Programs
Cultural Tourism DC's (CTDC's) primary program is the Neighborhood Heritage Trail The Neighborhood Heritage Trails are the official walking trails of Washington, DC. This program relates the history of DC's communities through poster-sized street signs displaying text, maps, and historic photos. Combined with an accompanying free guidebook, each trail provides a self-guided walking tour of the neighborhood. When a neighborhood expresses interest in having a trail, CTDC begins the process by convening neighborhood working groups to collect insights, oral histories, and historic photographs.
Neighborhood Heritage Trails teach residents and visitors in Washington, DC, about the city's neighborhoods. In 2011, there were thirtenn Heritage Trails: Adams Morgan Heritage Trail; Tour of Duty: Barracks Row Heritage Trail; Battleground to Community: Brightwood Heritage Trail; Cultural Convergence: Columbia Heights Heritage Trail; Civil War to Civil Rights: Downtown Heritage Trail; A Self-Reliant People: Greater Deanwood Heritage Trail; City Within a City: Greater U Street Heritage Trail; Village in the City: Mount Pleasant Heritage Trail; Midcity at the Crossroads: Shaw Heritage Trail; River Farms to Urban Towers: Southwest Heritage Trail; Top of the Town: Tenleytown Heritage Trail; Lift Every Voice: Georgia Ave./ Pleasant Plains Heritage Trail; and Hub, Heart, Home: H Street, NE Neighborhood Heritage Trail.
Two of the Neighborhood Heritage Trails, downtown and U Street, offer accompanying podcast audio walking tours, DC’s Audio Journeys. Visitors can download an audio tour to their personal MP3 player and listen as they walk. The audio journeys feature original musical scores, guest narrators, and accounts of historic events.
African American Heritage Trail, Washington, DC is the city’s first official trail highlighting significant sites in black history. It is available as a free guide featuring notable locations arranged in 15 neighborhood walking and driving trails. The trail informs residents and visitors of Washington’s African American history – its important moments as well as its intellectual, political, and cultural leaders. The online database provides information about each of the trail's more than 200 sites.
Passport DC provides a global journey inside of Washington, D.C., during the month of May. Many of the city's more than 187 embassies and international cultural centers open their doors to showcase their culture, art, music, dance and food. The event features street festivals, open houses, embassy events, special performances and other events
WalkingTown DC free guided walking and biking tours of neighborhoods across the city and BikingTown DC showcase Washington’s character and history. Tour topics include history, architecture, local development and other topics. In the autumn of 2011, WalkingTown DC and BikingTown DC expanded to two consecutive weekends featuring more than 100 free walking and biking tours through all eight wards of the city.
The Embassy Chef Challenge is Cultural Tourism DC’s annual fundraising benefit featuring international tastings, awards, entertainment, and a silent auction. Created in 2009, Cultural Tourism DC's Embassy Chef Challenge is a competition among D.C.'s chefs. Proceeds from the Embassy Chef Challenge support Cultural Tourism DC’s mission and programs. Past winners include Chef Nazha Kasraoui of the Embassy of Morocco (2009) and Chef Jan Van Haute of the Embassy of Belgium (2010).
Cultural Tourism DC opened the Greater U Street Visitors Center in February 2010. The visitor center serves as an introduction to the U Street area, featuring maps, shopping and dining information, and other information about the neighborhood. On the walls are historic photographs, quotations, and a timeline that highlights major developments in the neighborhood and in the city.
Every week, Cultural Tourism DC publishes its Weekly Events Update, a free e-calendar publication of events that offers an overview of cultural events for the week.
Read more about this topic: Cultural Tourism DC
Famous quotes containing the word programs:
“Although good early childhood programs can benefit all children, they are not a quick fix for all of society’s ills—from crime in the streets to adolescent pregnancy, from school failure to unemployment. We must emphasize that good quality early childhood programs can help change the social and educational outcomes for many children, but they are not a panacea; they cannot ameliorate the effects of all harmful social and psychological environments.”
—Barbara Bowman (20th century)
“Government ... thought [it] could transform the country through massive national programs, but often the programs did not work. Too often they only made things worse. In our rush to accomplish great deeds quickly, we trampled on sound principles of restraint and endangered the rights of individuals.”
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“There is a delicate balance of putting yourself last and not being a doormat and thinking of yourself first and not coming off as selfish, arrogant, or bossy. We spend the majority of our lives attempting to perfect this balance. When we are successful, we have many close, healthy relationships. When we are unsuccessful, we suffer the natural consequences of damaged and sometimes broken relationships. Children are just beginning their journey on this important life lesson.”
—Cindy L. Teachey. “Building Lifelong Relationships—School Age Programs at Work,” Child Care Exchange (January 1994)