Dance plus music performances, behind-the-scenes visits, free museum admissions, nature walks, and more

For all this city’s issues and our less-than-reliable public transit system, we sure do have outstanding free events. And Opening Our Doors, which takes place on Monday, Oct. 10 from 10am to 4pm this year, is definitely one of the top annual art and culture parties going, with this year’s setup being especially impressive.

For starters, people will be able to “visit locations throughout the Fenway Cultural District for art exhibitions and activities, cultural experiences, musical and dance performances, and more.” There’s also “free entry to MFA Boston, the Gardner Museum, and the Mass Art Art Museum (MAAM),” plus a main stage on the Christian Science Plaza that “will feature Boston Youth Poet Laureate, Boston Children!s Chorus, Dorchester’s 4Star Dance Studio, the Hip Hop Transformation Project, CircusUP, and more.”

It’s all thanks to the Fenway Alliance, “a consortium of 21 globally renowned cultural and academic institutions located in the Fenway Cultural District,” with a “collective goal to build community and enhance the District, creating a 5-mile area that remains and grows in its uniquely rich and academic and cultural offerings and its beautiful parklands.”

More from the organizers of this “interactive, inclusive, and interdisciplinary” series below … 

Founded in 2001 by Fenway Alliance Executive Director Kelly Brilliant, Opening Our Doors is the largest FREE day of art, culture, and music in Boston. The mission of the Opening Our Doors Festival is to “open doors” to the cultural, artistic, educational, and historic institutions in the Fenway neighborhood. The Opening Our Doors festival brings together Fenway Alliance institutions and community partners in a day of free cultural offerings for the entire family. Alliance institutions and partners host activities ranging from musical and dance performances to historic tours and lectures, special “behind-the-scenes” looks at Alliance institutions, walking tours of The Fenway, and much more. We come together annually as a community to prove that art can and should be participatory. We encourage you to join in the creation of art and to be active as an artist, performer, and audience member.

The day kicks off at 10am at the Christian Science Plaza at 235 Huntington Avenue / Avenue of the Arts overlooking the iconic Reflecting Pool. After our Kick Off ceremony, explore the Fenway and discover art exhibitions and activities, cultural experiences, musical and dance performances, and more! Festival events will be held throughout the Fenway from Massachusetts Historical Society, the Christian Science Plaza and Mary Baker Eddy Library to institutions down Huntington Avenue/Avenue of the Arts with programs at Boston Symphony Orchestra, New England Conservatory, YMCA at Huntington Avenue, Museum of Fine Arts, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, SMFA at Tufts, Simmons University, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and Mass Art Art Museum (MAAM). 

fenwayculture.org/opening-our-doors