Anacostia Community Museum Celebrates the 1970s and ’80s at the June 12 Summer Soirée Benefit at the Smithsonian Castle
Promising a night of fun and frolic, the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum presents its Summer Soirée benefit event, “Boogie Down DC: Celebrating the 70s and 80s in Washington” Friday, June 12, at 7 p.m. in the Smithsonian Castle at 1000 Jefferson Drive S.W.
The affair will transport guests back to those decades of disco, bell bottoms and blue-lights-in-the-basement with themed food, trivia, music and dancing. There will be a silent auction, and guests are encouraged to don their best throwback outfit for the attire competition. Washington, D.C. favorite, the Phaze II Band, will blow the roof off the Castle performing iconic R&B, funk, disco, rock and Go-Go chart-busters. For more information on the event and tickets, call (202) 633-4875 or email acminfo@si.edu.
Organized by the museum’s advisory board, chaired by James Larry Frazier, the event is the museum’s major annual fundraising event. Maureen Bunyan, weeknight anchor for ABC7 News and veteran journalist, returns this year to support the museum as MC. The event proceeds will benefit the museum’s exhibitions and public programs.
“This is truly a party with a purpose,” said Camille Giraud Akeju, director of the museum. “We are inviting old and new friends to get down and boogie with us while supporting the museum.
We are also going to pay tribute to renowned actor and activist Danny Glover.”
At the Summer Soirée, Danny Glover will be awarded the John R. Kinard Leadership in Community Service Award, which is named after the late founding director of the museum. From the blockbuster Lethal Weapon franchise in film to hit television shows such as ER, Glover has portrayed a myriad of popular roles and has distinguished himself as one of his generation’s most consummate actors for more than 30 years. His critically acclaimed performances in motion pictures such as The Color Purple, Witness and Places in the Heart, have showcased his versatility. Using his talent and success as vehicles for social awareness raising and philanthropy, Glover has produced award-winning progressive films through his co-founded company Louverture Films and gained respect for his local, national and international advocacy efforts regarding economic justice, AIDS, health-care access and educational opportunity among other areas of concern. Glover is currently a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.
Returning as sponsors of the Summer Soirée are CareFirst Blue Cross/Blue Shield, City First Bank of DC and the DC Lottery, among other supporters.
The Anacostia Community Museum opened in southeast Washington in 1967 as the nation’s first federally funded neighborhood museum. Adopting its current name in 2006, the museum has expanded from a solely African American emphasis to a focus on issues impacting contemporary urban communities. For more information on the museum, the public may call (202) 633-4820; for tours, call (202) 633-4844. Website: anacostia.si.edu.
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