“Our freedoms are at the core of what’s at stake in 2024,” said Tiffany Muller, president of the nonprofit End Citizens United. “Our freedom over our own body, our freedom over voting, our freedom over what books we read, who we marry, who we love, and the fundamental foundations of our democracy.”

The Supreme Court’s Citizens United case of 2010 created an equivalence between money and free speech that had never previously existed, essentially putting a “for sale sign” on democracy in the U.S., she said.

Muller tied the decision to limit regulations on campaign contributions from corporations and the funding of restrictions on reproductive freedoms, such as the Dobbs decisions that overturned Roe v. Wade, the 2022 case protecting the right to an abortion.��

���n no issue is it more apparent what money has done than in undermining Roe and our fundamental right to an abortion,” Muller said.

The group of activists and politicians urged that writing in President Joe Biden for the nominee on the Democratic primary ballot Tuesday was the best way to try to restore democracy.

When U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., thought about what’s at stake on the primary ballot, she said she knew it wasn’t simply reproductive freedom.��

���t’s the very strength of democracy that’s on the ballot tomorrow,” Shaheen said.

Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom for All, said opposing or refusing to endorse candidates who don’t support voting rights is important to the cause. Voting rights are critical to the organization’s mission, the future, and the freedom of reproductive rights in the country, she said.

While some voters agree that democracy and reproductive freedoms are connected, not all said that writing in Biden on the ballot is the only way to save both. Savana Melanson, a voter from Londonderry, N.H., said that at the end of the day, any Democratic candidate on the ballot has reproductive rights as a top priority.

However, a female democratic candidate would be a better choice, which is one of the reasons she voted for an alternative Democratic candidate, Marianne Williamson, on Tuesday.

��� also think that’s a big reason why we need a woman in office,” Melanson said, “Someone who could have been or could be affected by this and maybe has a little bit of a better understanding of it.”

The restriction of reproductive rights represents a time before women were full U.S. citizens — before they could vote, open their own credit cards or own their own homes — a step back in progress and a feeling that democracy is threatened, she said.

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Francis Stevens, which houses elementary and middle school students, is in its final year of a three-year modernization process. The $57 million project is slated to be completed for the start of the 2024-2025 school year.��

���’m confident that D.C. Public Schools will tell us that our building is ready for next year, I do not know if the building will actually be ready or ready to a degree of quality,” said Zach Carroll, a middle school social studies teacher at Francis Stevens, as well as the Washington Teachers Union representative for the school.

Another DCPS school is expected to relocate to the temporary facility that Francis Stevens is currently using in the next school year, he said, so Francis Stevens staff and students will likely have to move back into the school’s 2425 N St. NW location whether the modernizations are satisfactory or even completed.

Parents also expressed a lack of faith in the quality of the modernization and in the city actually listening to feedback.��

Leah Shoval, the parent of three children at the school, said, “They’re still not necessarily listening to the needs of the community, per se, in terms of things we care the most about. There are obvious budgetary constraints.”

Parents and teachers also expressed concerns that the school community has received about the modernization is heavily filtered and infrequent, leading to a lack of confidence in the project.

��� think we get fed information from the architecture firm a lot and from the [Department of General Service] project managers that is self-serving to some extent, and so it’s hard to know what’s actually getting communicated to the community,” Shoval said.

The DCPS facility planning and design point person on the project, Matthew Dela Cuesta, said he has no concerns and the modernization is on track to be completed on time and ready for the upcoming school year.

“By all accounts, we will be opening up in time to open the school and welcome students for school year 2024-2025,” Dela Cuesta said.

He also said the brunt of the requested feedback from the community was during the design phase of the project, back in 2021. However, economics have changed since the budget for the project was last decided, and the allocated funding has not.

���t doesn’t feel like our voices are being heard and/or that budgets are being changed with inflation, with material costs, anything like that,” Shoval said.

After two years in a temporary facility–the old Benjamin Banneker school two miles away–people are ready for a new building but hesitant that they will have the quality, modernized building promised by the city.��

Already, some students have transferred due to the modernization, whether families don’t want to deal with children being bussed across town or for other reasons.

“A lot of people kind of jumped ship because they didn’t want to go across the city and get bussed across the city during the modernization, so the student body has sort of changed as well,” Shoval said.

