3/27 ARTY FUN OF NOTE

Hi from The Cambridgeport School Arts Committee. It's that random time of the week where I attempt to inspire you to add some arty fun to your life. Please pass it on.

(Also note: I have a cold, and no editor, so do double check events before arriving...)

Free String Quartet

Saturday March 29, take advantage of living in Cambridge and go see the open rehearsal at 11am of the Juilliard String Quartet in Residence at Harvard University. This will be followed by a master class with Harvard undergrads at 2pm. Both events are at Farkas Hall, 10-12 Holyoke St., Cambridge, open to the public with free admission. (No tickets or RSVPs needed…but go early to queue up.) The JSQ is one of the most widely recorded string quartets of our time. Its credo is to "play new works as if they were established masterpieces, and established masterpieces as if they were new."

Imaginary Maps at Parts & Crafts

You may have seen Emily Garfield's artistic maps at local art shows. She's leading a workshop in fantastical map-making on Saturday 3/29 from 1-3 at Parts and Crafts, where you may find yourself pairing fractals, biology, or the patterns of cells and neurons with worlds of your own devising… Come for open shop, stay for the workshop. $10-20 suggested, all are welcome regardless of ability to pay.

ICA Play Date: Links, Lines, and Knots

It's the last Saturday of the month, and time for the ICA Family Play Date. From 10AM to 4PM unravel the mysteries of Matthew Ritchie's installation on the Sandra and Gerald Fineberg art wall. After sharing ideas about this new work, join visiting artist Justin Gargasz to create a large-scale diagram including stories from your lives (plus lines and knots). ICA Play Dates offer free admission for up to two adults accompanied by children 12 and under. The ICA is also free for all every Thursday from 5-9pm.

Charlie Card Discounts

Did you know your Charlie Card gives you some arts discounts? It only takes a $1 off the ICA, so you're better off with a Playdate, Thurs eve, or library pass there, but note that it offers $5 off a ticket to one production of the Boston Children's Theater. Use the promo code BCT5. (I'm not sure if you can additionally use the BosTix discount, which is a $12.50 ticket.) The upcoming show is "The Homework Machine," at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA April 20-27. In this musical based on the book by Dan Gutman, a group of 5^th grade students have a secret, a machine named "Belch" that does their homework. Call them at 617-424-6634 as their website is having issues. 

Your Charlie Card also offers a two for one discount at the Alcott house in Concord, if your child has read Little Women. The discount is not valid on family rates or special events.

Rain Dance

The North Cambridge Family Opera Company is premiering "Rain Dance," this weekend, inspired by the Tish Farrell story, "The Hare Who Would Not Be King." Animals on the South African savannah face a drought, elect a Machiavellian lion to lead them, and are saved by a neurotic rabbit. The Family Opera is a production of incredible work and impressive rehearsals by residents of Cambridge of all ages. It shows at The Peabody School Saturdays March 29 and April 5 at 3pm and 7pm and Sundays March 30 and April 6 at 1pm and 5pm. It is free, with a suggested donation of $5, but to ensure you get in, buy tickets ($5 kids, $10 adults) ahead. 

The Magic Flute

Sunday March 30,  at 12 pm and 3pm there is a special Boston Symphony Orchestra family performance of Mozart's "The Magic Flute." This is a show aimed at ages 6 and older. It runs about an hour and 15 minutes with no intermission. The show is adapted with dialogue, puppetry, and more. It's a comedic opera, and was Mozart's last and perhaps finest work for the stage. It is $20 for adults and $5 for kids 18 and under.

Culture for the Older Set

Adults and older kids, tonight from 6-7:30pm, join an MIT Prof and MIT Researcher at the MIT Museum to discuss how cultural values are created and represented in digital media. Explore how online communities and computer code give rise to shared values, through the interactions between people online, as well as the underlying computation structure of video games, websites, and other online communities. 

And also due to intensity, for the older set: CRLS is in the State Drama Finals! They are held at Boston's John Hancock Center on Saturday the 29^th at 4PM.

3/20 ARTY FUN OF NOTE

Hi from The Cambridgeport School Arts Committee. It's that random time of the week where I attempt to inspire you to add some arty fun to your life. Please pass it on.

Saving the Planet by Watching Films

Saturday, March 22, from 11am to 12:30pm, Environment science non-profit “e” inc. (not to be confused with local tech company E Ink) is running Boston KIDSFEST, a free, six-week-long series of fun animations about saving the planet for children 5yo and up accompanied by an adult. The movies are taking place at Boston public libraries and are "designed to spark imaginations and inspire young people to take action in protecting the planet." The hour of short films will be followed by a hands-on activity that each child can take home. This week's showing is in Brighton at 40 Academy Hill Road. Sign up on Event Brite.

