Arts

Strand Theatre show celebrates 'Hoops' with modern dance, music

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 20:44:10 +0000

Harriet Gaye, Special to the Reporter

Company One Theatre’s production of ‘Hoops’ by Eliana Pipes opened last Friday (July 12) at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester’s Uphams Corner.

The show, which celebrates the cultural significance of hoop earrings, is based on The Hoops Project by Nicole Acosta and real-life interviews amplifying self-expression in Black, Latinx and Indigenous cultures. Tickets offered with a "pay-as-you-want" option available.

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Arts

Franklin Park Coalition concert series opener draws large, appreciative crowd

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 14:48:11 +0000

Angelena Hightower

Seth Daniel, News Editor

The Franklin Park Coalition kicked off the Elma Lewis Playhouse in the Park concert series last Tuesday (July 9) with the popular Angelena and the Unit entertaining more than 1,000 people who brought lawn chairs and picnic blankets to enjoy the evening.

Along with vendors and food service, the night was full of fun and entertainment as well as socializing with friends and family under cool breezes on a hot evening.

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Arts

BOSTON LIGHTS DAZZLE AT THE ZOO

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 14:57:53 +0000

Seth Daniel, News Editor

The Franklin Park Zoo and Zoo New England brought back the Boston Lights exhibit for the third straight year to the Zoo, opening this past week and staying open through October. The incredibly vibrant lighting exhibits cover the entire 72-acre property and carry the topic of space exploration, nature, and conservation. Among the many highlights include a gigantic replica of the Solar System on the promenade, a massive octopus that visitors can walk under and a drum-operated interactive butterfly exhibit.

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Arts

Jazzfest returns to Dudley Street roots as the Woodards, father and son, play on

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 13:27:18 +0000

Chris Lovett, Special to the Reporter

Editor's Note: The annual Dudley Jazz Fest will be staged at Dorchester's Mary Hannon Park on Sat., July 20 from 12-6 p.m. Performances are planned by Jason Palmer, Jay Hoggard, Nadia Washington, and the Fred Woodard Collective, which includes event organizer Fred Woodard. The Reporter's Chris Lovett wrote about Woodard and the festival in this article from 2022. For more on this year's event, check out @dudleyjazz on Facebook or follow @thedudleyjazzfgestival on Instagram.

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Arts

For Ashmont, a time to party on the block

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 10:00:00 +0000

Seth Daniel

Put together face painting, hot dogs, slush, a few games, add a team of high-flying circus aerialists, then mix in a grill, a beer garden, and plenty of ice cream, and what do you have? An Ashmont Block Party. Put on last Saturday by the Greater Ashmont Main Streets, Ashmont Hill Association, and the Ashmont-Adams Neighborhood Association, the annual block fest drew scores of neighbors to the parking lot of the Parish of All Saints in Peabody Square.

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Ashmont

Franklin Marval’s art puts ‘the focus on the good’

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 14:43:12 +0000

Grace Mayer, Reporter Correspondent

Known for his signature heart designs, the Dorchester-based artist Franklin Marval is showing a collection of his work centered around themes of community and diversity at Boston City Hall through October 15.

“I get inspired by people a lot, people who are doing things not just for themselves, but that are working for others,” said Marval, who works out of the Humphreys Street Studios at Uphams Corner.

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Arts

Her art plumbs the change in what being home means

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 15:09:02 +0000

Daniel Sheehan, Arts and Features Editor

An upcoming show at Kingston Gallery in the South End will feature in its main gallery an exhibition by the artist Susan Greer Emmerson, a Dorchester resident.

“Unraveling,” a solo collection of paintings and sculptures inspired by the changing relationship people have with their home due to factors of climate change and biohazards, will be on display from March 3-March 28, with an opening reception to take place on Fri., March 5 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

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Arts

This year, Boston Calling asks Notez to perform in its festival

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 15:03:54 +0000

Daniel Sheehan, Arts and Features Editor

Last year, local multidimensional artist Cliff Notez played a key role in organizing Boston Answering, a concert hosted at the Strand Theatre designed as a response to Boston Calling and the festival’s omission of Boston-based talent, particularly hip-hop and R&B artists, on its bill.

