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LITERATURE	In the Writers’ Studio: the Critic. Featuring Ron Charles, Michael Dirda, Sean Murphy, Holly Smith	14 May	6:30 PM	LEARN MORECLOSE
Event Overview: In the Writers’ Studio: the Critic. Featuring Ron Charles, Michael Dirda, Sean Murphy, Holly Smith Thursday, May 14th, 2026 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm OPEN TO THE PUBLIC - $50 ($40 for club members) This evening will include a discussion, audience participation, food, and wine. Doors open at 6:30pm with a wine and food reception. The Cheuse Center and the Arts Club of Washington bring you four evenings in celebration of the craft of writing and the art of living, inaugurated by former Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky. The second in the series features 'The Critic' featuring Ron Charles, Michael Dirda, Holly Smith, Sean Murphy, presented by NY Times bestselling author Eric Weiner. This series is in celebration of the tenth year anniversary of the Cheuse Center. The center has created an opportunity for audiences to celebrate and contemplate their own purpose and joy, through special pairings with esteemed writers, celebrating book critic and teacher Alan Cheuse. Throughout his teaching career Cheuse held small dinner workshops and talked about life and craft with students and colleagues. His students Lina Patton and Brittany Kerfoot found them so inspiring, they decided to bring the format to the Arts Club, celebrating their beloved teacher, Alan Cheuse as friend, writer, critic, and teacher. Curated in the long form curation model of the Cheuse Center with the Tenth Anniversary Committee: Bill Miller, Kris O'Shee, Eric Weiner, Carol Mitchell, Lina Patton, Brittany Kerfoot, and Leeya Mehta. Featuring in alphabetical order by first name: Holly Smith is editor-in-chief of the Washington Independent Review of Books, as well as a college lecturer, longtime freelance writer, and proud “Jeopardy!” bronze medalist. Prior to joining the Independent in 2013, she was managing editor of Maryland Life magazine. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, CNBC.com, USA Today Travel’s 10Best, Salon, More Mirth of a Nation, Brain, Child, and elsewhere. She also co-authored the travel guide Seafood Lover’s Chesapeake Bay, which is ironic since she doesn’t eat fish. Find her on Bluesky at @HSmithWrites. Michael Dirda is a Pulitzer Prize-winning literary journalist and the author of five collections of essays: Readings, Bound to Please, Book by Book, Classics for Pleasure and Browsings. Other works include the memoir, An Open Book, which received the Ohioana Award for nonfiction, and the Edgar Award-winning On Conan Doyle. His next book, The Great Age of Storytelling - an appreciation of popular fiction in Britain between 1880 and 1930 - will be out later this year. From 1978 until 2026, Dirda worked for The Washington Post Book World, first as an editor, then as a weekly book columnist. Ron Charles was a book critic at The Christian Science Monitor and The Washington Post. He now writes about books on Substack. He and his wife, an English teacher, live in Bethesda. Ron Charles is now on Substack. Sean Murphy is the founder of the non-profit 1455 Literary Arts and directs the Center for Story at Shenandoah University. He’s has appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered and his writing has also been featured in Salon, The Village Voice, Washington City Paper, The Good Men Project, Writer’s Digest, and elsewhere. He also hosts the podcast and Substack Some Things Considered, where he interviews best-selling authors, acclaimed critics, and celebrated musicians. For more writing—including essays, interviews, poetry, and cultural commentary—visit seanmurphy.net. This event will feature Eric Weiner as host: Eric Weiner is an author, journalist, keynote speaker and writing instructor. His books include the New York Times bestsellers The Geography of Bliss and The Geography of Genius, as well as the critically acclaimed Man Seeks God, The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers and more! His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. Eric is a former aviation reporter for The New York Times and foreign correspondent for NPR. He is the recipient of several journalism and writing awards, including the Angel Award for coverage of Islamic affairs in Asia and the Borders Original Voices Award. Eric’s work has also appeared in the New Republic, The Atlantic, National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and the anthology "Best American Travel Writing." Eric leads several writing workshops each year, including the Himalayan Writers Workshop and, along with fellow author Jacki Lyden, the Colton House Retreat. He lives in the Washington, DC area with his wife, daughter and a menagerie of animals. He has a popular column on Substack. Discounted parking (free for members) at the 2001 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. garage, entered from 20th Street northbound between I and K Streets. View details TICKETS: ACW Member $40 - RSVP: $ 0 CHEUSE Guest - RSVP (code required): $ 0 Non-member $50 - buy now: $ 50 RSVP View details

The Art's Club's gracious entrance hall

A UNIQUE HOME FOR THE ARTS IN WASHINGTON

Since its founding in 1916, The Arts Club of Washington has promoted and celebrated a vast array of the visual, performing, and literary arts in the nation’s capital.

