of the watery world as they visit Sant Ocean Hall at the Natural History Museum. Along the way, they learn about the many creatures that make their homes in and around the oceans. They discover the lore of famous ships, pirates, and sea captains who explored the world’s great oceans and mythical characters such as Poseidon, mermaids, and the amazing hippocamp. Campers display their knowledge and craftsmanship through their own coral reef exhibits.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263837?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Planetary Pursuit
Resident Associate Program
Get ready to pack your space suit and turn your gaze skyward to the wonders of space! Campers lead the life of an astronaut for a week and plan their own lunar journey by learning about a different planet each day. They make planet mobiles, make rockets enjoy space ice cream, and take trips to the Air and Space Museum and Udvar Hazy Center. Campers create a galactic display for family and friends to enjoy at Friday’s show-and-share.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262698?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Science of Art
Resident Associate Program
Unleash your inner artist and scientist! Young creatives explore the fascinating intersection of art and science with the Science Guys of Baltimore. Campers engage in hands-on activities that uncover the secrets behind color theory, chemistry, and the physics of light and sound. Through making playdough, learning about ultraviolet light, and visiting the American History Museum and Smithsonian art museums, campers discover where imagination and curiosity meet in the captivating world of artistic innovation—and find inspiration for their own masterpieces.
Cost: Click here to view prices. Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/262701?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM.
Soldiers and Dioramas Vietnam: The Mekong Delta Wars, 1966–1969
Resident Associate Program
The Mobile Riverine Force (MRF), or the Riverines, was a joint U.S. Army and Navy force that comprised the "brown-water navy." Engaging enemy forces in amphibious search-and-destroy operations near waterways, the Riverines' operations and techniques led them to quickly master the exceptionally difficult terrain of the Mekong River Delta and challenge the Northern Vietnamese forces. 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/262706?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 28, 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 28, 2025, 10:15 AM – 3:15 PM.
Meet the NOAA Fleet
One-Time Events
As many NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) researchers enter their field season, come learn more about their work! Meet the ships, planes, uncrewed systems, and people behind NOAA’s science missions.
Emilia DiBiasio and Autumn Moya, Great Lakes Scientist, Knauss Marine Policy Fellow and Coastal Scientist, Knauss Marine Policy Fellow, NOAA - Office of Marine and Aviation Operations
Photos taken by Emilia and Autumn.
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.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM.
Sargassum from Essential Habitat to Environmental Hazard
One-Time Events
Sargassum is an alga that permeates the open ocean across the world. It supports animals like dolphins, sea turtles, seabirds, crabs, and fish. However, in the last decade, Sargassum began accumulating in large amounts on Caribbean shores. Come to learn more about these accumulations events that impact local shores, fish, and tourism!
Presented by: Jose Martinez, Chemical Oceanographer, Marine Policy Fellow at House of Representatives
Photo taken by Jose.
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.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 11:00 AM – 1:00 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 28, 2025, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM.
For more info visit www.eventbrite.com. Genetic Time Travel Using Museum Specimens
One-Time Events
In 1898, the Smithsonian Institution surveyed the Philippines onboard the USS Albatross to find out more about this newly acquired US territory’s marine resources. Over 79,000 fish specimens for the expedition are now part of the largest collection of specimens at the Smithsonian. Find out more about what museum specimens can help unlock, including genetic time travel!
Presented by: Jem Baldisimo, PhD Candidate, Marine Scientist & Knauss Marine Policy Fellow, Old Dominion University, Virginia Sea Grant
Photo taken by Jem.
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.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM.
The Age of World's Fairs: Spectacles of Innovation
Resident Associate Program
World’s fairs have long served as global showcases for innovation, culture, and progress. These international expositions brought together nations to display a myriad of advancements, often reflecting the aspirations and challenges of their times. Art historian Jennie Hirsh delves into three pivotal exhibitions examining how these landmark events showcased each era’s groundbreaking achievements in technology, culture, science, art, and architecture. This session highlights the London World's Fair of 1851.
Event Location: This online program is presented on Zoom. Online Link: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/263979?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/263979?utm_source=SI-Trumba-Calendar&utm_medium=SIWeb&utm_campaign=2025FY-Trumba-SA-ev&utm_content=SA-Trumba-event&promo=276223.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 6:45 PM – 8:15 PM.
Postmarks and Paperbacks July Meeting
One-Time Events
Join staff from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum for a discussion of the literary sensation Possession by A.S. Byatt. The book traces the lives of a pair of young academics as they uncover a clandestine relationship between two long-dead Victorian poets. As they unearth their letters, journals, and poems, and track their movements from London to Yorkshire—from spiritualist séances to the fairy-haunted far west of Brittany—what emerges is an extraordinary counterpoint of passions and ideas.
If you have any accessibility requirements to participate in the program, please email NPMprograms@si.edu and we will do everything we can to meet your needs.
A Zoom link will be emailed to participants prior to the program. Registration is required.
Event Location: Online. Online Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/postmarks-paperbacks-possession-tickets-1399746432259?aff=oddtdtcreator. Cost: Free.
Monday, July 28, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM.
For more info visit postalmuseum.si.edu.