Laura Frazier moved her elementary-aged son to another nearby public school at the start of the 2022-2023 school year before students were moved to the temporary site at Banneker.

“We chose to send him to the new school because of number one, communication not being great, the length of time they were going to be displaced, and then the convenience,” Frazier said. “We had another option available in our neighborhood that was an equally good school.”

Another family moved their daughters to the same school that Frazier moved her son to, she said.

“They did the same thing we did,” Frazier said. “They came to the same conclusion and switched both of their daughters to the other school.”

Communication was a key factor in the decision for Frazier to move her son.

“They didn’t really tell us any information, which motivated us to change schools, because they weren’t really keeping everyone up to date and clear on the modernization project. Plus the school that we sent him too was already renovated so we knew that there would be no chance of him having to re-locate or re-shuffle to a different place.”

According to data from DCPS and the National Center for Education Statistics, enrollment at the school has dropped from the 2019-2020 school year, which was before the modernization construction began, from 540 to 479 students last year.

Additionally, Carroll said the temporary facility that Francis Stevens currently inhabits, this past week has had temperatures of over 90 degrees in a few elementary classrooms, Shoval and Carroll both said they have seen flooding as well as rats and mice in the building.

Shoval said her children have told her about heat issues at Banneker and continue to wear shorts and short-sleeved shirts to school, even in the winter, to deal with the high temperatures in the building.

“They’ve said things like, ‘it’s so hot don’t make me go to school with pants on, don’t make me go to school with long-sleeve shirts on, I never have enough water during the day,’ ” she said. “So all of those things to me create a learning environment that’s not exactly conducive to optimal learning spaces.”

Carroll also said he’s noticed disengaged students and attributed some of the lack of interest to the heat.

���t’s really difficult to lead effective instruction for young people and for young people to feel motivated coming to school when the school building is that hot and they don’t see anything being done to fix the issues,” he said.��

Students feel undervalued and are more cognizant of the city’s lack of upkeep of their school building than many people realize, he said. They also appear tired and sleepy, and the heat in the building is likely a contributing factor.

“They have the feeling that they’re uncared for,” Carroll said. “They don’t see care for their personal well-being and basic needs.”

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House members have fewer than 10 legislative days left to vote on the proposed aid, which includes $75.7 billion for Israel and Ukraine alone. ��

Americans on both sides consistently support aid to Ukraine, with 50% of Republicans and 75% of Democrats backing the funding, according to the .��

However, Americans remain divided on aid to Israel, with 26% of those surveyed saying the U.S. is not doing enough to support, and 20% saying the U.S. is doing too much.

Democratic and Republican members say they are seeking conditions for the aid packages for both war-torn countries.����

Some Republican lawmakers clarified they will not support $61.4 billion in aid to Ukraine unless they receive border security measures to tackle the migrant crisis at the U.S – Mexico border.��

Meanwhile, some Democratic lawmakers want the Israeli Defense Forces to comply with international law to minimize civilian casualties and pull back from Gaza in return for $14.3 billion in aid.��

Jordan Tama, an American University professor and U.S. politics and foreign policy scholar, said it’s likely that conditions will be placed on aid for both, since lawmakers are seeking limitations.��

“One way to forge a compromise that makes those members of Congress feel like we’re not just giving a blank check is to include some kinds of conditions or monitoring,” Tama said.��

Republican members like Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-New York, said they refuse to consider additional Ukraine funding unless the Biden administration allocates more emergency funding for U.S. border security.��

��� will not consider voting for any of the Ukraine money until we see some border security out of the administration,” he said. “The administration can’t prioritize Ukraine over our own southern border and the invasion of our own nation.”����

Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, said bipartisan bills need to get on the floor immediately.��

“The House leadership has to get very serious about what matters most,” said Landsman. “Staying in power, or meeting the needs of the American people, and passing a budget that maintains critical investments in the American people, in our economy, and making sure that we are there for folks abroad.”��

The foreign aid debate comes as the federal funding deadline looms and the Biden administration pushes for congressional support.��

“We have 53 days, or 52 days, maybe before the next funding deadline,” Langworthy said Wednesday. “We have to continue on in our work and we have five more appropriations bills to finish up. We need to see an agreement on a top-line spending number between the Senate and the House.”��

