Washington D.C. Events

Amal was in search of something yummy to eat when she came across a gigantic red chair and a crowd of kids all carrying their own chairs.

They helped her find her way to the Hillsdale Farmers Market where she received care packages of beautiful harvest food for her onward journey.

In partnership with Anacostia Business Improvement District (BID).

This is past event. Explore more HERE.

At Black Lives Matter Plaza, Amal was exhilarated by the music and stories swirling round her.  She was swept towards Franklin Park by the sounds of marching bands and choirs, who played the uplifting music of GoGo, gospel and more…

In partnership with Washington Performing Arts Society, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Planet Word, Franklin Park, Islamic Relief USA, DowntownDC BID, Golden Triangle BID and Middle East Institute.

This is past event. Explore more HERE.

Amal explored the grounds of the Washington Monument and the stories of Welcomers and newcomers just like her.

In partnership with Welcome.US, Soze Agency and The Shapiro Foundation.

This is past event. Explore more HERE.

Amal let her imagination run wild when she joined the theatre and art classes at the Langley School.

In partnership with International School Langley Park, Prince George’s County Government and UNICEF USA.

This is past event. Explore more HERE.

A river of shoes appeared, evoking the stories of millions of children on the move who seek safety within and across borders.

In partnership with The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics & The Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues at Georgetown University.

This is past event. Explore more HERE.

Alone in Union Station with people rushing all around her, Amal was disorientated. She closed her eyes and remembered home.

Suddenly she was surrounded by the women of her village who, with great tenderness, comfort her and gave her the power to continue.

This event was choreographed by Leyya Mona Tawil inspired by the artwork of Helen Zughaib in partnership with The Stage at Union Station, a free weekly concert series presented by Union Station Redevelopment Corporation and Sing for Hope.

This is past event. Explore more HERE.

The first racially integrated theater in our nation’s capital and a pioneer of the regional theater movement, Arena Stage was founded on August 16, 1950, in Washington, D.C., by Zelda Fichandler, Tom Fichandler, and Edward Mangum. Today—nearly 75 years later—Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is a national center dedicated to American voices and artists. We produce plays of all that is passionate, profound, deep, and dangerous in the American spirit, and present diverse and ground-breaking work from some of the best artists around the country. Consistently contributing to the American theatrical lexicon by commissioning and developing new plays, Arena Stage impacts the lives of over 10,000 students annually through its work in community engagement, and serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000.

The Georgetown University Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues fosters cross-disciplinary research and dialogue on critical and emerging global children’s issues, with a particular focus on children in adversity and pathways to resilience. The collaborative seeks to leverage the university’s capacities across disciplines and its convening power to advance solutions-oriented problem-solving on the most pressing issues facing children worldwide.

Founded in 2012 as a joint initiative of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and Department of Performing Arts, The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics humanizes global politics through performance. With highly visible original productions, partnerships, and initiatives, The Lab cultivates a distinctive global community of collaborators that includes students, emerging and established artists, educators, policy leaders, and activists. Our work harnesses narrative, memory, and acts of witnessing with the aim of sparking transformation and change.

Helen Zughaib is an Arab American, currently living and creating art in Washington, DC. She received her BFA from Syracuse University in Visual and Performing Arts. Primarily a painter, Helen’s work is included in the collections of the World Bank, Library of Congress, the White House, the Arab American National Museum, US Embassy, Iraq, the Barjeel Collection and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

The John F. Kennedy Center/REACH, in Washington, DC, selected Helen for the 2021-23 Inaugural Social Impact Practice residency, using her work to focus on the global refugee crisis and displacement, especially as it relates to women and children.

Her work is about creating empathy and dialogue, asking the viewer to see through someone else’s eyes, to walk in another’s shoes, to give voice to the voiceless and to reflect in our shared humanity.

Imagination Stage, the Washington, DC region’s leader in youth development through the arts, is driven to build a generation of compassionate, collaborative young people who are capable of changing the world. Starting as an arts academy in Bethesda in 1979, it has responded to the evolving “needs of now” over the last 43 years by expanding its reach throughout Montgomery County and Washington, DC. Children from every socio-economic group need experiences that teach empathy, demonstrate resilience, and inspire hope. Theatre does just that. Beyond the classes, camps, and shows at our Bethesda location, Imagination Stage brings programming to over 50 locations per year in Montgomery County and DC, through partnerships with Montgomery County Public Schools, DC Public Schools and others. One such program is Theatre for Change. It serves teenagers, using theatre productions and educational workshops to bridge cultural divides, lift up underrepresented voices, and explore complex social justice issues

Leyya Mona Tawil is an artist working with sound, dance, and hybrid transmissions. Tawil is a Syrian, Palestinian, American engaged in the world as such. Her work has been presented throughout the US, Europe, Russia and the Arab world. Her work as ‘Lime Rickey International’ has been commissioned by Abrons Arts Center (NYC), KONE Foundation (Helsinki), FUSEBOX (Austin), ZVRK Festival (Bosnia), Fire Museum Presents (Philadelphia) and was nominated for a 2019 “Bessies” Award in Music (NYC). Recent engagements include Wysing Art Centre/British Council (UK), Sharjah Art Foundation’s Tarek Atoui Sound Residency (UAE), The Lab (San Francisco), JAM3A Festival (Dearborn), TBA:22 Festival (Portland) and Yucca Valley Material Lab’s Music Residency Program. Tawil is the director of TAC Temescal Art Center (Oakland) and the Arab.AMP platform for experimental work from the diaspora.

Mosaic Theater Company of DC produces bold, culturally diverse theater that illuminates critical issues, elevates fresh voices, and sparks connections among communities throughout our region and beyond.

For more than 35 years, the Tony Award-winning Shakespeare Theatre Company has dedicated itself to being the nation’s premier classical theatre. Classical plays are realized best not by originalism but by walking the path Shakespeare himself followed, creating works that spoke to his own contemporary audience. We tell vital stories in audacious forms. We tell stories that are Shakespearean in the deepest sense, even if (and especially when) they are not written by Shakespeare. By focusing on works with profound themes and complex characters, STC’s artistic mission is unique among regional theaters: to bring to vibrant life groundbreaking, thought-provoking, and eminently accessible theatre.

One of the most established and honoured performing arts institutions in America, Washington Performing Arts has engaged for more than half a century with artists, audiences, students, and civic life. In concert halls, clubs, public parks, and online platforms, Washington Performing Arts has presented the most distinguished symphony orchestras, renowned and emerging artists in classical, gospel, jazz, culturally specific genres, dance, and more. Deeply valuing partnerships with local organizations and other arts institutions, Washington Performing Arts places a premium on establishing artists as a continuing presence in the lives of both young people and adults through residencies and education programs. For its achievements, the organization was honored in 2012 with the National Medal of Arts, and with three Mayor’s Arts Awards from the DC Government. Washington Performing Arts now embarks on its second half-century, ever inspired by the motto of founder Patrick Hayes, “Everybody in, nobody out.”