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Arts

Arts Academy students ‘Respect’ the rich legacy of Aretha Franklin

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 13:20:30 +0000

The Queen of Soul

Daniel Sheehan, Arts and Features Editor

This weekend, students from the Boston Arts Academy will perform their production of “Respect: A Tribute to Aretha Franklin” in a series of three shows – Fri., Jan. 31, at 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Feb. 1, at 2 p.m.; and Sat., Feb. 1, at 7:30 p.m. – at the Roxbury Community College Media Arts Center.
The multidisciplinary show, an original production conceived by BAA students, will feature the work of vocalists, dancers, musicians, visual artists, and costume designers from the high school.

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Arts

Arts center in Fields Corner wins approval

Tue, 28 Jan 2020 16:30:46 +0000

Staff

The Zoning Board of Appeals today approved a plan to use parts of a the upper level of an old movie theater in Fields Corner for dance studios, gallery space and arts classes.

The 5,000-square-foot space in the former Dorchester Theater on Dorchester Avenue at Park Street has been largely vacant since the theater shut down in the 1970s.

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Arts

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Fields Corner

Two Dot artists win ‘Creative City’ grants

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 15:36:11 +0000

Daniel Sheehan, Arts and Features Editor

Two Dorchester women are among the nine local artists that were recently selected as recipients of 2020 Creative City Boston grants, a series of project-specific grants provided by the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA).

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Arts

For Dashawn Borden, his music and his activism go hand in hand

Wed, 20 Nov 2019 14:35:57 +0000

Daniel Sheehan, Arts and Features Editor

Nineteen-year-old Dashawn Borden grew up on Dorchester Avenue, right across the street from the Boys and Girls Club of Dorchester (BGCD), an institution, he says, that has had a major influence on his formation.

The self-described “drummer and activist” relates that his first inspiration was his grandmother, an accomplished pianist who played regularly at Sunday services at Roxbury’s Twelfth Baptist Church.

But it wasn’t until he discovered a music program across the street from his home that Borden’s passion for music really began to take shape.

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Arts

Fred Woodard Collective next up in Dot Jazz Series

Wed, 09 Oct 2019 19:40:51 +0000

Reporter Staff

The second installation of the 2019-2020 Dot Jazz Series, featuring the Fred Woodard Collective, will take place on Thursday (Oct. 10) at All Saints’ Peabody Hall. The guitarist Fred Woodard is a veteran of Boston’s jazz scene as well as the presenter behind the Dudley Jazz Festival. He will be joined by his son Frederick on violin, Melvin Graham on bass, and Matthew Williams on drums. Woodard describes his band’s music as “straight-ahead jazz spiced with R&B.” Tickets cost $15 and will be available for purchase at the door or online at greaterashmont.org/dotjazz.

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Arts

Jazz planned for July 27 at Mary Hannon Park

Mon, 08 Jul 2019 11:07:40 +0000

Staff

The fourth annual Dudley Jazz Festival will take place on July 27, 2019 from 12-6 p.m. at Mary Hannon Park, 613 Dudley St. in Dorchester.

The yearly festival, which was founded by local veteran musician Fred Woodard in 2016, presents some of the area’s top jazz talent in an outdoor, family-friendly setting.

This year’s lineup will include The Fred Woodard Collective, The Lance Martin Trio, Gabrielle Goodman, Salim Washington with special guest Jason Palmer, and The George Russell Trio. All shows are free and open to the public.

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Arts

Dot Jazz Series returns this evening with Mixcla

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 18:18:54 +0000

Daniel Sheehan

In describing the evolution of her musical style, Cuban pianist and vocalist Zahili Gonzalez Zamora compared her journey to that of the protagonist in the popular Paulo Coelho novel, The Alchemist. In the novel, a young Andalusian shepherd embarks on a quest that takes him thousands of miles away in search of a treasure, only to discover that the treasure was buried near his home all along.

“It’s kind of like that, where you go through this whole journey to then come back home to find what you’re looking for,” she explained.

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Ashmont