Events

    2023 Sep 10

    Second Sundays

    12:00pm to 3:00pm

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Come by the Arnold Arboretum for our series of Second Sundays community events, celebrating Peters Hill and the neighborhoods surrounding it. Enjoy family activities, cool off with free ice cream, play lawn games, talk to a horticulturist or a scientist, take a tour, and more!

    Tour and Tree Mob Schedule:

    • 12:00pm: English-language tour of Peters Hill
    • 1:00pm: Spanish-language tour of Peters Hill / Recorridos guiados en español a las 13.00 horas
    • 1:15pm: Tree Mob – topic to be announced!
    • 2:...
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    2023 Aug 13

    Second Sundays at the Arnold Arboretum

    12:00pm to 3:00pm

    Location: 

    Peters Hill, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Bring your family and friends to Peters Hill for an afternoon of free tours, crafts, family activities, and more! Did we mention free ice cream and bubbles? Free activities open to all ages include:

    • Tours of Peters Hill offered in both English and Spanish

    • Plant information tents featuring wildflowers and plant defenses, fascinating Arboretum plant highlights, know-how of Arboretum experts, and a rich assortment of cuttings to view up close

    • Ice cream, art activities, lawn games, StoryWalks®, and more!...

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    2023 Jul 22

    Make Your Own Cyanotypes: A Walk-Up Program

    12:00pm to 3:00pm

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Lawn, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Stop by the Hunnewell Lawn between 12:00pm–3:00pm to create beautiful nature-based cyanotype prints. Participants will arrange flowers, leaves, and seeds and expose them in sunlight to create a deep blue print with bright, ghost-white silhouettes.

    *While supplies last. No registration required.

    Get directions to Hunnewell Lawn.

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    2023 Jun 10

    Mr. Twister and the Tale of Tornado Alley

    12:00pm to 12:45pm

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    An opera for youth and families, Mr. Twister and the Tale of Tornado Alley follows Mr. Twister and his grandson Bobby on a journey around the globe—from the chilly arctic to the sizzlingly warm Gulf of Mexico. Through the power of his magic telescope, Mr. Twister can see just about everything—except the family reunion of the North and South winds that is about to create a cyclone in Tornado Alley! Join us on this operatic adventure (with puppets!).

    Families are also invited to a pre-show puppetmaking workshop where your child can make a puppet to use during the performance of...

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    2022 Oct 08

    The Art of the Woodturner Exhibition and Demonstration Weekend

    Repeats every day until Sun Oct 09 2022 .
    10:00am to 4:00pm

    10:00am to 4:00pm

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum, Hunnewell Visitor Center, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Come to the Arboretum for live demonstrations on the lathe by woodturners from three New England clubs. Demonstrations will take place on Saturday and Sunday at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm. Be sure to leave time to look at the exquisite works on display exemplifying these artisans’ virtuosity with wood, a lathe, and imagination.

    Learn more.

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    2022 Jul 09

    MassQ Ball 2022: Origin

    2:00pm to 7:00pm

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    The MassQ Ball 2022: Origin will feature the diverse artistic expressions of Boston’s communities of color. Interact with the landscape in new and creative ways, transform into a walking work of art through the practice of MassQing (a ritual application of paint to the face derived from ancient traditions of body decoration), and enjoy performances and art work by Boston cultural artists including:

    2:00pm–4:00pm:

    • ...

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    2022 Jun 12

    The Bomb-itty of Errors

    5:00pm to 6:30pm

    Location: 

    Arborway Gate, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    With four actors, a live DJ, and one of Shakespeare’s funniest comedies, The Bomb-itty of Errors by Jordan Allen-Dutton, Jason Catalano, Gregory J. Qaiyum, Jeffrey Qaiyum, and Erik Weiner is a hip-hop-opera that moves the crowd! Directed by Christopher V. Edwards and performed by Actors' Shakespeare Project against the historic brick backdrop of the Hunnewell Building, The Bomb-itty of Errors comes to the Arboretum during our 150th anniversary year. A modern remix of a well-loved classic, the play encapsulates the ethos of our sesquicentennial celebrations as we honor...

