One Year Old: Embassy Life in DC's Anniversary

I can’t believe it… 52 issues, a full year of doing the Embassy Life in DC project. Thank you to all of our readers for sticking with us on this journey 🥳 

I never knew that this project was even going to go anywhere. We have built a following on social media, made partnerships with organizations, and have formed a community here in the DC area.

Thank you all! I hope you continue to stick around for many more years to come as we go forward into 2024.

Announcement: The Diplomats Club 😆 

After receiving feedback from our audience, folks wanted a community chat group where one could find friends to go to events with in the DC and DMV areas.

We took inspiration from other DC creators and formed The Diplomats Club on Geneva (an app for community building like Discord or Slack).

If you want to make friends, feel free to join The Diplomats Club! And you do not have to be a diplomat to join the community, lol.

Events List

Check out the following international embassy and cultural events happening from Monday, February 12^th - Sunday, February 18^th . 

Monday, February 12^th, 2024

1. Solidarity Dinner of the Comité Tricolore at Belga Café (6:30PM - 9:30PM) ($100+)

   • Description: The Comité Tricolore is inviting you to a Belgian restaurant!

   • Host Organization: Belga Café

Tuesday, February 13^th, 2024

1. Mardi Gras Soiree with Live Band, Swing Dance Lessons, & Dancing (7PM - 10PM) ($28.52 - $39.19) 💃 

   • Description: Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler: Celebrate Mardi Gras with live New Orleans jazz sounds & dance the night away after swing dance lessons.

   • Host Organization: International Events Washington DC

2. Sofya Gulyak Piano Concert (7:30PM - 9PM) ($16.82 with general admission for student ID, $27.37 for general admission) 🎼 

   • Description: Villa Albertine DC is delighted to host Sofya Gulyak, winner of the Leeds, Kapell, Busoni, Helsinki, and Isang Yun international piano competitions, for an exceptional performance featuring a diverse program encompassing masterpieces from prominent French and European composers.

   • Host Organization: Villa Albertine Washington DC

Wednesday, February 14^th, 2024 

1. Diplomatic Coffee Chat: A Look at Finland's Presidential Election (1PM - 2PM) (FREE!)

   • Description: Counselor Pasi Rajala from the Embassy of Finland will join Georgetown’s Diplomatic Coffee Chat to give insight on the elections.

   • Host Organization: BMW Center for German and European Studies

2. Equinox Flower Film Screening (2PM - 4PM) (FREE!) 📽️ 

   • Description: Perfect for Valentine’s Day, Equinox Flower stars Shin Saburi as Wataru, a tradition-bound businessman seeking an arranged marriage for his daughter, Setsuko (Ineko Arima). But modern, strong-willed Setsuko has other ideas and wants to marry the boyfriend she loves instead.

   • Host Organization: Smithsonian Museum of Asian Art

3. Justin Adams and Mauro Durante Performance (6PM - 7PM) (FREE!) 🎼 

   • Description: Justin Adams, guitarist, producer and composer, has been a creator of wonders with Robert Plant in the Sensational Space Shifters. Mauro Durante toured the world for many years with Ludovico Einaudi playing violin and frame drums.

   • Host Organization: Kennedy Center for Performing Arts

4. In Biblioteca in Italiano - February Meeting (4:30PM - 6PM) (FREE!)

   • Description: Readers between 4 and 10 years old are welcome as for our new meeting of "In biblioteca in italiano", in which Fiorenza Castelli guides kids of all languages in the exploration of our favorite Italian books, with story telling and creative hands-on activities.

   • Host Organization: Italian Cultural Institute (IIC)

5. Embassy Row Valentines Chocolate Tour: Special Guided Walking Tour (6:30PM - 8:30PM) ($45.85)

   • Description: Today, we'll explore one of the most culturally fascinating areas of Washington, D.C. - "Embassy Row". In a single afternoon, you'll stand at the borders of Ireland, Romania, Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, and more!

   • Host Organization: Embassy Experiences

Thursday, February 15^th, 2024

1. All She Lost: The Voices of Women Survivors of the Beirut Blast Book Discussion (12PM - 1PM) (FREE!) 📕 

   • Book Description: Join us for a powerful in-person conversation with award-winning Lebanese journalist Dalal Mawad about her book, All She Lost.

