Free Things To Do
The Boston area offers an abundance of free activities for everyone.
Festivals
SoWa First Friday
On the First Friday of every month, the artists, galleries, shops and showrooms of the SoWa Art + Design District open their doors to the public for an evening of art, culture and inspiration. Meet the artists in their element, view the latest gallery exhibitions, shop small, and...
MEET BOSTON REGIONAL CAREER FAIR
Looking for a new and exciting career in the hospitality industry? Boston’s hospitality industry is booming and employers are looking to fill hundreds of open positions! Not familiar with the industry? No worries! You will have an opportunity to build professional connections,...
Marathon Daffodil Dash
Join us for the second annual Marathon Daffodil Dash on Saturday, April 15th from 10am – 1pm at The Track at Suffolk Downs. The Track will be filled with ‘Marathon Daffodils’ that line the streets of Boston leading up to the Boston Marathon finish line. The Marathon...
Third Thursday Tastings
Join us at the Boston Public Market on the third Thursday of every month for live music, free samples from our vendors, and specialty cocktails, beer & wine from The Pine Bar, while you mix & mingle with our local community!
Revere Beach KITE FESTIVAL
On Sunday, May 20, we will be hosting our 8th Annual Kite Festival on Revere Beach. This is our way of kicking off beach season with fun for the whole family! Children will have the opportunity to build, decorate and fly their own kites. The event also features professional...
250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party
The United States will commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 2023. Dubbed by John Adams as the “most magnificent movement of all”, the Boston Tea Party is one of the nation’s most iconic events and one that propelled America down the road to...
Museums & Exhibitions
Breathe Life Together Mural
The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy is excited to announce the extension of artist Rob "ProBlak" Gibbs’ Breathe Life Together mural at Dewey Square through April 2024. In addition to the one-year extension, local multidisciplinary design team Studio HHH and visual artist Pamela...
Free Sunday Admission on Sundays at Harvard Art Museums
On Sundays, the Harvard Art Museums are free to all! The Harvard Art Museums are committed to creating an environment that fosters inclusion and belonging. Please join us in ensuring that every visitor feels welcomed and respected.
Of Many Minds Public Art Exhibit
Come to the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston to experience and enjoy a new sculpture exhibit by award winning Massachusetts artist Michael Alfano whose work is in private and public collections throughout the world. This free exhibit brings museum quality art to the public realm...
ICA Free Thursday Night
The ICA is free for all visitors every Thursday from 5 to 9 PM. Tickets for Free Thursday Nights will be available at icaboston.org/tickets at 10 AM on that Thursday morning. Beginning May 29, in line with the latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and...
Teen Saturdays at the Museum! / ¡Sábados de Jóvenes!
Teen Saturdays! is designed for Latino teens interested in culture and community. High school students of Hispanic heritage are invited to monthly workshops to explore notions of culture and identity through bilingual discussions, hands-on activities, and exploring their...
Free First Thursday at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Join us on the first Thursday of every month for a restorative evening of discovery and community. Museum admission is free from 3 pm through 9 pm and interactive programs kick off at 5 pm. Artists, activists, and musicians share songs, stories, and activities inspired by the...
Lunch & Learn: Just Across the Brook
During Just Across the Brook: Wampanoag Women and the English Gardens at Plimoth in 1621, learn about the vital role Wampanoag women played in shaping the first gardens in Plimoth. Explore how archaeology, oral history, and written accounts have taught us how these women taught...
Looking Local: Researching History in Jamaica Plain, Boston
This program is located at the Jamaica Plain Branch Library. FREE and open to the public. The Massachusetts Historical Society, the Jamaica Plain Historical Society, and the Jamaica Plain Branch of the Boston Public Library are teaming up to help you learn more about ways to...
Living A Triggered Life Podcast
The Museum of Science is proud to welcome back the Triggered Project with an all-new live taping of Living a Triggered Life podcast, declared by Feedspot as the Top 2 rated Black Marriage Podcast on the web. Created and hosted by Keith Mascoll (SAG-AFTRA, AEA) and Roxann Mascoll...
Deconstructing the Fitness Industrial Complex
Fit is subjective. Who our society designates as fit–and who gets to be fit in our society–is predefined by the coaches, gyms, and systems at large that uphold and reproduce the Fitness Industrial Complex for their own structural and material gain. In the vital and...
Family Friendly Activities
Kids Music Class: Aesop's Fables Tortoise and the Hare
Join us in the Nook at the Boston Public Market for a kids sing a long full of moving, dancing, and family fun! Aesop's Fables Tortoise and the Hare: French Horn, Electric Bass, and Narrator with Kristi Scaccia and Tino D'Agostino brought to you by NEMPAC. A storyteller will tell...
