You may be tempted to stay home and curl up under a blanket this weekend. But that would be a mistake when D.C. is alive — from a comedy show and clothing swap to hip-hop meditation.
Every Thursday, we share weekend events happening around the city. Are you planning an event you’d like us to consider for this roundup? Send it to our team using this form. Find more events in our Civics Roundup, which focuses on ways to get more involved locally.
With the winter weather here and the holidays over, you may be tempted to stay home and curl up under a blanket this weekend. But binging on Netflix would be a mistake when D.C. is alive with things to do.
Grab your scarf and gloves and go out to explore the city. You’ll find a clothing swap and a comedy show, a book discussion and a film screening, and even a hip-hop meditation.
ONGOING
Daddying Film Festival 📍 Virtual ⏰ January 9-15 💸 FREE Celebrate fatherhood in all of its forms at the Daddying Film Festival, which starts on Friday. From the comfort of your couch — OK, we’ll give you this one — you can watch dozens of submissions from filmmakers worldwide depicting relationships with father figures. Learn about Adamma who is seeking asylum in Ireland with her father, or see Madické try one last time to repair his relationship with his son before he leaves Senegal for Paris. Look out for an also-free, in-person event at American University at the end of the month!
THURSDAY, JAN. 8
Hip-Hop as Mindfulness 📍 Planet Word (923 13th St. NW) ⏰ 6 - 8 p.m. 💸 $15 How can we use music to reconnect with our bodies and nature? Meditation teacher, author, and hip-hop artist Born I is ready to demonstrate. Through readings from his new book Lyrical Dharma and a live performance from his album Komorebi, alongside guided meditation and sound healing, Ofosu Jones-Quartey will show how hip-hop can be both contemplative and transcendent.
Hot Cocoa Bar 📍 Garlic Girl Vintage (1830 Columbia Rd. NW) ⏰ 12 - 7 p.m. 💸 $8-22 Garlic Girl Vintage recently took over the Miss Pixie’s space in Adams Morgan. This Saturday, while you browse their latest finds, if you buy a vintage mug, you can fill it with homemade hot cocoa. The team promises “a creative array of toppings,” as well as free refills!
Conscious Karaoke 📍 West End Library (2301 L St. NW) ⏰ 4 - 6 p.m. 💸 FREE Looking for an activity between school and dinner, as the kids go back this week? Bring them to the library to sing along to a playlist that captures the zeitgeist of our political climate. Being loud at the library? Pretty novel!
Kucheh Kollective: Book Klub 📍 Kucheh Art Studio + Shop (716 Monroe St. NE) ⏰ 6 - 7:30 p.m. 💸 FREE You don’t have to have read all of For the Sun After Long Nights: The Story of Iran's Women-Led Uprising to join this discussion at a Brookland Arts Walk studio. Co-owner and artist Mina M. Jafari and local writer Anita Farsad will co-facilitate the conversation, inspired by the story of Iran’s Woman, Life, Freedom movement. Tea and snacks will be provided but feel free to bring more to share!
FRIDAY, JAN. 9
Comedian Tarunika Anand performs at a previous Backbone Comedy show. (Courtesy of Sophia Moten)
Backbone Comedy 📍 As You Are DC (500 8th St. SE) ⏰ 8 - 9:30 p.m. 💸 $20 (+ two-drink minimum) At this queer-run comedy show, local performers Bo Banter, Grace Wynter, Swetha Ramesh, Sanjana Raghavan, and others will bring the laughs while raising funds for Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop, a DC organization fostering creative expression for both incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people.
Idhar Maro: Film Screening and Discussion 📍 Creative Grounds (1822 North Capitol St. NW) ⏰ 6 - 8 p.m. 💸 FREE This Bloomingdale cafe aims to support local artists — and this weekend, they’re hosting a screening of Idhar Maro, a film that uses the archives of one Pakistani American family to explore intergenerational “memory, identity, and self-perception.” With themes of love, grief, resistance, and relationship to technology, the film “asks hard questions,” the cafe and event host say, “about how cameras can both preserve and distort the self, especially under a Western, colonial gaze.” After the film, there will be a discussion.
Finding Awe: Archibald John Motley Jr.'s Portrait of My Grandmother 📍National Gallery of Art (201 6th Street NW) ⏰ 2:15 - 4 p.m. (also on Saturday) 💸 $15, Kids under 15 FREE Did you know that most people look at paintings for only thirty seconds on average? The National Gallery of Art’s program “Finding Awe” encourages attendees to slow down, taking in each brushstroke, each shadow, each choice of color. This weekend, the 90-minute guided workshop zooms in on Archibald John Motley Jr.’s Portrait of My Grandmother. It repeats at 10:30 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. on Saturday. If registrations are full, check back the morning of the event for last-minute cancellations.
