Entertainment Nation / Nación del espectáculo
Explore how entertainment has provided a forum for important national conversations about who we are, and who we want to be.
What’s On
Featured events and exhibitions
Featured Exhibitions
With over two hundred exhibitions to choose from, we've highlighted select exhibitions from around the Smithsonian—or check out all of our exhibitions.
What's New
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Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch
May 27, 2023 – January 1, 2024 American Indian Museum New York
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Sharing Honors and Burdens: Renwick Invitational 2023
May 26, 2023 – March 31, 2024 Renwick Gallery
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Robert Houle: Red Is Beautiful
May 25, 2023 – June 2, 2024 American Indian Museum
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To Live and Breathe: Women and Environmental Justice in Washington, D.C.
May 19, 2023 – January 7, 2024 Anacostia Community Museum
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Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols
May 13, 2023 – September 2, 2024 Cooper Hewitt
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Connecting Stories at the National Museum of Asian Art
April 29, 2023 – Ongoing Sackler Gallery
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From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya with Ayana V. Jackson
April 29, 2023 – January 29, 2024 African Art Museum
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Mirror, Mirror for Us All: Disney Parks and the American Narrative / Experience
April 28, 2023 – March 2024 American History Museum
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1898: U.S. Imperial Visions and Revisions
April 28, 2023 – February 25, 2024 Portrait Gallery
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A Journey of Taste: Freer and Japanese Scroll Mounting
April 15, 2023 – March 3, 2024 Freer Gallery of Art
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Words of Wisdom: Buddhist Calligraphy from Japan
April 1, 2023 – February 25, 2024 Freer Gallery of Art
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Ay-Ō's Happy Rainbow Hell
March 25, 2023 – September 10, 2023 Sackler Gallery
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The Art of Knowing in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas
March 25, 2023 – TBA Sackler Gallery
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Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures
March 24, 2023 – March 24, 2024 African American Museum
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Lights Out: Recovering Our Night Sky
March 23, 2023 – April 2025 Natural History Museum
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Bird House
March 13, 2023 – Permanent National Zoo
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Smithsonian Stories: African American Groundbreakers
March 6, 2023 – Ongoing S. Dillon Ripley Center
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Anyang: China's Ancient City of Kings
February 25, 2023 – April 28, 2024 Sackler Gallery
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Rinpa Screens
February 25, 2023 – January 28, 2024 Freer Gallery of Art
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I Dream a World: Selections from Brian Lanker's Portraits of Remarkable Black Women: Part II
February 10, 2023 – September 10, 2023 Portrait Gallery
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Abraham Lincoln by W.F.K. Travers
February 10, 2023 – December 31, 2027 Portrait Gallery
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A Collector's Eye: Freer in Egypt
January 28, 2023 – Ongoing Freer Gallery of Art
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Unstill Waters: Contemporary Photography from India
December 10, 2022 – June 11, 2023 Sackler Gallery
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Entertainment Nation / Nación del espectáculo
December 9, 2022 – Indefinitely American History Museum
Closing Soon
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Iké Udé: Nollywood Portraits
February 5, 2022 – May 29, 2023 African Art Museum
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Deconstructing Power: W. E. B. Du Bois at the 1900 World's Fair
December 9, 2022 – May 29, 2023 Cooper Hewitt
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Nature by Design: Botanical Lessons
June 8, 2019 – May 29, 2023 Cooper Hewitt
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Family Ties: Daguerreotype Portraits
July 1, 2022 – June 11, 2023 Portrait Gallery
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Unstill Waters: Contemporary Photography from India
December 10, 2022 – June 11, 2023 Sackler Gallery
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One with Eternity: Yayoi Kusama in the Hirshhorn Collection
April 1, 2022 – July 16, 2023 Hirshhorn
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Artist to Artist
October 1, 2021 – September 3, 2023 American Art Museum
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Designing Peace
June 10, 2022 – September 4, 2023 Cooper Hewitt
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Ay-Ō's Happy Rainbow Hell
March 25, 2023 – September 10, 2023 Sackler Gallery
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I Dream a World: Selections from Brian Lanker's Portraits of Remarkable Black Women: Part II
February 10, 2023 – September 10, 2023 Portrait Gallery
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Put It This Way: (Re)Visions of the Hirshhorn Collection
August 2, 2022 – September 17, 2023 Hirshhorn
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A Perfect Harmony: American Art
