Washington, DC hosts numerous special exhibitions and performances throughout the year.

ONGOING EVENTS

Thru February 28, 2009
Postal Inspectors: The Silent Service (Exhibit) - National Postal Museum
Mail connects families and friends, businesses and customers, government and citizens. It carries information, goods and valuables into our homes and offices. For that reason, scam artists and criminals have long been tempted to use the mail for illegal means. Protecting the mail and the postal system is the job of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Sometimes called the silent service, it is one of the oldest federal law enforcement agencies in the country. www.postalmuseum.si.edu/inspectors/index.htm

Thru November 8
Discovering Rastafari! (Exhibit) - National Museum of Natural History
Using artifacts, rare photographs, and ephemera to explore the origins and religious practices of the movement in Jamaica, this exhibition takes viewers beyond the popular Jamaican music known as reggae to the deeper roots of the Rastafari culture. www.mnh.si.edu/exhibits

May 3 - October 26
Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series: Selections from The Phillips Collection (Traveling Exhibit)
After touring across the country, this exhibition will culminate in a presentation at The Phillips Collection of all 30 odd numbered panels from Lawrence's renowned 60-panel Migration series depicting the twentieth-century movement of over 6 million African Americans from the rural south to the urban North during and after World War I. Spanning the entire series from beginning to end, the selected works underscore the thematic and aesthetic cohesiveness of Lawrence's epic statement, from the recurring movement of the migrants South to North, to the ongoing struggles and hardships of their journey in search of greater economic and social justice. www.phillipscollection.org

June 5 - September 9
"Now Thrive the Armorers" - Folger Shakespeare Library
Shakespeare's works deal with the themes of chivalry, warfare, conflict, and honor. This exhibition, " 'Now Thrive the Armorers': Arms and Armor in Shakespeare," explores the resonances between the Folger's collection—including jousting manuals, battlefield plans, styles of armor, and more—and the extensive collection of Shakespearean-era artifacts at the Higgins Armory (Worcester, MA), bringing visitors face to face with artifacts that embody many of these themes. www.folger.edu

June 18 - October 31
Dreamers & Believers: Cathedral Builders
Dreamers & Believers celebrates the centennial of the laying the Cathedral’s foundation stone in 1907, as part of its centennial festivities.

This exhibit tells a story about people who strove to create a majestic center of worship in the nation’s capital - the visionaries who dreamed of a magnificent church, the architects who planned, the volunteers who gave their talent and money, the workers who labored to build, and the artisans who created beautiful embellishments.

Spanning nearly a century of planning and construction, the exhibit tells this dramatic story through historic photographs, artifacts, and film. www.nationalcathedral.org

June 19 - September 7
The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image - Part II: Realism - Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
This two-part exhibition features moving-image artworks by a range of influential and emerging international artists whose works use film language and technology to explore the ever-increasing impact of the cinematic on our perceptions and the ways in which the very boundaries between “real life” and make-believe have become at least blurred, if not indecipherable.

At the heart of the second part, Realisms (June 2008), is the irony that in our digital age, in which it has become easier and easier to capture real life in real time, the distinctions between fact and fiction have become increasingly complicated and difficult to decipher. hirshhorn.si.edu

AUGUST EVENTS

August 9-17
Legg Mason Tennis Classic
See four young stars that have captured the attention of fans well beyond the world of tennis battle for the championship. Players that have participated previously include Andy Roddick, Marat Safin, Bib Bryan, and Mike Bryan.

This summer's tournament will benefit the Washington Tennis & Education Foundation (WTEF), a non-profit organization established in 1955 that serves as the owner of this annual world-class event. WTEF strives to improve the life prospects of DC-area youth, particularly those from lower-income communities, through tennis, educational and community-based activities. www.leggmasontennisclassic.com

June 26 - August 24
Disney's The Lion King - Kennedy Center
Experience the phenomenon of Disney's The Lion King! Marvel at the breathtaking spectacle of animals brought to life by award-winning director Julie Taymor, whose visual images for this show you'll remember forever. Thrill to the pulsating rhythms of the African Pridelands with choreography by Garth Fagan and an unforgettable score including Elton John and Tim Rice's Oscar-winning song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and "Circle of Life." Let your imagination run wild at this Tony Award–winning Broadway sensation, which leaps onto the Opera House stage in summer 2008! Tickets are $25.00 - $135.00. www.kennedy-center.org

August 29 - September 7
Les Miserables - Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, Filene Center
One of Broadway's longest running shows and the 1987 Tony Award-winner for Best Musical, Les Misérables recounts the struggle of good versus evil during the French Revolution. One man rises above his circumstances to bring hope and peace to the lives he touches. This fiercely moving theatrical epic includes such memorable songs as "On My Own" and "Master of the House." www.wolftrap.org

There are many scheduled events going on in the nation’s capital. For a complete and searchable Calendar of Events visit washington.org