   • Host Organization: Private organization.

2. Third Thursday (5PM - 8PM) (FREE!) 🎨 

   • Description: Visit America's first modern art museum for free during our extended hours on the Third Thursday of every month.

   • Host Organization: The Phillips Collection

3. JICC Film: Photography & Memories (6:30PM - 8:30PM) (FREE!) 📽️ 

   • Description: Yuko returns to her hometown to attend her grandmother’s funeral. Frustrated with her grandmother’s blurry funerary portrait, she starts a service to take photos of the elderly in preparation for the death. After a tough beginning, she forges connections with the community and immortalizes not just people’s last days but the vibrant tapestry of lives well-lived.

   • Host Organization: Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC)

4. 4x4=16 | Brazil / Pertenencia & Pertinencia (5PM - 7:30PM) (FREE!)

   • Description: Join AIA|DC's Design Excellence Committee for a film screening and panel discussion highlighting the profound contributions of South American women architects in the world of creativity, design, and diversity.

   • Host Organization: Embassy of Brazil

5. Black Voices In International Affairs: A Panel Discussion (5:15PM - 8PM) (FREE!)

   • Description: Join us for a thought-provoking keynote fireside chat with Ambassador Eunice Reddick, and a panel discussion with Alumni from the public and private sector, hosted by the SAIS Black Student Union in celebration of Black History Month.

   • Host Organization: SAIS Black Student Union

Friday, February 16^th, 2024

1. Talk with Rep. Ami Bera: Congress and U.S.-Korea Relations (12PM - 1PM) (FREE!)

   • Description: Please join us for a conversation with Representative Ami Bera on us the U.S.-South Korea relationship.

   • Host Organization: Johns Hopkins University SAIS Korea Studies

2. K-Pop: Cultural, Capital, and Beyond (2PM - 5:30PM) (FREE!)

   • Description: Gather round for K-Pop performances and an entire discussion around how K-Pop became such an economic engine!

   • Host Organization: George Mason University

3.  Embassy of Austria Masquerade Ball (7PM - 11:45PM) ($84.21 - $147.21)

   • Description: On Friday, February 16, celebrate Carnival/Karneval on Austrian soil and in true Austrian fashion as you never have before! Don your most festive Karneval outfits, costumes, or masquerade and ring in this joyous season with the Austrian spirit as they are celebrating simultaneously throughout Vienna, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Wachau.

   • Host Organization: Embassy Experiences

4. "The Five Missing Rings" at the French Embassy (6:30PM - 8:30PM) ($16.82 for kids aged 0-12, $32.64 for general admission) 📽️ 

   • Description: Join us for this family show by successful French author Marc Wolters in the exciting world of the Olympic Games!

   • Host Organization: Villa Albertine

5. Lonnie Holley Performance (6PM - 7PM) (FREE!) 🎼 

   • Description: Since 1979, Holley has devoted his life to the practice of improvisational creativity. His art and music, born out of struggle, hardship—but perhaps more importantly, out of furious curiosity and biological necessity—has manifested itself in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, performance, music, and filmmaking. 

   • Host Organization: Kennedy Center for Performing Arts

Saturday, February 17^th, 2024

1. Lunar New Year Festival (10AM - 3PM) (FREE!)

   • Description: Join us for our Lunar New Year Festival. This free, family friendly celebration will feature games, food, and performances.

   • Host Organization: Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Museum

2. The Lede: Dispatches from a Life in the Press Book Talk (1PM - 2PM) (FREE!) 📕 

   • Book Description: Uniting all of this is Trillin’s signature combination of empathy, humor, and graceful prose. The Lede is an invaluable portrait of one our fundamental American institutions from a master journalist.

   • Host Organization: Politics and Prose Bookstore

3. Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks Book Talk  (3PM - 4PM) (FREE!) 📕 

   • Book Description: People are always surprised that Black people reside in the hills of Appalachia. Those not surprised that we were there, are surprised that we stayed.

