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April Outspoken Saturdays
The GBH studio at the BPL is hosting 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. -
AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present
FAREED ZAKARIA, best-selling author & host of CNN’s flagship international affairs show “Fareed Zakaria GPS”, discusses his latest book, “AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present” with STEVEN PINKER, Professor of Psychology at Harvard and author of twelve books.Partner:Cambridge Forum Harvard Book Store -
Ask The Expert: Uncovering The Eclipse
Prepare yourself for an awe-inspiring celestial event as the moon moves between the Earth and Sun, casting its shadow on our planet in a rare solar eclipse on Monday, April 8. Join GBH and astrophysicist Grant Tremblay to discuss the best viewing techniques and talk about the history behind this phenomenon. Grant explains the physics of the sun and the science of the total and annular eclipses and outline some of the knowledge gleaned from recent analysis. This natural wonder promises a captivating display of cosmic alignment, offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to marvel at the wonders of the universe.
Grant Tremblay is an astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Vice President of the American Astrophysical Society.
This event is hosted and moderated by the NOVA's Outreach Project Manager, Tara Ramsey.
This event is presented in partnership with PBS's NOVA.
Photo credit: Jordon ConnerPartner:GBH Events -
What is Owed? The Intersection of Cultural Preservation and Reparations
There are pages missing in the story of American history. The lives and experiences of enslaved people brought to North American shores were irregularly documented in random assortments of lists, logs, photos, rosters and sales receipts distributed across the country.
In the GBH News podcast, What is Owed?, we learn about those who have been gathering the bits of history in an effort to piece together the bigger picture of slavery and enslaved peoples' lives in America.
In this talk, in the Meeting House of the Museum of African American History in Boston , panelists discuss the missing legacy, the underfunding of Black historic museums, and the challenges of preserving what is known about early Black culture in America.
GBH News reporter Saraya Wintersmith will talk about the podcast and moderate a discussion with MAAH's President and CEO, Dr. Noelle Trent, Kyera Singleton, the Executive Director of the Royall House and Slave Quarters, and Ché Anderson, Assistant Vice Chancellor for City & Community Relations at University of Massachusetts Medical School. Together they visit the intersection of reparations and the needs of organizations striving to complete America's historic records.Partner:Museum of African American History -
Bill Rauch: “Adaptation: A Lifetime of Building Bridges”
Bill Rauch is the inaugural Artistic Director of The Perelman Center for the Performing Arts (PAC NYC) at the World Trade Center. His work has been featured on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning production of Robert Schenkkan’s “All The Way” and its companion play “The Great Society,” as well as at many of the largest regional theaters in the country.
From 2007 to 2019, Bill was Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the country’s oldest and largest rotating repertory theater, where he directed seven world premieres as well as innovative productions of classic musicals, including a queer reenvisioning of “Oklahoma!” Among his initiatives at OSF, he committed to commissioning new plays that dramatized moments of change in American history. “American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle” resulted in such plays as Lynn Nottage’s “Sweat” (winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize), Paula Vogel’s “Indecent,” the 1491s’ “Between Two Knees,” Lisa Loomer’s “Roe,” Universes’ “Party People,” Culture Clash’s “American Night,” and Robert Schenkkan’s plays about Lyndon B. Johnson.
Bill is also co-founder of Cornerstone Theater Company, where he served as artistic director from 1986 to 2006, directing more than 40 productions, most of them collaborations with diverse communities nationwide. He has directed world premieres at Portland Center Stage, Center Theater Group, and South Coast Rep, as well as at American Repertory Theater, Yale Rep, the Guthrie, Arena Stage, Seattle Rep, Long Wharf Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Pasadena Playhouse, and Great Lakes Theater Festival. His production of “The Pirates of Penzance” performed at Portland Opera. He was a Claire Trevor Professor at the University of California Irvine and has also taught at the University of Southern California and UCLA.
Cosponsored by the Boston College Theatre Department, English Department, and the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy.Partner:Boston College -
Many Voices, One Mission : Liberating Folk Music
How The Folk Collective aims to create a model for liberating folk music from its narrowly defined past.
