West End

GWU Lisner Auditorium

The Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University hosts various events including concerts, dance performances.

 

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is located along the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate Complex, in Foggy Bottom. It was built as a private-public partnership, in effort to create a National Cultural Center for the nation's capital. President Kennedy helped move the project forward, and when he was assassinated, the center was named after him as a living memorial. Architect Edward Durrell Stone designed the building, which opened in 1971.

There are three main theaters in the Kennedy Center: the Concert Hall, Opera House, and Eisenhower Theater. The National Symphony Orchestra performs at the Concert Hall, while the Opera House is home to the Washington National Opera and the annual Kennedy Center Honors. The Eisenhower Theater is a smaller venue that hosts theater, musicals, operas, ballet, and dance performances. The Kennedy Center has a number of smaller venues, with various events geared towards children and other audiences. The Millennium Stage, located at the end of the Grand Foyer, hosts daily, free performances. If you are looking for a really special, classic Washingtonian event, the two big ones are right around Christmas—the National Ballet's yearly performance of The Nutcracker, and the Handel's Messiah Singalong (http://messiahsing.org). For the latter, the entire audience, mostly of amateur and professional choirs, join the Master Chorus and Orchestra in singing the full oratorio—it's an amazing experience for singers and non-singers alike.

white house

The White House hosts a number of special annual events, including the popular White House Easter Egg Roll on the south lawn. The annual tradition was started in 1878 by President Rutherford B. Hayes, who invited local children to the White House lawn for the event. The event includes various other activities for children, including face painting, music, magicians, egg coloring, and story telling, along with food. The event is open to children ages 7 or younger. Free tickets are distributed a few days before Easter, though people usually begin lining up many hours in advance, in the wee hours of the morning, as demand far exceeds supply.

Each year in December, the White House Christmas Tree is displayed on the Ellipse, along with a huge Menorah for Hanukkah. Tickets are required for the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, which features the President and/or First Lady lighting the tree. People line up to get free tickets for the event when they are handed out—usually a month in advance. Once the tree is lit, it is open to the public who can see it lit up each evening, along with smaller trees for each state.

Twice each year, tours take place of the Rose Garden and other gardens on the White House grounds. Over the years, the Presidents and First Ladies changed up the gardens to suit their tastes, including a colonial garden planted by Edith Roosevelt in 1902. President Woodrow Wilson's wife, Ellen, replaced the colonial garden with a Rose Garden, which has remained. The East Garden was redesigned by Jacqueline Kennedy, and Lady Bird Johnson created a Children's Garden at the White House. The White House holds the Fall Garden Tours in October, while the Spring Garden Tours are held in April. Tickets are distributed on the morning of the tour—first-come, first served.