Art and talks around Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville, aggregated from each venue’s calendar.

Cutting Timber

Join creative team members behind the performance adaptation of Thomas Bernhard’s Woodcutters—Associate Professor Sara Brown, Director Shira Milikowsky, and Dramaturg Lauren K. Wolfe—for a discussion of the performance’s themes.

An Evening with Alex Counts, Author and Founder of the Grameen Foundation

Join us for an evening with Alex Counts, author, consultant to nonprofit organizations, and founder of the Grameen Foundation. In conversation with D-Lab’s Associate Director for Research Kendra Leith, Alex will share key insights,…

Art + Science: Conserving Photographs

In this session, photographs conservator Tatiana Cole will talk about how we preserve photographic materials at the Harvard Art Museums.

Gray Area: Truth and Myth in American History

On National Voter Registration Day, Tayana Fincher will look at how American portraits and photographs illustrate social concerns and community.

Gallery Talk: The 20 × 24 Polaroid Process

Join conservator Tatiana Cole for a discussion about the 20 × 24 Polaroid photographic process and its roots in Cambridge, Mass.

I Drag My Sorrow by His Collar: Her Story Is/Black Ocean Press Book Launch

Join us and The Her Story Is (HSI) collective to celebrate its newest publishing venture: Songs for Fairuz, a ten-book series with Black Ocean Press, featuring poetry translated into English by Arab women writers!

Exhibition Opening Program for On Location: Drawing the Outdoors

Step into the lives of 19th-century European artists who drew in the open air, and find out their techniques, logistical challenges, and more.

Great Decisions — Multilateral Institutions

Join us for this Great Decisions lecture in partnership with World Boston and the GBH Forum Network and supported by the Lowell Institute.

The main program will be held from 6-7 pm followed by a networking reception in the Commonwealth…

Gallery Talk: On Location: Drawing the Outdoors

Explore how 19th-century artists depicted rural labor and urban leisure in the landscape, from farm fields to seaside promenades.

West Roxbury Historical Society: Four Days That Changed West Roxbury

The West Roxbury Historical Society presents: "Four Days that Changed West Roxbury: The Billings' Field Tot Lot.

Presented by members of the Community Playground Project.

Reclaiming Our Story

Join lecturer Vicki Meredith-Hasan, a scholar of Africans in World History for a series of discussions about the evolution and various historical expressions of African classical culture throughout the ages.

Author Talk: Ric Calleja - Making Dinner con Amor

Local Brighton author Ric Calleja has written another book: Making Dinner con Amor: Stories, Poems and Recipes about Food, Cooking and Family.

Join us at this author event in which Ric will read passages from the book and discuss his…

Gallery Talk: Erika Umali on To My Best Friend

Take a closer look at To My Best Friend in this conversation with Curator of Collections Erika Umali. Learn more about the art and artists who make up ICA’s dynamic contemporary collection.

Gallery Talk: On Location: Drawing the Outdoors

Explore how 19th-century artists depicted rural labor and urban leisure in the landscape, from farm fields to seaside promenades.

John Gallagher: “Students still think they write better than the machines: A study of undergrad self-perceptions of Generative AI and writing skills”

Since ChatGPT arrived, surveys suggest that 86% of students use GenAI in their academic work. But what do students really think about these tools, and about their own writing? In this talk, I share findings from a large-scale survey…

Lowell Lecture Series: Sarah Botstein, Co-Director of The American Revolution from Florentine Films

Join us in person or over Zoom Webinar as the Boston Public Library welcomes Sarah Botstein as a speaker for the Lowell Lecture Series. As a filmmaker who has worked closely with Ken Burns for over 30 years as a part of Florentine Films,…

William Tell: The Enduring Legacy of a Hero Myth

Join former Boston Lyric Opera General & Artistic Director Esther Nelson for a fascinating journey through legend, history, and opera, tracing how the story of Tell has been reimagined across centuries, with live musical excerpts from…

Should assisted death be legal?

Join Kathleen Stock (author of Do Not Go Gentle: The Case Against Assisted Death) and Jessica Flanigan (University of Richmond), to discuss the case for and against assisted death.

MIT Music Tech Speaker Series Presents: Mari Kimura

Mastery over Novelty: MUGIC® - a lasting tool for musicianship This lecture explores a pivotal shift in the relationship between technology and the performing arts—from chasing novelty to cultivating mastery. Violinist, composer, and…

Art21 Screening with Josh Kline

Join MIT List Visual Arts Center for a screening of the upcoming season of Art21 followed by a closing conversation with featured artist, Josh Kline.

