Up next on Shakespeare Hour LIVE! is a discussion of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, featuring Grammy Award-nominated singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright (“Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets”). From the Beautiful Youth to the Dark Lady, this episode will seek to dispel long-held myths (and perhaps celebrate a few) about one of the most studied and most mysterious bodies of poetry in the world: Shakespeare’s love sonnets. Why were they written? When? And to whom and what for? If ye seek answers to those questions (and more!), seek ye here.
Future episodes will focus on Training for Shakespeare, Falstaff: Hero or Villain?, and Shakespeare’s Last Act with guests Alec Wild, Senior Director of STC’s Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University, and Prof. Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, Ronni Lacroute Chair in Shakespeare Studies at Linfield University. More special guests will be announced soon.
The Tea: MovaKween
In this online series, women musicians perform original work via livestream on the first Friday of the month. Each session includes a short interview, conducted over a cup of tea, which explores the artist’s creative process. The Tea proudly welcomes MovaKween.
MovaKween hails from Baltimore, Maryland, and sings about her “inner-standing” of consciousness and expressions of love. With a life dedicated to healing and spiritual work, her music reflects her survival stories and journey as a new goddess on Earth. She is currently working on her debut album, titled Anu Kween, coming in spring 2021.
WHERE
Online, streaming on Facebook and nmwa.org
WHEN
Friday, May 7, 12–1 p.m.
PRICE
Free. No reservations required.
On Monday, May 10 at 7:30 pm ET, the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series at the Folger Shakespeare Library, in collaboration with The National Gallery of Art, welcomes poet Billy Collins.
This final reading of the 2020/21 virtual season, the 52nd season of this distinguished Series,
highlights this popular poet. Each year, the Folger Poetry Board, supporters of the O.B Hardison Poetry
Series, selects a distinguished poet to share their favorite poems from other poets and to read from their
own work.
This year’s Folger Poetry Board reader, Billy Collins, has been named “the most popular poet in
America” by The New York Times and is a former United States Poet Laureate. He is the author of several volumes of poetry, most recently Whale Day. His many honors and awards include the Poetry Foundation’s Mark Twain Award for Humor in Poetry.
Collins follows in the steps of noted poets Seamus Heaney, Rita Dove, Octavio Paz, Gwendolyn
Brooks, former British Poet Laureates Sir Andrew Motion, and Carol Ann Duffy, all former Folger
Poetry Board Readers, a designation which began in 1991 with Mr. Heaney.
This reading is free, but reservations are required. Register at www.folger.edu/poetry.
Enduring Images: Enslaved People and Photography in the Antebellum South
Tuesday, May 11, 5 p.m.
Online via Zoom
Closed captioning provided
Presented by Matthew Fox-Amato, Assistant Professor of History, University of Idaho
From the 1840s to the end of the Civil War, some enslaved people paid to have their photographs taken and then used these portraits to shape their identities and social ties. Slave narratives, newspapers and studio records reveal that some enslaved individuals bought images from local photographers, stowed images of sold family members in their cabins and carried images of family on their persons. Considering enslaved people as active agents of early photography, this talk examines what their photographic practices meant, especially in relation to the violent disruptions of the domestic slave trade. It also reflects upon possibilities for writing the history of portraiture when the relevant images are not available. Free—Registration required.
Kate Clarke Lemay, Portrait Gallery acting senior historian, will moderate the Q&A. This program is a part of the Greenberg Steinhauser Forum in American Portraiture and is hosted by PORTAL, the Portrait Gallery’s Scholarly Center.
Art AfterWords: A Book Discussion
Tuesday, May 11, 5:30-7 p.m.
Online via Zoom
The National Portrait Gallery and the DC Public Library would like to invite you to a virtual conversation about power, gender and collective memory. Join us as we analyze portraits from the exhibition “Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States” and discuss the related book “Rodham” by Curtis Sittenfeld. Participants are encouraged to visit the exhibition before the event. DCPL cardholders can access “Rodham” here.
