“The Street is Memory”: Resisting Boston’s Urban Removal

Allan Rohan Crite was both a history keeper and anti-gentrification activist, using his renderings of his neighbors in the South End and Lower Roxbury to document the displacement caused by urban renewal, which Crite referred to as “urban removal.” Join us as we discuss this complex history and the ways in which community trusts, neighborhood activists, policy makers, and artists today are striving to preserve and protect Boston’s diverse neighborhoods and communities.     Image Credit: Allan Rohan Crite (American, 1910–2007), Burning and Digging: South End Housing Project, January 1940. Watercolor with ink and white highlights, 38 x 28 cm (14 15/16 x 11 in.) Boston Athenaeum, Gift of the artist, 1971 (A U9 Cri.a. 1940.b). Courtesy of the Allan Rohan Crite Research Institute and Library

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Gardner’s Eden: A Conversation & Book Signing

Join us for a special evening with James Prosek—award-winning artist, writer, and naturalist—in celebration of&nbsp;Gardner’s Eden, one of the Museum’s newest publications and the culmination of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/contemporary-art/artists/prosek-james">Prosek’s 2018 residency</a>&nbsp;at the Gardner. In conversation with Pieranna Cavalchini,&nbsp;Tom and Lisa Blumenthal Curator of Contemporary Art&nbsp;at the Gardner Museum, Prosek will trace the roots of inspiration for the book and provide insights into his artistic practice. An audience Q&amp;A and book signing will conclude the event. Copies of&nbsp;Gardner’s Eden&nbsp;will be available for purchase from&nbsp;<a href="https://gift.gardnermuseum.org/collections/museum-publications/products/gardners-eden">Gift at the Gardner</a>.&nbsp;

Indigenous Peoples' Day: Interwoven

Celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day with community and family through art-making, storytelling, and more as we come together, learning how we may weave our individual identities into a whole that honors all of its diverse parts. We are stronger when we are woven together. The Gardner Museum is honored to collaborate with Erin Genia (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate), Hawk Henries (Nipmuck), Yvonne Peterson (Chehalis), and Elizabeth James Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag) to acknowledge and respect Indigenous wisdom and traditions that strengthen communities.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Photo Credit: Billy Weiss&nbsp;

Saturday Open Studio 

Inspired by the Museum’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gardnermuseum.org/summer-2025-exhibitions">summer exhibitions</a>, which explore gardens as sites of connection and creative potential, this season’s Open Studios activity invites participants to create their own garden through illustrations. Let your imagination take root and learn to draw a variety of flowers, fruits, vegetables and other objects to produce your very own paper garden. The activity was designed by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gardnermuseum.org/about/polly-thayer-starr-artists">Polly Thayer Starr Visiting Artist</a>&nbsp;Rayna Lo.&nbsp;

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum 

Drawing Inspiration: Live Sketching with Yuko Okabe

Immerse yourself in <a href="https://www.gardnermuseum.org/ming-fay-exhibition">Ming Fay</a>’s garden this summer and nurture your own creativity! Follow prompts from <a href="https://www.gardnermuseum.org/yuko-okabe">Yuko Okabe</a>, a Polly Thayer Starr Visiting Studio Artist, and draw in Hostetter Gallery surrounded by Fay’s wondrous sculptures and sketches. In this garden, unlike any other, take the opportunity to slow down, look closely, and leave with new memories and art made by your own hand.  All materials will be provided and no prior drawing experience is required; visitors of all ages are encouraged to participate.

Juneteenth Free Day

The Gardner will honor Juneteenth, the oldest nationally recognized commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, with a free day of performances, conversations, and activities that celebrate community and freedom with Boston-based Black artists and leaders. Bring your loved ones and show up for your community by engaging in activities led by educators, organizers, and cultural leaders all dedicated to building a better future for everyone. And, as the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thetriennial.org/">Boston Public Art Triennial</a>&nbsp;activates the city this summer, we welcome you to learn more about the rich legacy of Boston’s Black muralists who have told neighborhood stories on the walls of the city, beautifying their communities and our world with their contributions.

Celebrating Culture: Haitian Heritage and Community

As part of Haitian Heritage Month, Greater Boston-based contemporary dance company Jean Appolon Expressions (JAE) presents Ansanm Ansanm, Together Together, a vibrant medley celebrating Haitian culture and resilience. Under the visionary leadership of Jean Appolon, JAE's compelling choreography preserves and elevates Haitian culture while inspiring reflection and healing.This dynamic performance will feature selections from JAE’s repertoire as well as a celebratory new improvisational component adds an exuberant energy, inviting dancers, musicians, and audiences to share in a joyful expression of unity.

The Art of Transformation: Black Spirituality, Self-Expression, and Identity

Join us for a powerful dialogue and communal reflection honoring the confluence of transformation and religious practices as avenues for self-expression and identity. Fabiola Jean-Louis, along with leading scholars and faith leaders Reverend Irene Monroe, Elena Herminia Guzman, and Dr. Brandon Crowley, join Rebeca L. Hey-Colón for a conversation exploring the intersections of non-binary and queer cultures, Afro-Diasporic religions and spirituality, and the gender fluidity of the mythical, legendary, and folkloric beings that form a part of these traditions.

