Upcoming at Rhizome (click on event for more details):
The QUEERING SOUND visual art exhibit runs 01-28 June and is open during all events or email info@rhizomedc.org to schedule your visit.
Opening Reception Saturday June 6, 2-4pm
Join QUEERING SOUND 2026 visual artists, volunters, and curators for the opening reception of IDENTITY!
(Beverages + vegan/vegetarian lite fare offered.)
+ Special mobile audio disruption from THE CONSTRUCTIVIST BROTHERHOOD - The continued electro-acoustic antics of Hugo Ball + Emmanuel Radnitzky dressed as a pantomime horse, alongside Carl Jung looking rather dapper in a sporty pork pie hat but now minus Mies van der Rohe disguised as a small radioactive radish.
EUNBI HINA / AVA BAGLEY / MEI MEI CHANG / PAINT BRAINS + 27UNIHTED / KAETI HINCK / FREDERICK NUNLEY / RUTH TREVARRO / JULIE PEREZ / DILIP SHETH / KEITH STANLEY / RITA ELSNER / MICHAEL MiGLIORI / JS ADAMS / TODD FRANSON / JOANNA AXTMANN / SANTIAGO FLORES-CHARNECO
Wednesday June 10 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $15-25 * TICKETS
Caroline Jesalva - My work concentrates on sound, composition, installation art, experimental and poetic forms. I love bringing music to unconventional spaces and collaborating across disciplines and artistic mediums. I have been very fortunate to have an amazing community of collaborators that includes composers, dancers, film-makers, visual artists, activists, poets, rappers, and puppeteers.
Bearduo is a saxophone duo consisting of Aaron Kaufman-Levine on Alto Saxophone and Garrett Frees on Tenor Saxophone. Bearduo brings a unique and spontaneous creation to each performance that reflects their shared musical language and deep connection. Their first self-titled record Bearduo released in July 2025 with a focus on long form improvisation, scale and interaction between the two performers.
Love and Liberation - all-star quartet of improvisers from Baltimore - Che Davis, Jamal Moore, Peter Redgrave, & Bashi Rose.
Thursday June 11 * 7pm * $10/15 advance, $20 at the door * TICKETS
BIG CITY PRESENTS
CITY SPOTLIGHT: ECHOES OF DOUBT
OPEN MIC
CYPHER
ARTIST SHOWCASE
CITY CYPHER
LIVE PERFORMANCES
VENDORS
ARTIST SHOWCASE (LIMITED SLOTS) 1ST COME 1ST SERVED
WEIGHT OF WITNESS
Friday June 12 & Saturday June 13 * TICKETS
Friday 6/12/26 - doors at 6:30, music at 7 - $25-30 - FRIDAY’S SHOW IS SOLD OUT
Marisa Anderson / Shane Parish
Saturday 6/13/26 - doors at 12:30, music at 1 - $40-50
Ian Williams (BATTLES) / Dorothy Carlos / Paleography (Hugh McElroy of Black Eyes) / Day for Night / Daniel Wyche / The Caribbean / Gleb Kanasevich
2-day pass: $60-70
Hailed by The Wire as “A grand menagerie of creative music,” Seventh Stanine is a gathering of artists who, against all promise of financial gain, notoriety, or any of the usual tropes associated with playing music, continue to make art because they have to; they can't imagine their lives without it. As described in the Washington Post in 2025 by pop music critic Chris Richards, “The mere idea of a “music festival” implies a certain bigness, but what if instead of inviting audiences into a treasure vault, organizers offered a glimpse into a jewel box?”
Sunday June 14 * 1pm * in the backyard * $15-25 * REGISTER
Itching to get creative? Come dye with me! This class will cover making and dyeing with indigo, including the basics of shibori (Japanese tie-dye). You'll learn how to:-make an indigo vat-dye with indigo for long-lasting color-tie up the cloth for a variety of beautiful patterns-care for your indigo-dyed itemsEach participant will receive 1 bandana to dye with. All other materials provided. You may bring a few additional items to dye from home. Small to medium sized items with 50% or more natural fiber content work best.. In addition, wear clothing that you don't mind getting stained. Bring an apron if you wish, and rubber gloves if you have them. Instructor: Sophie Kanter: www.thebluesti.com/
Sunday June 14 * 1pm * Free / donations * REGISTER
Queering Sound presents...
An art workshop with Mei Mei Chang
Add your personal embellishment to one of Mei Mei Chang's tissue garments from the Queering Sound visual art exhibit.
Markers, colored pencils, pastels, rubber stamps, embroidery materials, cardboard, fabric swatches, and fabrication tools will be provided. Feel free to bring your own personal collage ephemera and tools.
