Women chefs, authors, culinarians, innovators and entrepreneurs will have a Shark Tank opportunity to present their ideas to a panel of professional experts as Les Dames d/Escoffier’s DC Chapter presents Pitch Fest, Saturday, March 9.
Local food entrepreneurs in retail, marketing and public relations will form the panel and will judge the pitches. The entrepreneurial winner will receive three hours of consulting services from the panelists plus a gift certificate to Michelin-starred restaurant Bresca.
Aviva Goldfarb, marketing executive and founder of “The Six o’ Clock Scramble” will moderate the panel that will include Stacey Adams, president and founder of Annapolis’ Tastings Gourmet Market; Susan Callaghan, chef and lecturer at University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Jill Collins, founder of hospitality PR firm Jill Collins Public Relations Group.
The brunch and presentation experience will be held at Mission Navy Yard from noon until 3 pm. Tickets, at $35 including brunch, may be obtained at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dc-pitch-fest-march-9-2019-noon-3-pm-tickets-55413950618
Food innovators wishing to make their pitch may sign up at https://tambrastevenson.typeform.com/to/N9TqWL
Les Dames d ’Escoffier Pitch Fest
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Noon – 3 pm
Mission Navy Yard – 1221 Van Street SE (corner Van & N Streets, across from Nats Stadium)
$35 includes brunch and presentations
Early Music Seminar: Tastes of the Mediterranean
Led by Robert Eisenstein, this lively seminar offers a sneak peek at the upcoming concert Tastes of the Mediterranean: Music of 16th-Century Spain and Italy. Wine reception included.
Location: Folger Haskell Center
Hours: 6pm
Tickets: $20
Info: www.folger.edu/events or (202) 544-7077
O.B. HARDISON POETRY
Vinegar and Char: Verse from the Southern Foodways Alliance
Three poets from this culinary anthology, Sandra Beasley, Sean Hill, and Atsuro Riley, read work that delves into the shaping influence of history, culture, and identity—and celebrates the glory of food itself. This evening is in conjunction with Before ‘Farm to Table’: Early Modern Foodways and Cultures, a Mellon initiative in collaborative research at the Folger. Reception and book-signing to follow the reading.
Hours: 7:30pm
Tickets: $15
Info: www.folger.edu/poetry or (202) 544-7077
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Michael Kahn invites theatre-lovers to a series of intimate conversations about life in the D.C. theatre scene as he prepares to retire from the STC stage. Open, unrehearsed, and off the record, invited speakers will swap anecdotes and share memories about Michael Kahn’s 33-years at Shakespeare Theatre Company. Following his career trajectory, the discussions will focus on three distinct eras in STC’s history by mapping D.C.’s changing theatre scene. The first Michael Kahn and Friends: Off the Record will focus on the formation of The Shakespeare Theatre Company in its first location: Folger Theatre (1986-1992).
On March 11, audiences are invited to join Michael and STC Affiliated Artists Edward Gero, Stacy Keach, Derek Smith, and Franchelle Stewart Dorn as they discuss their favorite performances onstage, backstage antics, and offstage tales. In 1986, shortly after The Shakespeare Theatre at the Folger was formed as a newly incorporated, not-for-profit institution separate from the Folger Shakespeare Library, Kahn became Artistic Director and guided the theatre into national prominence. The first three seasons included several landmark productions and garnered many Helen Hayes nominations. STC changed the cultural landscape of the nation’s capital with its first Free For All in 1991. More than 2,500 theatregoers watched each performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor under the stars at Carter Barron Amphitheatre. This annual tradition of free Shakespeare continues to this day and over 630,000 people have attended a performance during Free For All.
Future Michael Kahn and Friends: Off the Record events will focus on the Lansburgh Years (May 15) and the Harman Years (June 5). More details will be released soon.
Washington Performing Arts hosts its 2019 annual Gala & Auction on March 30, 2019 at the National Building Museum (401 F St. NW). Tickets begin at $750; Young Sponsor tickets (for guests 40 and under) start at $200. Tables start at $15,000.
