museum

Dear PoPville – Questionable Marketing for Crime & Punishment Museum

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

The Crime & Punishment Museum has these young people out sometimes around the Gallery Place metro handing out coupons for tickets to the museum. They’re always young people dressed up in these orange jumpsuits. On the day I took these pictures there was one white female and one black female in the group handing out the coupons, but everyone else, and everyone else that I’ve ever seen doing it, is an African American male. The outfits have a patch that says Crime & Punishment Museum but they’re very realistic if you’re not paying close attention. It just seems like a poor choice. Anyway, I’d definitely be interested to see what others thought.”

In late June WAMU’s DCentric reported:

Employees have worn the outfits for three years. Although most of those handing out coupons in Chinatown were black men, all employees are required to wear prison jumpsuits when they engage in promotional activities, community activities or sales calls, wrote Janine Vaccarello, the museum’s chief operating officer, in an email to DCentric.

Personally I’m not a huge fan of this marketing campaign. I think it’d be better if they are going to wear costumes then they should wear period costumes like bootleggers from the 1920s or Al Capone style (like advertised on the side of their building). Something much more obvious. What do you guys think – smart marketing or stupid stunt?

The 5pm Post – Lincoln’s Cottage will display one of five American flags that were hanging in Ford’s Theatre the night of the assassination

By Prince Of Petworth

From an press release:

In remembrance of the 146th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, President
Lincoln’s Cottage will display one of five American flags that were hanging in Ford’s Theatre the night of the assassination. The flag will be on display for one week only beginning on April 11, 2011.

The flag is said to have been grabbed in haste from the bunting on the presidential box and used to cushion Lincoln’s head after he was shot. Thomas Gourlay, a part-time theater manager, kept the blood-stained flag that night, after Lincoln was moved to the Peterson House across the street from Ford’s Theatre. Jeannie Gourlay, actress in “Our American Cousin”, which was playing that night, and daughter of Thomas Gourlay, kept the flag in her possession until she died in 1924. It was donated to Pike County Historical Society by her son in 1954. The flag will be displayed in the Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center, adjacent to the Cottage.

In addition to this display, President Lincoln’s Cottage will host James Swanson, author of Manhunt and Bloody Crimes, on April 14, the anniversary of the assassination. The event is part of the Cottage Conversation evening lecture series. Swanson is renowned as an expert on the Lincoln assassination. Due to its immense popularity, this is currently a wait-list-only event as general admission tickets sold out in February. For more information on Cottage Conversations visit here.

President Lincoln’s Cottage, located in Washington, D.C., is the most significant site associated with Abraham Lincoln’s presidency open to the public today. Although the Cottage is in a pastoral setting 3 miles north of the White House, life here brought Lincoln and his family closer to the war. Lincoln commuted three miles daily by horseback or coach to the White House, last visiting the Cottage the day before his assassination. The New York Times said of the Cottage: “Its power is the power of association, its contact with a historical presence; we literally walk in a great figure’s footsteps.”

Opened to the public for the first time in 2008, the Cottage offers intimate, guided tours providing an in-depth, media- enhanced experience highlighting Lincoln’s ideas and actions through historical images and voices. The Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center houses thematic galleries and changing exhibitions providing visitors of all ages opportunities for in- depth exploration of Lincoln’s life and times.

For information about visiting President Lincoln’s Cottage, go to www.lincolncottage.org.

African American Civil War Museum Moves into Awesome New Building

By Prince Of Petworth

I was happily surprised to see that the new African American Civil War Museum has opened up at 1925 Vermont Ave, NW. The building is amazing. They were previously located in a small space at 1200 U St, NW. The new building is located behind the old Grimke School. Their Web site says:

“We Have Moved to the new space at 1925 Vermont Ave NW Washington, DC 20001. The new location will be our permanent home. It is located across the street from the African American Civil War Memorial. We have some great events leading up to the Grand Opening, July 16-18. Be sure to save the date.”

I was able to stop in and snap a few photos. Founding Director (and former Council Member) Frank Smith tells me that by next weekend about 65% of the exhibits would be installed.

You can learn more about the background of the museum here:

“In January 1999, the Civil War Memorial Museum opened to the public. Using photographs, documents and state of the art audio visual equipment, the museum helps visitors understand the African American’s heroic and largely unknown struggle for freedom.”

Lots more photos after the jump. (more…)

Save the Petting Zoo & Pizza Playground at the National Zoo!

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

Would you be willing to do a post on an impending change at the National Zoo that local parents are trying to stop? We desperately need help getting the word out. Here’s the issue:

The Zoo currently has a petting farm with cows, donkeys, pigs, etc. that kids can visit and touch (my 2.5 yr old son loves it so much that he knows most of the animals by name). The Zoo also as a “pizza” playground that is one of the best outdoor spaces in the city for little kids/toddlers to play. The Smithsonian (which runs the Zoo) is saying that it’s going to close both the farm and the playground and shift the funds to other “priorities” even though the press is saying that the overall budget for the Smithsonian is going to actually INCREASE this year by $100mm.

Local parents have started to organize to resist these changes, but we’re just getting started and are a little bit at sea. But we do have a facebook group started.