November 27, 2019 – October 8, 2023 Freer Gallery of Art
Don't Miss
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One World Connected
October 14, 2022 – Permanent Air and Space Museum
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The Peacock Room Comes to America
September 3, 2022 – Indefinitely Freer Gallery of Art
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Baseball: America's Homerun
April 9, 2022 – January 5, 2025 Postal Museum
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The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room
March 5, 2022 – Indefinitely Sackler Gallery
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The David H. Koch Hall of Fossils—Deep Time
June 8, 2019 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Americans
January 18, 2018 – Indefinitely American Indian Museum
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Mark Bradford: Pickett's Charge
November 8, 2017 – Ongoing Hirshhorn
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Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa's Arts
November 4, 2017 – Permanent African Art Museum
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America's Presidents
September 22, 2017 – Permanent Portrait Gallery
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American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith
June 28, 2017 – Permanent American History Museum
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Slavery and Freedom
September 24, 2016 – Permanent African American Museum
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Musical Crossroads
September 24, 2016 – Permanent African American Museum
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Places of Invention
July 1, 2015 – Permanent American History Museum
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Immersion Room
December 12, 2014 – Indefinitely Cooper Hewitt
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Nation to Nation: Treaties between the United States and American Indian Nations
September 21, 2014 – January 25, 2025 American Indian Museum
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The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem
November 21, 2008 – Permanent American History Museum
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Sant Ocean Hall
September 27, 2008 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Asia Trail
October 17, 2006 – Permanent National Zoo
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Luce Foundation Center for American Art
July 1, 2006 – Permanent American Art Museum
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Cold War Aviation
December 15, 2003 – Permanent Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center
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Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals
September 20, 1997 – Permanent Natural History Museum
Kids' Favorites
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Really BIG Money
April 8, 2022 – Indefinitely American History Museum
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The David H. Koch Hall of Fossils—Deep Time
June 8, 2019 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Mega-toothed Shark
May 24, 2019 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Explore! with the National Portrait Gallery
January 28, 2017 – Indefinitely Portrait Gallery
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Sports: Leveling the Playing Field
September 24, 2016 – Indefinitely African American Museum
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Wegmans Wonderplace
December 9, 2015 – Indefinitely American History Museum
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African Elephant
September 4, 2015 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Patrick F. Taylor Object Project
July 1, 2015 – Permanent American History Museum
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Spark!Lab
July 1, 2015 – Indefinitely American History Museum
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American Trail
September 1, 2012 – Permanent National Zoo
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As We Grow: Traditions, Toys, Games
August 22, 2012 – Permanent American Indian Museum
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Eternal Life in Ancient Egypt
November 17, 2011 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Sant Ocean Hall
September 27, 2008 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Butterflies + Plants: Partners in Evolution
Natural History Museum
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Asia Trail
October 17, 2006 – Permanent National Zoo
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Airmail in America
February 22, 2006 – Permanent Postal Museum
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Human Spaceflight
November 1, 2004 – Permanent Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center
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Kids' Farm
June 12, 2004 – Permanent National Zoo
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America on the Move
November 22, 2003 – Permanent American History Museum
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Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals
November 15, 2003 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals
September 20, 1997 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Insect Zoo, O. Orkin
September 10, 1993 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Moving the Mail
July 30, 1993 – Permanent Postal Museum
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The Dolls' House
Opened 1951 – Indefinitely American History Museum
