After-Hours Program for Visitors 21+ Features Live Music, a Perfume Bar and Local Food
The Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum will welcome visitors 21 years and older for its annual “A Night at the Museum” event Thursday, Sept. 17, from 7 to 10 p.m. The event celebrates the museum’s 59th anniversary with after-hours access, live performances and light appetizers. The event is free, but registration is recommended.
This year, “A Night at the Museum” invites visitors to celebrate 59 years of keeping and sharing community stories while making new memories together. Outdoors on the museum’s plaza, Marcus Mitchell and Band will perform live. Also featured will be a perfume bar, hosted by Scentelier Lab, where visitors can explore the connection between fragrance, memory and community and discover how the scents woven into people’s lives become part of the stories that shape them. Complimentary light appetizers will be provided by Dreaming Out Loud Food Hub, with beer, wine and spirit-free mocktails available throughout the event while supplies last.
“This event is more than an anniversary,” said Katelynd Anderson, interim director of the museum. “It is an opportunity to celebrate with the community and recognize the stories that shape us.”
The museum’s current exhibition, “We Make History,” will also be open for late-night exploration. The exhibition shares how history happens and is preserved and shared, anchored by stories of Washingtonians whose legacies as change makers and history keepers have had generational impact. Objects on view include the family diary of Adam Francis Plummer, believed to be the only known example of a multigenerational diary started by an enslaved person in the United States; singer Marian Anderson’s coat; a guitar belonging to Chuck Brown, the “Godfather of Go-Go”; and a jersey from the Washington Spirit, the city’s professional women’s soccer team.
The schedule and events are subject to change; check the website for updates.
About the Anacostia Community Museum
Founded in 1967, the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum shares the untold and often overlooked stories of communities furthest from opportunity in the greater Washington, D.C., region. In celebrating stories of resiliency, joy and strength, the museum inspires those who visit to translate their ideas into action. For more information about the museum, visit anacostia.si.edu or follow the museum on X, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.