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Free Things To Do in Boston

The Boston area offers an abundance of free and fun activities for everyone. 

 

Festivals

Raising Voices Festival: A Celebration of Music, Art, and the Power of Protest

Uplift and celebrate voices of revolution—past, present, and future! Revolutionary Spaces presents the Raising Voices Festival: A Celebration of Music, Art, and the Power of Protest. To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, join Revolutionary Spaces in...

Rescheduled: South Boston Street Fest

The South Boston Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the South Boston Neighborhood Development Corporation, presents the 23rd South Boston Street Fest, which will take place Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023 (new date, rescheduled from September 16), from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on East...

Raising Voices Festival: BLACK - in the Cradle of Liberty

The National Parks of Boston, Mayor's Office of Arts & Culture, and Museum of African American History invite you to the Great Hall in Faneuil Hall on Sunday, September 24 for "BLACK in the cradle of liberty" a FREE performance gathering that explores agency, resistance and...

Salem Haunted Happenings Grand Parade

The Salem Chamber of Commerce cordially invites you to enjoy the Annual Salem Chamber of Commerce Haunted Happenings Grand Parade on Thursday, October 5, 2023. The parade will follow the normal route from Prime Group Shetland Park to Salem Common. This year’s event will feature...

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...

City of Quincy‘s annual Food Truck & Music Festival

Discover Quincy this fall! Join us on Saturday, October 7 from Noon – 6 pm for the City of Quincy‘s annual Food Truck & Music Festival. Check out 25+ Food trucks with something for everyone, including fun desserts and adult refreshments All day entertainment featuring...

Celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day at the Berklee College of Music

Join us at the Berklee College of Music in celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day! To recognize and honor Indigenous Peoples' Day, a variety of musicians, dancers, scholars, and writers will perform on October 12, 2023. This event is free and open to the public.

Museums & Exhibitions

Free Admission at Harvard Art Museums

The museums are free to all visitors. Please check in at the Admissions desk. This new initiative is made possible by a generous contribution from the Estate of David Rockefeller and support from the Office of the President at Harvard University. The Harvard Art Museums are...

Objects of Addiction Exhibit: Opium, Empire, and the Chinese Art Trade

The Objects of Addiction Exhibit explores the entwined histories of the opium trade and the Chinese art market between the late 18th and early 20th centuries. Opium and Chinese art, acquired through both legal and illicit means, had profound effects on the global economy,...

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...

Seeing in Art and Medicine

Try your hand at close-looking activities in this interactive exhibition, which examines objects from across the collections through the lens of the medical humanities and the human questions that doctors face in their daily work. This exhibition and the medical humanities...

The Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site

The Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site is open for tours May 26-October 30, 2023. The grounds and garden are open year round daily, dawn-dusk. Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site has long been a beacon to learners....

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...

Treasures from the West End Museum Archives

Step into the past and experience history interactively at the West End Museum's exclusive event: Treasures from the West End Museum Archives. Join us for an unforgettable evening as we delve into the captivating stories and artifacts that offer a window into the West End's rich...

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...

Gallery Talk: Seeing in Art and Medicine

Join curatorial fellow Sarah Lieberman for an exploration of works in the exhibition Seeing in Art and Medicine , on view from September 2 to December 30, 2023. Lieberman will share insights about the museums’ medical humanities program for radiologists—on which the exhibition is...

Exhibition Tour: Seeing in Art and Medicine

Join curators Jen Thum and radiologist Hyewon Hyun for a tour of the exhibition Seeing in Art and Medicine , on view from September 2 to December 30, 2023. Thum and Hyun will share insights about the museums’ medical humanities program for radiologists—on which the exhibition is...

Gallery Talk: Seeing in Art and Medicine

Join curator Laura Muir for a closer look at portraits from Timm Rautert’s photographic series Germans in Uniform (1974), which are included in the exhibition Seeing in Art and Medicine , on view from September 2 to December 30, 2023. Muir will share insights about the series and...

Fleurs de Villes: Voyage

Experience flowers like never before at Fleurs de Villes VOYAGE - the world-famous flower show coming to Boston for the first time! Join us at Prudential Center from November 2nd to 6th and admire stunning fresh floral installations - including Fleurs de Villes' famous mannequins...

