Visit the National Museum of Women in the Arts

Another week, another museum closure. After our long year of coronavirus shutdowns, the news that the National Museum of Women in the Arts will close to the public on Aug. 9 doesn’t land with much of a shock. But the news has a silver lining that other closures don’t: The museum is closing in order to facilitate a “top to bottom,” $66 million renovation of the 1908 Classical Revival building that is expected to take two years and reopening is targeted for fall 2023. When it returns, expect nuts-and-bolts improvements including more gallery space, better accessibility, and improved mechanical systems alongside flashy updates like a fancy reading room, an education studio, and an orientation gallery to help visitors meet women artists as they enter the building. Before the shutdown, NMWA is offering a week of extensive programming and extended hours so that people who missed it over the last year can get one final visit. On Aug. 4, there’s a 6 p.m. free online presentation about the future of the museum. On view in the building are Mary Ellen Mark: Girlhood, a small survey of the photographer’s intimate portraits of girls and women over decades, and a gallery full of disparate pieces from the museum’s excellent collection, including Yael Bartana’s iconic “What if Women Ruled the World.” If you can’t visit this week, make sure to keep in touch with the museum over the next couple of years with its extensive planned online events and off-site exhibitions, like the upcoming 2022 Positive Fragmentation, which will be shown in the American University Museum. The museum is open from noon to 8 p.m. Aug 2–4. Free–$10. Admission is free Aug. 5–7 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Aug. 8 from noon to 5 p.m. 1250 New York Ave. NW. (202) 783-5000. nmwa.org.