Multimedia play: Hear Me Say My Name
Saturdays: Feb. 15, 22, and 29, 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Rasmuson Theater
“I am not your mascot, and I don’t live in a tipi. See me for who I am, hear me say my name.” How do stereotypes of American Indians, prejudice, and identity shape the discussion of what it means to be a young person in our country today? This original multimedia play, created in collaboration with Smithsonian Associates Discovery Theater, tackles America’s assumptions about American Indians and starts a conversation with audiences reclaiming rich history, challenges, hopes, and dreams. After the play, the audience is invited to explore the museum’s Americans exhibition to learn more.
This program is generously supported by the Rasmuson Foundation. Free; first-come, first-served seating. No registration is required.
Wikipedia Edit-a-thon: Women Artists of Latin America
Saturday, March 14, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
NMWA hosts its 7th annual Art+Feminism edit-a-
Dance Performance: The Mush Hole: Truth, Acknowledgement, Resilience
Kaha:wi Dance Theatre
Santee Smith, Artistic Director
Saturday, March 14, 2 p.m.
Rasmuson Theater
The Mush Hole is a heartbreaking dance theater piece that moves through Canada’s residential school history with hope and empathy. The performance by Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, created, directed, produced by Santee Smith, reflects the realities of the Mohawk Institute Residential School experience and offers a compelling way to open dialogue and to heal. Created in collaboration with Mohawk Institute Residential School survivors and including school documentation in recounting its history, The Mush Hole is about survival and intergenerational resilience.
The Mohawk Institute, also known as the Mush Hole, is Canada’s oldest residential school, after which all other residential schools were modeled. Operating in Brantford, Ontario, from 1828 to 1970, the Mohawk Institute served as a boarding school for First Nations children from Six Nations and other communities in Ontario and Quebec. It was a key tool in the effort to assimilate First Nations children into European Christian society and sever the continuity of First Nations culture from parent to child, leaving a legacy of trauma.
Through Her Eyes: Celebrating Indigenous Women of the Andes
Saturday, March 21, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
Potomac Atrium
A special Women’s History Month program, Through Her Eyes celebrates the stories, experiences and perspectives of Andean Indigenous women. Cultural and content experts will lead a series of performances, demonstrations and activities offering visitors a window into the rich traditions and contemporary life of women in these Indigenous communities.
Julia Garcia (Quechua) will demonstrate how to dress a fashionable llama. Did you know that colorful ear tassels are a clue to a llama’s ownership and that bells can help you find your llama in the dark? Visitors can learn how to make ear tassels and neck adornments fit for a llama. Isabel Hawkins will share stories woven into Andean textiles, including the cardinal direction markers, constellations and equinox symbols that make up the patterns of some Andean textiles. Zuly Jimenez (Quechua) will use potatoes to create figures for a retablo (a small scene represented in a box frame).
The museum’s Collections Conservation staff will share their expertise on the care of weavings. Kathleen Martin, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Textile Conservation, will discuss her research, show samples and demonstrate the indigo dye process. Conservator Susan Heald will lead a hands-on demonstration with cochineal and show how the color can be shifted from orange to red to purple, and conservator Emily Kaplan will share the history of ceremonial drinking cups called qeros.
Maryta de Humahuaca in Concert
Saturday, March 21, 3 p.m.
Rasmuson Theater
Maryta de Humahuaca (Kolla) is an Indigenous performing artist from the small city of Humahuaca in the province of Jujuy, Argentina. Her music is a fusion of contemporary and traditional Andean music. This program is presented in collaboration with the Embassy of the Argentine Republic.
Photographer’s Talk: Developing Stories: Native Photographers in the Field
Tuesday, March 24, 3:30 p.m.
Sealaska Gallery
Museum visitors are invited to join photographer Russel Daniels and curator Cécile Ganteaume in a conversation and gallery tour highlighting Daniels’s “Genízario Pueblo de Abiquiú,” the first of three photo essays in the exhibition series “Developing Stories: Native Photographers in the Field.” Daniels’s photographs and text explore northern New Mexico’s Genízario community, a people whose historic experience of violence, slavery, and resilience shapes their sense of self to this day.
Symposium: Thoughts of Our People from Hearts of Our People
Saturday, March 28, 2 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
Rasmuson Theater
Women have long been the creative force behind Native American art. The critically acclaimed exhibition Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, explores the artistic achievements of Native women and establishes their rightful place in the art world. Join artists Kelly Church (Ottawa/Pottawatomi), Anita Fields (Osage), Carla Hemlock (Kanienkeháka), and Jolene Rickard (Tuscarora) for a conversation about their work and the role of women as artists in Native communities.
Exhibition curators Jill Ahlberg Yohe, associate curator of Native American Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and Teri Greeves, an independent curator and member of the Kiowa Nation, moderate a panel discussion following the artists’ talks. The symposium is a collaboration of the National Museum of the American Indian and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists is organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The exhibition has been made possible in part by a major grant from the Henry Luce Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
The presentation at the Renwick Gallery is organized in collaboration with the National Museum of the American Indian. Generous support has been provided by the James F. Dicke Family Endowment, Chris G. Harris, the Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason Foundation, Jacqueline B. Mars, the Provost of the Smithsonian, the Share Fund, the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, and the WEM Foundation.
Rocks as Art—A Chinese Tradition
Tuesday, April 7, 2020, 5:30-8:30 p.m. (Lecture begins at 7:30 p.m.)
Jan Stuart, Melvin R. Seiden Curator of Chinese Art at the National Museum of Asian Art, will investigate the symbolic and aesthetic traditions associated with the Chinese cultural appreciation for rocks, including pieces such as jade carvings and natural rocks mounted on pedestals.
Please note: This is the third and final program in the Natural Beauties lecture series.
4155 Linnean Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008
Events DC announces tickets on sale now for 12th Annual Embassy Chef Challenge, scheduled for Thursday, May 28, 2020. This year, the event will be held in a new location at the extraordinary Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
The Events DC Embassy Chef Challenge is an annual gathering of embassy chefs representing countries across the globe. The event offers guests an immersive culinary experience that is unique to Washington, DC. The 12th annual event has historically featured more than 40 participating embassies, who have proudly come together to showcase their home countries’ rich culture, unique flavors and traditions, culminating in a friendly food competition. The event’s new location within the Ballroom of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center will allow for even more culinary delights and exciting entertainment, as well as educational programming, new for 2020. The culminating awards program will highlight outstanding beverages, regional cuisines and overall presentation.
WHEN: Thursday, May 28, 2020
5:30 p.m. – VIP Early Admission
6:30 p.m. – General Admission
WHERE: Walter E. Washington Convention Center
Ballroom
801 Mount Vernon Place NW
Washington, DC 20001
PRICE: General Admission – starting at $65.00
All-inclusive ticket includes globally inspired sips, bites and live performances. Admission also includes complimentary beer, wine and spirits.
VIP – starting at $135.00
VIP ticket includes one-hour early access to event as well as a dedicated bar and seating area in addition to enjoying global sips and bites from participating embassies.
