Smithsonian Associates Celebrates 60 Years of Lifelong Learning

Smithsonian Associates—the largest museum-based education program in the world—celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2025, debuting a year of special programming to mark the occasion. Smithsonian Associates has produced educational and entertaining learning experiences since September 1965, when then-Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley established an organization that would link people in the Washington, D.C., area to the Smithsonian’s museums and research facilities in new and dynamic ways.

Continuing in that tradition, Smithsonian Associates kicks off its yearlong 60th anniversary celebration with exciting new programs for lifelong learners across the country and around the world. Beginning in January and February, online and in-person offerings will reflect the past, present and future through the lens of the Smithsonian.

Programs presented online feature a documentary filmmaker who reveals how a 19th-century staff member of the Institution helped save bison from extinction (Jan. 15). Smithsonian Books author and NASA astronaut, Tom Jones, considers the legacy of the space shuttle through the experiences of fellow fliers (Feb. 26) and a panel of Smithsonian curators brings an eventful year in the Civil Rights Movement to life by sharing stories of iconic objects from museum collections (Feb. 27).

Participants in the Washington area can create a collage inspired by noted 20th-century artist Romare Bearden, whose works are in the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Jan. 26–Feb. 16), or join expert Smithsonian horticulturists for a tour of Smithsonian Gardens’ exhibition “Human/Nature: Why People Are Drawn to Living Things”—and learn how to select and care for houseplants (Feb. 25 and 27).

Throughout the year, the public is invited to gather online and in person for conversations with thought leaders and change-makers from around the world, making connections and sparking curiosity. Together with a vibrant and expanding community of lifelong learners, they can meet authors, historians, scholars, curators and other specialists—there is an abundance of opportunities to engage with experts in ways that only Smithsonian Associates can create.

More information about Smithsonian Associates’ 60th anniversary programming is available on its website.       

About Smithsonian Associates

Smithsonian Associates produces vibrant educational and cultural programming inspired by the Smithsonian’s research, collections and exhibitions. Each year more than 1,000 programs are presented online and in person to spark creativity and excite learning in people of all ages. Smithsonian Associates brings the Smithsonian to life through seminars, performances, lectures, studio arts classes and local and regional study tours, as well as many engaging programs for children, including performances, museum sleepovers and summer day camps.

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