All upcoming programs

Discover how visual art can inspire creative writing and how writing can offer a powerful way to experience art. Join Mary Hall Surface, the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, for a course of three online workshops that explore essential elements of writing and styles through close looking, word-sketching, and imaginative response to prompts. The sessions spotlight a wide range of visual art chosen to inspire writers of all experience levels to deepen their process and practice.

Ages 6 to 12. Follow the lives of Olympians Jesse Owens and Wilma Rudolph from childhood infirmity to Olympic glory in this soaring musical. 

Ages 6 to 12. Follow the lives of Olympians Jesse Owens and Wilma Rudolph from childhood infirmity to Olympic glory in this soaring musical. 

For composers like Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky, the symphony was both a personal benchmark and a lasting measure of greatness. Their mastery of the form has captivated music lovers for generations. In a 5-session series, opera and classical music expert Saul Lilienstein examines the rich tapestry of the symphonic tradition with excerpts from landmark works spanning the late 18th to the close of the 19th century.

Alzheimer’s disease, and the dementias in general, are among the most-feared consequences of being lucky enough to survive into older age. Barry Gordon, a nationally recognized expert on memory and memory disorders, sheds light on these debilitating conditions and provides guidance on what you need to know to take the most informed and active steps if faced with one of them—whether personally or in a family member or friend.

For centuries, mariners spun tales of gargantuan waves in the open ocean, annihilating walls of water measuring 100 feet high or taller. Though once dismissed as impossible, new evidence has led oceanographers to determine that we have underestimated how the seas behave at their most ferocious. Journalist and author Susan Casey provides a look at these colossal, ship-swallowing rogue waves—noting that as scientists scramble to understand this phenomenon, others, including extreme surfers, view the giant waves as the ultimate challenge.

Ages 6 to 12. Follow the lives of Olympians Jesse Owens and Wilma Rudolph from childhood infirmity to Olympic glory in this soaring musical. 

Ages 6 to 12. Follow the lives of Olympians Jesse Owens and Wilma Rudolph from childhood infirmity to Olympic glory in this soaring musical. 

When it comes to sex and love, ancient peoples tell us a lot about topics including what was forbidden; opportunities for premarital and extramarital sex; their ways of lovemaking; and how members of the same and the opposite gender expressed love for one another. Drawing from a multitude of cultures, professor emeritus of classics Robert Garland discusses what we know and don’t know about sex and love in the ancient world. This lecture discusses mature themes. Viewer discretion is advised.