Past Events

GBH Music and JazzBoston are co-hosting a new series to showcase the breadth of incredible jazz talent in the Greater Boston area. The event is held on the second Thursday of every month through February.

This month, Fabiola Mendez and her quartet will be performing original selections from their newest album "Flora Campesina," a fusion of Puerto Rican folk melodies with Afro-Caribbean and Jazz influences.

Tickets are free, but registration is encouraged. Please note that by registering for this event you agree to receive email communications from GBH Music.
 About Fabiola Mendez:

Fabiola Méndez is a Puerto Rican cuatro player, singer, educator, and Emmy-nominated composer focused on the exploration of culture and identity through story-telling. Her music is a blend of Folk, Afro-Caribbean & Jazz, with the cuatro, a ten-string traditional guitar of Puerto Rico, as the lead melody. Recognized as the Latin Artist of the Year by the Boston Music Awards, Fabiola and her band have performed on national and international stages, including: NPR Tiny Desk, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, the Hatch Memorial Shell in Boston, the Harris Theater in Chicago, Santurce Fine Arts Center, among many others. She has received numerous awards, such as the Quincy Jones Award, the Brother Thomas Fellowship, ASCAP Lucille and Jack Yellen Award 2022 and a Children's and Family Emmy nomination for Outstanding Interactive Media in 2023. Fabiola holds a Bachelor's in Music from Berklee College of Music, where in 2018 she became the first graduate to play the Puerto Rican cuatro as principal instrument.

Celebrate the season with the GBH Music Holiday Spectacular, a family-friendly concert and an opportunity for music lovers to be part of a live television production at GBH’s headquarters in Brighton.

Since Francis Cabot Lowell and Paul Moody set the first power looms in motion in 1814, textiles have been at the crossroads of American industry, artisan craft, and functionality. The great textile mills of New England drove the American Industrial Revolution, starting with the Boston Manufacturing Company on this very site in Waltham.

Now two centuries later, designers are forging innovative ways to ‘weave’ textiles using 3D technology and design in virtual space, grounded by the principles of the loom. Award-winning designer, artist, and professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, Oren Sherman, will bring us along on his own journey, discovering the cultural meaning and evolving technology embedded in textile design. Pattern traveled on textiles and the availability of locally made affordable woven cloth gave birth to an industry supercharged by the Waltham-Lowell System, including fabric dyeing and pattern design. That scale led to rapid innovation in manufacturing and design.

In exploring the construction of commercial textile patterning, Sherman found himself leaving the world of the ‘repeat’ and exploring in virtual space. He’ll explain how a desire to ‘walk through walls’ lead him to 3D weaving as an inspiration that, ironically, led him back to the first principles of the elegantly complex power loom. Oren’s talk will feature vivid color and vibrant patterns, while simultaneously connecting innovation with cutting-edge technology.

Will the United States and other powerful countries approach current and future climate initiatives with an increased commitment to nationalism? Or could a growing spirit of international accord develop to confront the “common enemy” of climate change?

Join WorldBoston for a timely discussion of this topic with Dr. Emily Reichert, CEO of MassCEC and former CEO of Greentown Labs.

Kate Quinn is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of Southern California, she attended Boston University, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical voice. She’s written a number of novels, including four in the Empress of Rome Saga and two set in the Italian Renaissance before turning to the 20th century with books like The Alice Network, The Huntress, The Rose Code, The Diamond Eye, and most recently, The Briar Club.

She and her husband now live in Maryland with three black rescue dogs. Check out more about Kate Quinn here.

GBH's Craig LeMoult moderates the conversation.

Join the Paul Revere House for the final event in their 2024 Lowell Lecture Series. This three-part series focuses on the lesser-known express assignments Paul Revere completed. Speakers will share the importance of his courier work as part of a communications system that involved complex overlapping networks of leaders of all stations. The series will also explore the very practical aspects of long-distance horse journeys and the local colonial politics in key communities Revere interacted with.

Paul Revere made multiple rides to New Hampshire to pass messages between Patriot groups. The conventional narrative of the American Revolution emphasizes the role of extra-legal events in Massachusetts such as the Boston Tea Party and Stamp Act riots.  Yet, extra-legal actions were not exclusive to Massachusetts—New Hampshire had a long tradition of protest, especially when connected to timber. Laws passed by Parliament in 1708 and 1722 that claimed pine trees for the masts needed for the Royal Navy, among other items contributed to growing discontent with colonial rule, reflected in a series of demonstrations and riots through the 1700s. By late 1774, New Hampshire colonists were seizing Royal munitions.