Sunday June 14 * doors at 6:30, show at 7 * $15-25 * TICKETS
Kalia Vandever (they/them) is a trombonist and composer living in New York. Praised by AllMusic as “a master musician and composer” and “a singular talent,” Vandever’s approach to the trombone is distinctive, defined by their sonorous tone and lyrical voicing. They lean into the challenges of the instrument and allow patience and melody to guide their process. Vandever’s music has quickly and widely gained traction in the last few years despite the fact that their style has been consistently difficult to pin down, boasting a compositional scope ranging from the palatial modern jazz of their quartet work (notably featuring guitarist Mary Halvorson) to the synthetic, gauze-like droning ambience of their solo material, their compositional practice draws from their love of both songs and improvisation, creating a landscape of sounds that resonate in the body and hold the listener. This dexterity has not gone unnoticed, with The Wire asserting, “Vandever has never sounded more assured and in control of their many strengths.”
Emily Francisco is an artist and educator based in Washington DC. Their work has been reviewed and discussed by Hackaday, The Washington Post, Hyperallergic, the Media Archeology Lab, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and at The National Gallery of Art. A five-time Janet and Walter Sondheim Award semi-finalist, her work is currently on view at The Delaware Contemporary through August 2026. Alex Tyson is an artist and musician based in Washington, DC. As a musician, they’ve been a featured artist at SXSW and have played a Tiny Desk… But always with others. Their visual work lives somewhere between the screen and studio floor: generative visuals, robots, metal, plaster, and lately lasers. They are a recipient of a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
niki afsar: 'i am a nonbinary/femme, iranian-american writer and interdisclipinary artist. my work explores not only longing but also the lack that persists in my relationships to language and mythologies of identity. these liminal spaces of void are where desire lives. they are essential for change and reinvention. i employ a number of mediums including devised movement and performance; poetry and text; live singing and recording using a vocal loop machine; sound collaging; and more recently, mirror work.'
Monday June 15 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $15 * TICKETS
Neptune's origins trace to 1994 as a sculpture project by Boston artist/musician Jason Sidney Sanford, who forged the band's haphazard guitars and reluctant drums from scrap steel and found objects.
Shadow Riot - Kamyar Arsani - Jeff Barsky - Dug Birdzell - Jerry Busher. Join us.
Icky Bits - Philly-based trio of Mark Feehan, Scott Verrastro, and Cameron Healy.
Tuesday June 16 * 5:30-8:30pm * $0-15 sliding scale * TICKETS
MotorMouth Presents
FOMO - an artist salon / creative communion
Masks required & provided
*please register for event even if you acquire a free ticket!*
This event is meant to be a soft place to land, a creative communion that explores themes of suffering and resistance. We think of FOMO or the fear of missing out as something that self-taught artists might experience, and therefore want to facilitate a supportive discussion in relation to that. The event will include: check in & mingling; shared group craft; facilitated group discussion; closing performance by amo. Feel free to bring a craft you are working on or pieces you are called to share!
Wednesday June 17 * doors at 7, music at 7:45 * $10-12 * TICKETS
Null/Void presents...
Asko
Chicago dbeat / USHC
https://asko.bandcamp.com/
Death by Despair
Baltimore dbeat / crasher crust
https://deathbydispair.bandcamp.com/
Limit Break
Baltimore City Hardcore
https://limitbreakbchc.bandcamp.com/
Peace be With You
DC Hardcore
https://www.instagram.com/pbwuband/
Thursday June 18 * doors at 7:30, show at 8 * $12-20 * TICKETS
LIVE CINEMA IS NOW!
99 Hooker (NYC) - Dancing with Moloch,30 minute live performance mixing B movies, ads, docs, live camera, ecstatic dancers, animations, live and recorded poetry, personal elegies, remembrances including an auto-eulogy, zombies, Allen Ginsberg, John Denver, Black Sabbath, Charles Manson, Wheel of Fortune, Jelly Roll Morton, Max Fleischer, Donald O’Finn, Feedbuck, Akio Mokuno, Donald Miller, Emmalee Sutton, to name but a few. 99’s multimedia Danse Macabre is joyous, funny, terrifying, thoughtful and playful.
C. Tara and David Gladden (Chance, MD) present “Interference Land” - a performative live cinema experiment consisting of ethereal vocal choruses, glossolalia, glitched, live feed video, modal shifting, color bleeds, rhythmic skips, unpredictable signal flows, phase shifts, and chain effects. Life partners and longtime collaborators, the duo works across video, sound, performance, installation, sculpture, and the unclassifiable. They are founders of John Cage Memorial Park, a rogue artist residency and land art project hidden in the pine woods of Chance, Maryland.
