The time has come to flush out the toxins of the 2010s and welcome a new decade, and whatever new toxins and triumphs it may bring. It’s a good time to start marking your calendars for the performances, art exhibits, concerts, and other events that are likely to draw a crowd—or sell out. There’s a couple of old favorites returning or reopening, plus plenty of new events on the horizon. Here’s what we’re already looking forward to.

AYO, artist-in-residence at Strathmore

This Howard University graduate has appeared on songs by Chance the Rapper, Common, and Andra Day, and she recently played Ella Fitzgerald in an HBO documentary. This month, she’s in residence at the Strathmore in Bethesda, where she’ll lead a workshop and play two concerts. (January 15 and 29, The Strathmore Mansion, $19)

The Children’s Museum returns

 After five years dormant, the National Children’s Museum is set to reopen at the end of January at a new location. Kids can play on slides, innovate in virtual reality, goof around with slime, build vehicles, and generally get out all their excess energy. (Late January, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, $10.95)

Degas at the National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art has 75 works by Edgar Degas on view, many related to his fascination with the world of ballet (His seminal sculpture,  “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen,” is on permanent display.) But the French artist was also a keen observer of the opera. This year’s new exhibition, Degas at the Opéra, at the museum will showcase about 100 works in a range of media. (March 1-July 5, National Gallery of Art, FREE)  

National Building Museum reopens

After leaving parents in particular in the lurch this winter, the National Building Museum is set to reopen in March after three months of repairs to its ceramic floors. The museum will open with a retrospective of the work of photographer Alan Karchmer. (March, exact date TBD, National Building Museum)

Wonder at a piece of Wonder

The Renwick reopened with a bang in 2015, drawing record crowds for its Wonder exhibit that showcased nine immersive artworks. One of those pieces, Janet Echelman’s “1.8,” is returning to the grand salon on the second floor. The room-sized ceiling installation somehow manages to make half a million knots look like a 3D heat map. Meanwhile, the Renwick is also hosting an exhibition of works by Native American women artists, and the museum’s sister gallery the Smithsonian American Art Museum is presenting a show about Alexander von Humboldt’s influence on American naturalism in the months ahead. (April 3, 2020-August 14, 2022, The Renwick Gallery, FREE)

Planet Word arrives

Word nerds rejoice—the city’s new museum for language and words opens May 31 after nearly three years of development. The building is where Alexander Graham Bell sent the first-ever wireless voice transmissions 140 years ago, and the museum’s offerings include 10 galleries, interactive spaces for learning basic words from a variety of languages, opportunities to solve puzzles, and more. (May 31, 963 13th St. NW, tickets TBA) 

75th Anniversary of D-Day

Look for a series of events commemorating the 75th anniversary of WWII this year, including one at the WWII Memorial slated for the anniversary of D-Day. (June 6; WWII Memorial)

Hamilton

Now that “The Room Where It Happens” and “Wait For It” have ever so slightly faded from memory (yeah right), the Broadway phenomenon of the millennium is returning to the nation’s capital for a second run. The production at the Kennedy Center Opera House is perfectly timed to coincide with the 2020 election run-up (gulp). (June 16-Sept. 20, The Kennedy Center, tickets go on sale in the spring)

Mamma Mia!

Thanks to Meryl Streep, Cher, and some dazzling Mediterranean locales, ABBA fervor has been in full force in recent years, with two Mamma Mia! movies. Now Signature Theatre has put together its own production, and will be showing it at The Anthem, where those catchy melodies will reverberate off the walls for an audience of 2,000. (June 25-July 5, The Anthem, $44-$119)

National Museum of Women in the Arts exhibit

For more than a decade, the National Museum of Women in the Arts has dedicated a Women to Watch exhibition each year to a find from one of its local partners elsewhere in the nation or world. This year’s showcase will feature “the transformation of paper into complex works of art.” (June 26-Sept. 7, National Museum of Women in the Arts, museum tickets $10 for adults)

Alanis Morrissette returns

Two decades after bursting on the scene, the aggrieved singer-songwriter is basking in the thrill of a comeback. The New York Times recently called the new Broadway show Jagged Little Pill, based on her discography, “the most woke musical since Hair,” which seems like a compliment. She’s set to release Such Pretty Forks in the Road, her first album in eight years, this May. Do you blame us for being excited for her visit to Merriweather Post Pavilion (along with Garbage and Liz Phair)? (July 2, Merriweather Post Pavilion, $66-$116)

National Portrait Gallery focuses on female writers

The literary canon has historically been shaped by men, minimizing or overlooking outstanding and innovative female writers. This new exhibit is pushing back, showcasing 24 female writers whose visages have been featured in the Portrait Gallery. The list includes Jhumpa Lahiri, Joyce Carol Oates, Marilynne Robinson, Anne Tyler, Alice Walker, and Gwendolyn Brooks, as well as Toni Morrison, the Nobel Prize for Literature winner who died last year. (July 10, 2020-Jan. 10, 2021, National Portrait Gallery, FREE)

DC Shorts International Film Festival

D.C. might not be the entertainment capital of the world, but it’s got plenty of cinematic bona fides if you know where to look. The DC Shorts Film Festival, billed as the largest short-film festival on the east coast, is one such place. (Sept. 10-19, various locations)

MLK Library reopens

At long last, the city’s largest library is set to reopen this fall, and with quite an array of new and updated features: street-level cafe and outdoor patio, rooftop terrace, new entryway adorned with public art, auditorium and conference center, and even workspaces for artists. The project cost $211 million and has been closed since March 4, 2017. Welcome back, old friend. (Exact date TBA, 901 G St. NW)

Kusama returns 

Details are scarce, but we definitely know there are polka dots in our future. At least one of Yayoi Kusama’s infinity mirrors is coming back to the Hirshhorn, which acquired her earliest such work (“Phalli’s Field,” a room filled with white phallic shapes adorned with various sizes of red polka dots). All we know for now is that an exhibition of some kind will open in 2020; you can sign up to receive updates here. (Exact date TBA, Hirshhorn Museum)

The Chinese American Museum expands

This new museum opened to the public this year with permanent exhibits on the first floor (including a digital wall of Chinese-American history) and a couple of temporary exhibits on the upper floors. More permanent exhibits are coming at the end of 2020, according to a museum spokesperson. They’ll showcase the achievements of notable Chinese Americans, trace the tense relations between the U.S. and China, and offer “insight into race, identity, stereotypes and discrimination and the legacy of Chinatowns across the U.S.,” the spokesperson said in an email. (Exact date TBA, 1218 16th St. NW, FREE)

Sports!

Last year was quite a year for athletics in the District. Will 2020 carry that momentum forward? The Mystics will start their new season in May after becoming WNBA champions in October. The World Series-winning Nationals return on March 26 against the Mets at Citi Field and at home, also against the Mets, a week later on April 2. D.C. United will play its first game since the departure of Wayne Rooney on Feb. 29 against the Colorado Rapids. 

This post has been corrected to reflect that the Alexander von Humboldt exhibit takes place at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.