Back Bay Events Center is a venue located on Berkley Street in Boston. The venue is home to John Hancock Hall and Dorothy Quincy Suite and is a great space to hold all types of events, including meetings, performances, conferences, special events and trade shows. The location has a large 1,100-seat ballroom and offers a wide range of services through partnerships, including audio and visual work, Wi-Fi, catering work as well as staging work and floral rentals among other services. Check the website for a schedule of events and rental information.
Cafe 939 is a Berklee College of Music student-run coffeehouse. The shop is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and offers live music and performances including styles such as rock, jazz, hip-hop, electronica, and avant-garde.
Coffee specialties include mocha, lattes, cappuccinos and espressos as well as chai and hot tea. The shop also offers sandwiches and breakfast goods including bagels, scones, and danishes.
The café showcases talent from local areas as well as Berklee student performers. The location has a 200-capacity concert space, PA and lighting systems, video and DVD capabilities, and flexible seating. Berklee students also work as ushers, box office clerks, and stage crew.
Originally built in 1926 as a silent movie house, the Orpheum was reopened in 1993 by Bay Colony Productions. The theatre company holds performances and hosts special events, films and classes. The facility is also available for meetings and parties with a seating capacity of 427. Call or visit the website for a current event schedule.
Robert Klein Gallery features a variety of fine art photographs by artists ranging from Gustave LeGray to Eadweard Muybridge. Each print was carefully selected to be displayed in the Robert Klein collection and Robert Klein Gallery will not accept any unsolicited submissions. The photographs range from contemporary to the 20th and 19th century.
Located in the Piano Craft Building, Color Circle Art is the studio and gallery of Paul Goodnight, a local artist who paints and works with mixed media.
Summer Arts at Derby is an arts program for children with hundreds of classes and programs for them to choose from. Art, writing, visual arts, media, dance and drama, musical dance, show tunes, improv, film studio, music production, Shakespeare workshops, gymnastics, animation, guitar, acrylics and painting are all offered here. Derby also offers sports options such as soccer, basketball and cheerleading, and fun/cerebral activities like chess club, newspaper, cooking and magic.
Located in the Boston Center for the Arts building, the Speakeasy Stage Company produces and stages plays at the nearby Calderwood Pavillion, right on Restaurant Row in the South End. In the past few years, they've staged productions of The History Boys, Adding Machine: A musical and Bat Boy. This stage company has been nominated for and won a number of Elliot Norton and Irne Awards.
Located in the South End, the Boston Sculptors Gallery offers patrons a variety of sculpture exhibits, hosting two solo shows each month showcasing a rotation of 34 local artists. A portfolio of past shows held at this cooperative art gallery is available on its website. Two hours of free, validated parking is available in the lot behind the gallery.
The world-famous and utterly majestic First Church of Christ, Scientist was built in 1894 by the original Christian Science congregation (led then by the denomination's founder, Mary Baker Eddy) and expanded in 1910. Its stunningly beautiful chapel incorporates Byzantine and Roman architectural elements and houses the 8th largest pipe organ in the United States (with more than 13,000 individual pipes). Guided tours are available five days a week. A tour lasts about 25 minutes and is free.
Since 1967, Sharon Community Chorus has offered a performance opportunities to male and female singers in and around the community who are interested in singing holiday songs and pop music. Sharon Community Chorus is directed by Brett Hinkel, with accompaniment provided by Ed Barresi.
Dynasty International Models and Talent Agency is the foremost modeling agency in Boston, with satellite locations in New York City and Miami Beach. It represents a wide range of ages and body types including babies, teenagers, petite and runway models. The company works with advertising, casting and production companies in the media markets of print, television, film and internet. Clients include big names such as Vogue, Coca-Cola, Reebok and GAP. This Back Bay office is inviting and comfortable, with a big leather sofa in the waiting room and many pictures portraying Dynasty's successful models and actors plastering the walls.
The Otis House was built in 1796 for Harrison Gray Otis, who would go on to become congressman from Massachusetts, mayor of Boston and one of the wealthiest Bostonians of the time. A U.S. National Historic Landmark, the house is now a museum, having been restored with careful attention to historical accuracy by the Historic New England organization. Museum visitors learn about the Otis family, life in Boston at the time and the history of the house from its beginning to today. Tours start every half hour and last approximately 45 minutes.
If you're interested in exploring the rich history of Boston's West End neighborhood, visit the West End Museum located just a short walk from the Haymarket and North Station T stops. Founded in 2003, the museum is dedicated to documenting the history of the West End of Boston especially the immigrant era which dates approximately from 1880 to the redevelopment of the area by the government's urban renewal project in 1958. Step inside and the passionate staff will happily guide you through a tour of fascinating personal photographs, objects and documented oral histories. While there is no official gift shop, t-shirts are available for purchase, along with copies of the book "The Last Tenement: Confronting Community and Urban Renewal in Boston's West End." Admission to the museum is free for all.
Commonwealth Shakespeare Company is a nonprofit organization that has produced a William Shakespeare play every year at the Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common since 2005. The performances are free, with the company's mission being to enlighten modern youth to the works of Shakespeare and theater.