Peter Flood, author of the 2014 Revere House Gazette article, "A Week in December – Paul Revere’s Secret Mission to New Hampshire, will join the discussion.

Presented in partnership with GBH, the Suffolk University History Department, Milton Historical Society/Suffolk Resolves House (Milton, MA), Carpenters’ Hall (Philadelphia, PA), Fraunces Tavern Museum (New York, NY), and the Portsmouth Athenaeum (Portsmouth, NH), with funding from the Lowell Institute. For more information, please contact staff@paulreverehouse.org or visit paulreverehouse.org.

The GBH BPL studio will host Outspoken Saturdays, a spoken word poetry event for emerging artists. Every first Saturday of the month, the series will be created in collaboration with spoken word artist Amanda Shea. Join us!

Registration is encouraged for this free event.

Representatives from Native communities and tribal serving organizations make the case for revamping school mascots, the state seal and flag, and addressing other important issues necessary to strengthen the fabric of Massachusetts and its Indigenous communities.

With Nichol Brewer-Lowry, MSc, Boston Site Director, Native American Lifelines, Melissa Ferretti, Chairwoman, Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, J. Cedric Woods, PhD, Director, Institute for New England Native American Studies, University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Tara Mayes, GBH Associate Communications Director, will facilitate the discussion.

This virtual program is supported by: Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, Institute for New England Native American Studies, University of Massachusetts, Boston, Native American Lifelines, Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band, City of Boston Equity and Inclusion Cabinet, Massachusetts Women of Color Coalition, the Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness, and MassHumanities.

Livable Streets is holding their 14th annual StreetTalk 10-in-1. As the tradition goes, ten speakers will take the stage to talk about topics like Boston transit history, public art, new approaches to housing, and more.

Light refreshments will be availble, along with a cash bar.

This year's speakers:
-Maha Aslam
Program Manager: Streets + Transit, LivableStreets
A Day in the Life of a Transit Advocate

-Julia Campbell
Deputy Chief of Streets for Infrastructure and Design, City of Boston
Fixing Boston's sidewalks, one intersection at a time

-Lorraine Fryer
Senior Content + Culture Manager, LivableStreets
How to Create a Cohousing Community in 10 Easy Steps

-Reynaliz Herrera
Founder & Director/Composer/Scriptwriter/Lead Performer of "Ideas, Not Theories"
Reynaliz Herrera’s Bicycle Music & her company “Ideas, Not Theories”

-Emily Isenberg
Founder & Creative Director, Isenberg Projects
Power to the People: Tactical Urbanism for a More Connected City

-Jarred Johnson
Executive Director, TransitMatters
Commuter Rail Is Doing Well, But Here's Why I Want It To Disappear

-Liz Luc Clowes
Director of Engagement and Food Forest Construction, Boston Food Forest Coalition
A network of 30 Food Forests in Boston builds a future of environmentally and socially resilient communities that thrive in many ways.

-Monica Tibbits-Nutt
Secretary of Transportation & CEO, Massachusetts Department of Transportation
The Intersectionality of Safety and Empathy

-Pete Wilson
Senior Policy Director, T4MA
Transportation finance and what it means to your community

-Giovanny Zuniga Piamba
Transit Justice Organizer, GreenRoots
Inclusive transportation begins when communities are part of the conversation

Gain insight into the life of Ira Gershwin, the man behind some of the most memorable lyrics of the Great American Songbook. Biographer Michael Owen reveals the life of this remarkable American, the son of first-generation immigrants, who has often been in the shadow of his brother George Gershwin.

The first lyricist to win the Pulitzer Prize, Ira Gershwin (1896–1983) has been hailed as one of the masters of the Great American Songbook, a period which covers songs written largely for Broadway and Hollywood from the 1920s to the 1950s. Now, in the first full-length biography devoted to his life, Michael Owen draws on extensive archival sources to craft a rich portrait of the modest man who penned the words to such well-loved songs as “Fascinating Rhythm,” “Embraceable You,” and “They Can’t Take That Away from Me.” Owen’s book celebrates George and Ira Gershwin’s collaboration and Ira’s extensive work with other songwriters. Ira Gershwin: A Life in Words brings the publicity-shy lyricist into the spotlight he deserves.