Date: May 1 – May 31
Time: Varies
Location: 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA
More Info: https://www.mfa.org/exhibition/turners-modern-world
One of Britain’s greatest artists, J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) lived and worked at the peak of the industrial revolution, when steam replaced sail, machine power replaced manpower, and wars, political
unrest, and social reforms transformed society. “Turner’s Modern World” explores how this artist, more than any of his contemporaries, embraced these changes and developed an innovative painting style to better capture the new world.
This landmark exhibition brings together more than 100 paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sketchbooks by Turner, including Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps (1812) from Tate Britain, The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, October 16, 1834 (1835) from the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the MFA’s own Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On) (1840). These vivid and dramatic compositions demonstrate Turner’s commitment to depicting the great events and developments of his time, from technological advances to causes such as abolition and political reform.
PFLAG Annual Parent Day Virtual Celebration
Date: May 22
Time: 2:00pm
Location: Virtual
More Info: pflag.org/parentday
In a year when officials from the State House to the school board have criminalized parenting, PFLAG parents and caregivers have risen up in support of their LGBTQ+ loved ones and for their communities. “PFLAG Parent Day” is an annual event to honor and celebrate all people who lead with love for LGBTQ+ youth; from parents to step-parents, guardians to grands, teachers to nurses, families by birth, choice, foster, and adoption. This star-studded virtual event will serve as a touchpoint to engage and inspire advocates and allies who believe all kids should be free to be themselves. (Special celebrity appearances and performances to be announced at a later date.)
Date: May 1 – May 31
Time: Varies
Location: 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA
More Info: https://www.mfa.org/exhibition/philip-guston-now
Across 50 years, the paintings of Philip Guston (1913–1980) shifted from figuration to abstraction and back again. Yet a persistent concern haunted each of his stylistic transformations: Guston never stopped questioning the place of the painter in the world. What did it mean to witness injustice outside his studio? What might paint render newly visible inside it?
This major exhibition—organized by the MFA; the National Gallery of Art, Washington; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Tate Modern, London—foregrounds the artist’s lifelong commitment to raising difficult, even unanswerable questions. The selection of 73 paintings and 27 drawings from public and private collections features well-known works as well as others that have rarely been seen. Highlights include paintings from the 1930s that have never been on public view; a reunion of paintings from Guston’s groundbreaking Marlborough Gallery show in 1970; a striking array of small panel paintings made from 1968 to 1972; and a powerful selection of large, often apocalyptic paintings of the later 1970s that form the artist’s last major statement.
Animated by contradictions, Guston’s works are deeply ambiguous, defined equally by what he called the “brutality of the world” and by the palpable joy he took in the process of painting itself. Many of them address challenging themes, including white supremacy, racism, anti-Semitism, and violence, in part through their imagery. The exhibition features multiple paintings of hooded Ku Klux Klansmen, truncated body parts, and enigmatic scenes of struggle. These images and their meanings can appear unmistakable, indeterminate, and everything in between. Taken together, Guston’s works challenge us to grapple with the lived experience we each bring to this museum, and to this city, today.
Arctic Adventure: Exploring with Technology
Date: May 1 – May 31
Time: Varies
Location: 1 Science Park Boston, MA
More Info: https://www.mos.org/exhibits/arctic-adventure
Our newest permanent exhibit represents the next stage in the ever-evolving Museum of Science: a blending of experiential learning opportunities with awe-inspiring immersive environments, developed in collaboration with our partner, Moment Factory.
As you enter Arctic Adventure from the Blue Wing, you’re not simply told about the Arctic—you’ll feel it. The region comes to life in front of you, with digitally immersive sights and sounds including a touchable wall of real ice. The exhibit’s engaging experiences invite you to be an active participant. Become an Arctic researcher as you use technology (including ground-penetrating radar and ice core drills) to explore our changing environment. The exhibition itself changes, too. Lighting hues mimic the Sun’s motion over the course of the day. The scenery, and the animals you find in it, vary with the seasons.