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BECOME A MEMBER—AND PART OF A SPECIAL LEGACY

The Arts Club of Washington has long held a distinctive profile in Washington, D.C., nationally and internationally. Founded in 1916 by a group of prominent local artists and modeled on New York’s National Arts Club and the Chelsea Arts Club in London, The Arts Club of Washington was the very first in the city to have women in leadership roles and as members from its start.

Its arts-focused, innovative, and bohemian character draws free-thinkers from around the capital region and across the globe from its historic home, the center of which is an historic Federal-era mansion that once served as the residence of President James Monroe—and for a time, his official presidential residence.

The creative, warm and welcoming spirit of the organization endures as part of an ever-evolving and important legacy. We welcome those who engage in the arts (both professionally and for the love of it), or simply celebrate the many forms of artistic expression that the organization presents, to consider the many benefits of membership and to join us as a unique part of our nation’s history.

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The Arts Club of Washington is a 501(c)3 nonprofit arts organization, as well as a nexus for programming that spotlights the full range of the arts.

The Club is an active museum, and welcomes visitors to four gallery spaces, free weekly concerts, events focusing on literature, dance, and theatre, as well as studio classes in visual arts.

The Club’s mission also includes promoting the importance of historic preservation through the ongoing restoration and preservation of the club’s headquarters, which encompasses a significant 19th-century structures designated as National Historic Landmarks (the James Monroe House) and listed on the National Register of Historic Places (the General Robert MacFeely House).

