January Culture Guide: 38 Things to Do in the DC Area

Welcome to 2026, DC!

Winter Restaurant Week is back to kick off the New Year with cheap eats, and there’s a number of new plays and musicals to attend. Also, musicians such as Cate Le Bon, Sudan Archives, and Del Water Gap arrive in DC for live concerts that are sure to get you moving no matter your favorite genre.

10 Best Things to Do in DC

by Pat Padua

Music

Igor Levit

January 11

The renowned Russian-German pianist applies his thoughtful virtuosity to Beethoven’s “Diabelli Variations” and Frederic Rzewski’s “The People United Will Never Be Defeated!”

Music

Cate Le Bon

January 12

The Welsh singer-songwriter’s stage name is a tribute to Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon, but her own music forges the kind of somber aesthetic path suggested by the title of her latest: Michelangelo Dying. The compellingly dramatic album features “Ride,” a collaboration with renowned fellow Welshman John Cale.

Theater

Octet

January 14–February 22

This musical–with music, lyrics, and book by Dave Malloy–observes what happens when eight internet addicts turn off their phones for a support-group meeting in a church basement. We should all try it!

Music

Gianandrea Noseda Conducts Brahms and Stravinsky

January 15-17

Pianist Daniil Trifonov joins the National Symphony Orchestra and Gianandrea Noseda (above) for Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1. That’s paired with Stravinsky’s game-changing The Rite of Spring, which will still blow your hair back more than a century after its premiere caused a sensation.

Museums

“Peter Campus: There Somewhere”

January 17-May 3

The New York artist is a pioneer of video installations, and this exhibit presents works from the 1970s alongside four new landscape videos that convey the peacefulness of the coastline near his Long Island home.

The writer and actress overcame the trauma of an abusive parent and the pressures of the Nickelodeon machine, as described in her blockbuster 2022 memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died. Now she digs further into troubled adolescence with her debut novel, Half His Age, about a teen who falls in love with her creative-writing teacher.

Music

Sudan Archives

January 25

As her stage name suggests, Cincinnati-born Brittney Parks is inspired by elder African musicians, like electronic composer Francis Bebey. But her music is wide-ranging and unclassifiable, blending non-Western modes with Irish folk music and hip-hop. Her recent third album, BPM, expands on that vision.

Dance

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

January 30–February 8

The storied troupe–no longer performing at the Kennedy Center–settles in for a nine-day residency, performing Ailey’s own classic “Revelations” and presenting the world premieres of works by Matthew Neenan and Jamar Roberts.

Theater

Chez Joey

January 30–March 15

Rodgers and Hart’s Pal Joey is reimagined for this bewitching story of a jazz singer in 1940s Chicago, in a production codirected by Tony-winning choreographer Savion Glover.

More Things to Do in January

by Briana Thomas

Arts and culture:

• Check out photography and other visual works from the Black Arts Movement before the exhibit closes (through January 11, free, National Gallery of Art).
• Attend a Community Day at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (January 14, free, Downtown).
• It’s the last chance to see art from major artists Basquiat and Banksy at the Smithsonian (through January 19, free, Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum).
• Create your own art and view an exhibition after hours at NMWA Nights (January 21, $25, Downtown).
• Browse new cars at The Washington, DC Auto Show (January 23-February 1, $15+, Walter E. Washington Convention Center).
• Watch giant trucks trample over obstacles at Monster Jam (January 24-25, $34+, Capital One Arena).
• Develop photography negatives in coffee with Mt Plantry at Rhizome (January 31, $15+, Takoma).

Community and heritage:

• Discover the history of five Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the “At the Vanguard” exhibit (January 16 through July 19, free, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture).
• Attend a wellness fair, and enjoy parade performances at the MLK Holiday DC Peace Walk & Parade (January 19, free, Congress Heights).

Theater:

• An eight-person performance troupe makes music with an array of percussion instruments in Stomp (January 16-18, $63+, National Theatre).
• Watch two days’ worth of new plays by BIPOC playwrights at A First Look: The Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commissions (January 16-17, free, Penn Quarter).
• Sit in on Shakespeare-themed staged readings, panel discussions, and workshops at The Reading Room Festival (January 22-25, $20 for individual pass, $125 for pass, Capitol Hill).
• Solve a comical murder mystery at this lively production of Clue (January 27 through February 1, $54+, National Theatre).
• Paranormal Activity thrills audiences at Shakespeare Theater Company (January 28 through February 7, $43+, Penn Quarter).
• See John Doe—a ghostly play on the afterlife at Keegan Theatre (January 31 through February 22, $55, Dupont Circle).
• Tony award-winning musical Kinky Boots arrives at Capital One Hall (January 31 through February 1, $78+, Tysons).

Shows and performances:

• Comedy legend Martin Lawrence does standup at The Theater at MGM National Harbor (January 15-16, $172+, National Harbor).
• Tickets to laugh with comic Gary Owen at Lincoln Theatre are going fast (January 17-18, $56+, U Street Corridor).
• Creator and podcaster Ramy Youssef brings his storytelling to Lincoln Theatre (January 31, $48+, U Street Corridor).

Music:

• DC’s funk band Black Masala is live at Pearl Street Warehouse (January 10, $24, Wharf).
• Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble will perform a blues and rock tribute to ’60s music group Grateful Dead (January 15, $45, Shaw).
• Indie-pop soloist Del Water Gap stops by the 9:30 Club (January 20, $192, Shaw).
• Country music star Eric Church makes a DC tour stop at The Anthem (January 22, $154+, Wharf).
• A host of hardcore bands such as PsyOp, Ousted, and others perform at Pie Shop (January 25, $21+, H Street Corridor).
• Korean folk band Sangjaru brings their fusion rhythms to the Smithsonian (January 31, $6, Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art).

Bites and beverages:

• Eat discounted bites throughout the DC area during Winter Restaurant Week (January 19-25, prices vary, multiple DC locations).

Things to do with kids:

• Puppets, dance, and sing-alongs will keep youngsters entertained at Gabby’s Dollhouse Live (January 21-22, $37+, National Theatre).
• The National Symphony Orchestra piano quintet plays narrated stories from The Carnival of the Animals (January 24-25, $25, Kennedy Center).

Part of this article appears in the January 2026 issue of Washingtonian.