This experience also illuminates the many ways our global climate is changing. Learn how 800,000 years of climate history are recorded in the ice, and how animal behaviors are changing as they face unprecedented warming in the Arctic.
Lion of the Senate: Digital Exhibit
Date: May 1 – May 31
Time: Varies
Location: Columbia Point, 210 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA
More Info: https://www.emkinstitute.org/explore-the-institute/exhibits/lion-of-the-senate
“Lion of the Senate” is an overview of Senator Edward Kennedy’s nearly 47 years in the Senate. Highlighting objects from the Institute’s own holdings, the digital exhibit includes representative achievements from a variety of Senator Kennedy’s legislative priorities, from education and civil rights to foreign policy and the wide-ranging needs of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The exhibit celebrates the Senator’s dedication to public service, commitment to hard work, and belief in the power of personal interaction
Date: May 1 – May 31
Time: Varies
Location: 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA
More Info: https://peabody.harvard.edu/all-the-world
On April 22, 2017, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology celebrated its 150th anniversary year by opening All the World Is Here: Harvard’s Peabody Museum and the Invention of American Anthropology. Unveiled within a beautifully restored fourth-floor gallery, this exhibition features an astonishing array of over six hundred objects from Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, many on display for the very first time. Together they are woven into a compelling narrative tracing the early history of the museum’s collections and the birth of American anthropology as envisioned and shaped by the museum’s second director Frederic W. Putnam.
Raúl de Nieves: The Treasure House of Memory
Date: May 1 – May 31
Time: Varies
Location: 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston MA
More Info: https://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/ra%C3%BAl-de-nieves-treasure-house-memory
Raúl de Nieves (b. 1983, Michoacán, Mexico) is a New York–based interdisciplinary artist, performer, and musician whose multifaceted practice ranges from stained-glass-style narrative paintings to animated performances, to densely adorned figurative sculptures encrusted with bangles, beads, bells, sequins, and other homespun materials. These opulent, joyful sculptures reference traditional costumes in Mexican culture and modes of dress from drag, ballroom, and queer club cultures, while also evoking religious processional attire and the outfits worn by circus performers. All of his works share a distinctive visual language that draws from Mexican craft traditions, religious iconography, mythology, and folktales to explore the transformational possibilities of adornment and the mutability of sexuality and identity. For the ICA, de Nieves is creating a body of interconnected works rooted in memory and exploring themes of personal transformation. The Treasure House of Memory expands the artist’s inventive adaptation of iconographic traditions inherited from the past through vibrant amalgamations of form and material rendered in an energetic and accessible visual language.
Date: April 1 – April 30
Time: Varies
Location: 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA
More Info: https://hmnh.harvard.edu/birds-world-gallery
Boasting over 10,000 species, birds are the most diverse land vertebrates on the planet, surpassing the biological diversity of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. Thriving in every corner of the globe, from tropical forests to polar ice caps, these beaked and feathered marvels vary tremendously in habit and size, from diminutive bee hummingbirds to towering ten-foot-high elephant birds.
Situated on the balcony encircling the museum’s Great Mammal Hall, this expansive gallery captures the surprising diversity of birds with many hundreds of stunning specimens and represents over 200 different bird families. It also reflects the latest scientific discoveries about the evolution of these modern dinosaurs.
Summer on the Emerald Necklace
Date: May 1 – May 31
Time: Varies
Location: Various
More Info: https://www.emeraldnecklace.org/events/summer-on-the-emerald-necklace/
Our popular annual series of summer events, Summer on the Emerald Necklace, went virtual last year with a slew of virtual programs and resources for park lovers of all ages to enjoy from home, or while on a socially-distant walk in the parks. We received such a warm reception that we extended the series through fall, winter and spring.
This summer, we were glad to offer new virtual, in-person and hybrid events including fitness classes, park tours, live performances and so much more!
