Asia After Dark | Diwali Festival
Friday, November 6, 2026, 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM EST
Event duration 4 hours
RSVP:
USD 0.00
About Asia After Dark | Diwali Festival
Join us for another year to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, with food, performances, crafts, and more!
Registration: Registration is recommended but not required. We use Eventbrite registration numbers to estimate how many people we expect to attend and how much supplies to prepare. Most activities have a limited capacity, with entry on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration does not guarantee entry.
Celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, with an evening of food, music, dance, and activities! Learn how different regions celebrate this Hindu holiday, create crafts to take home, and see the museum lit up once the sun goes down.
Program Details:
Food Vendors
West Building, Plaza
5–9:00 p.m.
Enjoy cuisine from the Indian diaspora.
Crafts & Coloring
West Building
5-7 p.m.
Family Fun Activities (North Corridor and Galleries 1-2)
5-9 p.m.
Color a diya (South Corridor)
East Building
5-9 p.m.
Decorate a rangoli with Kulture Khazana (Gallery 27, level B1)
Performances
West Building, Meyer Auditorium
6 p.m. & 7:15 p.m.
Strings for the Festival of Lights - A presentation in Indian Classical Music - Sarod Recital by Swarnendu
West Building, Plaza
5:30 p.m., 6:15 p.m., 7 p.m.
Dance performances by Vishious Vicinity
7:30–9:30 p.m.
Afterhours Dance Party with DJ MAIYA
Tours and Spotlight Talks
5–8 p.m.
Docent spotlight talks: Body Image: Arts of the Indian Subcontinent (Galleries 1–2)
Docent spotlight talks: The Peacock Room (Gallery 12)
5–7 p.m.
Docent spotlight talks: The Art of Knowing (Gallery 22)
7 p.m.
Gallery tour: The Art of Knowing with curator Emma Stein (Gallery 22)
Conservation Cart Talk
West Building, North Corridor
5-7 p.m.
Special Decorations
West Building, Plaza and Courtyard
5–9:30 p.m.
See the museum lit up to celebrate Diwali.
Events Schedule
Friday, November 6, 2026
5:00 PM – 9:00 PM EST
Time zone
Eastern Time (EST, UTC-05:00)
Event Categories
Community Connections
National Museum of Asian Art
https://asia.si.edu/
1050 Independence Ave. SW
Established a century ago, the National Museum of Asian Art was the Smithsonian’s first art museum. Committed to preserving, exhibiting, researching, and interpreting art in ways that deepen our collective understanding of Asia and the world, the museum stewards one of North America’s largest and most comprehensive collections of Asian art. Its rich holdings bring the arts of Asia into direct dialogue with an important collection of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American works, providing an essential platform for creative collaboration and cultural exchange between the United States, Asia, and the Middle East. Beginning with a 1906 gift that paved the way for the museum’s opening in 1923, the National Museum of Asian Art is a leading resource for visitors, students, and scholars in the United States and internationally. Its galleries, laboratories, archives, and library are located on the National Mall in Washington, DC, and are part of the world’s largest museum complex, which typically reports more than 27 million visits each year. The museum is free and open to the public 364 days a year, making its exhibitions, programs, learning opportunities, and digital initiatives accessible to global audiences. When you visit our galleries or delve into the stories of our collections online, we hope you find a portal to different ways of interpreting our world. We invite you to learn and explore in your own way—to look deeply into the past to better understand the present and to break through the artificial barriers that can separate us.