Art21 announces the premiere of “Human Nature,” the next episode of its acclaimed…

Theater Club in September

Come join us for the new Theater Club at the French Library, a place to read, watch, discuss and recite contemporary and classic French plays with fellow enthusiasts.

SHASS 75th Anniversary Symposium

The SHASS 75th Anniversary Symposium is a two-day celebration being held September 24-25, 2026 in the Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building’s Thomas Tull Concert Hall. The symposium will feature topical faculty panel discussions, student…

A.J. Bauer, “Beyond Bias”

Drawing from his book Making the Liberal Media: How Conservatives Built a Movement Against the Press (Columbia, 2026), A.J. Bauer tracks the rightward shift of structural media criticism in the United States in the late 1940s and early…

What Happened to Liberal Democracy? with Daron Acemoglu and Michael Sandel

Join the Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work and the Leadership Now Project for a fireside chat with Daron Acemoglu and Michael Sandel on Acemoglu's new book, What Happened to Liberal Democracy?

America at 250: A French Lens on Art at the MFA

To mark the 250th anniversary of the United States, Isabelle Slotine invites you to explore the MFA's newly reimagined Art of the Americas galleries from a distinctive French perspective.

Overburden with Gregg Mitman

Founded in the wake of war, the East Nimba Nature Reserve shelters some of West Africa’s most endangered species. With exclusive, on-the-ground access, OVERBURDEN follows rangers, scientists, and forest defenders, including ranger Moses…

The Artist’s Voice: Njideka Akunyili Crosby with Ruth Erickson

Internationally acclaimed artist Njideka Akunyili Crosby has been selected to create the first official portrait of President Barack Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama for the Obama Presidential Center opening in Chicago in summer…

SHASS 75th Anniversary Symposium

The SHASS 75th Anniversary Symposium is a two-day celebration being held September 24-25, 2026 in the Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building’s Thomas Tull Concert Hall. The symposium will feature topical faculty panel discussions, student…

The Artist’s Voice: Lucy Raven with Ruth Erickson

Raven’s work explores the physical and mythical landscapes of the American West, as seen in her mesmerizing film installation—Murderers Bar. Witness the transformation of a landscape and embrace the subsequent release of energy and force…

Starr Forum: Housing the World: Inequality, Informality, and the Future of Cities

Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

Anacláudia Rossbach is the Executive Director of UN-Habitat and an economist with over 20 years of experience in housing, informal…

Global France Seminar presents, Doyle Calhoun “The Suicide Archive: Reading for resistance from the time of slavery to the ‘Arab Spring'”

Assistant Professor of Francophone Postcolonial Studies in the Faculty of Modern & Medieval Languages and Linguistics, University of Cambridge When: Monday, September 28 @ 5:15 PM Where: Building 14, 14E-304 (map)* Abstract: From the time…

Leïla Slimani: I’ll Take the Fire

Join us at Harvard Book Store for a conversation with Leïla Slimani, bestselling and Prix Goncourt–winning author of The Perfect Nanny, about her new novel, I’ll Take the Fire.

Author Talk: N.K. Jemisin on Revolutionary Ideas in Fantasy Fiction

In-person registration is full with a waitlist. Please register to attend virtually HERE.

Noted and award-winning fantasy fiction author N.K. Jemisin discusses her work and her 20-plus-year career that has been inspired by revolutionary…

Exhibition Opening Program for The Way We Never Were: Barbara Norfleet and Photography at Harvard

Join us for a roundtable conversation reflecting on Barbara Norfleet’s enduring impact as artist, teacher, curator, and collector.

Hidden History of Black Boston with Joel Mackall

Learn Boston's 400-year African-American history with Joel Mackall. We will delve into the rich narratives of neighborhoods and pivotal sites, events, and figures from the eras of Faneuil Hall and Long Wharf, which marked Boston's…

Gallery Talk: Crafting Perfect Portraits with Photographic Proof Prints

Join Madison Brown, co-curator of _The Way We Never Were_, for a discussion on proof prints and the craft of producing polished studio portraits.

First/Hand Fridays: Power and Desire in Ancient Art

Calling all Harvard students! Explore with a museum staff member works of ancient art that shaped status, memory, and desire.

