By donating to the Fenway Alliance, you are investing in the Fenway community, environment and supporting free cultural programming & initiatives
Monday,
October 12, 2026
10AM - 5PM
Suggested Itinerary
Order of events, broken into subcategories to maximize your day.
Plan Your Day
Restaurant recommendations & public transportation info.
Sponsors
We thank our sponsors for making this festival possible!
Welcome to the schedule of events for the 25th annual Opening Our Doors Day, a celebration of the Fenway Cultural District!
There are programs throughout the Fenway Cultural District including art exhibits, performances, nature and historical walks, art activities, open houses and more - please see our list of locations and program information below. Please check out our printable schedule and site listings (coming soon!) for more details!
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NOTE: Some programs will require advance registration. Most, however, are free and open to the public without advance registration!​
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Opening Our Doors Kick Off Celebration is graciously hosted by Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras at 235 Huntington Avenue on The Christian Science Plaza. See more information about the OOD Kick Off below.
OOD 2026 Kick Off Celebration
10:00am -11:15am
BYSO, Youth Center For Music
235 Huntington Avenue
Join us as we kick-off this year’s Opening Our Doors:
Welcome and speaking program with elected officials and representatives from Mass Cultural Council and City of Boston. Performances by: Boston Children’s Chorus; New England Conservatory Prep’s Honors Woodwind Quintet; Handel + Haydn Society Ambassador Ensemble; Northeastern University's Eon Dance Troupe and the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras Honors Brass Quintet.
We are delighted to welcome Boston's Youth Poet Laureate Ailin Sha to the Kick Off Celebration.
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Join us! All are welcome!
Meet Boston Youth Poet Laureate Ailin Sha
Ailin Sha is a current sophomore at Harvard University, where she studies English and Economics with a minor in Film. She is an accomplished writer whose honors include being named the 2024 Massachusetts State Champion of the Poetry Out Loud competition, as well as receiving State Gold Keys and a National Silver Medal from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. In addition to her work as a poet, Sha is a skilled musician and deeply involved in her local community. For seven years, she played the violin with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, performed in her high school orchestra, and spearheaded monthly performances at Mount Pleasant Home in Jamaica Plain for senior residents—experiences that strengthened her belief in the power of art to connect people across generations and backgrounds.
Click here to learn more about Ailin Sha and her work!
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MassArt Art Museum (MAAM) ​​​​
Join MAAM and our neighboring cultural institutions for a free day of fun in the Fenway during this year’s 25th annual Opening Our Doors! At MAAM, explore our current exhibitions and get creative in the Barkan Family Big Ideas Studio with hands-on artmaking for all ages.
621 Huntington Avenue
11:00am – 5:00pm
Visit MAAM for Further Details
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Massachusetts Historical Society
Come celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day at the Massachusetts Historical Society! Join us for a day of activities and discussions inspired by the Indigenous philosophy of Seven Generations, exploring themes of community and interconnectedness between past, present, and future.
12:00pm – 4:00pm
1154 Boylston Street
Visit Massachusetts Historical Society for Further Details​
MassArt Aluminum Pour
Under the guidance of MassArt 3D Arts faculty Marjee-Anne Levine and current MassArt students, participants carve their own design into a “scratch block” and watch as the design is cast in metal. Aluminum will be melted on site and poured into the scratch blocks created by each participant. Within minutes the metal will solidify and be cooled and finished by the MassArt team. Each participant will walk away with their own custom-cast aluminum art.
11:30am - 2:00pm
621 Huntington Ave at the MassArt Art Museum Plaza
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Join us to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day at the MFA with free admission for all Massachusetts residents. Enjoy gallery tours, engaging family art-making activities, and more! Indigenous Peoples’ Day recognizes and honors the heritage of Native Americans and Indigenous peoples and the histories of their many nations and communities.
10:00am – 5:00pm
465 Huntington Avenue
Visit MFA Boston for Further Details​
Christian Science Plaza –
The First Church of Christ, Scientist
Come by the Christian Science Publishing House building for free admission to the How Do You See the World? experience + MappariumTM globe, free guided tours of The Mother Church and Sunday School, and two free organ concerts in The Mother Church Extension–one especially for kids. Be sure to pick up a “passport” and have it stamped at each event location!
210 Massachusetts Avenue
9:40am – 5:00pm
Visit Christian Science for Further Details
The Huntington Theatre
All are welcome at the Huntington Theatre for a free, community open house on Monday, Oct 12! Take a self-guided tour of the theatre (with a sneak peek at the set for Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird), try on hats and costume pieces in our kid-friendly costume corner, make your own art at our coloring station, and enjoy some complimentary coffee in our lobby spaces.
