Thursday: Nicole Chung at People’s Book

Author Nicole Chung continues to take the DMV by storm with an event celebrating the paperback release of her bestselling 2023 memoir, A Living Remedy. Chung will be joined by Clint Smith, the D.C.-based author of How the Word Is Passed and an Atlantic columnist. Chung has done many events across the region and just read at Capitol Hill’s East City Bookshop on May 2 (featured in our 2024 Spring Arts Guide), but Thursday’s event marks her first time reading at People’s, Takoma Park’s newest addition to our robust indie bookstore scene. In the nearly one year since People’s Book opened last June, the store has become a hub for community events, readings, workshops, and more. Similarly, A Living Remedy has brought people together in its first year of publication, thanks to Chung’s vulnerable and resonant writing, as well as her long tour that’s convened readers and writers across the country. Chung shared on X that this will be her last event in the area for a while, so make sure to catch her and Smith in conversation. Nicole Chung talks at 7 p.m. on May 16 at People’s Book, 7014-A Westmoreland Ave., Takoma Park. peoplesbooktakoma.com. Free. —Serena Zets 

Saturday and Sunday: Walk Weekend throughout the Dupont-Kalorama Neighborhoods

This Saturday and Sunday is “Walk Weekend,” a free, community-oriented event organized by the Dupont-Kalorama Museums Consortium. For two days, seven of the city’s “off the mall” museums will open their doors to guests of all ages, complete with music, special exhibitions, and tours, as well as hands-on activities to excite even the youngest of museum-goers. The participating spots include many favorites, as well as some hidden gems, that run the gamut of specializations from architecture to fine arts: Dumbarton House, the National Museum of American Jewish Military History, the Phillips Collection, the Woodrow Wilson House, the American Revolution Institute of the Society of Cincinnati, Dupont Underground, and, for the first time, O Museum in the Mansion.

If it’s novel retrospection you’re after, consider the Revolution Institute’s exhibit titled Fete Lafayette, or, translated to English, the much less catchy Party Lafayette. The thorough collection celebrates—through letters, textiles, silvers, and other rare artifacts—the 200-year anniversary of the Frenchman’s farewell tour of America. His visit took a whopping 13 months to complete and allowed the famed Marquis and civil rights supporter to witness the country’s democratic experiment in bare light. Alternatively, if it’s sleuthing among cherry blossoms that strikes your fancy, the O Museum, aka Rosa Parks’ former abode, will open the gates of its Secret Gardens of Asia exhibit, filled with hidden passageways and whimsical blooms. And if you’d like to get your hands messy and brain whizzing with art of your own, the Phillips will host interactive arts and crafts for walkers of all ages. Consider checking out the vibrant, Technicolor collages of Sam Gilliam or the flowery, bold abstractions of Alma W. Thomas before you take to the page for gummy inspiration. Visit the Consortium’s website for a complete map of participating museums. Walk Weekend runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 18 and 19 throughout the Dupont-Kalorama neighborhoods. dkmuseums.com. Free. —Emma Francois

Sunday: “Zodiac Suite,” presented by U.S. Air Force Band and Washington Performing Arts at Lincoln Theatre

Washington’s military bands are not generally associated with breaking new ground in jazz or classical music; John Philip Sousa, evening tattoos, and “Hail to the Chief” are more their jam. But thanks to a partnership with local concert presenter Washington Performing Arts, the United States Air Force Band will deliver the D.C. premiere of “Zodiac Suite,” a landmark work for piano trio and orchestra by pioneering composer, pianist, and arranger Mary Lou Williams. Originally written just for piano trio, then enlarged for jazz ensemble, and, eventually, an orchestra, “Zodiac Suite” was played at New York’s Town Hall in 1945. But as Black woman, Williams saw her grand accomplishment undeservedly shelved for decades, and there was no definitive copy of Williams’ orchestrations. Until the pandemic, that is, when out-of-work pianist Aaron Diehl began seriously noodling around with a scratchy recording and Williams’ scores, determined for “the lady who swings the band” to find an audience again. He has succeeded. Last November, Zodiac Suite, Diehl’s album recorded with New York classical ensemble the Knights, received a Grammy nomination. Williams’ music dates “from an era when Black composers with sway in jazz circles dared to pursue hybrid musical styles, all while meeting various forms of resistance or disrespect,” wrote New York Times critic Seth Colter Walls in his glowing album review.  You can listen on Spotify, but wouldn’t it be better to hear Diehl, his trio, and the Air Force Band play “Zodiac Suite” live—for free? The concert also includes George Gershwin’s “Lullaby for Strings,” William Grant Still’s “Out of the Silence,” and Duke Ellington’s classic “Caravan.” “Zodiac Suite,” presented by the U.S. Air Force Band and Washington Performing Arts, starts at 7:30 p.m. on May 19 at the Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. washingtonperformingarts.org. Free. —Rebecca Ritzell

Ongoing: So It Goes at Photoworks

Few of the more than two dozen photographers in the Photoworks exhibit So It Goes are making truly revolutionary work, but that can be forgiven: They’re students from four local high schools (Holton-Arms, Walter Johnson, and Sienna in Maryland, and Virginia’s Potomac). Still, many of these young artists have soaked up moods from their photographic forebears impressively well. Zachary Dalva–Baird’s red truck surrounded by brambles channels William Christenberry’s depictions of Hale County, Alabama, right down to its muted color palette; Alexis Vaughan’s moody portrayal of a blue car suggests the visual ballads of Gregory Crewdson; Karina Satoskar’s rocky seascape communicates the fluidity of a 19th-century landscape by Carleton Watkins; while Kabir Singh’s image of three figures in the distance framed by a semicircular canopy call to mind W. Eugene Smith’s “A Walk to the Paradise Garden.” Other notable works include Javier Almonte’s photograph of a stray dog reclining next to a beige wall that echoes the color of the dog; Britt Nordquist’s collage-like depiction of a figure holding old-school photographic negatives to the light; Addison Burakiewicz’s image of a face blending into a backdrop of tree branches; Ella Moore’s orderly look through 10 repeating sandstone-colored doorways; and Alden Darufsky’s pair of inscrutable abstractions, one in placid blue green and the other in fiery orange red. The standout image, albeit an understated one, may be Maisy Bedell’s black-and-white photograph of a half dozen small drops of water, which, despite their pleasing chiaroscuro, end up being less interesting than the copious negative space that surrounds them. Bonus: The images sell for a very reasonable $50 or $75. So It Goes runs through May 26 at Photoworks, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Saturdays, 1 to 4 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 7 p.m. glenechophotoworks.org. Free. —Louis Jacobson

Editor’s note: This has been updated with the correct start time for “Zodiac Suite,” which starts at 7:30 p.m. on May 18.