This year’s Gala, “Sizzle & Swing,” is a grand celebration of the art of jazz, from the classic big-band era to today’s up-to-the-minute expressions, fitting perfectly with Washington Performing Arts’ stellar spring lineup of jazz programming from Chucho Valdés and Cécile McLorin Salvant to an all-star tribute to Glenn Miller.
Gala performers include:
- Vocalists Veronica Swift (familiar to Washington Performing Arts audiences through her work with Chris Botti and Wynton Marsalis) and Stephen Scott Wormley (an alumnus of the Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir, recently seen in the D.C. area as one of the stars of Signature Theatre’s The Scottsboro Boys);
- Mars Urban Arts Initiative Ensemble-in-Residence DuPont Brass;
- The Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir under the direction of Michele Fowlin; and
- The Sizzle & Swing Band
Gala guests will also be treated to a special preview of a newly commissioned transcription of a big band chart by Hazel Scott, the luminary American pianist, cultural icon, and civil rights advocate. This premiere anticipates Washington Performing Arts’ commemoration of Scott’s 100th birthday in 2020.
The Gala kicks off at 6:30 pm with cocktails and the Silent Auction, sponsored by Urban Winery, with the dinner and performance program starting at 8:00 pm. Stage, television, and film actress Tamara Tunie serves as the Master of Ceremonies for the evening. The Afterparty Speakeasy with DJ Dimmy is co-sponsored by Daimler and the Washington Performing Arts Junior Board.
“Washington Performing Arts has a long legacy of presenting both emerging and leading jazz musicians and amplifying jazz as a vital American art form,” said Washington Performing Arts President and CEO Jenny Bilfield. “Whether it is through our Capital Jazz program in partnership with D.C. Public Schools, master classes with artists like Cécile McLorin Salvant, or commissions by Wynton Marsalis and now this new arrangement of a Hazel Scott chart, Washington Performing Arts remains committed to spotlighting this vibrant genre in every dimension of our programs, onstage and off.”
All proceeds raised at the Annual Gala and Auction will support Washington Performing Arts’ arts education initiatives. These include Capital Arts Partnerships and the Embassy Adoption Program (both in partnership with the DC Public Schools); In-School Artist Residencies; the Washington Performing Arts Men, Women, and Children of the Gospel Choirs; master classes and lectures; and stipends for professional development teachers and Washington Performing Arts teaching artists.
The 2019 Gala Co-Chairs are Lyn & Barry Chasen and Tom Gallagher & Barbara Myers. The Junior Board Gala Chairs are Rebecca Allen, Cassidy Grunninger, and Wesley Thomas. The Washington Performing Arts Women’s Committee Gala Chair is Denise Rollins, and the Women’s Committee Silent Auction Chair is Njambi. The Gala Committee comprises Paul Ashe, C. Wallace DeWitt, Adam Farra, Jay and Robin Hammer, Susan Hepner, Jordan Hepner and Nina Damato, Margaret Hurwitz, Angela C.Y. King, Grace Lin, Christina Co Mather and Gary Mather, Haley Morrison, Michelle Nelson, Ami Scott and Lucius Outlaw, Jan and Marike Paulsson, Kerrien Suarez, Ebony Thomas, Lindsey Woody, and The Washington Performing Arts Women’s Committee.
For more information about Washington Performing Arts and the Annual Gala and Auction, visit www.washingtonperformingarts.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, City Tap Dupont invites guests to a Bad & Boozy Brunch on Sunday, March 31, from 11am to 3pm. Brunchers are invited to raise a glass in honor of the phenomenal women of the world with bottles of bubbly and mixers for build-your-own mimosas ($20), as well as the usual $18 bottomless mimosas, beermosas, and build-your-own bloody marys. From 11:30am – 2:30pm DJ Ducky Dynamo will have powerful female artists playing throughout the restaurant for guests to dance and sing along with while enjoying brunch favorites such as strawberry sundae pancakes, shrimp & grits, and woodfired pizzas. To make a reservation at City Tap Dupont, visit https://www.citytap.com/location/dupont/.
