This fall, it is time to step off the sidewalk and make your way underground. Since the beginning of September and continuing throughout the fall season, Dupont Underground invites everyone to engage with the contemporary arts in the capital city.
What Lies Beneath
While thousands of commuters traverse the Circle daily, few realize they are walking over a 15,000-square-foot subterranean relic of 20th-century transit. Located underground and centered at 19 Dupont Circle NW, this former streetcar station–an abandoned ghost of the city’s infrastructure–has been reclaimed for creative expression and reflects our community’s diversity.
The venue features a 125-seat theater for immersive theatrical productions, large-scale art exhibitions, live music, and performance art along a 300-foot projection wall beside the original trolley track curves. Fall 2026 season programming includes gallery exhibitions such as Dee Levinson’s Veiled Ladies and Paola Podesta’s art installation The Skin of Discomfort. The seasonal calendar highlighted the play La Pluma Theatre’s Nation-State. From October 8 through the 25th, Voices Festival Productions’ Woody Sez: The Life & Music of Woody Guthrie will be presented.
The sweeping space suggests large corporate backing. Yet it is a diverse collective of volunteers and donors that keeps it alive. Relying on a broad network of supporters from tradespeople and local professionals to neighbors and international visitors, the space ultimately reflects a community investment.
A Collective Priority
It also reinforces the venue’s mission that culture is not a commodity to be bought, but a shared priority to be built. As stated on their website, “Thank you for supporting a multi-disciplinary arts platform as we steward a historic space and make community and culture our shared, collective priority.”
Visitors should note that Dupont Underground is open only during scheduled exhibitions and events, including both free and ticketed entries. Regular gallery hours are Fridays from 4:00 PM to 7:30 PM and Saturdays and Sundays from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The space is closed Monday through Thursday.
See the Fall 2026 Programming Highlights.
Featured image/courtesy of dupontunderground.org.
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