Ex Lamp (Washington, D.C.) has been performing video either solo or as a band member since 2002 when he played with AE (with ½ of plunderphonic pioneers Stock, Hausen and Walkman). Ex Lamp’s work consists of real-time video sampling and layering of video material. Differing from “VJ”ing, these live remixes (vampling) employ the original sound and the image simultaneously - a concert/cinema hybrid. For this event, Ex Lamp (formerly Matterlink) will perform “Flash Boom” (aka Pika Don), an exploration of the violence of artificial light.
Friday June 19 * 12pm * $35 * REGISTER
Foraging in America has strong connections to Black and Indigenous history. This talk will discuss how our ancestors made food, medicine, dyes and materials using many of the wild plants that we walk past every day. We will learn to identify, work with and honor these magical plants as well as explore the laws and systems that disconnected us in the first place.
Some of the plants we may discuss include Sassafras, Black Cherry, Pokeweed, Pawpaws, Cranesbill, Mulberries, Dandelion, Wild Garlic, Wild Lettuce, Black Walnut, Senna and more. Many of these plants have rich histories as staples in indigenous diets; some were used to supplement rations during slavery, to provide food and medicine during escape and later became staples in the black American diet.
Samples of herbal preparations will be available for participants to try, and participants will receive recipes.
Friday June 19 * 6pm * Free * RSVP
Structures of Music Exploitation (S.O.M.E.)
Speaker: Norman Kelley, editor, R&B (Rhythm and Business): The Political Economy of Black Music (Akashic Books 2002); The Head Negro in Charge Syndrome (Nation Books, 2004).
Overview
Structure of Music Exploitation (aka the “structure of stealing") examines the various methods used to extract wealth from black talent and music. Drawing from Norman Kelley’s unpublished work, An Industry Beneath Their Feet: The Mismanagement and Exploitation of Black Music, he will argue how the structure of exploitation within the music recording industry made it possible for black music and black talent to be exploited with impunity. However, the presentation will also argue that African Americans, in some cases, failed to – in the best sense of the word–exploit their own folk culture as a resource as well as showing examples of blacks who took advantage of black talent’s naivete. This presentation critically assesses how the absence of an integrated economic strategy—one linking politics, culture, and commerce—led to the persistent pattern of artistic brilliance and economic marginalization. The talk invites audiences to reconsider how economic empowerment could emerge from cultural innovation.
Saturday June 20 * 3pm * $25 / scholarships available * REGISTER
This is an in-person workshop on the basics of vocal feminization: raising your pitch, shifting your resonance, and sustaining your trained voice. It'll be interactive, so come prepared to try the exercises in a judgment-free setting. Instructor: Jessica Austin
Scholarships available - please email info@rhizomedc.org
To find out more about me or schedule private lessons, visit my website: https://thetransjessicaaustin.com/
Saturday June 20 * 7:30pm * $12-24 * TICKETS
Valentina Booking Presents:
Haves & Thirds is a one person band out of Tampa, Florida. The music is dreamy with bits of delightful quirks mixed with sounds of voices and things. Todd Lynne is the co-founder of label Cephia's Treat. His album has been described as: “Gorgeous dream pop guitar + beats + movie samples honoring fallen actors in moving fashion. Highly recommended!!”
Travis B is a multitalented musician and artist out of Baltimore, MD- a beloved member of the community. Online you’ll see his work as a photographer but at rhizome you’ll see how his beauty he captures during his first live ambient set. Not to miss!
Tiff and T are a power duo that can do many things know as dj dubu, Tiff created and runs ecobeat and is also a classically trained musician. T is know for his jungle collection and plant based meal prep - both will be playing their first show together featuring in Swana style .
Sema is a magical human that you can find gloriously dancing at most functions - fittingly their love for music has transferred to them making it, catch Sema’s second show as they play a nu live set created especially for this show.
Sunday June 21 * 11am * Free / Donations * RSVP
Chinese culture understands time as cyclical and relational. The traditional Chinese calendar divides the year into 24 Solar Terms, presenting the subtle shifts in nature and having different celebrations each term.
One of these terms is Duanwu Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month: a time when summer begins to intensify, marked by remembrance and cultural rituals such as dragon boat racing and eating zongzi. In this event, we will:
- Introduce Duanwu and its meaning, connecting personal stories of hometown, cultural roots, and remembrance;
- Participants DIY two gifts inspired by their hometown and cultural memory: one kept for themselves, and one exchanged with another participant (A to B, B to C, C to A);
- Share reflections on how ritual, making, and exchange create a moment of pause.