There is tension in both parties over two different pieces of the proposed foreign aid package, Tama said. Republicans are torn about Ukrainian aid and Democrats are split and actively debating aid to Israel.��

��“Overall, this is a package that is likely to have something for everybody, but also generate a variety of concerns among different parts of the Democratic and Republican caucuses on Capitol Hill, and so a kind of compromise or package that attracts sufficient majorities to get through Congress,” Tama said. ��� think it’s possible, but it’s challenging.”��

House members express hesitation on the timeline for major decisions as the end of the year quickly approaches. Representatives seem unresolved as to how the proposed package will impact the budget as members tack on requirements for approval.��

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, said the aid package debate could push back budget talks but he does “not know the answer to that.”��

Raskin also said ��� don’t know,” about adding certain conditions to the foreign aid packages. He did not specify any conditions.����

“The people of Ukraine need help defending themselves against [Vladimir] Putin’s violent onslaught, Israel needs help in their fight against Hamas,” Raskin said. “There are huge humanitarian crises taking place in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip so we need to rush aid there, so I support every part of it.”��

Raskin, along with 25 members of Congress, last week to President Biden urging “an immediate cessation of hostilities against targets with a civilian presence to facilitate the timely evacuation and protection of children and babies.”

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The District initially bought the building for $27.5 million from George Washington University over the summer. The Aston, which had been slated to open this fall, would be a one-of-a-kind project in the city, operating as bridge housing with a medical facility for those experiencing homelessness.��

A building condition assessment performed by the D.C. Department of General Services over the summer and published in July revealed that substantial work is needed for the building to remain up to code within the next few years. The assessment was released as part of a filed Oct. 27 by the .

This is the second lawsuit pursued by the group, and it focuses on zoning and permit violation concerns, as well as concerns regarding the building condition assessment. The association includes residents and businesses in the West End, according to Scott Morrison, the attorney representing the group in this lawsuit.��

The group previously filed a lawsuit this past summer regarding the process the city used to approve the facility, but the association voluntarily withdrew that lawsuit.��

Morrison, a partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, said the Aston is not on track to open this year if the District follows its own laws.

���f the District carries out its intent to provide long-term medical care to the residents in the shelter, then it’s a clear violation of zoning regulations,” he said.

Morrison also said the association believes the facility will lead to an increase in crime in the area and that tourists will take their business elsewhere if it opens.��

Additionally, Morrison said he believes that Georgetown or somewhere else in the District would be much better suited for the facility the Aston is intended to be.

��“You’re not only going to have all those residents but you’re also going to have all the homeless people that congregate around homeless shelters,” Morrison said. ���t’s a very affluent area.”��

Commissioners for Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2A, which covers Foggy Bottom and the West End, were caught off-guard and unaware of the second lawsuit. Trupti Patel, a Foggy Bottom commissioner, said she had been wondering if a pending lawsuit was the reason the city had not responded to questions or inquiries regarding the Aston over the past few months.

With no sign of when the building will open and no answers from the city’s executive branch, Patel said the impending winter is worrying.

“My concern is that we should have bridge housing that is fully operational and functional so that our unhoused neighbors are in shelter and are able to with dignity be able to survive this winter,” Patel said. “I think it would be incredibly negligent and irresponsible for the city to not come up with a contingency plan.”

Jim Malec, the ANC 2A chairperson, said the facility is an opportunity the community should embrace and has the potential to do a large amount of good.

��� view this proposal as a matter of equity, not just efficacy,” Malec said during the ANC special meeting last week. “We have an opportunity to demonstrate that any community, no matter its demographic or socioeconomic profile, can play a role in ending homelessness.”

The city has remained quiet on its newest real estate acquisition. The Department of General Services declined to comment due to the pending lawsuit, and the Office of the Attorney General did not respond to requests for comment.��

Patel said the lack of transparency and answers from the city is leading to increased frustrations.

“The fact that no one seems to be wanting to address the questions or respond to inquiries is fostering a sense of frustration. It’s starting to breed hostility now with stakeholders,” she said.

Additionally, Patel said her constituents were not only frustrated with the evasiveness from the executive branch of the city government but also with Councilmember Brooke Pinto, who represents the area.��

��� feel many members of the public are quite shocked and feel quite surprised that Councilwoman Pinto has not seemed to want to answer questions and inquiries around the Aston,” she said.

