Across Downtown, Hoofing It for Art

Saturday marks the return of Arts on Foot, a "street festival" so curious that it invites you indoors to experience Washington's theaters and galleries and sets up booths outdoors so that you might sip your wine on a major thoroughfare.

This year, chefs from Penn Quarter's nicest restaurants cook in the streets, and you can visit a rare show of African American art, see movies and, yes, taste wine. And if you hit the right spots, it can all make for a great day date (if you've got one; if not, grab five friends). Some of the offerings and where to find them:

? The street festival central to Arts on Foot features a juried market with work by more than 70 artists, food samples (cost: about $1-$3) from 30 of the area's restaurants (such as Butterfield 9, Austin Grill and Jaleo), the "Cooking as Art" chef demonstration (Rosa Mexicano's James Muir and many others take part) and that aforementioned wine tent, new this year (admission is $5). Find it all just outside the American Art Museum at Eighth and F streets NW.

? For fine art, put your money on the "Freedom Place Collection" show at Zenith Gallery. Plucked from the collection of Stuart Marshall Bloch and Julia Chang Bloch, the show features five African American artists including the late painter and collage artist Romare Bearden (whose own career blossomed after a 1944 solo show, fittingly, in Washington). 413 Seventh St. NW (at D Street). 202-783-2963. (Other spots for seeing art Saturday are Touchstone Gallery, Civilian Art Projects and the new Carroll Square Gallery.)

? For families, the D. C. Shorts Film Festival presents funny family sho rts, including "Chinese Dumpling," about sisters fed up with violin lessons, and "The Planning Lady," about a guidance counselor's pressure sale on a 7-year-old. Free (but get tickets beginning at 11 at the D.C. Shorts Pavilion, Eighth and F streets). 1 p.m. at Landmark's E Street Cinema. 555 11th St. NW (at E Street).

? Other must-sees: The Shakespeare Theatre Company celebrates its new Sidney Harman Hall space at 610 F St. NW. 202-547-1122. The screening of the Jay-Z film documentary for teens, "Fade to Black," at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. Noon-1:50 p.m. Young Adult Reading Room 110, 901 G St. NW (at Ninth Street). 202-727-5535.

The festival runs from Fourth to 14th streets between Pennsylvania Avenue and L Street NW. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. For a full schedule, visit http://www.artsonfoot.org. For information, call 202-482-7271.