Past Events

Are you passionate about our region and city, and about your ability to help create change, positive impact and a lasting legacy? If you’re a young professional looking for guidance and inspiration on how to merge your personal mission with your “9 to 5,” this event is for you. First launched in partnership with the Fierce Urgency of Now Festival in 2021, Mission to Motion makes space for early- and mid-career professionals from diverse communities and industries to engage in intimate discussions about how they can apply their mission and create positive motion.

In a panel discussion moderated by GBH “Morning Edition” co-host Paris Alston, leaders shaping civic engagement today will share how they merge their “day jobs” with their personal commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion to both quietly and loudly create forward motion for the Boston area and beyond. Panelists will include Michael J. Bobbitt, Executive Director, Mass Cultural Council; Rev. Willie Bodrick, II, Senior Pastor, Twelfth Baptist Church/President & CEO, The American City Coalition; Tiffany Chu, Chief of Staff, Office of Mayor Wu; Andrea Silbert, President, Eos Foundation; and Chrismaldi Vasquez-Casado, Director, Community Engagement, Point32health.

Created by The Castle Group in collaboration with our media partner GBH and hosted at MassChallenge, attendees will have the opportunity to connect with panelists, leaders, activists, and strategists over a catered lunch from Las Palmas Restaurant, thanks to our sponsor the Eos Foundation. This interactive event is limited to 40 attendees.

See the Agenda & Speakers page for more details or email us at info@missiontomotion.com with questions.

Join Ford Hall Forum for a spirited conversation with Stevie Walker-Webb, acclaimed Tony-nominated director of Ain't No Mo', actor, activist and director of the play Fat Ham, Dawn Simmons, Associate Director of Fat Ham, and co-producing director of Front Porch Arts Collective, and Regine Vital, theatre artist, educator, and Actors' Shakespeare Project Associate Producer.
The evening's moderator is Pascale Florestal, Director of Education, Front Porch Arts Collective, and Visiting Guest Artist Professor in Practice at Suffolk University.

The panel discusses the evolution of Shakespeare's work and how race and other intersections influence these stories and reflect of the world today. They explore fresh new perspectives and distinct voices offered in two upcoming Boston theater productions, Fat Ham and The Taming of the Shrew.

Fat Ham, a Huntington Theatre production in partnership with front Porch Arts Collective and Alliance Theater, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning new play that is a smart and sharp reinvention of Shakespeare's masterpiece which took Broadway by storm this spring.

In The Taming of the Shrew, premiering at the Modern Theatre this fall, Artistic Director Christopher Edwards and the talented cast turn this beloved play inside out, flip it upside down and stretch it to the limits in a way that only Actors' Shakespeare Project can - to find what truly sits at the heart of this hilarious and contentious comedy.

Earth Commission, the prestigious international group of scientists, recently published a study that is receiving a great deal of attention. The study in Nature Journal indicates that we have now breached most of the Earth system boundaries that include climate, biodiversity, fresh water, soil and air. Millions of people have already been displaced, worldwide health is threatened, extinctions are accelerating, ecosystems are being destroyed. The authors emphasize two things: (1) that urgent action is required to save the planet; and (2) action must include justice for the masses who are suffering the results of global destruction.

A portrait of late 19th-century Boston and one of its most daring and celebrated women, Isabella Stewart Gardner – the connoisseur and visionary collector who created an inimitable legacy in American art and transformed the city.

When Isabella Stewart Gardner first arrived in Boston in 1861, she was twenty years old, newly married to a wealthy trader, and unsure of herself. Puzzled by the frosty reception she received from the city’s coterie of “bluebloods,” she strived to fit in and had limited success. Then after two devastating tragedies, she discovered her true spirit and passion for collecting. When Isabella opened her Italian palazzo-style home as a museum 1903 to showcase her old masters, antiques, and objects d’art, she was well-known for scandalizing Boston’s upper society.

The Lioness of Boston is historical fiction – a richly detailed portrait of a time, also a cultural and social history. Author Emily Franklin reveals the day’s mores and expectations which Isabella, a feminist before feminism, rejected, opting instead for friendships with painter John Singer Sargent; writers Henry James, Oscar Wilde, Sarah Orne Jewett; and neighbor Julia Ward Howe. With novelist Claire Messud, Franklin discusses her process for researching and bringing to life this remarkable woman – her friends, her family, and her era.