The event is free, and donations to Rhizome DC are suggested. We will provide basic art supplies (paper, pencils, colored pencils, acrylic paint & brushes), but please bring any other materials for DIY.
Sunday June 21 * 3pm * RSVP
Death Cafes are opportunities for people to enjoy refreshments together and discuss the topic of death. The objective is to “increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” There are Death Cafes all over the country. What's on your mind about death and dying? Contact Death Cafe Facilitators Margaret Branch at margaret603@gmail.com or Monica Lynch at mlynch19@comcast.net.. Death Cafes are NOT therapy, grief support, or counseling sessions. Cost: Free (small donation for the space encouraged)
Sunday June 21 * 6pm * $10-20 * TICKETS
Amptext, the solo project of Washington DC native Gary Rouzer, explores the area between free improvisation and composition. His current focus harkens back to his teenage years on the four string electric bass. https://amptext.bandcamp.com
Perfectly Reasonable People - Baltimore duo making perfectly reasonable music.
Jeff Surak - Maximum musique concrète.
https://zeromoon.bandcamp.com/album/an-ideal-death
Tag Cloud - Solo drone/noise/ambient atmospherics. Mostly modular but sometimes other sources. Latest release out now!
https://tagcloud2.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-shoe-drops
James Wolf is a DC-area violinist and multi-instrumentalist.
https://jwolf333.bandcamp.com/music
Francesca H & Alex McGrath - Soprano sax and transducers + homemade electronics duo; our music sits on the borders of free improvisation, noise, and minimal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOtxw_qXy1k
Tuesday June 23 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $10-20 / NOTAFLOF * TICKETS
Grace A. Keller - DC-based singer/songwriter, 1/4 of hotel sewing kit
Jem Wilde - DC/Baltimore
Devin Shaffer's new album, Patience, mirrors life's highs and lows on the search for spiritual meaning, purpose, and connection. Patience updates the hushed intimacy of songwriters like Vashti Bunyan, Sibylle Baier, and Linda Perhacs for the twenty-first century. Shaffer challenges both herself and the listener to find peace in the unknowing and comfort in the surrender.
Tuesday June 24 * doors at 7, show at 7:30 * $10-20 * TICKETS
Mike Andre plays deconstructed punk rock in the band Sensor Ghost. Tonight he will be performing deconstructed folk music under his own name.
Emi Kawashima (she/they) is a mover, grower, and maker based in DC. They explore movement and other mediums with a constantly changing body and mind. Inspired by nature, relationships, mental health, and everyday situations, she has been experimenting with plant dyed shibori fiber in their work. Emi gets their hands dirty as a garden manager at the Washington Youth Garden while finding ways to share space and collaborate with other creative folks.
As a creative artist, George Karos integrates written poetry with sparse acoustic music performances. For over three decades, he's performed in bands and as a solo folk singer. He has 3 published poetry books - and been published in over 60 worldwide literary publications.
Thursday June 25 * 7:30pm * $10-20 * TICKETS
Mick Barr - special classical guitar set - Guitarist and composer Mick Barr has released countless recordings under the names Ocrilim, Orthrelm, and Octis, and has worked with Krallice, The Flying Luttenbachers, Zach Hill, Weasel Walter, and Sam Hillmer of Zs. His lightning fast guitar style and singular approach to the instrument goes unrivaled among his contemporaries.
Vaelastraz is a dark ambient project from Virginia. Formed in 2016 by musician Min Naing, Vaelastrasz conjures melancholic and epic atmospheres with loop-based melodies.
Friday June 26 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $20-35 * TICKETS
Multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser FRED FRITH has been making noise of one kind or another for more than 50 years, starting with the rock collective Henry Cow, which he co-founded with Tim Hodgkinson in 1968. Fred is best known as a pioneering electric guitarist and improviser, song-writer, and composer for film, dance and theater. Through bands like Art Bears, Massacre, Skeleton Crew, the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, Cosa Brava, and the FF Trio he has stayed close to his roots in rock and folk music while branching out in many other directions.
CHAO TIAN is a boundary-breaking Chinese dulcimer virtuoso, improviser, and sonic thinker whose music unfolds across tradition, experimentation, and diasporic imagination. Trained in the classical lineage of the Chinese dulcimer since the age of five, she now bends that legacy into new shapes—treating the instrument not as a symbol, but as a living, questioning voice.