ANC 2A last week selected two members for the mandated Community Advisory Team, which will work with the community and members of the ANC to oversee the Aston. However, it still remains unclear what the city’s timeline is.

Courtney Cooperman, one of the elected CAT members, said she wants the Aston to be well-integrated into the community and not stigmatized.��

���’m eager to see its doors open,” she said during a Nov. 6 special ANC meeting.

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All inauguration events scheduled today through Saturday would either be canceled or held online, with select people invited to attend in person, according to an email set by the university last night.

���n light of ongoing global tensions and their impact on our community, some of this week’s activities to celebrate the installation of President Granberg will be modified, postponed, or canceled. While we looked forward to these events as originally planned, it is important for the university to focus on supporting our community,” the email said.

Most students said the canceled events do not affect the student body, as many don’t care. Additionally, some mentioned that the sudden cancellation added to a slew of recent bad press that GW President Ellen Granberg received, specifically regarding the rhetoric she used regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict and how she has handled related events on campus.��

“The president is going to antagonize people no matter what side she takes. Honestly, her wording based on her first few responses weren’t good,” said Syed Fatmi, a GW senior. At one point she’s insinuating some people are terrorists, at some other points she’s taking that back and also insinuating that the other side is bad.”��

“Honestly, the inauguration being canceled does not affect students very much. I’m pretty sure the major student opinion is no one cares,” he said.

Other students said that the president and the university may have been concerned that there would be protests during the events, especially since much of the temporary infrastructure for the events was erected in Kogan Plaza, where many protests are held.

Aya Khanji, a GW junior said, ��� feel like they’re scared that students will speak up or do something because I feel like that would’ve been a huge possibility. I could so see people in the crowd yelling or protesting or saying something, so maybe that’s why they canceled them.”

Since Granberg received significant backlash from students for her response to a Palestinian student group projecting images on the Gelman Library on campus, communication from her office has been quiet, Khanji said.��

Granberg sent an email immediately after the situation saying, “we don’t condone the celebration of terrorism,” which indirectly called the actions of the Palestinian student group a celebration for terrorism, Khanji said.

On Tuesday, Granberg issued a announcing the increase of police presence on campus and security guards in residences as well as additional outdoor space monitoring in response to reported increased casual bigotry and direct identity-based mistreatment on campus regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“In past statements, I have made it clear that I condemn the terrorist attack on Israel and all forms of antisemitism and Islamophobia. Protecting and preserving our shared community, however, must go beyond making statements. I want to share the steps we are taking to support our students, faculty, and staff during this increasingly complex time,” the statement said.

��� think she’s just avoiding things; she doesn’t want to talk about stuff,” Khanji said.

Another student, Mary Catherine Kamerbeake, said, ���t may be a safety issue, I know we have a lot of protests right [on Kogan Plaza]. I know this is the main protest area.”

Additionally, the inauguration events cost a significant amount of money. Construction crews installed temporary structures around campus, and the university publicized a community block party on Saturday to celebrate the official inauguration. The block party was supposed to have food for the hundreds of people attending, and there was even training promoted for students to assist in donating any of the extra food.��

“They spent a lot of money on all this infrastructure around campus for the inauguration,” Kamerbeake said. ��� think it really shows how important it is.”

Prior to the cancellation of the inauguration events, GW promoted the event online and at various community meetings, including ANC and Foggy Bottom Association meetings, for months. Kevin Days, the GW director of community relations appeared at many of these meetings to personally invite community members.

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Not only is she the first woman to hold this office at the university, but she is also the first president to openly be a part of the LGBTQ+ community.��

Prior to her role at GW, Granberg served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She served in similar leadership and administration roles at Clemson University and is a sociology scholar specializing in self, identity, and mental health.��

In an with the student newspaper The Hatchet last week, Granberg said she plans to spend her remaining first year as president ending the medical faculty associates’ debt crisis, increasing alumni engagement, and bolstering GW’s academic medical enterprise.

Kim Lee, the director of community strategy and engagement at the American Council on Education, a major coordinating body for U.S. higher education institutions, said, “There’s an applause for George Washington and other institutions that have identified women at the helm, but still there is yet more to be done, particularly when you look at the demographics of the student population.”

