2010 NOIA Annual Meeting

Please note: In addition to the speakers featured in this program, NOIA  has also extended speaking invitations to several influential members of the U.S. Congress and the Obama Administration. Confirmed speakers include General Hugh Schelton, Kellyanne Conway and Robin West. These speakers will be featured in the Meal Functions/General Sessions marked with an asterisk (*)

Spouse Program

NOIA is pleased to offer the following activities for the spouses and guests of NOIA members in attendance at the Annual Meeting. As always, spouses and guests are also welcome to participate in any of the open sessions of the NOIA Annual Meeting schedule. Please do not forget to indicate your selection of activities on the Meeting Registration Form on the online registration.  If you have any questions, please contact Ann Chapman at (202) 347-6900 or ann@nullnoia.org.

Thursday, April 22

Today guests of NOIA will experience The US Botanic Garden that includes Bartholdi Park and the Bartholdi Fountain.

The newly renovated Conservatory offers the citizens of Washington and visitors from across the nation a beautiful and fascinating living plant museum here on our Nation’s Mall at the foot of the U.S. Capitol. The U.S. Botanic Garden currently maintains about 26,000 plants. The Garden’s noteworthy collections include economic plants, medicinal plants, orchids, cacti and succulents, bromeliads, cycads, and ferns. Approximately 4,000 plants are on display. The National Garden features plants native to the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as a Butterfly Garden, Rose Garden and First Ladies Water Garden. Bartholdi Park is an outdoor garden demonstration landscape and includes the historic Bartholdi Fountain.

Bartholdi Park on the conservatory campus was created in 1932 and named for Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the historic fountain located at its center. The beds in the Park were geometrically arranged and planted in formal classical style to feature the fountain and to accommodate public gatherings. The plantings have been redesigned during the last decade and are continuously updated to reflect modern trends in American horticulture and new plant introductions. The Park now serves as a home landscape demonstration garden and showcases innovative plant combinations in a variety of styles and design themes. The U.S. Botanic Garden Administration Building is located in the Park.

The Bartholdi Fountain on the conservatory campus was created by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904) for the 1876 International Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. The design was based on a model he had created in 1867. Bartholdi was also working on his design for the Statue of Liberty at the same time. The fountain, cast in Paris by A. Durenne, was painted to look like bronze and placed at a focal point near the main entrance of the Exhibition grounds in Fairmount Park.　

At the close of the Exhibition, the fountain was purchased for $6,000 (half of its estimated value) by the United States government at the suggestion of Frederick Law Olmsted, the famous landscape architect who designed the Capitol Grounds. It was moved to Washington, D.C., in 1877 and placed at the base of Capitol Hill near the center line of the Mall, on what was then the Botanic Garden grounds.

After a morning of touring, Lunch will be enjoyed at Art and Soul, located in the heart of Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, with celebrated two-time James Beard-Award winning Chef Art Smith as chef/owner.

Note: You will depart hotel at 10:00 a.m. and return at 2:00 p.m. The tour is $95.00 per person (including lunch) Reservations are required

Friday, April 23

The United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., is a symbol of the American people and their government, the meeting place of the nation’s legislature. The Capitol also houses an important collection of American art, and it is an architectural achievement in its own right.

The U.S. Capitol Visitor Center is the newest addition to this historic complex. At nearly 580,000 square feet, the Visitor Center is the largest project in the Capitol’s more than two-century history and is approximately three quarters the size of the Capitol itself. The entire facility is located underground on the east side of the Capitol so as not to detract from the appearance of the Capitol and the grounds designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1874.

While visiting the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center guests will have the opportunity to visit the nooks and crannies of the this powerful space not available to the general public including the Brumidi Frescoes. The vaulted, ornately decorated corridors on the first floor of the Senate wing in the United States Capitol are called the Brumidi Corridors because, although assistants and other artists are responsible for many of the details, the design of the murals and the major elements are by Constantino Brumidi. Born in Rome in 1805, Brumidi had painted in the Vatican and in the palace and villa of a Roman prince before immigrating to the United States in 1852. After he proved his skill in fresco painting in 1855, he spent much of the next 25 years until his death in 1880 decorating the Capitol.

The tour will be lead by Barbara Wolanin, the Curator of the Architect’s Office.

Note: You will depart the hotel at 10:00 a.m. and return 12:00 p.m. The tour is $85.00 per person. Reservations are required.