Washington’s only playwrights’ collective devoted exclusively to developing and producing new plays—will host its annual fundraiser, The Joint–on Sunday, March 31, at Rhizome DC.
The Joint will take over the rooms of the Rhizome art space, familiar to some as the setting of the 2017 environmental hit Hello, My Name Is… by Deb Sivigny. Throughout the house, installations, intimate performances, and interactive projects will delight attendees as they rewind to remember the past and fast forward to the future.
There will be opportunities to celebrate the current generation of the Welders as they offer the in-process work by the last two playwrights in the second round of Welders leadership. At the end of 2019, the current roster of Producing Playwrights will be turning the company over to a new group of artists: The Welders 3.0.
The soon-to-be-announced third generation of The Welders will be in attendance at The Joint along with the past and present generations. The evening will be a fun opportunity for theater fans to engage with the generative artists taking the production of their work into their own hands.
Don’t miss this spectacular art-house-party filled with connection, sneak peeks, and a celebration of three generations “passing it on.” Plus, the event will feature a fire pit, silent auction, tasty food, and punch from Drink Company, home to the 2017 Spirited Award winning “Best American Cocktail Bar” Columbia Room.
Tickets are available at: https://thejoint2019.
“The Arts, Identity and Societal Inclusivity” Pop-up exhibit and conversations organized by the Arts for Global Development, Inc aims at facilitating an open, safe and creative environment to talk about identity, diversity as well as those issues that communities tackle on a day to-day basis especially in the context of voluntary and involuntary mobility of millions of people who are scattered across the globe.
The arts provoke thoughts and encourage people to embark upon issues that are sometimes hard to come to terms with. Contemporary artists often examine their identities by using themselves or aspects of themselves as a starting point to tell a story or address a larger issue like “acceptance or belonging”. During this event, one such contemporary designer and a multidisciplinary researcher Neba will showcase her fashion-art pieces that introduce unique and spiritual methods and folk pieces from her ancestry and upbringing.
Along with Neba’s one day/pop up exhibition called “Feast”, the Sandy Spring Museum Director, Allison Weiss and Cameron Okeke from Urban Institute will be sharing their experiences of how they’ve used the arts, from communicating the stories of displaced people to building creative and safe places in broken communities around the US.
“We certainly live in interesting times where social tension is rising in this ongoing “us and them” discourse. With this event we aim tobring our community together and use creativity as a means to broaden our perspectives. We do hope the works and discussions will inspire and encourage everyone in taking actions that support inclusion, ” said Nil Navaie, the founder and president of Arts for Global Development, Inc.
“The Arts, Identity and Societal Inclusivity” Pop-up exhibit and conversations event will be held at the Fridge Arts Gallery (516 8th Street SE, Washington DC) on April 4th from 5:30 – 8 pm.
The event is free, however RSVPs are recommended via http://www.art4development.net/.
Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign invites Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia residents to sip and sample creations from area’s most celebrated restaurants to help kids in need at this year’s Taste of the Nation for No Kid Hungry on Monday, April 8, 2019. Hosted at the National Building Museum, the annual tasting event will feature gourmet cuisine and libations crafted by the city’s hottest chefs, sommeliers and mixologists, uniting to raise funds to ensure all children in America have access to the healthy food they need, every day. One-hundred-percent of proceeds from the event benefit No Kid Hungry’s work to end childhood hunger in America.
Led by Chef Chair Mike Friedman (The Red Hen, All-Purpose), Pastry Chair Tiffany MacIsaac (Buttercream Bakeshop), Mixology Chair Gina Chersevani (Buffalo and Bergen, Suburbia), and Sommelier Chair Nadine Brown (Society Fair), D.C.’s culinary tastemakers will provide guests with scrumptious bite-size fare, craft cocktails and delectable desserts. Guests will also have a chance to participate in an intimate tasting with Chef Kwame Onwuachi (Kith and Kin, Philly Wing Fry) and Chef Tae Strain (Momofuku CCDC), and score hot items at the silent auction and “Giving Tree”.