UPCOMING EVENTS


LITERATURE	In the Writers’ Studio: the Critic. Featuring Ron Charles, Michael Dirda, Sean Murphy, Holly Smith	14 May	6:30 PM	LEARN MORECLOSE
Event Overview: In the Writers’ Studio: the Critic. Featuring Ron Charles, Michael Dirda, Sean Murphy, Holly Smith Thursday, May 14th, 2026 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm OPEN TO THE PUBLIC - $50 ($40 for club members) This evening will include a discussion, audience participation, food, and wine. Doors open at 6:30pm with a wine and food reception. The Cheuse Center and the Arts Club of Washington bring you four evenings in celebration of the craft of writing and the art of living, inaugurated by former Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky. The second in the series features 'The Critic' featuring Ron Charles, Michael Dirda, Holly Smith, Sean Murphy, presented by NY Times bestselling author Eric Weiner. This series is in celebration of the tenth year anniversary of the Cheuse Center. The center has created an opportunity for audiences to celebrate and contemplate their own purpose and joy, through special pairings with esteemed writers, celebrating book critic and teacher Alan Cheuse. Throughout his teaching career Cheuse held small dinner workshops and talked about life and craft with students and colleagues. His students Lina Patton and Brittany Kerfoot found them so inspiring, they decided to bring the format to the Arts Club, celebrating their beloved teacher, Alan Cheuse as friend, writer, critic, and teacher. Curated in the long form curation model of the Cheuse Center with the Tenth Anniversary Committee: Bill Miller, Kris O'Shee, Eric Weiner, Carol Mitchell, Lina Patton, Brittany Kerfoot, and Leeya Mehta. Featuring in alphabetical order by first name: Holly Smith is editor-in-chief of the Washington Independent Review of Books, as well as a college lecturer, longtime freelance writer, and proud “Jeopardy!” bronze medalist. Prior to joining the Independent in 2013, she was managing editor of Maryland Life magazine. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, CNBC.com, USA Today Travel’s 10Best, Salon, More Mirth of a Nation, Brain, Child, and elsewhere. She also co-authored the travel guide Seafood Lover’s Chesapeake Bay, which is ironic since she doesn’t eat fish. Find her on Bluesky at @HSmithWrites. Michael Dirda is a Pulitzer Prize-winning literary journalist and the author of five collections of essays: Readings, Bound to Please, Book by Book, Classics for Pleasure and Browsings. Other works include the memoir, An Open Book, which received the Ohioana Award for nonfiction, and the Edgar Award-winning On Conan Doyle. His next book, The Great Age of Storytelling - an appreciation of popular fiction in Britain between 1880 and 1930 - will be out later this year. From 1978 until 2026, Dirda worked for The Washington Post Book World, first as an editor, then as a weekly book columnist. Ron Charles was a book critic at The Christian Science Monitor and The Washington Post. He now writes about books on Substack. He and his wife, an English teacher, live in Bethesda. Ron Charles is now on Substack. Sean Murphy is the founder of the non-profit 1455 Literary Arts and directs the Center for Story at Shenandoah University. He’s has appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered and his writing has also been featured in Salon, The Village Voice, Washington City Paper, The Good Men Project, Writer’s Digest, and elsewhere. He also hosts the podcast and Substack Some Things Considered, where he interviews best-selling authors, acclaimed critics, and celebrated musicians. For more writing—including essays, interviews, poetry, and cultural commentary—visit seanmurphy.net. This event will feature Eric Weiner as host: Eric Weiner is an author, journalist, keynote speaker and writing instructor. His books include the New York Times bestsellers The Geography of Bliss and The Geography of Genius, as well as the critically acclaimed Man Seeks God, The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers and more! His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. Eric is a former aviation reporter for The New York Times and foreign correspondent for NPR. He is the recipient of several journalism and writing awards, including the Angel Award for coverage of Islamic affairs in Asia and the Borders Original Voices Award. Eric’s work has also appeared in the New Republic, The Atlantic, National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and the anthology "Best American Travel Writing." Eric leads several writing workshops each year, including the Himalayan Writers Workshop and, along with fellow author Jacki Lyden, the Colton House Retreat. He lives in the Washington, DC area with his wife, daughter and a menagerie of animals. He has a popular column on Substack. Discounted parking (free for members) at the 2001 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. garage, entered from 20th Street northbound between I and K Streets. View details TICKETS: ACW Member $40 - RSVP: $ 0 CHEUSE Guest - RSVP (code required): $ 0 Non-member $50 - buy now: $ 50 RSVP View details


DINING	DINING - Lunch	15 May	12:00 PM	LEARN MORECLOSE
Event Overview: DINING - Lunch Friday, May 15, 2026 Lunch seating - 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm OPEN TO MEMBERS & GUESTS ONLY Lunch $45* per person * price includes tax & gratuity Enjoy a three-course gourmet meal with fellow members in The Arts Club of Washington dining rooms. Dress Code: Business Casual RSVP required no later than the previous day by 5 pm We offer lunch service with reservations, service will be cancelled if there are no reservations. Price includes non-alcoholic beverages, coffee & tea. RSVP online or call (202) 331-7282 ext 2 or email dining@artsclubofwashington.org Lunch service is an exclusive member benefit available for members and their guests. Charge will be applied to the host's account. For private events and parties of 9 or more please contact the General Manager at 202-331-7282 ext 110 or yann@artsclubofwashington.org View details TICKETS: LUNCH $45 - RSVP: $ 0 RSVP View details


ART	Mandala Workshop	16 May	12:00 PM	LEARN MORECLOSE
Event Overview: Mandala Workshop Saturday, May 16, 2026 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm Open to the public -- free THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT Mandala translates literally from the ancient Sanskrit as "circle". Circles are the first image children draw. Sacred geometric symbols that represent the universe and wholeness, mandalas have been used for meditation & healing; they can be found in every culture, in nature, architecture, art & spiritual practice worldwide for millennia. In this workshop we will explore color meanings and how they can give us insights into ourselves as we design and color, or just color, our own personal mandala. Necessary supplies will be provided. View details TICKETS: ACW Member - RSVP: $ 0 Non-Member - RSVP: $ 0 RSVP View details