Children's Opera: Three Little Pigs Remix
Boston Conservatory presents Michael Ching’s short children’s opera, Three Little Pigs Remix, an exciting retelling of the classic story of the three little pigs and the big, bad wolf. In this remix, three important themes are explored—interpretation, cooperation, and habitation....
Kids Music Performance with NEC
Join us for a 30 minute kids music performance with the New England Conservatory in the Nook at the Boston Public Market! Hosted by Sarah Tindall, a 3rd year undergraduate studying cello performance at the New England Conservatory. This performance will be all works for solo...
Teen Saturdays at the Museum! ¡Sábados de Jóvenes!
Teen Saturdays! is designed for Latino teens interested in culture and community. High school students of Hispanic heritage are invited to monthly workshops to explore notions of culture and identity through bilingual discussions, hands-on activities, and exploring their...
Sensory-Friendly Easter Egg Hunt
Searching for egg-cited kids to join us at our upcoming Free Spring Fling Egg-Stravaganza, hosted by Bierman Autism Centers - Randolph. On Monday, April 3, from 5 – 7 pm, head over to our egg-ceptional location at 15 Pacella Park Dr., Suite #210, Randolph, MA 02368, to...
Marathon Daffodil Dash
Join us for the second annual Marathon Daffodil Dash on Saturday, April 15th from 10am – 1pm at The Track at Suffolk Downs. The Track will be filled with ‘Marathon Daffodils’ that line the streets of Boston leading up to the Boston Marathon finish line. The Marathon...
Revere Beach KITE FESTIVAL
On Sunday, May 20, we will be hosting our 8th Annual Kite Festival on Revere Beach. This is our way of kicking off beach season with fun for the whole family! Children will have the opportunity to build, decorate and fly their own kites. The event also features professional...
Performing Arts
Spirit! musiConnects' Winter Ensemble Concert with Castle of our Skins
In 2022, Castle of Our Skins completed a month-long residency at musiConnects, learning and celebrating the life and artistry of Langston Hughes. Students experimented with musicalizing Hughes' already jazzy-style of expression. The words and sounds they created were shared with...
Artistry in Action: Faculty Recital—Jonathan Bass, Piano
Professor of Piano Jonathan Bass performs works by Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Frazin, Liszt, and Walker. Bass is an acclaimed pianist who appears frequently throughout the United States and around the world as soloist and chamber musician. A Steinway Artist, he made his New York...
Boston Conservatory Brass Ensemble
In collaboration with the New World Chorale and Organist Mitchell Crawford, Boston Conservatory Brass Ensemble presents a concert of music by De Lassus, Dupre, Hindemith, and Respighi.
Boston Conservatory Conductors Orchestra
Boston Conservatory Conductors Orchestra presents its spring semester performance, a varied program of operatic overtures and excerpts featuring Bruce Hangen’s conducting students, Julian Gau (M.M. '22), Amanda Tan (M.M. '24), Max Kaiser (M.M. '24), and Raban Brunner (M.M. '24).
Free Shakespeare on the Common: Macbeth
The highlight of the summer season will be the 27th annual Free Shakespeare on the Boston Common production of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Macbeth, directed by CSC Artistic Director Steven Maler. In Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, an unexpected prophecy sends Macbeth on a quest...
Classes / Lectures
Chef Hero with Jennifer Lee
Chef Hero talk & tasting with Jennifer Sowden of Jennifer Lee's Bakery at the Boston Public Market! The Boston Public Market's FREE Chef Hero series is back! This month we're featuring our very own Jennifer Sowden of Jennifer Lee's Bakery for a demo, talk & tasting on...
The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule
Don’t miss a special evening with award-winning science journalist and author, Angela Saini, celebrating her new release, The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule only at the Museum of Science, Boston. In this bold and radical new book, Saini goes in search of the true roots of...
Lunch & Learn: Just Across the Brook
During Just Across the Brook: Wampanoag Women and the English Gardens at Plimoth in 1621, learn about the vital role Wampanoag women played in shaping the first gardens in Plimoth. Explore how archaeology, oral history, and written accounts have taught us how these women taught...
Dope Labs Unplugged
Join Titi and Zakiya, hosts of Dope Labs Podcast, as they break down the science of everything. These scientists put your favorite trending topics under the microscope, showing you that science is indeed everywhere! Whether you are a self-proclaimed science nerd or just a casual...
