Smithsonian Associates - Educating and Entertaining Audiences for More Than 50 Years

From colossal Olmec heads to the paintings of Frida Kahlo, Aztec temples to Mexican murals, this survey of Latin American art sweeps through the centuries. Join art historian Michele Greet, who traces the significant creators and trends that defined and shaped the arts of Latin America from their earliest expressions through the 19th and 20th centuries. (World Art History Certificate core course, 1 credit)

Smithsonian curators started collecting Olympic artifacts in earnest in the 1970s and ’80s. Join Kenneth Cohen, a curator at the National Museum of American History, for an engaging discussion about what’s in the Smithsonian’s Olympic collections—and what’s not—as well as a look at how Smithsonian curators might approach the Games this year and beyond.

Their scandals became the stuff of legends, but this royal family in just three generations, reshaped the monarchy and changed England, Europe, and the world. Scholar Carol Ann Lloyd Stanger of the Folger Shakespeare Library leads a look behind the Tudors’ carefully contrived image of monarchy.

Tudor and Renaissance scholar Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger explores how London served as a backdrop and inspiration for William Shakespeare. She reveals how he was inspired by the humanity he observed in the city to create the unforgettable worlds of his plays.

Join Justin M. Jacobs, associate professor of history at American University, for in-depth looks at four UNESCO World Heritage sites that have been profoundly affected by nearby volcanoes, from Pompeii to Virunga National Park. Each lavishly illustrated program goes far beyond the typical tourist experience, incorporating insights drawn from current scholarship and research. This session focuses on Thingvellir.

Understanding the machinations of British diplomacy during World War I is essential to comprehending today’s Middle East. Historian Ralph Nurnberger suveys the fascinating cast of characters involved in often-contradictory secret negotiations over boundaries, as well as how the results contributed to more than a century of conflicts in the region and the establishment of the modern states of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq.

Some moments in movies never leave us: the piercing eyes of a private eye, a raft hurtling down the rapids, that little black dress, the close-up of a fading movie star. In a 5-session film discussion series, documentary filmmaker and writer Sara Lukinson revisits some of our favorite movies and characters, setting them against the backdrop of their times, the people who dreamed them up, and the America they reflected—or asked us to imagine. This session focuses on Billy Wilder.