More importantly, we’re trying to organize a “protest” at the farm for Saturday. The idea is to just show our support by having as many families come as possible between 10:00 am and 12:00 pm on the 26th.”

Good luck!

Dear PoP – What to do with a 7 and 10 Year Old from Upstate NY?

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

We have our 7 and 10 year old nephews coming into town from upstate New York for a visit with us. We’ve done the Natural History, Building, Air & Space, Native American, you name it museum with them before. We’re trying to plan something fun to do down here for the 7 year olds birthday that A) we haven’t done before; B) a 7 and 10 year old would find really fun; C) Something they wouldn’t be able to do up in upstate New York (that part shouldn’t be that hard to accomplish). We don’t have kids ourselves and our general knowledge of things for kids to do in DC is pretty lacking. Does anyone out there have suggestions of places to go or things to try?!”

Hmm, looks like you hit all the big ones – I’m gonna say (while it’s not as good as Baltimore’s aquarium) the National Aquarium in the Commerce Dep’t (14th and Constitution Avenue, NW). Or of course the National Zoo.

What would you guys recommend?

Dear PoP – Favorite Smithsonian Spots for a Scavenger Hunt?

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user Mr. T in DC

“Dear PoP,

Living in DC, friends and family come to visit all the time. I enjoy taking them to museums, but I find myself always going to the same exhibits. Several years ago, I was living in Paris, and my art history professor made a kind of treasure hunt in the Louvre where each step led you to a new piece of artwork and a new set of clues. It was pretty much the most fun I’ve ever had in a museum, and I’d like to do a similar version across the entire Mall. Instead of just using all the most famous exhibits, I’d like to find quirkier and less-visited things to add to the list. I have my own favorite spots in each Smithsonian, but I’d love to hear some of your readers’ favorite things to see.”

This sounds like a really fun idea. Back in Sept. we talked about some of our favorite museums. But specific to the question, what Smithsonian exhibits do you guys think would make for good clues for a scavenger hunt?

The 5pm Post – Movies and Literature Thurs. Evening

By Prince Of Petworth

This is timely:

This year’s film festival at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art focuses on the films of Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. Bound by geography, these disparate films capture the complexity of recent movies from and about North Africa. From contemporary Cairo and Marrakech, to the shifting sandscapes of Tunisia and Iran, to Algiers and Paris, these films are intimately tied with place, and show different sides of these often stunning and sometimes gritty backdrops.

Free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served.

Thursday evenings at 7:00PM
950 Independence Ave
Lecture Hall, Sublevel 2

More info from 826dc here.

The 5pm Post – Artist Talk: Theo Eshetu at African Art Dec 16 @ 7pm

By Prince Of Petworth


Theo Eshetu, Brave New World II, 1999 (2006 Edition). Multimedia and video installation. Photograph by Chris Ward Jones, courtesy of the artist.

From an email:

“Artist Talk: Theo Eshetu

Date: Thursday, December 16
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Place: National Museum of African Art

lecture hall, sub-level 2
950 Independence Avenue, SW
Take Metro to Smithsonian Station

Video artist, filmmaker and photographer Theo Eshetu discusses his recent projects with a focus on his video installation Brave New World II, now on view at the National Museum of African Art. He shows how aspects of his biography—born in London to Dutch and Ethiopian parents, raised in Senegal and other countries, and now residing in Rome—as well as circumstance influence his life and art.

About the Artist:

Theo Eshetu received his degree in communication design from the North East London Polytechnic in 1981. Since then, he has taught film—most recently at the Accademia dell’Immagine in L’Aquila, Italy—and worked in a range of new media formats, from documentary and experimental films to video art installations and photography. His films include Traveling Light (1992), Art is Easy (1997), Blood Is Not Fresh Water (1998), Africanized (2001) and Body and Soul (2004). Eshetu’s work has appeared throughout Italy as well as in England, Germany, Sweden, South Africa, Canada, the United States, Brazil, China and Japan.”

Free Japanese Film Festival This Friday and Sunday at the Freer

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoP,

On Friday, December 3 at 7 PM, we will show the ever popular comedy Linda Linda Linda. The film follows four girls as they prepare their band for their final school festival.  Accompanied by a great soundtrack, this film is funny, poignant, and will certainly have you longing for your school festival (and a karaoke box).  Click here to visit the film’s official English site.  (Japanese with English subtitles)

On Sunday, December 5 at 2 PM, we will screen The Harimaya Bridge, written and directed by former JET Aaron Woolfolk (Kochi Prefecture).  The Harimaya Bridge is a drama about an American man who must travel to rural Japan to claim some important items belonging to his late son, from whom he was estranged. While there, he learns several secrets his son left behind. Mr. Woolfolk will be in attendance during the screening and will stay to answer questions about his craft and his experiences.   Come see a film the Los Angeles Times calls “a unique, complex, consciousness-raising accomplishment,” and Derek Kester of the San Francisco Examiner labels one of the best films of the year.  Click here to visit the film’s official site.

Admission to both films is FREE and open to the public.  Seating in the Meyer Auditorium at the Freer (directions here) will be available on a first come first served basis. Auditorium doors will open approximately 30 minutes before each show.”

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