Family Friendly Activities

Play Date: Crafting A Narrative

Join us for a day of family fun! Explore different ways of telling a story through artmaking, music, and performance. Reserve free admission tickets online in advance*. All activities are drop-in, first come first served, space is limited. *On Saturday, September 30, museum...

Salem Haunted Happenings Grand Parade

The Salem Chamber of Commerce cordially invites you to enjoy the Annual Salem Chamber of Commerce Haunted Happenings Grand Parade on Thursday, October 5, 2023. The parade will follow the normal route from Prime Group Shetland Park to Salem Common. This year’s event will feature...

Performing Arts

Cassatt String Quartet with guitarist Eliot Fisk

Please join us for a performance by the Cassatt String Quartet joined by renowned classical guitarist, Eliot Fisk. Music by Department Chair Daniel Strong Godfrey and Professor Anthony De Ritis will be featured, as well as music of Villa-Lobos and Zhou Long. Zhou Long — Song of...

Edmar Colón Jazz Quartet

Saxophonist, pianist, and composer Edmar Colón and his Quartet (plus some special guests) showcase the beauty and influences of the expansive Puerto Rican jazz songbook. Colón and his quartet bring the rhythms, melodies, and textures of Puerto Rican music to life, highlighting...

Songs of Life

During a series of concerts in homeless shelters, a recovery site and an affordable housing community earlier this year, a quartet of musicians led by Shelter Music Boston Artistic Director Adrian Anantawan played sets meant to evoke feelings of joy, sadness, peace and hope....

Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble: A Brass Celebration

Part of Boston Conservatory's Brass Festival Weekend (September 30–October 1), this exciting performance conducted by Matthew Marsit presents the New England premiere of Adam Gorb's Out of the Darkness, as well as Lindsay Bronnenkant's Tarot, Henk Badings's Symphony No. 15,...

Celebrity Series of Boston Presents “Jazz Along the Charles”

Celebrity Series of Boston presents the much-anticipated return of Jazz Along the Charles with the Esplanade Association and the Richard K. Lubin Family Foundation as lead sponsors. More than 100 local musicians, in 25 jazz ensembles, will perform (in their own style) set lists...

Pipes on the Plaza Organ Concert Series

The Pipes on the Plaza organ concert series is back at the Christian Science Plaza. Experience the glorious sounds of one of the world’s largest pipe organs at our upcoming organ concert at The Mother Church, featuring Andrew Scanlon, MM (Master of Music), FAGO (Fellowship...

Gregory Groover Quartet: A Modern Exploration of Negro Spirituals

Saxophonist Gregory Groover, Jr. returns to Neighborhood Arts for his fourth performance, his second as a bandleader. He and his quartet interpret the Negro Spiritual Songbook in an ambitious multi-year project. Groover pays tribute to the hope and resilience of those who have...

Eduardo Betancourt & Charles Overton, harps

Two expressive and versatile harpists from across the Americas join forces for this memorable harp duo concert. Venezuelan harpist Eduardo Betancourt and American harpist Charles Overton perform traditional interpretations, jazz standards, and originals in a unique concert that...

Eduardo Betancourt & Charles Overton, harps

Two expressive and versatile harpists from across the Americas join forces for this memorable harp duo concert. Venezuelan harpist Eduardo Betancourt and American harpist Charles Overton perform traditional interpretations, jazz standards, and originals in a unique concert that...

Nino de los Reyes Flamenco Quartet

GRAMMY award-winning Spanish flamenco artist Nino de los Reyes returns to Boston – a city he loves to visit for residencies and performances – for his second pulse-pounding performance with Neighborhood Arts. He will wow you with grand and explosive movements, and the...

Chelsey Green Quartet

Violinist Chelsey Green makes a return to the Series (and a Neighborhood Arts debut) with her quartet for an afternoon of electrifying and innovative jazz that will make you hear the violin and viola in a whole new way! Now an in-demand performing artist and professor, Chelsey...

