Each ARTS FIRST festival is unique, but every year combines the exuberance of Harvard students, faculty and affiliates who are passionate about the many art forms presented in four rousing days of performances, exhibitions and community.
Enjoy free, family-friendly performances, dance styles from around the world, public art walks, hands-on artmaking, and much more! We look forward to celebrating the artists of Harvard community with you during ARTS FIRST on May 2–5, 2019.
Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge
Come see the world through the eyes of a scientist and explore what research reveals about life and our planet. Graduate students from the departments of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Human Evolutionary Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University will share their research through hands-on activities in the museum galleries. This program is designed to actively engage families in learning more about science and exciting new discoveries in our natural world.
Free, fun, family activities allow visitors to explore arts from the ancient Near East. Activities change daily: make Egyptian accessories, inscribe clay tablets, or decode hieroglyphics. Drop in for five minutes—or 30—to see what is new every day.
Self-guided activities take place on the first floor of the Harvard Semitic Museum. Explore the rich history of cultures connected by the family of Semitic languages. Exhibitions include a full-scale replica of an ancient Israelite home, life-sized casts of famous Mesopotamian monuments, authentic mummy coffins, and tablets...
Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge
During April school vacation week, drop in to the third-floor galleries to touch a Maya hieroglyph and create your own glyph rubbing to take home. In the Arts of War exhibit, hunt for animals hidden in designs on weapons and armor from around the world.
Activities are free with regular museum admission. Self-guided activities change daily.
Admission is free for Massachusetts residents every Sunday morning (year-round) from 9:00am-12:00pm and on Wednesdays from 3:00pm-5:00pm (September through May). Proof of residency required. This offer is not available to...
Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge
Join Harvard archaeology students in the museum galleries as they share their experience from excavations around the world and across time. Examine artifacts and see what archaeologists do. Try launching a spear with a spear thrower (weather permitting), carve cuneiform writing on clay, and experience up-to-the-minute technologies such as 3D printing and augmented reality. Test your listening skills in the World Music Challenge game hosted by colleagues from the social anthropology department. Activities will be spread across both the Peabody and the Harvard Semitic Museums.
Science Center, Lecture Hall B, 1 Oxford St. Cambridge
Why does pizza crust have holes? How does cheese form from milk? How do you break down food into the fuel your body needs? What makes pizza dough stretchy? Join us at the 2018 Harvard Holiday Science Lecture as we observe, touch, taste, and explore some of your favorite foods. Kids, families, students, teachers and the curious are welcome! You will discover the physics, chemistry and biology of cheese and bread, look at them under a microscope, make a simple cheese (yum!), and learn about digestion (yuck!). Using...
Science Center, Lecture Hall B, 1 Oxford St. Cambridge
Why does pizza crust have holes? How does cheese form from milk? How do you break down food into the fuel your body needs? What makes pizza dough stretchy? Join us at the 2018 Harvard Holiday Science Lecture as we observe, touch, taste, and explore some of your favorite foods. Kids, families, students, teachers and the curious are welcome! You will discover the physics, chemistry and biology of cheese and bread, look at them under a microscope, make a simple cheese (yum!), and learn about digestion (yuck!). Using live experiments and interactive...
John Knowles Paine Concert Hall, 3 Oxford St, Cambridge, MA
Shostakovich Two Pieces for String Quartet; Beethoven String Quartet in E Minor, Op.59 No.2; Shostakovich Piano Quintet in G Minor, Op.57 (with Orion Weiss). Free but tickets required, available beginning November 16 at Harvard Box Office. Tickets may be picked up in person or obtained by phone or online. 496-2222. There is a small charge for phone or online orders.
John Knowles Paine Concert Hall, 3 Oxford St, Cambridge, MA
Shostakovich Two Pieces for String Quartet; Beethoven String Quartet in E Minor, Op.59 No.2; Shostakovich Piano Quintet in G Minor, Op.57 (with Orion Weiss). Free but tickets required, available beginning November 16 at Harvard Box Office. Tickets may be picked up in person or obtained by phone or online. 496-2222. There is a small charge for phone or online orders.
Harvard Museum of Natural History, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology and the Harvard Semitic Museum.
Put on your best robes and celebrate the upcoming film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Revel in a holiday season bursting with the magic of J. K. Rowling’s world by embarking on your very own search for magical creatures! Dress up as your favorite character from the Wizarding World and Climb a 150-year-old staircase, explore a maze of hallways and hidden rooms, peek around corners and into shadows to discover the real creatures and stories behind these fantastic beasts. Where CAN you find them? Look no further than the hallowed halls of the Harvard Museum of...
Harvard University is pleased to invite Allston-Brighton and Cambridge neighbors to the annual Community Football Day at Harvard Stadium on Saturday, November 3rd. Come cheer on the Crimson as they take on Columbia! All Allston-Brighton and Cambridge residents receive free admission to the game and a voucher for lunch, valid at any concession stand within the stadium. Proof of residence is required. The community welcome tent opens at 10:00 am; kick-off is at 12:00 pm.
Come to Harvard Yard for hands-on art-making activities, games, and other family fun to celebrate artist Teresita Fernández’s sculptural installation Autumn (…Nothing Personal). Explore the sculpture and create your own work of public art, then head across Quincy Street to the Harvard Art Museums, which are offering free admission to all visitors throughout the day. All are welcome at this free, family-friendly event.
Commissioned by the Harvard University Committee on the Arts specifically for Harvard Yard’s...
Autumn (... Nothing Personal) is a public sculpture by the artist Teresita Fernández on view August 27 through October 1, 2018. Commissioned by... Read more about Autumn (...Nothing Personal)
Free, fun, family activities allow visitors to explore arts from the ancient Near East. Activities change daily: make Egyptian accessories, inscribe... Read more about Summer Sundays