Fabiola Jean-Louis on the Art of Black Liberation

Fabiola Jean-Louis transforms paper into profoundly spiritual sculptures that connect ancestral and living realms and reclaim African spirituality as the root of Black freedom. Join Fabiola Jean-Louis and Gardner Museum Luminary <a href="https://www.gardnermuseum.org/arielle-gray">Arielle Gray</a> as they discuss art that bridges past and present, Jean-Louis’s creative journeys and processes, and how her artwork engages with colonial histories and African diasporas in the Caribbean and beyond. Jean-Louis will share how she uses imagination to create remarkable works of art that draw on a wide range of folkloric, literary, mythical, and historic references from Vodou traditions and spirituality to the powerful history of the Haitian Revolution that continues to resonate in legacies of Black liberation.

Mickalene Thomas: Sandra, She's a Beauty, 2009 (public art)

On the Anne H. Fitzpatrick Façade this fall from October 1, 2024 – February 17, 2025, the photo collage of a mother, crafted by her daughter, welcomes visitors to the Gardner Museum. Clothed in regal red, Sandra Bush, mother of multidisciplinary artist Mickalene Thomas, both recalls and rejects the dominant canon of Western portraiture with a radiant smile. An artist whose work aims to embolden, Thomas began to photograph Sandra while she was still a student at Yale. This lightning rod moment gave birth to numerous paintings, collage works, and photographs that serve as a daughter’s homage, aspirational mirror, and practice through which to examine the power of self-possessed beauty.  For the Gardner Façade, a public art space for the enjoyment of all, Mickalene Thomas reimagines a photographic collage of Sandra from 2009 in relation to Édouard Manet’s renowned portrait of his own mother in the Gardner’s collection. In doing so, Thomas simultaneously immortalizes her first muse and interrogates the nature of how Black women are represented across historical art and contemporary culture. Image: Mickalene Thomas, Sandra, She's a Beauty, 2009. Artist rendering (detail) © Mickalene Thomas

Manet: A Model Family 

Every artist has their muses. For Édouard Manet (1832–1883), one of those muses was family. But the home life of the French painter was complicated, even by today’s standards. Manet: A Model Family, on view in the Hostetter Gallery from October 10, 2024 – January 20, 2025, explores how despite complexities between relatives, the Manet family lived happily—from a wife who had once been in the household’s employ to a child of questionable paternity to a mother who disinherited Édouard’s surviving kin. They were also the artist’s most frequent models, a crucial source of financial and emotional support, as well as creative inspiration. Immortalized in groundbreaking bold brushstrokes, Édouard Manet's loved ones enriched his life and his art. After his death, they cultivated his legacy and ensured that his work would never be forgotten.&nbsp; Now, nearly 150 years since his passing, Manet: A Model Family at the Gardner Museum is the first exhibition to explore Manet through the lens of the complex familial relationships between and amongst the artist and his sitters, shedding new light on the life and masterpieces of the “father of modernism.” Image: Édouard Manet (French, 1832–1883), Madame Auguste Manet, about 1866. Oil on canvas. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service

Engage with and honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King, celebrating their lessons, creativity, and imagination with storytelling, impactful conversation, soundscapes and art-marking! On this free general admission day, artists and thought leaders will share reflections on social justice, equity, and empowerment.

Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism

Join us for a conversation with Sebastian Smee, author and Pulitzer Prize–winning art critic at the Washington Post, along with Diana Seave Greenwald, curator of Manet: A Model Family and the Gardner’s William and Lia Poorvu Curator of the Collection, on the relationships, events, and culture that influenced painter Édouard Manet. A book signing of Smee's recent title Paris in Ruins, which can be purchased at Gift at the Gardner, will follow.

Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell Film Screening

Watch Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell (2016), a film that follows Erin Blackwell, one of the most memorable subjects of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088196/">Streetwise</a> (1984), a groundbreaking documentary on homeless and runaway teenagers in Seattle, Washington. In Streetwise, by filmmaker Martin Bell, photographer Mary Ellen Mark, and journalist Cheryl McCall, Erin Blackwell, a.k.a. Tiny, is introduced as a 14-year-old living precariously on the margins of society. Now a 44-year-old mother of 10, Blackwell reflects with Mary Ellen Mark on the journey they’ve experienced together—from Blackwell's struggles with addiction to her dreams for her children, even as she sees them being pulled down the same path of drugs and desperation.  Pieranna Cavalchini, Tom and Lisa Blumenthal Curator of Contemporary Art at the Gardner, will introduce the film and give insight to the exhibition <a href="https://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/mary-ellen-mark-seattle-family">Mary Ellen Mark: A Seattle Family, 1983-2014</a>.  The runtime of this film is 88 minutes.  Image: Mary Ellen Mark, Tiny in her Halloween costume, Seattle, 1983. Gelatin silver print, 40.64 cm x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.) © Mary Ellen Mark, Courtesy of The Mary Ellen Mark Foundation/Howard Greenberg Gallery