Raising Voices Festival: A Celebration of Music, Art, and the Power of Protest

Uplift and celebrate voices of revolution—past, present, and future! Revolutionary Spaces presents the Raising Voices Festival: A Celebration of Music, Art, and the Power of Protest. To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, join Revolutionary Spaces in...

Raising Voices Festival: BLACK - in the Cradle of Liberty

The National Parks of Boston, Mayor's Office of Arts & Culture, and Museum of African American History invite you to the Great Hall in Faneuil Hall on Sunday, September 24 for "BLACK in the cradle of liberty" a FREE performance gathering that explores agency, resistance and...

Nino de los Reyes Flamenco Quartet

GRAMMY award-winning Spanish flamenco artist Nino de los Reyes returns to Boston – a city he loves to visit for residencies and performances – for his second pulse-pounding performance with Neighborhood Arts. He will wow you with grand and explosive movements, and the...

Movies

BlackBox Film Festival

Come to the BlackBox Film Festival, hosted by BU's first Black student film student group, BlackBox. The festival will showcase exemplary short films from Black student filmmakers across the Greater Boston Area! Films will be judged by a talented and accomplished group of...

Summer Movie Nights at Old Ironsides

Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind experience to screen a film on the pier alongside USS Constitution! Join us to view four acclaimed films that feature the beauty and strength of the sea, with “Old Ironsides” as a backdrop like no other. Summer Movie Nights at “Old Ironsides” kick...

Classes / Lectures

Boston University Gitner Family Lecture

The annual Gerald and Deanne Gitner Family College of Arts & Sciences Lecture is designed to highlight current Boston University CAS faculty members, in any field, whose teaching and research addresses topics of major importance for the broad interest and benefit of the BU...

Exhibition Tour: Seeing in Art and Medicine

Join us for a tour of the exhibition Seeing in Art and Medicine , on view from September 2 to December 30, 2023. Thum and Muir will share insights about the museums’ medical humanities program for radiologists—on which the exhibition is based—the curatorial process, and what can...

Spotlight Tour: Paths to Abstraction, with Isa Haro ’24

On this tour, Isa Haro ’24 will explore how abstraction in art has been practiced, viewed, and enjoyed over time, with three very different examples. She will look at a group of Ming dynasty garden rocks (16th–17th century), which served as focal elements in traditional...

Spotlight Tour: Women’s Health and Art, with Eve Crompton ’24

In this tour, Eve Crompton ’24 will analyze historical social attitudes toward female health and illness as she examines a selection of representations of women in art. She will look at an Attic grave stele, Woman dying in childbirth (c. 330 BCE); the painting Mother and Child...

Spotlight Tour: Sensing the Divine, with Hanna Carney ’25

On this tour, Hanna Carney ’25 will look at multisensory religious experiences as portrayed in art and the significant role they play in people’s lives. Featured works include a bronze ritual wine vessel (late 11th–early 10th century BCE), cast in China during the Zhou...

MIT Starr Forum | Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity

A thousand years of history and contemporary evidence make one thing clear: progress depends on the choices we make about technology. New ways of organizing production and communication can either serve the narrow interests of an elite or become the foundation for widespread...

A Conversation with Katharine Hayhoe, Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy

The Museum of Science and its Center for the Environment are honored to welcome Professor Katharine Hayhoe, Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy, for a special one-night-only evening of conversation focused on her research and work around understanding the impacts of...

ArtsThursday: The Brain and Your Senses

Join us for a free arts + science night at the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology! This month we are partnering with Harvard’s Brain Science Initiative to explore our senses—from understanding our ability to perceive and...

The Artist’s Voice: 2023 James and Audrey Foster Prize exhibition

Artists Cicely Carew, Venetia Dale, and Yu-Wen Wu—the featured artists in the ICA’s 2023 James and Audrey Foster Prize exhibition—come together for a conversation on art and life in Boston as visual artists. Hear about their creative practices in this public program moderated by...

Treasures from the West End Museum Archives

Step into the past and experience history interactively at the West End Museum's exclusive event: Treasures from the West End Museum Archives. Join us for an unforgettable evening as we delve into the captivating stories and artifacts that offer a window into the West End's rich...

