Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston
Most of the species seen as bonsai in the Arboretum’s Larz Anderson Bonsai Collection can also be found in the landscape. Explore the history and culture of bonsai and the Arboretum’s relationship with these plants, and compare bonsai with their “unrestricted” counterparts in the landscape. See ginkgo, trident maple, bald cypress, hinoki cypress, and more, large and small!
Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston
With nearly 4,000 different kinds of plants represented in the Arboretum's living collections, every day presents rich opportunities to see something new. If you enjoy learning about plants and their unique characteristics, you can contribute to science as a participant in the Arnold Arboretum's Tree Spotters program. This citizen science project opens a window into the Arboretum's phenology: the timing of natural events, such as the leafing out and flowering of trees in the spring and changing foliage colors in the fall. Your observations will assist Arboretum scientists in their...
Harvard Art Museums, Art Study Center, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge
The Harvard Art Museums Archives is participating in Cambridge Open Archives, an annual event that offers the rare chance to visit a number of unique archives and collecting agencies in Cambridge. In the Art Study Center, select archival photographs, correspondence, and objects documenting the history of the museums’ teaching mission and its wider impact in the United States will be on display for close examination. Archives staff will be on hand to share the stories behind the materials.
Cost: Free with museums admission (note that admission is always free...
Bradley Rosaceous Collection, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston
The rose family (Rosaceae) contains over 3,000 species of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. Roses, spireas, mountain ash, and many more are at peak bloom in June.
You will be surprised by the beauty, breadth, and depth of the Bradley Rosaceous Collection (BRC), and the Arboretum's role in discovering and disseminating understanding of this large family of plants.
In partnership with the Center for Wellness and Health Promotion, Harvard Common Spaces offers free Tai Chi by Harvard's Master Yon Lee every Tuesday at 5:00pm-6:00pm, from May through September.
All Common Spaces wellness programs and fitness activities are free; no sign-ups are required.
Hunnewell Lawn, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston
This is part of the new Science in Our Park Series. Come to the Arnold Arboretum and be a scientist! Get your hands onto scientific tools, use your observation skills, and share your findings with others.
Dissection Dramatics will give you ample opportunity to fiddle with microscopes, hand lenses and digital scopes. Discover the secrets contained in a flower as you pull it apart piece by piece. Then test your puzzle making abilities as you attempt to put it back together.
One adult may bring a maximum of three children; suitable for children ages...
Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston
Families need nature at all times of the year! Meet inside the main gate at the Visitor Center. We’ll look at buds and blooms and learn how bees find flowers. Go on a StoryWalk®, get a bee tattoo, and look at flowers under microscopes.
Free and open to all, most suitable for children ages four through ten.
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 Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall, Piper Auditorium, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus School of Design, the Harvard Graduate School of Design will host a night of screenings and performances that explore new bodily and spatial interfaces, including a movement-based performance by students developed in collaboration with a course taught by Krzysztof Wodiczko and Ani Liu.
Lobster War is an award-winning documentary film about a conflict between the United States and Canada over waters that both countries have claimed since the end of the Revolutionary War. The disputed 277 square miles of sea known as the Gray Zone were traditionally fished by U.S. lobstermen. But as the Gulf of Maine has warmed faster than nearly any other body of water on the planet, the area’s previously modest lobster population has surged. As a result, Canadians have begun to assert their sovereignty, warring with the Americans to claim the bounty.
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...
Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall, Piper Auditorium, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
Join First Projects, a candid roundtable conversation with leading designers hosted by the Practice Platform. Unplugged and off-the-record, designers will share an inside glimpse into the origins of practice, revealing stories behind first projects and the seminal efforts that launch remarkable careers.
This unique Beer & Dogs event, co-sponsored by the GSD Alumni Council and the Practice Platform, will not be broadcast or recorded.
Timothy Huang, a New York City-based composer, lyricist, librettist and, as he says, "Asian Dude," will offer a songwriting workshop featuring Harvard student composers. Huang will share his musical theater knowledge and his extraordinary skills as a musician and composer.
Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall, Piper Auditorium, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
Join the Harvard Graduate School of Design for a lecture by Janette Sadik-Khan, author of Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution.
If you can change the street, you can change the world. Streetfight discusses the transformative power of streets and shows how reclaiming space for people to walk, bike and take public transportation sets cities on a path toward a more sustainable future.
Janette Sadik-Khan is one of the world’s foremost authorities on transportation and...
Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall, Piper Auditorium, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
How can real estate development and sustainable design be used to foster equitable and inclusive redevelopment in cities? That’s the challenge that has animated the career of Kimberly Dowdell MPA '15, an architect, developer, and educator who is focused on leading projects that help contribute to the revitalization of cities like Detroit, and also preparing the next generation of urban change agents.
Delivering the 19th Annual John T. Dunlop Lecture, presented by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, Dowdell—who has designed or managed over $100 million in assets in...
Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall, Piper Auditorium, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
Please join the Harvard Graduate School of Design for a lecture by Sahel Al Hiyari for the Aga Kahn Program for Islamic Culture.
Sahel Al Hiyari is the owner and principal architect at Sahel Al Hiyari Architects. He holds Bachelor Degrees in Architecture and Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University (1990). His teaching activities include design studios “Arch Lab” organized by the Centre for the Study of the Built Environment (CSBE) in collaboration with the Aga...
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
A distinct group of five poets will read selected works from their collections and participate in a moderated discussion about reinventing worlds and reimagining belongings.
Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall, Piper Auditorium, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
Born in Mexico City in 1979, she studied Architecture at the School of Architecture of UNAM, has a Master in Architecture form Mendrisio Academy of Architecture, and a Master in Urban Design with Distinction from the Harvard GSD. She has been awarded with several scholarships and prizes for both her trayectory and her independent work such as the FONCA Young Creators Program in Mexico, a Fulbright scholarship, and the CEMEX Marcelo Zambrano scholarship. As a result of focusing her research on water and design, she received...
Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall, Piper Auditorium, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA
This talk borrows the sub-title from Reyner Banham’s seminal book Megastructure, published in 1976. As a reference, Banham’s text critiques the failure of translating the energy and optimism of 60’s era civic projects into lasting institutions; thus creating fertile conditions for the seeds of our own post-ideological crisis to germinate in the capitalist restructuration of the mid 70’s. Hartt will focus on the relationship between the speculative and documentary aspects of his practice and, in particular,...