11:00am – 2:00pm
264 Huntington Avenue
Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra
Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (BYSO) is proud to open its doors to the BYSO Youth Center for Music, as part of the annual Opening Our Doors event hosted by the Fenway Alliance. On this day guests will be offered tours, student performances, instrument demonstrations, arts and craft activities, and more!
1:00pm – 3:00pm
235 Huntington Avenue
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
This year, we’re centering the histories and stories of the native plants in and around the Museum, allowing us to acknowledge the indigenous soil from which they grow, as well as the original and current stewards of this land. We're honored to collaborate with: Hawk Henries of the Chaubunagungamaug band of Nipmuck; Malissa Costa (Mashpee Wampanoag) with the Plimoth Patuxet Museum; and Danielle Alonso (Apache), also with the Plimoth Patuxet Museum.
25 Evans Way
12:00pm – 4:00pm
Berklee College of Music
12:00pm – 5:00pm
SIDE Presents is gathering visitors on the ancestral homeland of the Massachusett people, whose descendants, the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag, still steward this land today. To honor this truth with care, we're opening 'The Story Bar', where you can create your own personal journal, with prompts on memory, home, ancestry, and belonging. Think of it as a home for the stories you want to carry forward. Stay for live performances by Orlando Dixon, Keeme Tajudeen, Aniye Music, Brooklynn, and Lourde Childs. Bring the people you love, and save room for SIDER and donuts.
Haviland Street Patio
7 Haviland Street
The Mother Church Reading Room
Come by the The Mother Church Extension of The First Church of Christ, Scientist for two free organ concerts–one especially for kids. Be sure to pick up a “passport” and have it stamped at each event location! Stick around for two Mother Church Reading Room storytimes, one in English followed by another in Spanish.
11:30am – 3:00pm
194 Massachusetts Avenue
Visit The Mother Church Reading Room for Further Details​
YMCA Huntington Avenue
316 Huntington Avenue
Further Details Coming Soon
Join us to celebrate 175 years of the YMCA's impact in Boston! Visitors can experience the breadth of the Y—from the swimming pool, gymnasium and updated basketball court to group exercise, personal training, youth and teen programs, and many more; a special highlight of the day will be the Northeastern University Madrigal Singers performing at 12:00 PM in the Atrium.
Trustman Gallery at Simmons University
The Trustman Art Gallery Presents, "I’m here If you need me", a solo exhibition by Kate Holcomb Hale. Hale’s sculptural work tells a story of bodies and caretaking. "I’m here If you need me" is not just an exhibition title, but a phrase of care and love. It reflects how we extend ourselves to take care of our loved ones, as well as the eventual grief that comes after losing the people we love.
12:00pm – 4:00pm
300 The Fenway, 4th Floor
Tufts University Art Galleries at SMFA at Tufts
SMFA at Tufts, 230 Fenway, Boston
11:00am – 5:00pm
Collaboratively curated by SMFA alumni and former faculty, Looking Back takes an episodic approach to the art school’s past—focusing on rumor and lore as the powerful tools in crafting a community. In doing so, we offer a polyvocal and admittedly incomplete snapshot of a century and a half of artmaking and education in Boston—told through the archives, first-person narratives, and a collage of fragmented memories to create an authentic portrait of a properly messy and wonderfully creative institution.
Kaji Aso Studio
Kaji Aso, the studio’s founder, will host a Special Display of works and ceramic sale from 11:00am to 4:00pm. At both 1:00pm and 2:00pm, there will be musical performances with mezzo-soprano Chihiro Asano. Come enjoy music in a gallery setting, and register by emailing administrator@kajiasostudio.com
11:00am – 4:00pm
40 Saint Stephen Street
New Edgerly Plaza
Join us on the New Edgerly Plaza for an interactive community art activation, brought to you by *junkyard! Anybody is welcome to decorate a small “tile,” which will collectively form a beautiful door shaped mosaic. Following the theme of “Opening Our Doors,” there will be a central, door themed stage upon which artists will perform “in the round.” Through bridging our performers with the audience, we hope to create a community in which everyone feels connected and inspired.
East Fenway, Across from Whole Foods
12:00pm – 5:00pm
Emerald Necklace Conservancy
Visitors will be able to view our recently updated exhibits on the history of the Emerald Necklace—including information about the exciting construction underway at Charlesgate, which will reconnect the Emerald Necklace to the Esplanade and Commonwealth Avenue. We'll also have Emerald Necklace-themed coloring pages and materials for the whole family to enjoy! Feel free to use our public restroom as you travel through the Fenway.
10:00am – 4:00pm
125 The Fenway