Happy rainy Thursday! Hope these free events from Free in DC help to brighten your day–and the weekend ahead!

Tonight
Swing by Busboys and Poets at 14th & V NW for the opening of Derek Brown's photo exhibit, "Imagining the Muslim World", from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Greater Goods, at 1626 U St. NW, hosts a Green Living Workshop on "15 Money Saving Projects Under $500" at 7 p.m. at their location at 1626 U St, NW. Space is limited to 20 people, so register online to ensure your spot.

Among all the talks going on around town, two that stick out are "Religious Tests for Office?", a discussion on religion and politics, at 7 p.m. at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; the other is the Coalition for Smarter Growth's Transportation Forum with "a national celebrity on the transportation circuit," Ian Lockwood, at 6 p.m. at 401 9th St. NW. Both discussions request online RSVPs.

Friday
In Upper Northeast, celebrate the grand opening of the Center for Green Urbanism with an open house from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., followed by the new Tubman-Mahan Art Gallery's opening reception for the exhibit "ReCREATE" from 6 to 8 p.m., featuring live music courtesy of jazz flutist Arch Thompson.

The Kennedy Center's Local Dance Commissioning Project presents Angella Foster's "Speechless," which incorporates movement, text, music, and video projections to tell the stories of families with special needs children who cannot speak. At Millennium Stage from 6 to 7 p.m.

The Old Print Gallery in Georgetown hosts an artist talk with "renegade cartographer" Nikolas Schiller, whose geospatial art is currently on view, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Over on the 14th St Corridor, go mama go! hosts an art opening for paintings by Derran Eaddy from 6 to 8 p.m.

A few blocks away, there's an opening for the exhibit " Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence: Identity Writ Large," featuring photos by Matthew Black, at the Joan Hisaoka Gallery at the Smith Farm Center from 7 to 9 p.m.

Saturday
Back in Upper Northeast at the Center for Green Urbanism, check out AYA: An East of the River Health and Wellness Market, featuring fresh produce and baked goods, live music, crafts, and more from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Biagio Chocolate, at 1904 18th St. NW, hosts a complimentary tasting with Taza Chocolate and wine specialists Tradewinds Specialty Imports from 3 to 6 p.m.

The Fridge, on Barracks Row, is hosting an opening reception for Graham Boyle's exhibit "Thrive, Despite!" from 7 to 10 p.m.

Sunday
In the daytime, check out the exhibit Colors of the Oasis: Central Asian Ikats, which just opened at the Textile Museum in Dupont Circle; or go down to the Mall and attend a 2 p.m. lecture at the National Gallery of Art with Dimitrios Pandermalis, head of the board of directors at the Acropolis Museum.

This month's "Sunday Kind of Love" poetry event, at Busboys and Poets 14th & V from 4 to 6 p.m., celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Beltway Poetry Quarterly with editor Kim Roberts, and features local poets Abdul Ali (who has also contributed to City Paper), Paulette Beete, Natalie E. Illum, Alan King, and Maureen Thorson.

Stick around Busboys for the 8 p.m. screening of the documentary film Street Children of Kinshasa, in association with Friends of the Congo. The film and following discussion will shed insight onto the human rights campaign aimed at ending the violence and suffering in the Congo.

Amy Melrose is the creator of Free in DC, an arts, culture, and consciousness blog that highlights free and low-cost events that are all Metro accessible in the D.C. metro area. For complete details about the events mentioned above, visit Free in DC or follow Free in DC on Twitter and Facebook.

While African shows at the 930 Club get plenty of attention, some at other locations go under the radar.  This evening there is a good underpublicized one for free at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage featuring Samba Mapangala and Orchestra Virunga. The show is linked in some manner to today's celebration of "World Refugee Day." Born in the ‘50s in the Congo, Samba later moved to Kenya and even lived in DC for a while.  He established his name in the ‘80s in Kenya when he lent his sweet voice to a danceable hybrid of Congolese guitar-driven rumba and Kenyan benga flavoring.  He has a gorgeous warble, and his big band sometimes adds horns to the standard, high-pitched guitar led rumba and soukous sound. His Obama song is not bad but I like his classic Congolese sounding numbers better.

Saturday June 20-Samba Mapangala and Orquestra Virunga  for free from 6 to 7 (and streamed and archived on the Kennedy Center website) at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage