RODNEY KING’S BEATING at the hands of Los Angeles police officers in 1991, their subsequent trial and acquittal, and the days of violent unrest that followed came 15 years before […]
Arts and Culture
Posted inOpinion
Supporting BIPOC artists helps grow communities
Second in a series of commentaries on arts in community ARTISTS, AND THE cultural expression they create, are essential to the future of Massachusetts cities and towns. Communities must do […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Opinion
Remembering the genius, kindness of David McCullough
LIKE THE HISTORIC figures that he brought to life – John Adams and Harry Truman to name two – it is hard to wrap our heads around the fact that […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Finding synergy between artists, innovators, developers
IF YOU THINK of some of the world’s greatest and most productive cities through history – Florence, Paris, Hong Kong, New York, and of course, Boston – there is an […]
Posted inArts and Culture
How allyship helped make Bill Russell a legend
ON A BRIGHT and otherwise perfect afternoon at Fenway Park, just before the start of Sunday’s game, the PA announcer shared the news of Bill Russell’s passing. Many, if not […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Fitchburg aims to drive back to the future
EARLY ON A RECENT Thursday morning, Fitchburg Mayor Stephen DiNatale climbed into the passenger seat of a 1914 Model T and took a ride down Main Street into the city’s […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Healing families of those killed by gun violence
OUTSIDE OF TRAUMA ROOMS in hospitals around the country, there is a place that those in the medical field call the “quiet room.” According to Dr. Cornelia Griggs and Dr. […]
Posted inArts and Culture
In Hynes redevelopment, you’ve got to have arts
GENE RODDENBERY’S classic television series explored the voyages of the starship Enterprise, exploring new worlds, seeking out new lives and civilizations and to boldly go where nobody has before. We […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Street mural artists explain their craft
ARTISTS, SAID PERCY FORTINI-WRIGHT, are “documenters” of history. “Without artists, you wouldn’t know what went on in the past,” he said. “Art is what man has created up until now…It’s the […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Murals: An emerging form of community development
THE WALLS OF the affordable housing buildings in The Point neighborhood of Salem have been painted for as long as 15-year-old Bunny Spodick can remember. For a long time, they […]
Posted inOpinion
Boston’s corporate sector needs to step up on arts
WHEN I WAS a working musician, few metrics mattered more to me than my orchestra’s concert attendance. A full house has a flywheel effect where the energy between the performers and audience […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Demolition redo: Petersham must vote again on fate of Nichewaug Inn
A DECADES-LONG battle over whether and how to preserve the historic Nichewaug Inn in Petersham appeared to come to an end last December, when voters at a special town meeting […]
Posted inOpinion
Using art to address social issues
First in a series of commentaries on arts in community LeLand Gantt’s performance of Rhapsody in Black was an entry point for people in an overwhelmingly White region to talk […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Holocaust museum planned for downtown Boston
TWO BOSTON AREA philanthropists have purchased an $11.5 million building on the Freedom Trail with the ambitious goal of creating a Holocaust museum in downtown Boston. “We’ve been all around […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Small-town challenges and conflicts plague efforts to save historic inn
IN THE LATE 1800s, wealthy people would travel in the summer from Boston to the rural Worcester County town of Petersham for fresh air, tennis, croquet, and views of Mount […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Parsing words at the Mass. Gaming Commission
MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS MADE it pretty clear in 2014 that they wanted to protect midsize theaters from having to compete against event venues run by casinos, inserting into the gaming law that […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Encore says 999 seats available for fight night
ENCORE BOSTON HARBOR says only 999 tickets are being sold to a mixed martial arts event being held next week in its grand ballroom, which would mean the fight night […]
Posted inArts and Culture
New Samuel Slater Experience spotlights ‘father of American manufacturing’
AS SAMUEL SLATER traveled from England to the United States in 1789, he voiced his ambitions to revolutionize the US textile industry with knowledge he had gained in England. Yet […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Asian-American/Pacific Islander arts face unique challenges post-COVID
TWO YEARS AGO, Wah Lum Kung Fu & Tai Chi Academy had 200 students learning martial arts in Malden and Quincy. Its performance team was hired to perform lion and […]
Posted inArts and Culture
New Bedford arts groups making connections
THE NEW BEDFORD Historical Society, whose focus is the history of people of color in the South Coast city, appears poised for a takeoff. The society is developing a park […]
Posted inOpinion
Wanted: A home for Boston history
BOSTON IS A CITY rich in history – but one that sometimes does a poor job collecting and sharing all of it with everyone who might be interested in it. […]
Posted inArts and Culture
DCR ghosts artist group in Hull
A FEW YEARS AGO, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation put an early 1900s dilapidated, long-vacant building it owns across from Nantasket Beach in Hull out to bid for […]
Posted inOpinion
Making room for everyone in the audience
A MUTUAL COLLEAGUE of ours recently recounted for us a personal story of how a situation she would have normally loved – a classical music concert with some of her […]
Posted inArts and Culture
High school junior wows Lawrence crowd
ALLISON CASTILLO, a junior at Methuen High School, got the call on New Year’s Eve. The singer that Lawrence City Clerk Diane LeBlanc had lined up to sing “God Bless […]