While the number of female college and university presidents grew from 9.5% in 1986 to 32.8% in 2021, a representative mismatch remains, according to research conducted by ACE. The majority of students at colleges and universities are women, but only a third of the institutions’ presidents are.��

��� think that representation plays a really big role in ensuring that women can see themselves in leadership positions so I think that we still have a lot of work to be done in terms of just ensuring that we can create pathways for women to succeed and to ascend in the college presidency,” said Danielle Melidona, a senior analyst at ACE who worked on the American college presidents study.

Search firms will sometimes only include women, or members of other under-represented groups in higher education, in the search pool to appear inclusive or diverse or to meet a quota, Lee said.

This was not the case for Granberg, said Christian Zidouemba, the student member of the GW Presidential Search Committee.��

“This search overall was not a diversity hire, it was to pick the best person for the job,” he said.

Zidouemba, a former student body president, said the committee was looking for someone who could meet the university where it was in terms of recent changes and aspirations, and who could advance GW. Granberg was the person who rose to the occasion, he said.

“This also shows that higher education is changing. You don’t have to come from a certain background to lead a university,” he said. “ If you have the knowledge, the background for it, the sky’s the limit.”

Lee said one of the main barriers for women aspiring to higher education positions, especially as university and college presidents, is that they are continuously told they are not prepared and need additional professional development, which is advice men are less likely to hear. Additionally, women are less likely than men to think they are qualified for the job if they do not meet all of the criteria listed in the job description.��

“The more emphasis on inclusivity, I think it really will have an impact on the outcomes, particularly for students, for the community,” Lee said.

GW students say they feel represented by having a female president at the school, but so far they don’t know much about her and have not seen much from her in regards to her work at the school.

“We don’t have much interaction with her, she’s a figurehead,” said Kyla Rounsoville, a GW freshman.

She and Kimaya One-Routier, another GW freshman, said they’ve only seen glimpses of her at large events where she’s giving speeches, so they don’t really know anything about her.

Another first-year student at the university, Samantha Berman, said that while Granberg has only been at GW for a short time, she’s done a decent job, specifically with her handling of an incident on campus this past week. to students, parents, and other members of the GW community in response to the images projected on the Estelle and Melvin Gelman library.��

Berman said she thought this was the right thing for the president to do.

Several members of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2A, which represents where GW’s campus is located, met with Granberg in recent months. ANC Commissioner Trupti Patel said it was clear that Granberg wanted to be seen as a resource and as someone who was involved at the beginning of a situation instead of debriefed after.

��� think she wanted to emphasize that she wanted to be engaged with the community, wanted to be seen as a partner,” Patel said.

However, the ANC has not had a true opportunity to work with President Granberg yet.

At the most recent ANC meeting Oct. 18, commissioners Jim Malec, and Dasia Brandy, who represents the GW campus area, also expressed positive sentiments about the new president. Brandy, a senior at GW, introduced a resolution welcoming Granberg into the community. Kevin Days, director of community relations at GW, also spoke at the ANC meeting, inviting the community to join the inauguration festivities.��

While Granberg has technically been in office since July, her formal investiture ceremony will be held Friday, Nov. 3 at 11 a.m.��

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Chief James Tate and Captain Gabe Mullinax, two George Washington Police Department officers, have been armed since the beginning of the school year. GWPD plans for additional supervisors to be armed in phases as requirements are met, according to GWPD’s website.��

GWPD and the university declined to comment on the matter.��

Around campus, students seem to be divided into two camps. Either they protested the university’s announcement in April, or they were completely clueless about GW actively arming officers and their plan to eventually arm all officers on campus.��

Several students declined to comment on the arming of officers because they didn’t realize it was happening and were uninformed.

��� feel like it kind of just got sprung upon us, I don’t even remember hearing anything before it got released,” said Zachary Vargo, a junior at GW. ��� didn’t hear that they were deciding about that or that the decision was possibly going to be made and then it just felt like they announced it and a good portion of the student body was upset about it.”

The decision was already made for students, said Trinity Vo, a sophomore at GW.��

��� feel like I just kind of heard about it and that’s that,” she said.��

Ella Krone, a sophomore at GW, said she felt that the decision was made behind closed doors. Krone protested back in April, with a large portion of the student body, because she felt an obligation as a white woman to speak out to protect students that the decision potentially harms the most.

