Well it sure feels like spring out there today so I hope you get a chance to hop outside for a dose of vitamin D. The you can check out some great arts and cultural events going on tonight, tomorrow, and all weekend. All events are free or by donation. Hope you enjoy these highlights from my site Free in DC.
Tonight
The North African Film Festival continues at the Museum of African Art tonight at 7 p.m. with a screening of Bab’Aziz—The Prince Who Contemplated his Soul, filmed in Tunisia. Georgetown University professor and Tunisia expert Stephen J. King will lead a discussion following the film; he’ll also be present beforehand, at 6 p.m., to sign The New Authoritarianism in the Middle East and North Africa.
Brandon Wetherbee hosts his live talk show “You, Me, Them, Everybody” at the Looking Glass Lounge in Petworth at 8:30 p.m. The night’s guests include Meg and Chris of the award-winning 2Birds1Blog, stand-up comedian Brandon Wardell, and the Junior League Band (of which Washington City Paper contributor Sadie Dingfelder is a member). This donation-based event is 21+.
Friday
Celebrate the grand opening of the Mount Pleasant Temporium from 7 to 9 p.m. This pop-up shop features good from 30 local artists and crafters, and will be open through March 13.
Amy Chua discusses and signs Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mother—in which she controversially argues for a more strict, Asian method of parenting to promote academic success and respect for authority—at 7 p.m. at Politics and Prose.
Saturday
The National Postal Museum celebrates expedited package delivery with the Centennial of Airmail Family Festival from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Kids will have a chance to meet the first woman to receive airmail, create commemorative postcards, design futuristic aircraft for the next 100 years of airmail, and win a balsa-wood airplane by partaking in a fun scavenger hunt at the museum, located across from Union Station.
It’s the final day of the exhibition climate, control—featuring mixed media works J.J. McCracken, Jan Razauskas, and Millicent Young—at Civilian Art Projects. The three will be on hand at 4 p.m. at the gallery, located near the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, to discuss their work.
Busboys and Poets 5th & K hosts its monthly Youth Open Mic, featuring the Graffiti DC Slam Team, from 5 to 7 p.m. The event is co-hosted by former DC Youth Slam Team member Diamante and high school senior poet/emcee JayTee. Youth 20 and under are invited to share their poetry, music, rap, and acting.
Sunday
Over at Busboys and Poets 14th & V at 4 p.m., this month’s “Sunday Kind of Love” poetry open mic features local poet Kim Roberts, author of the 2009 Pearl Prize-winning book Animal Magnetism. She’s also the editor of the Beltway Poetry Quarterly and the anthology Full Moon On K Street: Poems about Washington, D.C.
Check out the opening day of the new exhibition Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals, which focuses on the competitive group of Venetian master painters in the 18th century. If you’re still in the mood for Italian art, but of a different genre, at 6:30 p.m. you can enjoy a live performance of the music of Vivaldi and others, presented in conjunction with the exhibit.
Amy Melrose is the creator of Free in DC, an arts, culture, and consciousness
blog highlighting free and low-cost events that are all Metro accessible in the D.C. area. You can also follow Free in DC on Twitter and Facebook.