First Friday

On the First Friday of every month, the artists, galleries, shops and showrooms of the SoWa Art + Design District in the South End open their doors to the public for an evening of art, culture and inspiration. Meet the artists in their…

First Fridays: Pumpkin Patch

There’s a chill in the air! Toss on some flannel, your best dancing boots, and line dance your way down to the ICA county fair for blue-ribbon worthy drinks, dancing, and contemporary art.

Line dancing by Line Dancing Queens.

2026 Maury A. Bromsen Humanistic Literary Arts Lecture: Ann Patchett (Full—registration and the waitlist are closed)

In-person AND online registration seats are full. Registration and the waitlist are closed.

Join the Boston Public Library and the Boston Public Library Fund as Author Ann Patchett headlines the 2026 Maury A. Bromsen Lecture.

Community Read: Working with Octopuses

Ever wondered what it’s like to work with octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish? Join undergraduate students Vivian Ives and Julian Hidalgo of Northeastern University as they dive into their research experience at the Marine Biological…

Banned in Boston: Is Censorship Still Stifling Free Speech? (A Talks for Better Living Event)

Join us in partnership with the Citywide Friends of the Boston Public Library for a timely and thought-provoking conversation featuring New York Law School Professor of Law Emerita Nadine Strossen and Harvard Law School Professor Randall…

Knighthood and the Realities of War in Medieval Germany

Military history as a subfield within medieval studies has suffered considerably from the fact that both medieval authors and modern scholars have seen warfare as a nasty element of the human experience, that is better condemned or even…

2026-27 Alan Andres Writing Fellows Reading & Celebration

Celebrate the Associates of the BPL's 2026-27 Alan Andres Writer-in-Residence and Alan Andres Picture Book Writer Fellow.

The Associates of the Boston Public Library is hosting our annual Alan Andres Writing Fellows Reading to welcome our…

Historical Fencing with Boston Armizare

Boston Armizare, a historical fencing club based in Brighton, will be giving a lecture and demonstration on the techniques used in medieval and renaissance duels.

Attendees will learn about the social context surrounding duelling and the…

MIT / French Library Author Series: Emily Eakin presents The French Men, Or My Life in Theory

When Emily Eakin arrived at Harvard in the late 1980s, she fell under the spell of French theory. In her acclaimed new book, she intertwines her own youthful fascination with theory with the remarkable story of its rise in American…

The Frenchmen: French Theory from Paris to America

Join critic and essayist Emily Eakin and MIT professor Bruno Perreau for a lively conversation about The Frenchmen and how French theory captivated America, transformed intellectual life, and continues to shape today’s culture wars.

American Art Curators in Conversation

This year’s Coolidge Lecture celebrates the contributions of three womxn to the field of American art.

Hidden History of Black Boston with Joel Mackall

Learn Boston's 400-year African-American history with educator Joel Mackall. We will delve into the rich narratives of neighborhoods and pivotal sites, events, and figures from the eras of Faneuil Hall and Long Wharf, which marked Boston's…

Gallery Talk: On Location: Drawing the Outdoors

Learn about the tools 19th-century European artists used to accurately depict the landscapes around them.

Financial Fraud and Scams Targeting Seniors

Financial scams continue to evolve and often target older adults. On October 8, join the CFA Society Boston lecturers as they explain how common scams work and why seniors are frequently targeted. The goal is to build awareness and…

TAKK—Mireia Luzárraga

TAKK—Mireia Luzárraga (in collaboration with the MIT Morningside Academy for Design)

Part of the MIT Fall 2026 Architecture Lecture Series.

Author Talk: Jayne Anne Phillips, Small Town Girls

Join the Friends of the Jamaica Plain Library for a conversation with Pulitzer-winning novelist, Jayne Anne Phillips on her newest book, Small Town Girls.

Phillips grew up in the small town of Buckhannon, West Virginia. The distinctly…

Pınar Öğrenci: Good Luck in Germany

Berlin-based artist and filmmaker Pınar Öğrenci, whose work is featured in a current exhibition, will reflect on memory, labor, and belonging.

Tenacious Women: A History of Preservation in New England

At the forefront of New England's preservation movement were women bringing a passion for preservation to the communities where they lived. Yet, somehow, these tenacious women's history is often overlooked or lost from the record. This…