��� think with GWPD, the only interactions they’ve had with any kind of violence used was almost exclusively with men of color, and they’re the ones that are most likely to be shot if GW police were to be armed,” Krone said.

The school buried the announcement in the middle of a lengthy block of text in an email sent to students in April titled ‘reimagining public safety’ at GW.”

In May, 219 GW faculty members signed , who made the decision to arm campus officers.

The letter said, “The April 13 announcement presents the decision as final, then purports to��invite “feedback” concerning an “implementation plan” that will be considered by the Board “later this spring,” leaving very little time for community input and leaving us doubtful that there is real interest in considering our views. This is not consistent with a collegial atmosphere and the value of shared governance, and makes community members feel as if the University leadership and the Board of Trustees lack respect for faculty and student views or judgments.”

Some students agreed that guns were the least of the university’s worries in terms of campus safety. A few female students said they often felt unsafe at night, and that campus police have done nothing to address the issue.

The university has been obsessed with debating implementing guns on campus, rather than the general safety of students on campus, said Jenna Ross, a GW student.��

“As a female walking alone at night, I don’t feel the safest on campus, and I’ve had multiple altercations with several different men on campus that have made me scared,” she said.��

Vo said she also felt unsafe at night.��

��� feel like there’d be times where you’re walking late at night, and you’re alone too sometimes, and just being a woman in a city at night is scary anywhere,” Vo said.��

shows that crime in ANC 2A, where GW is located, is up compared to last year, with about 310 incidents last year, and 370 incidents to date this year. However, it’s been an increase primarily in theft and robbery, not violent crimes.

There are no homicides to date in the area and assaults with a dangerous weapon are down 33% in comparison to the same time last year.

Some students say they feel even more unsafe with campus officers armed, especially in the context of protests happening in the city regarding the war between Israel and Hamas.��

���t’s definitely been a sense of feeling unsafe because there’s a lot of police presence with the protests,” Krone said.

Councilmember Brooke Pinto’s office and ANC Commissioner Dasia Bandy did not respond to calls seeking comment.��

Students also noted that there are a plethora of other armed police in the area.

���f there was a need for any gun I feel like by that time there’d be Metropolitan police coming,” Vargo said. “There’s Metropolitan police all over the place in the area, it’s not just campus police here.”

Around Foggy Bottom, there are Metropolitan Police, Metro Police, Secret Service, U.S. Park Police, and now armed GW Police. An MPD spokesperson who declined to be named said MPD will continue to police the area the same as before, and GW is within the department’s jurisdiction.

Other universities in D.C. like Catholic University and Howard University have armed public safety officers on campus for the past several years, with Catholic finishing fully arming officers this August.��

ANC 1E, which includes Howard, has more overall incidents than the area around GWs. ANC 1E has had 556 overall incidents to date, compared to the 368 incidents to date in ANC 2A. ANC 5A, where Catholic is located, has had about the same amount of incidents to date as in ANC 2A.

However, GW, which is near the White House, the State Department, other government agencies, and the National Mall, is a much more highly policed area.��

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Theatre Washington’s Theatre Week runs from Sept. 21 to Oct. 8 this year, with venues like the Mosaic Theater Company and Ford’s Theatre Society also participating.

In recent years, diversity and access have become a larger discussion within the D.C. theater community. From diversity in audiences and the theater world, to the subject matter and medium, the Kennedy Center continues making conscious, concrete efforts to expand programming.

Its programming includes free performances at Millennium Stage on Wednesday through Saturday evenings.

���n ‘Social Impact,’ we take a really intentional approach with our curation, just making sure we’re covering as many cultures and backgrounds and artistic mediums as we can–as many stories as we can,” said Karina Galiano, program manager of Creative Alliances at the Kennedy Center.��

Current programming at the center ranges from a free exhibit about Americans against apartheid, a video series on Black radio, and a comedy show, to a re-telling of Mulan through dance.��

Caleen Jennings, former director of American University’s Theatre and Musical Theatre Program and long-time member of the D.C. theater community, said the Kennedy Center has put forth serious diversity and accessibility efforts over the past several years.

“The Kennedy Center has been a place that has nurtured and put the spotlight on diversity in many forms,” Jennings said. ���t’s really been at the heart of diversity efforts for a long time.”