Notable participating Washington, D.C. area culinary talent and eateries include:
All-Purpose | Al Dente | Art & Soul | Barrel | Beuchert’s Saloon | Buffalo and Bergen | Bombay Street Food | Buttercream Bakeshop | Captain Cookie and the Milkman | Cava Mezze | Coconut Club | Colada Shop | Compass Rose | Espita Mezcaleria | Estadio | Farmers & Distillers | Firefly | Georgetown Cupcake | The Green Zone | Hank’s Oyster Bar | I’m Eddie Cano | Jack Rose Dining Saloon | Junction Bakery & Bistro | Kith and Kin | Kuya Ja’s | McClellan’s Retreat | Matchbox Vintage Pizza Bistro | Mi Vida | Milkbar | Momo Yakitori | Momofuku CCDC| Nama Sushi | Osteria Morini | Ottoman Taverna | Oyamel | Pisco y Nasca Ceviche Gastrobar | Radiator | Rappahannock Oyster Bar | RARE Steakhouse | RASA | Royal | Shake Shack | Society Fair Spoken English | Stellina Pizzeria | Succotash Penn Quarter | Sweet Lobby | The Delegate | The Pub and the People | The Source | Tico | Truxton Inn
One in six children in America struggles with hunger, including nearly 27,000 kids in the District of Columbia. No Kid Hungry is ending childhood hunger nationwide by ensuring that kids start the day with a nutritious breakfast and families learn the skills they need to shop and cook on a budget. Since the campaign’s launch, No Kid Hungry and its partners have connected kids struggling with hunger to more than one billion meals.
In 2018, D.C.’s Taste of the Nation for No Kid Hungry raised enough to connect hungry kids in need with up to 2.5 million healthy meals. Local beneficiaries include Capital Area Food Bank, DC Hunger Solutions, and Mary’s Center.
D.C.’s Taste of the Nation for No Kid Hungry is supported by national co-presenting sponsors Citi and Sysco®, national media sponsor Food Network, and national sponsor OpenTable. Whole Foods Market is the Official Grocer Sponsor of D.C.’s 2019 Taste of the Nation and will be providing samples alongside their local vendors. This event is also made possible by the following local sponsors: Caledonia Spirits, Catoctin Creek, Chrysler Pacifica, Ecolab, Flying Dog Brewery, MacRostie Winery and Vineyards, Rémy Cointreau and Tito’s Handmade Vodka.
Taste of the Nation for No Kid Hungry tickets start at $100, with prices increasing a month prior to the event on March 8, 2019. For additional information and to purchase tickets, please visit: https://www.nokidhungry.org/tastedc.
WHAT: The world premiere of the new series ‘Guess I’m a Ghost’ at DC Webfest as part of their American Web Series Watch Party block.
Guess I’m a Ghost is a comedy web series in eight episodes that explores coming to terms with your past mistakes, making amends, and how we both perform ourselves and find out about death through social media. Tonally, the series is a mix between High Maintenance and The Good Place. Using both naturalistic and absurd comedy, the show looks to see how we grieve over imperfect people we think we knew, but maybe didn’t at all. Diane…wasn’t the best friend. She liked to bend the truth and look out for number one. After embarrassing herself at a party, she’s killed in a ride-share accident when climbing into the front seat to charge her phone. Then, because of a mistake in the afterlife, she’s sent back to earth and forced to haunt those she could’ve treated a little better, and might owe her an apology themselves. The series features an original score by Leslie Hong of Haybaby, and will be released in full online on April 29th, following a screening in Los Angeles on April 27th.
WHEN: Saturday, April 13th at 6:00pm
WHERE: MakeOffices Glover Park – 2201 Wisconsin Ave. Suite #200 Washington DC 20007
HOW: Festival programming passes start at $45