Date: April 1 – April 30
Time: Varies
Location: Lighthouse Art Space at the Castle, 130 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA
More Info: https://www.immersive-frida.com/boston/
Explore the world through the eyes of the legendary Frida Kahlo – a brilliant, uncompromising painter who created some of the history’s most iconic artwork. The groundbreaking team behind the smash hit Immersive Van Gogh now turn their eye for innovation towards the work of a woman who boldly told the story of her life in brushstrokes.
Specialty Tour: The Gibsons in a Global World
Date and Time: May 3rd at 12 p.m. or May 7th at 12 p.m.
Location: 137 Beacon Street, Boston, MA
More Info: https://www.thegibsonhouse.org/events.html
While the Gibson House is a space firmly rooted in Boston, it draws upon the cultural and economic influence of many other places, including the Caribbean, Europe, and East Asia. In this in-person tour, led by Curator Meghan Gelardi Holmes, we will consider the nineteenth-century context of the museum’s artwork and decorative objects, as well as how we might view and understand them differently today.
*Tour lasts 45 minutes and will go up and down three flights of stairs. Minimum 5 participants; maximum 10 participants.
Date: May 14
Time: 8:30 pm – 11:30 pm
Location: Revere Hotel Boston Common
More Info: https://www.bostoncharityevents.org/events/toast-to-st-jude-3/
The 8th annual Toast to St. Jude presented by Boghos Properties is an evening featuring a lounge style cocktail reception with hors d’oeuvres, open beer and wine bar, dancing, live entertainment, silent auction and a premier raffle. The event will once again return to the Revere Hotel, where guests from the Boston area will attend to benefit the lifesaving mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Free Admission Day for Art Museum Day and International Museum Day
Date: May 18
Time: 10 am – 5 pm
Location: Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
The Harvard Art Museums will offer free admission to all visitors on Wednesday, May 18, in celebration of Art Museum Day and International Museum Day, organized by the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) and the International Council of Museums (ICOM).
Take in the beauty of the Calderwood Courtyard before exploring three levels of magnificent art from around the world and across the centuries. Check out our special exhibitions Prints from the Brandywine Workshop and Archives: Creative Communities and White Shadows: Anneliese Hager and the Camera-less Photograph, then wander through the collections galleries and find your favorite artist or work of art.
Please note that space may be limited due to capacity. Please see the museum visit page to learn about our general policies for visiting the museum.
Share your experience via social media, with the hashtags #ArtMuseumDay and #MuseumDay; and tag us with #HarvardArtMuseums.
AAMD’s Art Museum Day and ICOM’s International Museum Day are held in conjunction, uniting the organizations’ memberships to celebrate museums and raise awareness about their importance in society.
Saturday Mansion Tour of Gore Place
Date: May 7
Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Location: Gore Place, 52 Gore Street, Waltham, MA
More Info: https://goreplace.org/whats-on/mansion-tour-2
Take a tour of the mansion at Gore Place, one of New England’s most fascinating historic houses. Your guide will lead you around the exterior of the house, pointing out interesting architectural features. Then, you’ll go inside to see the elegant rooms on the ground floor. Tour takes approximately 45 minutes. You’ll know why the home of Christopher and Rebecca Gore is known as the finest example of early 1800s architecture in New England.
Virtual Livestream, Director’s Series, Birth: The Early History and Meaning of the Arnold Arboretum
Date: May 16
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Virtual
More Info: https://arboretum.harvard.edu/events/
Join the Arnold Arboretum’s Director William (Ned) Friedman for the annual Director’s Series! To celebrate the Arboretum’s sesquicentennial, this year’s series will explore the Magic and Meaning of a Garden of Trees. Over the course of four sessions, we will trace the Arnold’s significance in the landscape architecture movement, value for the people of Boston, and leadership in creating global connections between plants and people. This session will include brief presentations and a moderated panel. The program is free and is offered both in person and livestreamed.