The ’ the center’s newest addition, is a less traditional theater space that allows more collaboration and artistic experimentation.��

Jennings said it architecturally breaks down the foreboding white walls of the main building and opens up the campus, making the Kennedy Center feel more accessible.

“Their doors have been open on so many levels. They’ve held huge convenings of playwrights, many of whom are playwrights of color,” Jennings said. “They are the nation’s theater, literally, but they also have a hand in the local theater scene. I would say they’re very actively engaged.”

The last performance of ���mage China: Dance Drama MULAN” Sunday drew a large crowd, many of whom attended because of the unique depiction of the well-known story, and the representation provided by the show.

���t’s just really nice seeing my culture represented here and I think it means a lot and it’s really spreading things around to everyone,” said Angela Chen, an audience member.

The Chinese dance drama–produced in part by China Arts and Entertainment Group’s cultural exchange initiative–told the story of Mulan’s strength in her pursuit of love and peace through a wordless performance.

Jiasen He, another patron of the Mulan show, said she hadn’t been to the Kennedy Center since before COVID-19 and that she’d only seen more traditional shows compared to the current performance offerings.

��� feel like it’s really diverse in terms of theater because when you think of theater you usually think of “Hamilton,” “Six,” stuff like that,” she said. “Mulan is more about showing dialogue through movement and dance, and it’s really versatile and fluid.”

As the end of D.C.Theatre Week approaches, theaters around the District and nearby suburbs offer some free performances and tickets priced at $20, $40, and $60.

“Theatre Week provides a way to talk about the community in a larger sense, and to get people to go to the theater and explore, and find a theater that’s a good one for them,” said Amy Austin, chief executive officer and president of –the alliance of theatre-makers, organizations, and supporters that put on Theatre Week.��

The Kennedy Center participated during the first part of Theatre Week with discounted tickets to “Moulin Rouge” through the end of the show’s run at the center last week.

“The Kennedy Center is a really supportive partner,” Austin said.

While Jennings said there’s still progress to be made, D.C. theater has come a long way in terms of diversity and access.

Outsiders may not see much of a difference, but these changes are a big deal in the theater world, she said.

“There’s been recognition of the fact that when you get a multicultural group of people in the room to do theater, there are certain things that are obvious and not so obvious about how people need to relate to one another and the kind of resources they need,” Jennings said.

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The temporary funding resolution enacted Saturday night brought relief to federal workers. However, many military personnel and their families say they are still scrambling, particularly if a shutdown happens in November.

After days on the cusp of a government shutdown, Congress gave itself 45 additional days to pass fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills, which does not leave much time for service members to prepare for upcoming bills.��

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., vowed many times that the House would get this year’s spending bills passed, specifically citing the needs of military personnel.

“We cannot look the men and women in our military in the eye and have them wonder why they are not going to be able to pay their bills,” McCarthy said.����

Service members are expected to report for duty whether they are paid or not.��

According to the , a nonprofit that works to connect military families with resources, more than half of the respondents to its said they generally experienced financial barriers. This includes a quarter of currently serving families who have less than $500 in emergency savings, according to about 9,000 responses from military families.��

Shannon Razsadin, the president and executive director of the organization, said this short-term budget solution is acceptable, but the continuous uncertainty for service members and their families negatively impacts their lives.

“We need to get off this hamster wheel. We need to get out of this cycle of uncertainty around pay,” Razsadin said. ���t is not healthy for people to worry about when they’re going to get paid next.”��

More than 1 million military personnel and their families will feel the impact if the government shuts down in November, with thousands of active duty members overseas.

“A lot of military members live paycheck to paycheck. So, knowing it is coming can help in certain ways, but not that much,” said Kirsten Sisson, a former member of the Air Force.�� Sisson, originally from Easton, Pennsylvania, currently works as a federal visual information specialist with the U.S. Forest Service in Washington, D.C.

Military personnel are not allowed to take leave during a shutdown, even if it was previously approved. During the last government shutdown from December 2018 to January 2019, Sisson said she had to return to work, even though she was on personal leave, and would have had to pay additional money to take her kids to daycare.��

��� had to bring all three of my kids into the Pentagon to sign my furlough paperwork while I was supposed to be on leave,” she said.

The Board of the , a nonprofit focusing on protecting and seeking out justice for military families, said the lingering potential of a November shutdown still affects military families.