Free Screenprinting Workshop

Print Club Boston is offering an informal workshop to artists and makers in the Somerville area Sunday, March 23^rd from 11am-3pm at The Green Room, 62 Bow St., in Union Sq., Somerville. It will run throughout the afternoon and you can drop in and pick up the basic skills for designing and printing your own tote bag or poster. Instruction on using stencils and mixing water-based printing inks will be shared. Bring a smock or apron. RSVP here. 

Kids Are Crafty

Michael's, the craft store in Porter Square offers affordable classes on particular subjects from Rainbow Loom meet ups to crochet, as well as 1.5 hr long $2 kids clubs on Saturday. Take the T, parking there is always annoying. 

A Moment of Arty Appreciation for the BPL

The Boston Public Library offers so much, and for free. This weekend you could swing by the exhibition, Public Women, Private Lives at the main branch in Central Square in the Rare Books Lobby (9am-5pm through the end of May). This exhibit gives a sense of some of America's women writer's beyond their published works, by also displaying letters they wrote to friends, publishers, and one another. This exhibition of books and manuscripts from the Boston Public Library’s special collections includes the words of Emily Dickinson, Louisa May Alcott, Julia Ward Howe, and more.

If you don't speak English as a first language, but want to try your hand at creative writing in English, stop by the free ESL Creation Writing Workshop on Saturday between 10am-12pm in the Mezzanine Conference Room at the Central Library. Bring your favorite writing materials. For more information, please call _617.858.2446 or email mmurray@bpl.org.

Steve Lechner is doing a really cool workshop for kids to make their own optical illusions. It's for kids ages 6 and up. It's at the main branch children's room from 3-4pm, or you can use it as an excuse to check out the amazing new modern East Boston branch from 11am-12pm (265 Bremen St.)

The BPL also offers free public tours highlighting the celebrated art and architecture of the Boston Public Library’s McKim Building (1895), a designated National Historic Landmark. The art and architecture tours begin at the Dartmouth Street entrance of the Central Library in Copley Square. No appointment is necessary, check the website for times that work for you.

3/13 ARTY FUN OF NOTE

Hi from The Cambridgeport School Arts Committee. It's that random time of the week where I attempt to inspire you to add some arty fun to your family life.

Fort Point Art Sale

There is a studio sale this evening from 4-7pm at 369 Congress Street. The artists there are marking down their pottery, knitwear, and graphic designs tonight.

Adults: The Muppets as a Model Creative Business

Somerville resident Liz Steven's Community Benefit project for her Literary Arts Fellowship from the Somerville Arts Council and Massachusetts Cultural Council is a lecture tonight on how Jim Henson turned his art into a successful business. This will be a multimedia lecture with beverages available tonight at the Armory Café in Somerville at 191 Highland Ave from 7-9pm.

Holding Hands with the Sun

Olafur Eliasson is the 2014 recipient of the Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts at MIT (which includes a $100,000 cash prize, a campus residency and a gala held in the winner's honor. It's one of the most generous cultural honors in the US.) The festivities for Eliasson will be tonight, Thursday, March 13 at 5pm at MIT Building 10, Lecture Hall 250 at 77 Mass Ave. It's free. Reservations are recommended.  He will address the question of where an idea begins and the process of an idea becoming embodied in the world. He believes creativity is the passage by which the choice becomes ethical and political. You may have heard of the Little Sun solar-powered light for use in areas of the world without access to electricity that he developed with engineer Frederik Ottesen, which was launched at the Tate Modern.

You can also catch him at the MIT Museum Friday night with Harald Quintus-Boasz, CTO of Cooper Perkins talking about the beauty, function, and technological potential of solar lights. Delve into research that will improve materials for capturing and storing solar energy for lighting use, and brainstorm ways of creating solar lighting with flexible materials such as textiles and paper:

5:30pm: Product design with Eliasson and Quintus-Boasz

6:15pm: Innovative materials with Evelyn Wang and Jeffrey Grossman

7:00pm: Inspired applications with Sheila Kennedy and Karen Gleason

See the Sound

Tomorrow, Friday the 14^th, The Remis Auditorium at the MFA will be bathed in color and light as the innovative Boston String Players perform works from C.P.E. Bach to Stravinsky to Florence and the Machine. 

Go with an MFA Member this Weekend

Check out Member Guest Days this weekend at the MFA

Sun 16^th includes a fine art of floral arranging at 11am.

Saturday the Member Family Day includes lots of fun bird related activities including a performance of music as beautiful as birdsong, prints of birds, wearable beak making, and creating cartouche inspired by bird hieroglyphs.

Shades of Yale

While visiting the Fuller Craft Museum to see the exhibits on The Stories We Tell, or Contemporary Kinetic Sculpture, check out one of Yale's premier a cappella groups, Shades, on Saturday the 15^th from 1-3pm.