Presented by the American Inspiration series from American Ancestors/NEHGS in partnership with Boston Public Library.

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.

Limited seating is available on a first come, first serve basis. If you require a seat, we encourage you to arrive before the start time of this event.

Photo Credit: GBH

Juan Nieves keeps the folkloric Puetro Rican musical tradition alive. His cuatro, the national instrument of Puerto Rico, has accompanied him in more than 15 countries worldwide. Throughout his 24-year career, Juan has produced three albums and many singles. His music has been featured in various films, and he has shared the stage with renowned artists such as Richie Ray and Bobby Cruz, Ismael Miranda, Tony Succar, and more. Juan is the fifth cuatro player to graduate from Berklee College of Music. Juan leads his own projects, “Juan Nieves & Legado Orchestra” and “Legado Records.”


Come join us for an evening of music, wine, and food.


Registration is encouraged for this free event.

Following the most bizarre climatic summer on record, Cambridge Forum starts its new season by considering what our uncertain future holds, in a new series: “Living on Borrowed Time”. In this first program, Cambridge Forum talks to Jeff Goodell, NY bestselling author and contributing editor at Rolling Stone; and Dr. Mike Flannigan, Research Chair for Predictive Services, Emergency Management and Fire Science at Thompson Rivers University and the Scientific Director of the Canadian Partnership for Wildland Fire Science.

Goodell has covered climate change for more than two decades for Rolling Stone. His latest book, “The Heat will Kill You First” presents a searing examination of the impact that rising temperatures will have on our lives and on our planet.

Dr. Flannigan has been studying fire and weather/climate interactions including the potential impact of climatic change and lightning-ignited forest fires for over 40 years.

Join this important discussion in our Zoom webinar and don’t forget to tell your friends – your future may depend upon it.

Gaby Cotter is a Boston-based Panamanian singer, songwriter, and educator. Her work mixes the different colors of Latin-American sounds with jazz, blues, pop, and R&B. Her powerful interpretive ability fascinates even the most knowledgeable listener. Beyond a musical genre, she is moved by words, creating the perfect momentum to tell stories one song at a time.

Join us for an evening of music, wine, and food.

Registration is encouraged for this free event.

Photo credit: Valeria Lam

Join James “Jimmy” Hills, host of the Dorchester-based online show Java with Jimmy, for a special “brew” of his show with a live audience at the GBH Studio in the Boston Public Library.

As August comes to a close, Jimmy will mark Black Business Month with a conversation recognizing the work of local Black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs.

Jimmy welcomes Errin Davis, COO of The Davis System, Daniel Laurent, CEO & founder of the Black Dollar U.S, and Malia Lazu, founder of The Urban Labs. These three visionary leaders are making a significant impact within Boston’s Black business community and beyond.

They will talk about their personal journeys, triumphs, and the impact of their organizations, as well as the challenges faced by Black business owners. Together they will explore some of their innovative solutions.

Errin Davis has played a crucial role in ensuring that community remains at the core of The Davis System. Daniel Laurent has revolutionized the way consumers can discover and support Black-owned businesses across the country. Malia Lazu's pioneering efforts with The Urban Labs have empowered communities by promoting social justice, education, and sustainable economic development.

The dramatic and uplifting story of legendary outdoorsman and conservationist JohnMuir’s quest to protect one of America’s most magnificent landscapes, Yosemite.

“Everybody needs beauty, as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” —John Muir

In this portrait of a place, a time, and a movement, the bestselling author Dean King takes us behind the scenes, to the beginning of America’s love affair with Yosemite Valley. In June of 1889 in San Francisco, John Muir—iconic environmentalist, writer, and philosopher—met face-to-face with his longtime editor Robert Underwood Johnson, an elegant and influential figure at The Century magazine. Before long, the pair ventured to Yosemite Valley, the magnificent site Muir had visited twenty years earlier. There, they confronted a shocking vision, as predatory mining, tourism, and logging industries had plundered and defaced “the grandest of all the special temples of Nature.” The rest is history: that watershed moment led to the creation of Yosemite National Park, and launched an environmental battle that at once captivated the nation and ushered in the beginning of the American environmental movement. Join us for King’s illustrated presentation of his riveting new book, Guardians of the Valley, “a rich, enjoyable excursion into a seminal period in environmental history.” (The Wall Street Journal)