   • Host Organization: Politics and Prose Bookstore

4. "The Five Missing Rings" at the French Embassy Film Screening (4PM - 6PM) ($16.82 for children aged 0-12, $32.64 for general admission) 📽️ 

   • Description: Join us for this family show by successful French author Marc Wolters in the exciting world of the Olympic Games!

   • Host Organization: Villa Albertine

5. Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Winds Performance (7:30PM - 8:30PM) ($48 for general admission) 🎼 

   • Description: Enjoy an elegant and thoughtful European classical performance for wind quintet.

   • Host Organization: Dumbarton Arts and Concerts

Sunday, February 18^th, 2024

1. Black History Month Guided Tour at Smithsonian American Art Museum (3PM - 5PM) ($23.18)

   • Description: African American art history began before the Harlem Renaissance and its legacy continues today. Explore the rich history of African American art from the 1850s to the present with the Third Eye Site. Engage in an immersive two-hour guided tour of Black art history at the Smithsonian American Art Museum with an experienced tour guide.

   • Host Organization: The Third Eye Site

2. Extraordinary Cinema: Harriet Film Screening (3PM - 5PM) (FREE!) 📽️ 

   • Description: Join us for a FREE film screening in the Justice Forum at the REACH. Based on the thrilling and inspirational life of an iconic American freedom fighter, Harriet tells the extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman’s escape from slavery and transformation into one of America’s greatest heroes.

   • Host Organization: Kennedy Center for Performing Arts

3. THE OLIGARCHS' GRIP Book Presentation (6PM - 8PM) (FREE!) 📕 

   • Book Description: Join us to learn what happens when wealth and power collide.

   • Host Organization: Busboys and Poets

4. Elsa Nilsson's Band of Pulses / No Trick Pony / Silent G Performance (7PM - 7:30PM) ($10 - $25) 🎼 

   • Description: Many species use sound to communicate. Flutist Elsa Nilsson, Pianist Santiago Leibson, Bassist Marty Kenney and drummer Rodrigo Recabarren asked themselves; what is the line that makes sound music?

   • Host Organization: Private organizer

Looking Ahead! 👀 

1. The Luiz Heitor Corrêa de Azevedo Collection: Brazil-U.S. Musical Exchange and the Good Neighbor Policy (Tuesday, February 20^th, 7PM - 8PM) (FREE!)

   • Description: In this lecture, Miranda Bartira Tagliari Sousa will illuminate elements of the Azevedo collection, housed in the Music Division of the Library of Congress, emphasizing points of interest such as: 1) the establishment of a sound archive on Latin American music at the Library of Congress; 2) the collaborations between ethnomusicologists, folklorists and comparative musicologists from the U.S. and abroad in the creation of that archive; 3) the political, cultural and scholarly concepts and interests that led to this collaboration, and 4) the consolidation of the fields of folk studies and comparative musicology during the twentieth century in the U.S. and in Latin America.

   • Host Organization: Library of Congress (LOC)

2. ISU Space Café with NASA Associate Administrator of OTPS - Charity Weeden (Wednesday, February 21^st, 6PM - 8PM) (FREE!)

   • Description: Charity Weeden is the associate administrator leading NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) at the agency headquarters.

   • Host Organization: International Space University (ISU) US Alumni Association

3. J-Film | The Town of Headcounts Film Screening (Thursday, February 22^nd , 6:30PM - 8:30PM) (FREE!) 📽️ 

   • Description: Join us at the JICC for a free film screening!

   • Host Organization: Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC)

4. D.C. Independent Film Festival (DCIFF) (Wednesday, February 21^st - Sunday, February 25^th) (Multiple film screening times and multiple prices) 📽️ 

   • Description: Join us for the 25th annual DC Independent Film Festival from February 21-25th, 2023 in downtown Washington DC!

   • Host Organization: DCIFF

5. ŠIBŘINKY Masquerade Ball (Saturday, February 24^th) (6PM - 11:30PM) ($85+ - $110+)

   • Description: You are cordially invited to the ŠIBŘINKY • MARDI GRAS • FAŠIANGY • MASQUERADE BALL Get inspired by stars, crystals, glitter, and shine!

   • Host Organization: Sokol Washington, D. C.

Rate Issue No.52!

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