Smithsonian Institution

Stream some of the year's best in Indigenous film from the comfort of home, all for FREE with National Museum of the American Indian's Native Cinema Showcase: https://s.si.edu/3ANAzx1 #NativeCinemaShowcase #IndigenousFilm #SmithsonianNAHM

Have you explored the gardens around our National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.? The landscape features plants that flourished in the Piedmont region prior to European contact. Learn how our Smithsonian Gardens cares for these plants: https://s.si.edu/3V55X11 #SmithsonianNAHM #NativeAmericanHeritageMonth

"She wore a crown and came down in a BUBBLE!” ?? Next time you travel somewhere fantastical, like the Land of Oz, send your friends a postcard like this one from the early 1900s, where a woman floats in the air, almost like magic, in a bubble. In the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz," Glinda the Good Witch travels via bubble, appearing when she is most needed in a burst of colorful light. To achieve this effect before the invention of CGI, filmmakers placed a glass ball, about eight inches in diameter against a black background, which acted almost like a greenscreen today. They lit the ball from four angles, creating its colorful glow. To complete its bubble-like transformation, the stationary ball was filmed at different angles. When shots of the ball are layered on shots of Munchkinland, the bubble appears to float closer and closer to the camera, creating Glinda’s glamourous entrance. Novelty postcards, like this bubbly example from National Museum of American History, were popular during the early 1900s, where photographers and artists used innovative techniques to defy gravity.

Enjoying flurries? ?? Lions, tigers, and other animals at our Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute have heated dens and bedding where they can cozy up on cold days. Animal care teams closely monitor temperatures and weather to ensure the well-being of all animals—regardless of their natural habitat.

Here at the Smithsonian, our objects are always defying gravity. ?? ? Join Ryan Lintelman, entertainment curator at Smithsonian National Museum of American History ,?as he guides us on a journey through objects from the original Broadway production of “Wicked” in 2003. Though not currently on display, these and other objects from your favorite musicals are available for you to explore at americanhistory.si.edu.??

Stream some of the year's best in Indigenous film from the comfort of home, all for FREE! https://s.si.edu/3ANAzx1 #NativeCinemaShowcase #IndigenousFilm #SmithsonianNAHM

“So what's the verdict?” ?? “I am an autumn.” Fall is for cozy sweaters, apple picking, and that annual "Gilmore Girls" rewatch. American artist Louis M. Eilshemius is known for his romantic landscapes, moonlit cityscapes, and nudes. Not one for imposter syndrome, he referred to himself as the “Transcendental Eagle of the Arts.” Eilshemius’ “Autumn Landscape” from our Smithsonian American Art Museum is just one of millions of object images that our audiences are invited to download, share, and reuse as part of #SmithsonianOpenAccess. Explore: si.edu/openaccess

Eye-opening Japanese prints now on display at our Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art. https://s.si.edu/3UWOxno

Arts education makes the world a more beautiful place. ?? Kids captured their world through their own lens in this photography workshop at the New Thing Arts and Architecture Center in Washington, D.C. From 1967 to 1973, the organization offered photography, creative writing, filmmaking, and music workshops to Black youth in the nation’s capital. Recognizing the need for more educational opportunities for Black children in the city, Howard University alum and architect Colin “Topper” Carew established the New Thing in D.C.’s Adams Morgan neighborhood. In addition to weekend and summer classes, the organization also hosted weekly concerts, which featured legendary performers, such as Stevie Wonder and B.B. King. Due to funding restraints, the New Thing closed its doors in 1973. But in just a few short years, the organization inspired countless young people to explore the arts and left a legacy of Black arts education and activism in the nation’s capital. Meet a few of the students and teachers who made D.C. a center for Black arts education in “A Bold and Beautiful Vision: A Century of Black Arts Education in Washington, D.C., 1900-2000” at our Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum. ??: Stephen Thomas, in the collection of our Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum

Synthesizers and drum machines meet fiddle and folk songs in “symbiont,” the visionary new album of Indigenous and Afrofuturist folklore by musicians Jake Blount and Mali Obomsawin, out now on Smithsonian Folkways. Through combining source material from hymns, spirituals, and Caribbean banjo tunes from the 17th century, Obomsawin, a composer and improviser from Odanak First Nation, and Blount, an interpreter and scholar of Black folk music, created a genre-defying “remix” album. “This record reflects not only the natural harmonies that exist between our individual and cultural perspectives, but also an arduous process of reconciliation through remix,” the duo says. “‘symbiont’ is a precisely honed sound mythography born from the same process it champions: the cultivation of a shared future through care, respect, and sacrifice.” ?? Sound on to hear Blount and Obomsawin’s arrangement of the spiritual “My Way’s Cloudy,” featuring vocals from Red Lake Ojibwe singer Joe Rainey. The music video was filmed by Lokotah Sanborn and Jared Lank at the Penobscot Nation, with dancers Selena Neptune-Bear, Carmella Bear, and Layla Bear. You can watch the full video and listen to “symbiont” via Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. ??: @jake.m.blount x @maliobomsawin x @rainmanmnx3 ??: @lokotahsanborn x @jaredlank #SmithsonianNAHM