Every culture has its own folk music - be it traditional and passed through the ages, or new creations that tell the human stories of lives lived and living. The popularity of the Folk Revival of the 50s and 60s brought a widened audience and a new generation of performers - but also a problematic whitening of the genre that had been so multicultural in its origin.
The Folk Collective was created in 2022 by the arts non-profit organization and presenter Passim to face this challenge of representation and narrow definition in folk music. Being that Club Passim has been at the center and forefront of folk music in this country for more than half a century, the organization felt a duty to reframe the narrative and take action to create real change.
This panel discussion with the Folk Collective will explore folk music's historical roots and question why it's been narrowly defined. It aims to challenge this limited perspective by highlighting diverse voices and experiences often sidelined within the genre. Through inclusivity and authenticity, the discussion seeks to redefine folk music as truly reflective of the rich tapestry of human expression. This marks a pivotal moment in reshaping the narrative and fostering a more inclusive community within the genre.
The Folk Collective hopes to answer those questions. They are a broad representation of a community, performing music “of the people” for their community. Simply put, they are folk musicians.
Moderated by Callie Crossley.More About The Folk Collective
The Folk Collective is a quarterly gathering of twelve select artists, musicians, and cultural thought leaders. Through an active exchange of ideas, creative collaboration, and partnership, we aim to foster and develop sustainable channels to invite and welcome diverse audiences, artists, and conversations to the Passim stage.
Alastair Moock is an award-winning singer-songwriter; a Grammy-nominated family musician; social justice and Songwriting educator for all ages; and co-founder of The Opening Doors Project, an anti-racist music organization. The Boston Globe calls him "one of the town's best and most adventurous songwriters," and The Washington Post says, "every song is a gem."
Anju is a singer, songwriter, producer, and performer shaped by the people and places in Minnesota and Massachusetts. Their music conjures imaginary lovers, scents of citrus, and visions of hairy brown skin under the sun. Anju was highlighted by NPR's All Songs Considered as an outstanding Tiny Desk Contest entrant. They are currently teaching young musicians piano, violin, and guitar and working on their debut full-length album.
Maxfield Anderson is an American roots multi-instrumentalist, teacher, writer, and music director living in Somerville, MA. As an artist, Maxfield aims to bring new light to honored traditions and to share the joy of making music with others.
Award-winning Tlingit artist Kim Moberg was born in Juneau, Alaska, and currently calls Cape Cod, MA home. Kim began playing guitar at age 14, but severe stage fright kept her from becoming a professional performer. In 2014 Kim set out to overcome her stage fright and wrote her first song. Kim teamed with Grammy-nominated producer Jon Evans to record two albums: "Above Ground" and "Up Around The Bend." Both have received worldwide airplay, charting on the Folk Alliance International Folk DJ charts and the NACC Radio charts. Kim and Jon are collaborating on her third album, which features songs that tie ancient prophecies to our current social environment. Kim's recognitions include the 2021 Rocky Mountain Songwriting Contest Finalist, the 2021 Great American Songwriting Contest Folk/Americana Finalist, and the 2020 CT Folk Grassy Hill Songwriting Competition Winner.
Stephanie Mckay is a recording artist, songwriter, arts educator, and advocate based in Medford. Her artistic practice lies at the intersection of music, community, and education.
Made up of a diverse cohort of twelve artists in the Greater Boston region, The Folk Collective has taken this challenge head-on, performing concerts in the club as well as out in the community that push the boundaries of folk music…from themed concerts like Re-Imagining Lilith Fair to curated festivals such as We Black Folk to timely shows like the Indigenous Peoples Day event and the Inaugural Pride Month Celebration… The Folk Collective is reclaiming Folk Music as a music for all people.
The inaugural cohort brings twelve diverse, multigenerational, talented artists, educators, and thought-leaders together, to collaborate, inspire, and rethink what Folk Music looks like today. In doing so, they’ve become their own community.
And now, as the Folk Collective is deep its second year (a new cohort will be chosen for 2024-2026 season), one of the most exciting developments is the plan to learn what has worked (and what hasn’t) from this exciting trailblazing initiative and create tools and a template for other organizations to use ... The Folk Collective is artist-led. Passim continues to learn from these inspiring leaders and incorporate their thoughts and ideas into the core of its practice.
