Washington, D.C. is your city, but it is not inside any U.S. state. "D.C." stands for the District of Columbia, a federal district created by the Constitution to be the seat of the national government. You have a city, an elected mayor, and a 13-member council, but no voting members of Congress.
In brief
Washington, D.C. is your city, but it is not inside any U.S. state. "D.C." stands for the District of Columbia, a federal district created by the Constitution to be the seat of the national government. You have a city, an elected mayor, and a 13-member council, but no voting members of Congress and no state government above you.
A city that is also its own jurisdiction
Washington, D.C. is neither a state nor a regular city. It is a federal district, created by the Constitution to be the seat of the national government and placed under the direct authority of Congress. The "D.C." in your address is not a state abbreviation the way "MD" or "VA" is. Since 1871, the "City of Washington" and the "District of Columbia" have been legally synonymous, which is why the city is almost always called "Washington, D.C." or simply "D.C."
Washington, D.C. is bordered by Maryland to the north, east, and west, and by Virginia to the south across the Potomac River. Washington, D.C. is not part of Maryland or Virginia. Although land from both states was originally used to create the district, it has been a separate federal jurisdiction since its founding. Virginia's connection ended even earlier: in 1846, the portion of the district south of the Potomac River was returned to Virginia. That area is now Arlington County and the city of Alexandria.
Why the district exists at all
Congress acted on that authority with the Residence Act of 1790, carving a diamond-shaped district from land ceded by Maryland and Virginia along the Potomac River. The constitutional logic was straightforward. The framers of the Constitution wanted the national government to sit on neutral ground, free from the influence of any single state. Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 grants Congress the power "to exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of Government of the United States."
The district covers about 61 square miles. Its 2025 population estimate is 693,645, more than some U.S. states, and its population density runs at 11,280 people per square mile, making it one of the densest jurisdictions in the country.
How your local government actually works
On Christmas Eve in 1973, President Richard Nixon signed the DC Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, better known as the Home Rule Act. That federal law allowed D.C. residents to elect their own council and mayor for the first time in nearly a century.
Under the Home Rule Act, residents elect a mayor and a 13-member council: one member for each of the eight wards and five at-large members, including the council chair. The current mayor is Muriel Bowser, who has held the office since January 2, 2015. The mayor has the duty to enforce district laws and can approve or veto bills passed by the D.C. Council. The mayor also oversees all district services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and the district public school system.
The catch: Congress can undo any of it. All legislation passed by the D.C. government, including the district's local budget, remains subject to the approval of Congress. The mayor is generally regarded as equivalent to a state governor at the national level, but because D.C. is a federal district, the mayor does not have some powers normally afforded to governors, including control over the District of Columbia National Guard, which lies with the President of the United States.
What this means for your political rights
With roughly 694,000 residents, an elected mayor and council, and its own tax code, D.C. operates like a state in many practical ways, yet its residents lack voting representation in Congress, and its local government can be overruled by federal lawmakers at any time.
D.C. has a nonvoting delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives and no voting senators. Presidential voting came later and differently. The Twenty-Third Amendment is often misunderstood: it gave D.C. a role in presidential elections, but it did not create senators, a voting House member, or state sovereignty.
The statehood question
Congress has debated changing that arrangement for decades. In 2020 and again in 2021, the House passed H.R. 51, the Washington, DC Admission Act. If passed by the Senate and signed into law by the president, it would have admitted "Washington, Douglass Commonwealth" as the 51st state. A small capital district comprising the Capitol complex, White House, National Mall, and other federal grounds would remain under congressional authority as the seat of the federal government.
On April 30, 2021, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin came out against the bill, effectively dooming its passage. As of now, Washington, D.C. remains a federal district, and no change to its status has been enacted.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