Mythical Creatures Scavenger Hunt Kick-Off
Date: May 1 – May 30
Time: 11:00 am – 4:00 pm
Location: 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA
More Info: https://hmane.harvard.edu/event/mythical-creatures-scavenger-hunt-kick
Join them to hunt for mythical creatures across the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture. Can you find a genie, merfolk, or a centaur? What might have inspired a cyclops or a piranha plant? Travel through the galleries of four museums on your quest for these amazing creatures. Test your skills in the galleries of the Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, and the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments.
Color Your Identity: Live Music and Art Making with Chroma Collective
Date: May 11
Time: 10:00 am, 11:00 am, and 2:00 pm
Location: KidStage, Boston Children’s Museum
In this participatory music and art-making workshop, visitors will engage in the intersections of these two art forms and connect with their own identities as artists and music makers! A trio of musicians (trumpets, piano, and soprano) will guide participants through an exploration of story, color, and identity with a variety of contemporary and classical music, culminating in a world premiere that will be created collectively during the session. Let’s make art together!
This workshop is ideal for ages 4 and up. This workshop capacity is limited, and offered on a first come first serve basis.
Date: May 15
Time: 1:00 pm, 1:45 pm, and 2:30 pm
Location: Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology (11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge)
More Info: https://peabody.harvard.edu/event/colossal-heads-mexico?delta=0
The Olmec civilization of ancient Mexico is known for its mysterious sculptures of giant heads that rise up to eleven feet high. Touch a huge modern replica in the museum for one day that is based on Monument One, The King. Explore artifacts with an educator that show Olmec influence on architecture, the ball game, written language, and pigments. Handle reproductions and paint a mini-plaster head of your own to take home.
Presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture
Hear My Story: Today’s Crew of the USS Constitution
Date: May 1 – May 31
Time: Varies
Location: USS Constitution Museum, Charlestown, MA
More Info: https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/exhibits/hear-my-story/
Every sailor has a story to tell.
Meet the active duty crew members serving aboard USS Constitution today. Through candid video interviews and vibrant photographs, learn from them, in their own words, what it is like being in the United States Navy, spending time away from their families, and working aboard the oldest commissioned warship afloat.
Exhibit is open in the Education Center during regular Museum hours.
Date: May 7
Time: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Location: 668 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA
From 9 am to 1 pm, shop everything you need to make a new butterfly garden with a variety of annual and perennial herbs, and plants that attract pollinators. Support the health of your backyard ecosystem this spring!
Tenderly cared for by volunteers in the Habitat Intergenerational Program (HIP), which offers opportunities for all ages to learn from each other while caring for Habitat Wildlife Sanctuary.
From 1 – 3 pm, meet Habitat’s resident goat herd and celebrate spring! Sample goat-related products, play games, and enter for a chance to win in one of our raffles!
Appropriate for all ages.
Pancake Breakfast and Silent Auction
Date: May 7
Time: 8:30 am – 11:30 am
Location: 216 Wachusett Street, Rutland, MA
More Info: http://overlookfarmrutland.org/pancakes
Overlook FARM is hosting a Pancake Breakfast and Silent Auction to support our mission of teaching the value of sustainable agriculture and promoting food justice to grow a healthy world. Breakfast will feature ingredients from local businesses, and we have a variety of silent auction items for bidding.
Boston Children’s Museum: Spring into Nature Special After-Hours Event
Date: May 13
Time: 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: Boston Children’s Museum, 308 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210
More Info: http://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/SpringEvent
Overlook FARM is hosting a Pancake Breakfast and Silent Auction to support our mission of teaching the value of sustainable agriculture and promoting food justice to grow a healthy world. Breakfast will feature ingredients from local businesses, and we have a variety of silent auction item
Join Boston Children’s Museum for a special after-hours event. Come celebrate nature and the beginning of nicer weather at the Museum and discover all the fun and wonder that nature brings.
The event includes: Baby Farm Animal Encounter, Gardening with Green City Growers, Green Roof Explorations, Create DIY Bee Homes from Recycled Materials, Access to Museum exhibits, and more programs and encounters to come!
This event will take guests inside the Museum as well as outside for programs, animal encounters, and even out onto the Green Roof.