Partner:Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation -
Rachel Jamison Webster with Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family
Join us on an genealogical quest – an author’s exploration of her family and its history, brought to life in Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family, named a Best Book of the Year by the New Yorker. Don’t miss Rachel Webster’s presentation and conversation with historian Kendra Field about her experience connecting with relatives across lines of color, culture, and time.
In 1791, Thomas Jefferson hired a Black man to help survey Washington, DC. That man was Benjamin Banneker, an African American mathematician, a writer of almanacs, and one of the greatest astronomers of his generation. Banneker then wrote what would become a famous letter to Jefferson, imploring the new president to examine his hypocrisy, as someone who claimed to love liberty yet was an enslaver. More than two centuries later, Rachel Jamison Webster, an ostensibly white woman, learns that this groundbreaking Black forefather is also her distant relative. Acting as a storyteller, Webster draws on oral history and conversations with her DNA cousins to imagine the lives of their shared ancestors across eleven generations, among them Banneker’s grandparents, an interracial couple who broke the law to marry.Partner:American Ancestors -
Gender Equality and Reproductive Rights After Dobbs
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade sparked dramatic shifts in the abortion and reproductive rights landscape in the United States. These changes have cut to the core of the nature of democracy in America.
This panel examines the far-reaching consequences of restrictions on reproductive and LGBTQ rights nearly two years after the Dobbs decision. Gender equality activists and advocates discuss how reproductive justice is intertwined with the wider attack on bodily autonomy and what can we do to protect these rights in this election year and beyond.
The afternoon’s panelists are Dallas Ducar, RN, CEO, Transhealth; Polly Crozier, Esq., Director of Family Advocacy, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), and Kristie, Monast, MS Ed, Executive Director, HealthQ. The afternoon’s moderator is Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber, PhD, associate professor and chair, Communication, Journalism & Media Department, Suffolk University.Partner:Ford Hall Forum -
Living Fences & Living Soil For Environmental Justice
We know that communities in the global south have been the first to experience the devastating effects of climate change, with warmer and drier conditions leaving much of the land nearly impossible to farm. John Leary will discuss how his organization Mother Trees is bringing together the best practices in agro-forestry and agri-business in a system called Lifetree Agroforestry. This is a complete system that empowers communities to rebuild their food systems and economic base. Additionally, John will discuss how the impact reaches far beyond food security, by restoring arid landscapes and biodiversity, communities are brought back to life.
In the dry regions of Senegal, agroforestry starts with growing the forest. This forest may not look like any you have seen - as it starts with walls of thorny, native trees that create a ten foot tall barrier that protects the crops and starts to rebuild the ecosystem. Join us to learn more about how living fences are the foundations for living communities.
John will be joined by Mother Trees’s Lead Ambassador Pam Agullo and Mariama Fatajo, founder and CEO of Tefa Development.
Agullo documented with photos and video the recent Caravan which featured local leaders, village chiefs, the local agroforestry cooperatives, and the leaders of the forest management committee. Leary and Agullo visited five sites that have been restored through agroforestry, and ventured into the heart of Ndankou Forest with the president of the community forestry committee and the last remaining forest guardian to assess the threats to the forest up close.
With her social entreprise, Mariama Fatajo empowers small businesses in low-income countries. She is also a proponent of the transformative eco-restoration project in the Gambia that works on reforestation, desertification combat, watershed management, and sustainable community livelihood development.Partner:Biodiversity for a Livable Climate -
NOVA Science Trivia Night
SOLD OUT
NOVA is turning 50 this year, and we want to celebrate half a century of science storytelling with our hometown crowd!
Trivia will start promptly at 6pm.
On March 28 at 6PM, bring your smartest friends to Boston Public Library's GBH Studio for a nerdy night of science trivia with NOVA! Get ready for creative categories and great prizes as we test your knowledge of the natural world, space, the history of science, and more!
Drinks and snacks will be available for purchase at the Newsfeed Cafe. This event is free, but space is limited. Please register here.