Gallery Talk: Reframing Ancient Egyptian Funerary Art

Join Jen Thum and Caitlin Clerkin for a conversation about a recently refreshed display of ancient Egyptian reliefs from tombs, which places the spotlight on ancient people and processes, as well as provenance. Led by: Jen Thum - Associate Director of Academic Engagement and...

Seeing in Art and Medicine: A Conversation

Join us for a lively conversation about the exhibition Seeing in Art and Medicine and the museums’ medical humanities program that inspired it. Presenters include the program’s founders, Hyewon Hyun and David Odo, and exhibition curator Jen Thum. The talk will also include...

Gallery Talk: Seeing in Art and Medicine

Join curatorial fellow Sarah Lieberman for an exploration of works in the exhibition Seeing in Art and Medicine , on view from September 2 to December 30, 2023. Lieberman will share insights about the museums’ medical humanities program for radiologists—on which the exhibition is...

Gallery Talk: Seeing in Art and Medicine

Join curator Laura Muir for a closer look at portraits from Timm Rautert’s photographic series Germans in Uniform (1974), which are included in the exhibition Seeing in Art and Medicine , on view from September 2 to December 30, 2023. Muir will share insights about the series and...

Tours & Trails

Free Water Shuttle to Encore Boston Harbor

Traveling to Encore Boston Harbor is almost as fun as being there. Luxury motor yachts depart day and night from Long Wharf North in downtown Boston, and Lovejoy Wharf in the West End. Climb aboard, enjoy the ocean breezes, be there before you know it. Long Wharf North - Encore...

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...

Arnold Arboretum Guided Tours

Join us for a 90-minute walk through the Arboretum! Tour seasonal plant highlights and learn about Arboretum history from a trained docent. The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University offers free 90-minute guided tours from April to November, at either 10:30 AM or 1:00 PM (not...

Walking Tour of Woodbourne

Come along with the Jamaica Plain Historical Society to explore the Woodbourne section of JP. This neighborhood developed from 19th-century summer estates into a model suburban enclave. It contains examples representative of New England architecture with designs by local...

Rowes Wharf: Sensationally Good City-Making

When the modern Rowes Wharf was conceived in 1982, it was a design competition with a bold vision of a new Boston. Learn why this building was such a breakthrough, and how it remains at the center of 21st-century Boston. Our hour-long, accessible, quarter-mile tour will lead you...

Walking Tour of Jamaica Pond

Come with the Jamaica Plain Historical Society to walk around the Jamaica Pond. Once a district that only included the houses of Boston’s elite, the Pond later was put to industrial use as tons of ice were harvested there each winter. Learn about the movers and shakers such as...

Exhibition Tour: Seeing in Art and Medicine

Join curators Jen Thum and radiologist Hyewon Hyun for a tour of the exhibition Seeing in Art and Medicine , on view from September 2 to December 30, 2023. Thum and Hyun will share insights about the museums’ medical humanities program for radiologists—on which the exhibition is...

Explore Boston Neighborhoods

Each Boston neighborhood tells its own story, a tale of community, culture, and eclectic commercial areas.

Parks

A breath of fresh air: explore Boston's many open spaces

Explore the Outdoors in Boston

Enjoy beautiful waterways, elaborate bike paths & networks of urban green space.

Fitness

Seaport Sweat

New classes this year, based on participant feedback and demand, will include hip-hop yoga, Pilates mat work, stroller bootcamp, and a Spartan class. Also new this year will be a complete lineup of Saturday classes, whereas in years prior Saturday classes were only offered...

Fit On The Garden at Prudential Center

New York Sports Club (NYSC) has teamed up with Under Armour for a FREE outdoor workout series: FIT On The Garden! Every Wednesday from September 6 – September 27 at 5:30 PM, fitness instructors from NYSC Back Bay at the Pru will lead a different workout class. All fitness...

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Great Deals

Check out specials on theater tickets, dining, attractions, tours and family fun.

Fall in Boston

Cooler and crisper temperatures mean more energy to enjoy the many things to do, see, and experience in Boston! The city’s autumnal flair will create colorful and memorable moments.