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
Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie are pleased to announce the presentation of the fifth annual Beth Newburger Schwartz Award to Melanne Verveer, with actor and performer Heather Headley headlining the 2020 Arena Stage Annual Gala. The Gala will be held on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 at The Anthem (901 Wharf Street, SW).
The evening kicks off with a cocktail reception, followed by the award presentation, a three-course seated dinner and performance. The dinner will feature the presentation of the Beth Newburger Schwartz Award to Melanne Verveer, in recognition of her efforts for women’s rights and her continual support of the arts. She is currently the executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security. Verveer served as the first United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues to which she was nominated by President Obama in 2009. Previously, she was the chair and CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international NGO that she founded to invest in emerging women leaders. She also served as assistant to the president and chief of staff to the first lady during the Clinton administration.
“Arena Stage, under the exceptional leadership of Molly Smith, has become a national hub for the best in American theater in our nation’s capital. The theater company has made it possible for the public to access innovative, engaging and transformative productions that not only entertain, but also inspire and even move us to action,” shares Verveer. “It is an honor to receive the Beth Newburger Schwartz Award as Beth has set a high and exemplary standard throughout her life as an entrepreneur and civic leader. We owe her an enormous debt of gratitude for her many contributions to our community.”
The award was first presented to Arena Stage board chair Beth Newburger Schwartz in 2016. Other recipients include Arlene Kogod in 2017, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in 2018 and Nina Totenberg in 2019. The award celebrates a female leader who strives to better the community in which she lives through her own unique strengths and talents.
“Melanne Verveer is an international champion for girls and women. She is dynamic, she is brave and she is unabashedly driven about creating a better world with women, girls and vital voices,” says Smith. “A collaborative leader, Ambassador Verveer has been successful in changing attitudes and building bridges while promoting the critical role of women in establishing peace internationally. She is a huge proponent of the arts and we are thrilled to honor her with the Beth Newburger Schwartz Award.”
All proceeds will benefit all Arena Stage artistic and educational programs.
The 70th Anniversary Gala is presented by Ourisman Automotive Group and generously sponsored by Diamond Sponsors AT&T and Hoffman & Associates and Platinum Sponsor Exelon.
Event Schedule
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
6 p.m. Cocktail reception
7 p.m. Award presentation and seated dinner
8:30 p.m. One-night-only performance with Heather Headley
For additional event details, visit: arenastage.org/gala.