Livestream Discussion with Artist Vladimir Kanevsky
Wednesday, May 26, 2021, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Join Wilfried Zeisler, chief curator, and Vladimir Kanevsky, artist, for a behind-the-scenes look of the exhibition The Porcelain Flowers of Vladimir Kanevsky. Explore Kanevsky’s home studio before asking questions in real time.
4155 Linnean Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008
FGIDC invites you to join us for Wine & Words, our biannual book club event, as we kick off summer reading with “Own It: The Secret to Life” by Diane von Furstenberg.
What You Will Need
To prepare for the start of the book club on June 2, we ask that you read “Own It: The Secret to Life,” so that you can participate in the discussion.
The event will be moderated by FGIDC board member Kristen Schott, the editor of Philadelphia Wedding, and a contributing writer to Northern Virginia Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. She’ll have a glass of wine in hand for the event, and we hope you do, too.
While our first book club event will take place virtually, we plan to move to an in-person format in October at an exciting new location.
Those who register and attend our June book club will get exclusive access to pre-register and reserve their spot for October.
June 2 | 7:00-8:00 p.m. ET
Registrants will receive the Zoom link via Eventbrite email.
Drag Queen Storytime in Adams Morgan is free and open to children of all ages (and perfect for the entire family!). The goal of Drag Queen Storytime is to inspire a love of reading, while teaching deeper lessons on diversity, self-love and an appreciation of others. Join in Unity Park on the following dates (separate RSVPs required for each event):
- Sunday, June 13 at 11am with Katie Magician
- Sunday, July 11 at 11am with Katie Magician
- Sunday, August 8 at 11am with Venus
- Sunday, September 12 at 11am with Venus
This event is hosted in partnership with the Adams Morgan Partnership BID, The Line Hotel, and DC Public Library. The DC Public Library will be in attendance with their famous ‘Library on the Go-Go Book Bike’ – a library pop-up on wheels. The bike unfolds into shelves so community members can browse a small collection on the go, check out or return books, and get more information about library resources.
Please be sure to bring a blanket to sit on or a small lawn chair. Drag Queen Storytime is weather-dependent and may be rescheduled due to inclement weather. Please check your email and our social media accounts for announcements the day of the event.
On June 17, the Embassy of Sweden will host a virtual artist talk with Swedish photographer Helene Schmitz about her exhibition “Dreamland,” currently on display in House of Sweden. The conversation will focus on Schmitz’s artistic practice and how art can shape and influence society. “Dreamland” is a photographic account of the extraction and depletion of natural resources, and consists of two photography series that examine human-induced changes in bedrock and forest in Sweden. Throughout the month of June, images from “Dreamland” are also projected on the glass facades of House of Sweden as part of the Focus on the Story International Photo Festival.
WHEN
Thursday, June 17, 2021
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM (ET)
WHERE
This event is virtual. Please register here.
WHO
The conversation with Helene Schmitz will be moderated by Helene Larsson Pousette, Cultural Counselor at the Embassy of Sweden. Joe Newman, founder of Focus on the Story, will provide opening remarks.
Drag Queen Storytime in Adams Morgan is free and open to children of all ages (and perfect for the entire family!). The goal of Drag Queen Storytime is to inspire a love of reading, while teaching deeper lessons on diversity, self-love and an appreciation of others. Join in Unity Park on the following dates (separate RSVPs required for each event):
- Sunday, June 13 at 11am with Katie Magician
- Sunday, July 11 at 11am with Katie Magician
- Sunday, August 8 at 11am with Venus
- Sunday, September 12 at 11am with Venus
This event is hosted in partnership with the Adams Morgan Partnership BID, The Line Hotel, and DC Public Library. The DC Public Library will be in attendance with their famous ‘Library on the Go-Go Book Bike’ – a library pop-up on wheels. The bike unfolds into shelves so community members can browse a small collection on the go, check out or return books, and get more information about library resources.
Please be sure to bring a blanket to sit on or a small lawn chair. Drag Queen Storytime is weather-dependent and may be rescheduled due to inclement weather. Please check your email and our social media accounts for announcements the day of the event.