The Sculptures of Daniel Chester French at Forest Hills Cemetery
The Jamaica Plain Historical Society invites you to hear Dana Pilson curatorial researcher and collections coordinator at Chesterwood, the historical home, studio, and gardens of sculptor Daniel Chester French in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, who will present an illustrated talk...
The Colby Room: Cultural Institutions, Colonialism, and our Cultural Reeckoning
The halls of Museums and Cultural Institutions across the country are filled with collections, artifacts and exhibitions that inform, delight and transport millions of visitors every year. However, they also provide a glimpse into the dark history and practices of our nation, and...
Kevin Powell: An Evening of Conversation and Poetry
This Spring acclaimed writer, activist, and pop culture insider Kevin Powell comes to the Museum of Science, Boston for a one-night only special event celebrating his newest releases, Grocery Shopping With My Mother, a collection of poetry, and The Kevin Powell Reader: Essential...
Looking Local: Researching History in Jamaica Plain, Boston
This program is located at the Jamaica Plain Branch Library. FREE and open to the public. The Massachusetts Historical Society, the Jamaica Plain Historical Society, and the Jamaica Plain Branch of the Boston Public Library are teaming up to help you learn more about ways to...
Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture
In her illuminating new narrative on the daily onslaught of body shame that kids face from peers, school, diet culture, and parents themselves, journalist Virginia Sole-Smith offers a compelling reported look at how families can change the conversation around weight, health, and...
¡A BAILAR! DANCE AS A WAY TO INCLUSION
Join us for an evening at the intersection of artistic movement, wellness and belonging within the Hispanic and Latinx communities. Through the lens of artistic expression, some of New England’s leading artmakers, dancers, and musicians will amplify the importance of dance and...
Tours & Trails
Roxbury Memory Trail
Take a self-guided tour of Grove Hall and Nubian Square. Download the mobile app by visiting the Google Play or Apple app store · Download the 'Distrix' app · Make sure location is on · Select Roxbury Memory Trail · Have fun!
Women's Heritage Trail
Patriots, intellectuals, abolitionists, suffragists, artists, and writers – Boston women have always played an integral role in shaping history. The Women’s Heritage Trail tells the remarkable stories of women whose lives and achievements have enriched the city of Boston...
Explore Boston Neighborhoods
Each Boston neighborhood tells its own story, a tale of community, culture, and eclectic commercial areas.
Boston - Airport/Chelsea/Revere
Boston - Downtown/Financial District
Boston - Airport/Chelsea/Revere
Explore the Outdoors in Boston
Enjoy beautiful waterways, elaborate bike paths & networks of urban green space.
Virtual Activities
Imagining the Age of Phillis
Revolutionary Spaces commissioned a short film series called Imagining the Age of Phillis to bring a selection of the poems from Jeffers's book to life. Directed by John Oluwole ADEkoje and produced by Patrick Gabridge of Plays in Place, the series was filmed on location in...
Nature as Artist: A Harvard Museum of Natural History Virtual Tour
We are happy to announce a new self-guided, virtual tour along the theme of "Nature as Artist." http://bit.ly/NatureAsArtistVirtualTour Nature has long inspired we humans to imagine and create art. Dancers, designers, musicians, painters, and sculptors – they are all found...
The Shot Heard Round the World
This microsite will transport you back in time through eye-witness artifacts, including one of the two Lanterns that signaled Paul Revere to begin his ride, and multi-media animations that bring this pivotal moment in our nation’s history to life. Be sure to visit the April 19,...
Dinner with the President: Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House
Some of the most significant moments in American history have occurred over meals. Alex Prud’homme invites readers into the White House kitchen to reveal the curious tastes of twenty-six American presidents, how their meals were prepared and by whom, and the ways their choices...
Lethal Tides: Mary Sears And The Marine Scientists Who Helped Win World War II
When World War II began, the U.S. Navy was unprepared to enact its island-hopping strategy to reach Japan. Mary Sears, a marine biologist, was the expert they turned to, and she along with a team of quirky marine scientists were instrumental in turning the tide of the war in the...
Mourning The Presidents: Loss & Legacy In American Culture
The death of a chief executive, while still in office or decades later, is always a moment of reckoning and reflection. Mourning the presidents brings together scholars to examine how different generations and communities of Americans have eulogized and remembered their...
Wandering Boston's Little Syria
Boston’s Little Syria thrived between the 1880s and 1950s in today’s Chinatown and South End, yet few Bostonians are familiar with it. Drawing from photographs, property maps, interviews, and memoirs of Syrian and Lebanese Americans, this event and accompanying exhibition narrate...