Puccini's TOSCA

At the Kresge Auditorium at MIT (77 Mass Ave) on Sunday the 16^th at 4pm see this famous opera with the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, with special guests Cambridge Community Chorus and New England Conservatory Children’s Chorus.

Tickets: General $25.00; Student/Senior $20.00.  

3/6 ARTY FUN OF NOTE

Hi from The Cambridgeport School Arts Committee. It's that random time of the week where I attempt to inspire you to add some arty fun to your life.

Make Your Art Life Fuller -- TONIGHT

You still haven't made it to the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, right? Have you taken your kids to IKEA in Stoughton? Well, it's practically down the street, and possibly more cultural than Swedish meatballs. A new exhibit, The Stories We Tell: Works by Tommy Simpson, Michelle Holzapfel and Binh Pho, opens this weekend. And since today is the first Thursday, there is a celebration at the artkitchen Café. These celebrations are themed, and generally have performers, DJs, talks, games, etc. as well as comfort food and a cash bar.

On the earlier side of this evening's program – from 6:30 – 7:30pm, amazing children's book illustrator Shennen Bersani will be in the Great Room discussing her work. Unusual for an illustrator, she conducts first hand on-site research by traveling to sites where events took place and immersing herself into actual non-fiction scenes. She will be followed by a Jazz Trio and an Organ Trio and a Poetry reading. I believe non member adults are $12.

Oh, the Drama

High schools in Massachusetts can attempt to compete in the state drama festival. CRLS entered the play "Anon(ymous)," and has made it to semi-finals so far. These are timed entries, with the kids setting up, performing, and taking down the stage with the clock running. Friday at 7pm in the main CRLS auditorium you can get a glimpse of what they are doing. I speak from personal experience telling you the state plays are generally fantastic, and it is a transformative experience for the kids.

Draw Your Way Into a Book

On Saturday, in the Curious George Room at the Main branch of the Cambridge Public Library, you can attend a Comic and GraphicNovel Workshop.  From 12:30 to 2:00pm, seven (!) graphic novelists will present, and all ages are welcome. It's free.

I'd Like to Compliment You on Your Complements

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has Education Studio Activities on select Saturdays from 11-4pm. (This week the activity goes only until 3.) It is called Complements in the Collection. Take a break from the gray weather to look at some saturated colors in the museum, then join the staff in the Studio to learn more about color relationships and create a small artwork using oil pastels. Don't forget to pick up a museum pass at the library first. http://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/events/5739

Behind the Scenes at Joy Street

Second SatARTdays!

Some of the artists of Joy Street Studios are opening their doors. Joy Street is a nearby artist building with 62 studios, of which some participate every other Saturday to invite you in and see their work and processes. March 8th from 12:00 Noon to 6:00 PM at 86 Joy Street in Somerville.

ELSKA of Iceland

The Saturday morning Kids Show, March 8 at 10:30am at the Coolidge Theater in Brookline is a blend of theater, storytelling and musical performance. Elska is a modern pioneer who discovered a newly formed volcanic island off the coast of Iceland, where she lives a life of beauty and wonder amongst a cast of unusual friends, including a pensive Winter Bear, a very friendly Goobler, a mysterious Arctic Fox and a vast colony of Lost Socks. Adults are $10, kids $8.

The Energy of Dance in Still Photos and Film

The Nave is currently showing Chaotic Forms, the nameless, intangible energy that dancers can attempt to express using intuitive, chaotic movement. Photographers and filmmakers have meditated upon this theme for an exhibit celebrating the art of dance.

http://navegallery.org/wp/chaotic-forms/

Register ahead: MAKE SPEAK

MAKE SPEAK: Contemporary takes on craft by seven not-so-conventional craftspeople. The North Bennet Street School is again offering this fun TED-Talk-like night, Thursday, April 10 at 7pm. It's free, but reserve ahead:  http://www.nbss.edu/about/news/make-speak/index.aspx 

Enjoy seven, 7-minute presentations by not-so-conventional craftspeople about how they work, think, and create. These talented folks include an installation expert for the MFA, a duo of artist/mathematicians currently at MIT who are understanding unsolved problems in the sciences thru sculptures, and a woodworker who has been teaching thousands to create wooden objects from her mobile work/live space.

Winter Got You Playing the Blues?

Somerville Mayor Joe Curatone is bringing back Joe's Jazz and Blues Festival again this year. In mid-June it makes its way through local music venues then on June 21^st there is an all-afternoon free concert at Powderhouse Park. If you are interest in playing in it, look no further: http://www.somervilleartscouncil.org/jazzblues

KEEP THE ARTS A PRIORITY

You may be interested in WBUR's recent Cognoscenti show on Why Government Should Support the Arts.  

If you are interested in keeping the arts funded nation-wide, you made be interested in the Americans for the Arts group which is running Arts Advocacy Day March 24-25 in Washington, DC.