Soup’s up at the Perpetual Soup Project at Lamont Plaza on Saturday. (Aude/Wikimedia Commons)
SATURDAY, JAN. 10
Mount Pleasant Perpetual Stew Project 📍 Lamont Plaza (3210 Mount Pleasant St. NW) ⏰ 12 - 1 p.m. (continues on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays) 💸 FREE It’s back! The Perpetual Stew Project started in Mount Pleasant resident Robin Miniter’s apartment kitchen. Neighbors kept it going throughout March 2025, and will be out again this weekend at the farmers’ market. Bring a bowl and spoon, along with vegan and gluten-free future stew contributions like carrots, celery, or lentils. Don’t worry: “Perpetual” doesn’t mean the soup is old — just that it will be available through the season. While you’re there, stop at the Mount Pleasant Library Friends sale if you don’t already have a “What’s More Punk Than the Public Library?” T-shirt!
Terroir: Wine and Games 📍 Shanklin Hall (2325 18th St. NW) ⏰ 6 - 10 p.m. 💸 $7.16, with limited FREE tickets for Instagram followers One way to build community: Become a regular somewhere, like Terroir’s monthly social that takes over Shanklin Hall for classic games and natural wine. (This month’s edition features non-alcoholic wines and mocktails for a Dry-ish January!) Ms. Bankroll & 507 will provide the sounds, and you’ll provide the vibes. Bring friends — or just yourself and a little competitive spirit for games like Connect 4, Uno, or Jenga. During the event, they’ll raffle off a bottle of wine!
In the Round with Chamber Dance Project 📍 Arena Stage (1101 6th St. SW) ⏰ 6:30 p.m. artist chat, 7:30 p.m. show 💸 From $50 At this immersive dance show, you’ll sit no more than a few rows away from the dancers and musicians to experience the creative energy of live performance with new intensity. The program features music inspired by Gullah tradition from Grammy-winning composer Charlton Singleton and Samuel Barber’s iconic “Adagio.” Show up early to meet and hear from the creatives behind the work!
Black Masala 📍 Pearl St Warehouse (33 Pearl St. SW) ⏰ 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show 💸 $24 D.C.-based Black Masala blends sounds from funk, New Orleans big band, bhangra, and Balkan brass — sounds like a party to us. Show up right at 8 p.m. to hear the openers Eastern Standard Time, also a D.C. band who mixes jazz with ska, reggae, and soul.
Check out the Chamber Dance Project at Arena Stage on Saturday. (Geoff Livingston/Flickr)
SUNDAY, JAN. 11
Rnb + Flow 📍 Union Market (1309 5th St. NE) ⏰ 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. 💸 $14 (limited free tickets available) FlowWell Yoga’s Stephon Bradberry has been bringing yoga to non-traditional spaces with a “beyond the studio” series. This weekend, there's an energizing all-levels vinyasa flow outside of Union Market, featuring a live set from DJ Aalim Abdul. Bring your yoga mat and water bottle and come ready to stretch both your body and mind.
Booze-Free Bingo 📍 Metrobar (640 Rhode Island Ave. NE) ⏰ 1 p.m. 💸 $11 Observing Dry January doesn’t mean you have to stay home. You might even win prizes at Booze Free in DC’s Metrobar bingo party! Don’t worry if it’s cold — the heaters and firepits will be turned up, alongside zero-proof cocktails, NA beers, and wood-fired pizza.
Happy Daze Clothing Swap 📍 The Dock at Union Market (1309 5th St. NE) ⏰ 12 - 2 p.m. 💸 FREE Looking for new (to you) clothes? Have any gently used items in your closet that aren’t working for you anymore? A group of local vintage sellers host semi-regular, extremely popular clothing swaps. The next one, at Union Market, also features wintery drinks from Rosebay Cafe to sip while you browse. Bring up to 25 items, and take what works for you. Any unclaimed clothing will be donated to So What Else, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of local children and families. Interested in volunteering to help clean up? DM the hosts!
Emma Akpan is an arts and culture writer in Washington, DC. She writes about the intersections of religion, reproductive justice, race, and art. Her writing has appeared in Rewire News, Reckon Magazine, New City Art amongst other publications.
With your help, we pursue stories that hold leaders to account, demystify opaque city and civic processes, and celebrate the idiosyncrasies that make us proud to call D.C. home. Put simply, our mission is to make it easier — and more fun — to live in the District. Our members help keep local news free and independent for all:
