NOTE: All adult classes have been suspended until further notice.
Find a Class
Join us throughout the year for artisans’ talks, hands-on family workshops, faculty exhibitions, and more.
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Teen Bridge/Artist-in-Residence Opening Reception
Friday, August 6 at the Piano Craft Gallery
6:00 - 8:00 pm: Join us for the reception
7:00 pm: Gallery Talk with Chanel Thervil and Teen Bridge students
Join us to celebrate the culmination of the Chanel Thervil artist residency, with an opening reception for "Feel the Flow" on view at the Piano Craft Gallery, August 6 - 29. The show features work created by our Teen Bridge students and inspired by the residency. Come for exciting new youth art, good conversation, and light refreshments. Admission is free, but please register so we will know you are coming. This is an excellent opportunity for friends and supporters of the Teen Bridge and Artist-in-Resident programs to see the latest creations from this dynamic group of young adults.
Haitian American artist and educator Chanel Thervil will be our 2021 resident artist. Her project, Feel the Flow, will guide teen fellows on an investigation of the body as a vessel in three parts. Feel the Flow will first explore adornment—how we decorate our vessels with a focus on Aesthetics/Appearance; then Movement—how our vessels move with an emphasis on the mechanics of the body and how we move through the world; and finally Resilience—how we feel inside our vessels with a focus on how internal feelings correlate with the external. Each week, she will explore the themes via drawing, collage, and fibers. The residency will culminate with the creation of mixed media banners that represent each of the teen fellows.
Teen Bridge and Artist-in-Residence programs are generously supported by: BPS Arts Expansion Fund EdVestors, The Linde Family Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Joe Kalt & Judy Gans Family Foundation, Maureen and David Moses Family, City of Boston Department of Youth Engagement & Employment, and Boston Private Industry Council.
Summer Concerts LIVE in the Schoolyard
Sundays at 4 pm, June 6 - September 26 @ the Eliot Schoolyard
RSVP FOR A SUNDAY AFTERNOON HERE
The Eliot Schoolyard Concert Series presents 15 outdoor concerts in the schoolyard, from June 6 through September 26, 2021 (excluding holiday weekends). Come hear a rich selection of Boston's incredible musicians, from jazz to hip hop, harp to steel drum, presented by three local music curators: Hoopla Productions, Oompa/The Record Co., and Brian Friedland.
Enjoy live music, outdoors in a creative, vibrant space. Concertgoers must bring their own seating, and any state and city public health guidelines will be enforced. No dogs, please. The concerts are FREE; your suggested donation of $10 will help cover the costs. Registration is required.
The series is presented by the Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts, which inspires lifelong learning in craft and creativity for all, both in Boston’s schools and community centers and at its Jamaica Plain schoolhouse. The concerts are a departure for the Eliot School, which ordinarily focuses on craft and visual arts. Executive Director Abigail Norman says, “Live music outdoors brings people together in ways that transcend the troubles of the moment. We are proud to make this joy available after a year of such intense isolation.”
The series’ lead sponsors are Ken Sazama Real Estate and Kevin Cradock Builders, two community-minded local companies. Additional sponsors are Polkadog Bakery and East Boston Savings Bank.
SCHEDULE:
June 6: Man on Land (jazz trio, album premiere)
Jazz trio Brian Friedland (keyboard), Greg Loughman (bass), Austin McMahon (drums) celebrate the release of their new album, "Songs of Hope," a collectively produced suite composed “in hopes of a more just and equitable world.”
June 13: Notebook P / Miranda Rae ('R&B Artist of the Year' 2020!)
Singer/songwriter Notebook P has been nominated for Boston Music Awards’ ‘R&B Artist of the Year,” an honor Miranda Rae won in 2020. Notebook P’s catalog includes the EP, “I Made This, For You”, with producer Humbeats, debuting with The Museum TV’s newest performance platform, “The Window Seat.” Miranda Rae debuted her “Excuse My Baggage” EP in 2019. “Thinkin Bout You” became the top single from the project, and dubbed a classic.
June 20: The Thaddeus Hogarth/John Baboian Duo (American Songbook, jazz & R&B and blues chromatic harmonica & guitar)
Thaddeus Hogarth and John Baboian delight with a selection of American songbook standards and original jazz, R&B and blues: Baboian on guitar/vocals and Hogarth on chromatic harmonica/vocals. Both teach at Berklee College of Music, and it’s a rare treat to hear them perform together.
June 27: Charles Overton & Brian Friedland (jazz harp & piano)
Charles Overton has broken ground by bringing harp to jazz. He’s played at Tanglewood, the Berlin Philharmonic and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, and was the first harpist at Berklee’s Global Jazz Institute, where he studied with Terri-Lynn Carrington and Danilo Perez. He’s joined by composer Brian Friedland on piano.
July 11: 40 Million Feet (Nepalese sarangi & acoustic guitar)
On a sunny day in October 2017, Shyam Nepali was walking along the Charles River and noticed Charlie Giargiari playing guitar on a bench by a waterfall. Shyam quickly ran home and got his Nepalese sarangi for an impromptu improvisational jam. And so began 40 Million Feet. 40 Million Feet is the approximate distance from Boston to Kathmandu, Nepal. NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts said, “The blend between the unlikely pair of instruments is something magical, effortlessly capturing the essence of two different music worlds.”
July 18: Eduardo Project (Grammy Award-winning Venezuelan fusion)
Considered “one of the iconic harpists of this new age,” Eduardo Betancourt is a Grammy-award winning Venezuelan composer and multi-instrumentalist with 30 years of experience in traditional and fusion Venezuelan music. Nominated at the Pepsi Music Awards for “Best Artist,” “Best Song,” and “Best Album,” he has recorded with renowned international artists such as: Simon Diaz, Oscar D León, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Danny Rivera, Luis Salinas, Jorge Celedón, and others. He's joined here by Kevin Guerrero and Ali Tovar on bass.
July 25: Josh Rosen, Giuseppe Paradiso & Brian Friedland (jazz: 2 keyboards + percussion)
Three jazz musicians known for their improvisation and composing combine two keyboards and polyrhthmic percussion. It's a rare moment to hear two keyboards tangle and twist together under the hands of world-travelled masters, Brian Friedland and Josh Rosen, embroidered by Giuseppi Paradiso on drums.
August 1: DJ WhySham (Your Community DJ)
2x ‘DJ of The Year’ Boston Music Awards nominee, DJ WhySham is an activist, and an on-air personality for SparkFMOnline Radio. Her background in criminal justice and community outreach has led her to merge her artistry as a DJ with efforts for positive changes in Boston's disenfranchised communities. She believes in bringing music, hardship, and pain together while creating a release for collective trauma.
August 8: Tempo Rhythm & Steel (Afro-Caribbean percussion)
Tempo Rhythm & Steel brings together percussionists from Trinidad and Tobago, playing Afro-Caribbean Afro rhythms with spoken words and messages of peace and unity, using handmade indigenous instruments from Africa, Asia, Trinidad and anything that can create a sound.
August 15: David Eure & Brian Friedland (jazz violin & piano)
Composer/pianist Brian Friedland joins virtuoso violinist David Eure. Eure brings high energy and joy as he bridges classical, jazz, African, and Latin American cultural roots. He has performed with jazz greats Yusef Lateef, Wayne Newton, Yasko Kubota, Cecil McBee, George Russell, Jr. and many others.
JP PORCHFEST CLOSING EVENT
August 22: Alec Hutson / Naomi Westwater (soul/funk/folk/indie/pop vocals and more)
Two songwriters take the stage. Alec Hutson's songs have been called “warm” and “richly devastating.” Naomi Westwater’s have are “striking, eclectic, beautiful, and unlike what you may have heard before” – “packed to capacity with emotion, power, and soul.” This is the closing event for a weekend of music, JP Porchfest, produced by Dunamis Boston. Check their schedule for music all weekend at the Eliot Schoolyard and elsewhere.
August 29: Miranda Rae & Shane Dylan (R&B/hip hop vocals & keys)
Miranda Rae wowed us earlier this summer with her powerful, rich voice and soulful take on R&B classics. She’s joined here by Shane Dylan, known in Boston’s indie music scene for his keyboard grooves and lyrics that balance emotions with the artist’s struggle for integrity.
September 12: Household Items / Olson Pingrey Duo (multi-genre comedic music / jazz sax & trombone)
Household Items is an ever-expanding collection of music that examines the realities of everyday life. Literally. It’s a joyous comedy of lyrics from tea labels, snack packages, and instruction manuals, expressed through eclectic musical styles, from Irish jigs to Gospel anthems. Kathy Olson (baritone sax) and Randy Pingrey (trombone) follow with a mix of originals and inventive arrangements of jazz standards.
September 19: Dzidzor / Prateek (Ghanaian & American folk & blues)
Performance poet Dzidzor says, “I think of myself as a storyteller whose responsibility is to alarm the power/abundance we have in the midst of our own bodies.” Her poetry is a form of music rife with rhythm and emotion. Prateek’s “elegant songcraft and luminous voice capture the ear and heart.” (Boston Globe)
September 26: Tarciso Alves (Brazilian folk from Pernambuco)
Singer/songwriter Tarciso Alves specializes in Forró, a Northeastern Brazilian folk genre. He grew up in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, steeped in the region's traditions of music, folk dancing, and spoken-word poetry.
Past Events, Exhibitions & Talks
Spring Social 2021
Thursday, May 13, 2021, 7pm
Join us via Zoom to usher in the spring and new beginnings together. Celebrate with us as members of the Eliot School community share their creative spaces and their stories. We'll chat with some members of the community that make the Eliot School possible. Come enjoy a toast, art-making, and a few other surprises. See our signature drinks and more here.
Give a generous donation during your registration and receive a gift bag or a tote bag containing fun surprises for the social. Make your donation by Sunday at 5pm to be able to receive a gift box.
$50 or more and receive a gift bag with fun surprises inside
$125 or more and receive a tote bag especially designed by one of our Eliot School teaching artists with fun surprises inside.
The Spring Social is sponsored by Melony Swasey with Unlimited Sotheby's International Realty.
"Bold BOOM Universe" Artist Talk
Wednesday, April 28, 7pm
Jerel Dye • LJ-Baptiste • Zahirah Nur Truth • Cagen Luse
Three escape artists bring us closer to reality with an exhibition of bold works on paper, through diverse representative storytelling, concept art, comics, and illustration. Jerel Dye, LJ-Baptiste, and Zahirah Nur Truth create alternate universes that overlap with our own. “Bold BOOM Universe” highlights the vision and voices of Boston artists who are also faculty for the Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts. The three art educators bring the craft of comics and self-expression to curious minds, children and adults, with passion and purpose. The exhibition runs from April 2 through May 2 at Galatea Fine Art, in Boston’s SOWA District. On Wednesday, April 28, 7 pm, as part of Boston Design Week, moderator Cagen Luse will moderate an artist talk as part of the Eliot School Salon Series.
The confines of COVID have caused most of us long to expand our limited spaces. Experience three artists who habitually explore new worlds. Think intricately imagined, biomorphic machines floating above speculative landscapes; or the everyday adventures of a precocious black preteen living in a fictional Massachusetts town; or zombies and monsters inspired by the macabre “Lovecraft Country.” With fast, furious, expressive lines and action, their works draw upon the excitement children take in populating alternative worlds with half-human creatures and spaceships—evoking the sound effects: Wow! Oooo! Boom!
Join the conversation! Bold BOOM Universe graphic image by LJ-Baptiste.
The "Bold BOOM Universe" Artist Talk is an Eliot School Salon. It is hosted by the Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts, generously sponsored by Melony Swasey with Unlimited Sotheby's International Reality and presented in collaboration with Boston Design Week.
Talking to Kids About Race, Justice, and Their Power Using Art
Wednesday, March 24, 2021, 7pm
Join the Eliot School Salon Series for a compelling and nuanced conversation about “Talking to Kids About Race, Justice, and Their Power Using Art” with Tanya Nixon-Silberg, Founder of Little Uprisings and co-founder of Wee the People, as well as Zahirah Nur Truth, ZNT ARTS Teaching Artist and Arts Education Consultant. The conversation will be moderated by Alison Croney Moses, Program Director, The Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts. Finally, respondent Innosanto Nagara, activist, graphic designer, author and founder of Design Action Collective, will then set the scene for an open audience Q&A.
In this moment, locally and across the globe, people have awakened to racial injustice and the damage it’s doing to our society, especially following the violence in our nation’s capital. Parents, teachers, and others invested in shaping our children’s futures—all are looking for resources, answers, and direction for how we support our kids as they navigate this world. What do kids need? What do adults need in this moment? And for the people who are actively doing this work to dismantle systems of oppression, where can they find joy in their work? How do they/we cultivate a culture of celebration and rejuvenation in the process?
Our conversation amplifies the voices of two educators who are actively engaging with young people and the adults who help mold them. How do we get folks to think about preparing our young people while helping to transform the culture and the systems that they participate in to be more nurturing and affirming? Young people are talking, they're sharing their experiences about their identities, about their interpretation of what's happening around them. How do we as adults really listen?
“Talking to Kids About Race, Justice, and Their Power Using Art” is hosted by the Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts, in Partnership with Aspire Institute-Boston University and Wheelock College. The Eliot School Salon Series is sponsored by Melony Swasey with Unlimited Sotheby’s International Realty.
Join the conversation!
This event is FREE but you must register to attend.
Eliot School Salon Series: A Conversation with Executive Director Abigail Norman and Director Alison Croney Moses
Wednesday, January 27, 2021, 7pm
Join Eliot School Executive Director Abigail Norman and School and Community Partnerships Director Alison Croney-Moses for another executive discussion in our Salon Series. Abigail and Alison will give another update on what we are up to now. They will share exciting news about our programs and give some behind the scenes insight into our future plans. This event is FREE but you must register to attend.
InterGeneration AIR 2020 Showcase
Thursday, December 3, 7pm
Join us for a preview of InterGeneration, the documentary-in-progress that began in our 2020 Artist In Residence Teen Bridge Program with artist/filmmaker, Carolyn Shadid Lewis. Beginning with an ancient Wampanoag myth that accounts for our Boston landscape, a group of Boston teens and elders take the viewer on a personal journey through the city’s colonial past and inequitable present. From the perspective of mostly indigenous, immigrant, and black community leaders, artists, activists, educators and public health workers, InterGeneration processes our current moment through storytelling, letter writing and animation. Armed with their home devices, the teens create magical worlds from the elders’ stories with drawing, paper cut-outs, found objects, and their own bodies revealing universal experiences of anxiety, loss, and hope during a global pandemic and a national struggle for racial justice.
InterGeneration was generously supported by the Joe Kalt & Judy Gans Family Foundation, Linde Family Foundation, Maureen and David Moses Family, National Endowment for the Arts, New World Foundation, Plymouth Rock Foundation and general support from Mass Cultural Council.
This project is also supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov
Meanwhile, if you missed Teen Bridge's end-of-year celebration this past June, you can watch the recording here.
Eliot School Salon Series: A Conversation with Executive Director Abigail Norman
Wednesday, September 16, 2020, 7pm
Join Eliot School Executive Director Abigail Norman for the first discussion in our new salon series. Abigail will give an update on what’s been going on at the school since the pandemic and what we are up to now. She’ll share exciting news about our programs and give some behind the scenes insight into our future plans. This event is FREE but you must register to attend.
ARTISTS’ TALK:
Whose Standards? Racial Equity In Craft & Design, Part 1 & 2
Part 1: Thursday, October 8, 7pm
Alison Croney Moses • Matthew Shenoda
Namita Gupta Wiggers • Michelle Millar Fisher • Paul Sacaridiz
Part 2: Wednesday, October 14, 7pm
Anthony Romero • Jabari Peddie • Polly Carpenter • Alison Croney Moses • Steph Foster • Isaac Madera-Cepeda
Leaders in craft & design joined us for a robust conversation about moving our field toward racial equity. As white society wakes up to racial injustice, leaders in craft and design struggle with their own racial reckoning. We must pause and ask ourselves: Whose standards are we working within and towards? How must they be disrupted and dismantled to truly move forward racial equity? How can we be honest about the historic exclusion of people of color, and specifically black people, from all aspects of the field? What do we need to embrace, give up, and change, in order to gain true anti-racist transformation within craft and design?
The "Whose Standards? Racial Equity in Craft and Design" series is an Eliot School Salon. It is hosted by the Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts, generously supported by Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and presented in collaboration with Boston Design Week.
Jazz LIVE in the Schoolyard
Friedland & Friends Jazz Series
Sunday, October 25, 2020, 4pm
Jazz pianist Brian Friedland misses making music with his friends and playing for audiences, so he created a series to address both those holes in his life. He hopes you will enjoy the beautiful composed and improvised music he will make with some of the musicians he greatly admires and is excited to play with again. Tickets are free, but Friedland encourages you to make a donation to the Eliot School and support this cherished neighborhood arts center in these most difficult times.
It probably goes without saying, but please bring and wear your mask and keep your distance from other concert goers. Bring chairs if you don't want to sit on the ground.
Hands-on Events
Yoga & Taekwando in the Schoolyard
At Eliot Schoolyard, 24 Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain
While the weather is warm, our schoolyard is hosting classes for adults with JP Centre Yoga and for children with JP Taekwando. You can sign up for yoga here and taekwando here. Advance registration is required.