“The young servicemen and women who live paycheck to paycheck would be directly impacted and unable to survive until they receive their paychecks,” the board said in an email.

Often overlooked are military families that are victims of domestic violence and abuse who rely on alimony and child support could be gravely impacted by the looming shutdown. Service members often exploit the shutdown to avoid court-ordered payments, the board’s email said.��

According to McCarthy, this stop-gap legislation takes care of 70% of the budget, and the House started work today to pass fiscal 2024 spending legislation.

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As the exhibition reaches its last month, DuBois will lead a final tour Oct. 8, accompanied by Jennifer Mondie, a violist in the National Symphony Orchestra. She will play original music specifically composed by her and Michael J. Evans, a D.C.-based composer, for each work of art. Mondie, a resident of the neighborhood, displayed one of the artists’ sculptures in her yard.��

The free tour will begin at 5 p.m. at 842 New Hampshire Ave. NW and will continue around the neighborhood, which is located between 25th Street and New Hampshire Avenue, west of the Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro station.��

Taking art out of an enclosed space, like a museum or gallery, and displaying it publicly in a neighborhood, public park or street corner, is a way of engaging with the community, said DuBois, an independent curator and museum specialist at the National Museum of American History.

The public art biennial put on by features 13 sculptures, the majority created by local artists, which are placed in the yards of the neighborhood’s residents. The exhibition launched on May 6 and runs through Oct. 21.��

This year marks the seventh sculpture biennial produced by Arts in Foggy Bottom since its inception in 2007. The organization, a subset of the Foggy Bottom Association, aims to foster inspiration and community dialogue through partnering with artists and local community members. Each show intends to highlight the historic neighborhood’s past, present and look towards the future.

, a Capitol Hill-based artist, said he used the opportunity to branch out of his safe space and create his first sculpture. BUCK!’s piece, With Due Thought and Careful Consideration, focuses on thinking and reflecting before you speak.��

BUCK! heavily painted a metal lectern with words like “due thought and consideration” and “care” in red, white, blue, and black in different styles. His piece’s intended meaning of reflecting and taking consideration, thought and care with your words before speaking is juxtaposed with the typical use of a lectern–as a place to hold a speaker’s papers as they actively talk to a crowd.��

���t’s about the idea to take the time and be thoughtful of what you say and what you do. I’m not speaking to any one community, I’m speaking to everyone,” BUCK! said.

Compared to the people viewing his other artwork in more traditional galleries, BUCK! noticed different types of people than the usual fine arts connoisseurs gathering in public art spaces, he said.

With public art, like this exhibition, the artists and curator said they take into consideration how different types of people would understand the art differently than with art in a more traditional space like a gallery.

DuBois said he gets the sense that many people don’t feel allowed to attend galleries or even free museums.

He thought heavily about public engagement, the environment and the residents when curating the exhibition.

Leslie Cohen, a passerby and native Washingtonian, revisited the featured sculptures after a prior guided tour of the historic neighborhood.

“For someone to put art out on the street for anyone to see it, without an admission fee, it’s a gift,” she said. ��� can actually feel the love and the pride on the part of the artist.”

Some of the art pays homage to growing up in D.C. and the changing city. , a fifth-generation Washingtonian, honored D.C. and his family with a six-foot-tall sculpture centered around the shared experience of riding the D.C. Metro.��

Jefferson’s sculpture, D.C. Stride, 5 Generation Strive: An Altar Piece, depicts his family members and different Metro stations–some are iconic D.C. stations and others are specifically connected to his upbringing. Jefferson said he created his piece to pay respect to his heritage and encourage reflection for other D.C. natives, while still being recognizable enough for visitors to appreciate.

“When you do public artwork, you are signing on to a responsibility to have it be pleasing to the public, have them understand it and have them be able to form their own connection,” he said.

While working on the project, Jefferson discovered his own connection to Foggy Bottom; even though he grew up in Fort Totten, his mother grew up in the neighborhood. Jefferson said he wanted to be mindful of how the community changed over the years by celebrating the faces that can sometimes be forgotten if they no longer live in the neighborhood.

��� created something that was synonymous with any Washingtonian, no matter what location of D.C. they lived: if it was now or four years ago, no matter anything, because the Metro does connect us all,” Jefferson said.

Arts in Foggy Bottom’s next show is scheduled to open in May 2025.��

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