Watch&nbsp;Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell&nbsp;(2016), a film that follows Erin Blackwell, one of the most memorable subjects of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088196/">Streetwise</a>&nbsp;(1984), a groundbreaking documentary on homeless and runaway teenagers in Seattle, Washington. In Streetwise, by filmmaker Martin Bell, photographer Mary Ellen Mark, and journalist Cheryl McCall, Erin Blackwell, a.k.a. Tiny, is introduced as a 14-year-old living precariously on the margins of society. Now a 44-year-old mother of 10, Blackwell reflects with Mary Ellen Mark on the journey they’ve experienced together—from Blackwell's struggles with addiction to her dreams for her children, even as she sees them being pulled down the same path of drugs and desperation.&nbsp; Pieranna Cavalchini,&nbsp;Tom and Lisa Blumenthal Curator of Contemporary Art&nbsp;at the Gardner, will introduce the film and give insight to the exhibition&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/mary-ellen-mark-seattle-family">Mary Ellen Mark: A Seattle Family, 1983-2014</a>.&nbsp; The runtime of this film is 88 minutes.&nbsp; Image: Mary Ellen Mark, Tiny in her Halloween costume, Seattle, 1983. Gelatin silver print, 40.64 cm x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.) © Mary Ellen Mark, Courtesy of The Mary Ellen Mark Foundation/Howard Greenberg Gallery

S22: conversations

Wondering what to do in Boston? Places to eat? Free activities? Good for a group? Date night spot? Girls night out? The best things to do? Ask Joyraft!

Best places to go in Boston? Things to do? Places to eat?

Questions & answers about things to do in Boston

Recs 💬

Community recs 💬

S4: top picks

The most fun, cool and unique things to do in Boston. Can’t miss events, shows and experiences. Concerts, restaurants, bars, free things in Boston and beyond.

The most fun and cool events happening around Boston

Hot and new things to do in Boston

Hot & new

Hot & new 🔥

S11: happening this weekend

What to do in Boston this weekend? From festivals, concerts, performances, free events, screenings and more, Joyraft has the best things to do in Boston.

25+ things to do in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville this weekend

Things to do in Boston this weekend

This wknd

This weekend for you

S21: roundups

Our top picks: outdoor dining, free events, spring festivals, best bars, upcoming concerts, museum parties - the latest in and around Boston.  Slug: joyraft-top-picks-best-things-to-do-boston-ma

Top picks of the best things to do in and around Boston

Joyraft picks: Boston’s best things to do

Roundups ⭐️

Curated by Joyraft ⭐️

S28: calendar experiences

This week in Boston

This week in Boston 📆

This week 📆

S20: c+d experiences

Discover new, unique events and experiences happening in and around Boston. Perfect for date night, good for a group or with a friend. Be the first to know.

The newest events happening in and around Boston

The newest events on Joyraft

Just added

Just added to Joyraft

S16: editor picks

The most unique and can’t miss things coming up in Boston / Cambridge / Somerville and beyond. Festivals, food, drinks, fairs, concerts, art and free activities.

Unique and Can’t Miss Things to Do in Boston

Can’t-miss things to do in Boston 🚨

Can't-miss things to do 🚨

S2 (A): top experiences

The most popular things to do on Joyraft. Concerts, restaurants, bars, events, parties, openings, kid friendly, date ideas, free things in Boston and beyond.

Top 20 things to do in Boston

Top 20: Joyraft’s most popular

Top 20

Top 20 on Joyraft

S3 (A): trending experiences

Discover can’t miss events and things to do in Boston. The most fun, unique and cool events coming to the Boston area this spring and summer.

The hottest events happening in Boston

Trending events on Joyraft

Trending 📈

S17: interest based

Your guide to everything free in and around Boston. From events, to fairs, to festivals, to outdoors. Joyraft has all the free events happening near you.

100+ free things to do in Boston and beyond

Free things to do in Boston

Free things to do

S19: interest based

Kid-friendly events in Boston

S18: interest based

Where to eat and drink in Boston? Joyraft has Boston’s newest bars, restaurants and specials. Drinks and pre fixe dinner menus. Cambridge & Somerville too.

Where

isgm

Experiences

“The Street is Memory”: Resisting Boston’s Urban Removal

Gardner’s Eden: A Conversation & Book Signing

Indigenous Peoples' Day: Interwoven

Saturday Open Studio

Drawing Inspiration: Live Sketching with Yuko Okabe

Juneteenth Free Day

Celebrating Culture: Haitian Heritage and Community

The Art of Transformation: Black Spirituality, Self-Expression, and Identity

Fabiola Jean-Louis on the Art of Black Liberation

Mickalene Thomas: Sandra, She's a Beauty, 2009 (public art)

Manet: A Model Family

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service

Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism

Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell Film Screening

Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell Film Screening