Saturday June 27 * 1pm * $35 * REGISTER
This 2 hour workshop will begin with a flowing yoga practice to bring us into a present state of awareness. Then we’ll sit and explore the foundational basics of tarot cards. With prompts and exercises, we’ll pull tarot cards and explore our observations, feelings, and reactions to them. After the workshop, participants will have a better understanding of how yoga and tarot can foster a deep inner connection and build mindfulness and intuition.
Workshop materials -
Yoga mat (required)
Deck of tarot cards (optional)
Journal and writing utensil (optional)
Any other desired yoga props such as a blanket or blocks (optional)
Saturday June 27 * 7pm * $15 * TICKETS
Spark Isle is an experimental rock trio based in the DMV. The group's instrumental compositions touch on jazz, funk, punk and styles in between. Visually, Spark Isle presents projections to accompany each song that often feature footage of collaborations with artists from other mediums (painters, dancers, etc.).
Sur Cósmico is a Spanish psychedelic rock project by Bolivian artist Jardiel Ruiz, delivering immersive and atmospheric live performances.
My Mandy - All is breathing the astral dust. Stripping it down to the moment, My Mandy is the music project by Malynne Petoia, seeking to capture our shared inner & outer worlds, echoed into lyrical melodies.
L☆LY is a human In this invented world Where concrete is the soil And money is the soul. L☆LY is a star as Citlally translates Of nahualt origin And death as the fate.
Sir Cie - If you like indie and alternative music with folk, pop rock, and classic rock influences, congratulations, j’suis ta copine.
Sunday June 28 & bi-weekly * 11am * $5-10 suggested * REGISTER
How do different traditions across history and geography think about how we should live our lives? Join this community for a casual, biweekly discussion group dedicated to exploring the practical philosophies and lived wisdom of the world’s major spiritual traditions. Over the first 12 weeks, we’ll look at foundational ideas from Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Taoism, Stoicism, Shinto, Yoruba, Animism, Christianity, Islam, and some modern faiths.
This is less of a learning seminar and more of a conversational space. There are no right or wrong answers, and you don’t need any background in religious studies to participate. Come as you are, ready to chat about the ideas that jump out at you, what resonates with your own perspective, and how these philosophies might map onto our lives.
Check out the working syllabus and readings: tinyurl.com/explorefaiths
Sunday June 28 * noon-4pm * $5-10 suggested * RSVP
The DC Modular Society is a group focused on learning, teaching, and performing electronic music with modular synths. DCMS meetups are open to all with an interest in electronic music, modular and other hardware synths, and hybrid systems for creating and performing music. We encourage and support building a diverse and inclusive community—if you’re wondering if you belong—the answer is yes! No equipment is necessary to attend meetups, but feel free to bring gear if you like. Mixer and PA system provided. We frequently do informal demos of synths and electronic music techniques.
Sunday June 28 * doors at 7pm, music at 7:30 * $10-20 * TICKETS
Sarah Hughes is a performing and visual artist. She has 26 years of experience playing the alto saxophone and also doubles on the soprano saxophone, flute, and clarinet. Her music is intuitive and genre-liberated while displaying an unquestionable command of her instrument and musical vocabulary.
Corey Thuro is a musician based in Baltimore, MD.
Nate Scheible has performed and recorded in a variety of bands and ensembles spanning multiple genres over the past 25 years. Collaborators in recent years include Sarah Hughes, Nik Francis, Erik Ruin, the Bureau of Sensory Affairs with Alma Laprida, and the band Drawn. His background is largely based in improvisation on drums, electronics, and analog tape. His work is featured prominently on releases by the labels Warm Winters Ltd., Outside Time, Unifactor, Feeding Tube, and Never Anything.
Monday June 29 * doors at 6, show at 7 * $10 * TICKETS
Presenting the debut of two local bands— Pain Response (hardcore) and Peel Off Your Skin (punk), hosted by ShivLaughLove. There will also be some clowning and juggling performed! Come support local DC night life workers on their day off.
Recent events:
2nd Saturday of the month * online at 1130am Eastern * to REGISTER, please email rhizomepuppetlab@gmail.com
Rhizome Puppet Lab is committed to the performance side of puppetry. It supports the development of works in progress. You can present work for feedback or direct others in the lab to improvise or puzzle out specific scenes. You may use the group to figure out how your show might work. Anyone may lead a lab about any aspect of performance.
Puppet Lab’s purpose is to be a hub for all those interested in puppet theater who would benefit from: boosting creative power; honing puppet-manipulation skills; cross-pollinating ideas; receiving feedback about works in progress; building puppet community. Types of labs have included shadows, Laban, suspense, metaphor, music, voice, Clown, character development, props, table top, humanette, hand puppets, and much more. Open to all levels of experience.