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    2022 May 21

    MassQ Ball 2022: Origin | Mythmaking Workshop

    3:00pm to 4:30pm

    Location: 

    Bradley Rosaceous Collection, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Led by Castle of our Skins’ Director of Education Taylor Lena McTootle, “Making a Mythos” focuses on the creative power of storytelling. Young participants will experience firsthand how fictional tales can reflect our cultural values and create them.

    Appropriate for youth ages 8-12 years old.

    Learn more and register.

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    2022 Mar 01

    Art Exhibition | Seeds for Tomorrow: Woody Plants of the Arnold Arboretum

    Tue Mar 1 (All day) to Mon May 30 (All day)

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum—Online

    Laura Fantini uses colored pencil to render seeds in exquisite, hyper-realistic drawings. This series is called “Hope,” and therein lies the power of seeds. They are emblematic of both birth and growth—small, complicated, and extraordinary, like the wonderful drawings in this exhibition.

    Learn more about and view this virtual exhibition....

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    2021 Mar 01

    Over Time: Through Art, the Impact of Change in the Arboretum Landscape

    Mon Mar 1 (All day) to Fri Apr 30 (All day)

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum—Online

     

    Five decades of weekly walks in the Arnold Arboretum find expression in Ginny Zanger’s art. “Ambling” gives her time to sketch and paint. Using the unique possibilities of her favorite medium—watercolor—and printmaking, Zanger explores, with articulate interpretations, the Arboretum’s rich botanical display. In this online show, most of her work is on Yupo, a silky, polypropylene paper that enhances the flow of the watercolor.

    ...

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    2019 Jul 28

    Art Workshop: Cyanotype Printing for Families

    10:00am to 12:00pm

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Sarah Cross, the Arnold Arboretum's exhibiting artist of Between the Leaves, will hold a cyanotype printing workshop for families. Join Sarah to make beautiful blue prints of leaves and blooms found at the Arboretum, while you learn about this alternative printing technique. After making your own unique cyanotype photogram, you will be able to take it home. All materials will be provided.

    Please note: This free drop-in activity is appropriate for ages 7 and up.

    ...

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    2019 Jun 23

    Pride and Prejudice: Performance with Actors' Shakespeare Project

    5:00pm

    Location: 

    Leventritt Shrub and Vine Garden, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    This June, the Arnold Arboretum brings a new production of Jane Austen's Regency period romance, Pride and Prejudice, to the Leventritt Shrub and Vine Garden. This adaptation by playwright, Kate Hamill will be staged by Actors' Shakespeare Project (ASP), the award winning theater company who brought the site-specific Fog x Macbeth to the Arboretum last fall. Join us for Austen's seminal look at love, Hamill's comic and energetic adaptation, and Actors' Shakespeare Projects' wonderful cast of characters, as they...

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    2018 Oct 21

    Fog x Macbeth

    5:00pm

    Location: 

    Fog x Hill, Hunnewell Building Lawn, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

    Fog x Macbeth brings Shakespeare's tragedy of political ambition, blood, and flawed humans into the landscape of the Arnold Arboretum, and the art and shifting atmosphere of Fujiko Nakaya's fog sculpture. The play's live and site-specific, performance will resonate with Frederick Law Olmsted's landscape design and Fog x FLO...

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    2017 Oct 13

    Boston Trio

    8:00pm

    Location: 

    John Knowles Paine Concert Hall, 3 Oxford Street, Cambridge

    In conjunction with Symposium on Guido Adler - Musicology Then and Now. Violinist Irina Muresanu, cellist Jonah Ellsworth, andpianist Heng-Jin Park each have distinguished careers as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and have appeared with major orchestras and premier chamber music festivals throughout the United States and Europe.... Read more about Boston Trio