Neighborhood Arts

Neighborhood Arts 2026/27

Outstanding performances, free and open to all

A full season of outstanding Boston-based artists, ready to explore: jazz, Latin, vocalists, dance, chamber music, and a 48-cello orchestra!

Free concerts, open to all

Explore Boston-based and Boston-affiliated artists in venues across Boston and Cambridge. Churches, neighborhood performance halls, and other community spaces come alive with jazz, contemporary music, international styles, and classical.

Neighborhood Arts concerts offer an experience that's right for you and your family. Take a break if you need to, sit as close or as far from the speakers and stage as you want, bring the entire family. It's an easy way to share the joys of live performance, without barriers.

And, after the show, connect with artists and with neighbors at a free get-together. Enjoy food and drinks, usually from local restaurants and bakeries.

Check out the season now

Read the full 2026/27 brochure

Locations

Roxbury's Twelfth Baptist Church joins the Neighborhood Arts family this season, hosting classical and popular performances that showcase some of Boston's most original, powerful, and expressive voices.

We return to Cambridge's Multicultural Arts Center and First Church Roxbury, historic home of the UU Urban Ministry. We have a robust schedule at Back Bay's beautiful Arlington Street Church presenting Latin and contemporary music in partnership with Ágora Cultural Architects.

We return to Jamaica Plain's spacious and accessible Bethel AME Church. Roxbury Community College's Media Arts Center hosts an expanded lineup of music and dance, and the Salvation Army Kroc Center hosts young string players and leading professional musicians for one Stringfest concert.

ALL-CEllo Orchestra

Cellos—48 of them!—take center stage for a concert celebrating the 150th birthday of Pablo Casals. The Catalan cellist, composer, and educator revived interest in Bach's cello suites and put them back on performance programs worldwide. He founded the Puerto Rican Symphony Orchestra and the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. In his honor, we're bringing together 48 of Boston's best (and up-for-anything!) cellists for a concert that will change how you hear this expressive instrument.

Dance that tells a story

Modern Connections Collective presents excerpts from four recent works by founder and choreographer Jenny Oliver at Roxbury Community College's Media Arts Center. The program, Four Here or To Go, is rooted in themes of empowerment and resilience.

Flamenco star and Neighborhood Arts must-see artist Nino de los Reyes returns, alongside his wife and fellow dancer Triana Maciel, for PerpetuARTE, a music and dance work that asserts the value of the arts, and the creativity, authenticity, and interdependence of artists and arts lovers.

Stringfest performances

Connecting student performers and working professionals in our Stringfest programs is an important part of Neighborhood Arts. This season, there are wonderful opportunities for in-person mentorship and co-creation experiences for young musicians. These performances are open to all, and you're invited to come and be inspired!

The Borromeo String Quartet returns for their second Stringfest, this one at Cambridge's Multicultural Arts Center, to perform an all-Beethoven program alongside young musicians from Boston String Academy.

Puerto Rican percussionist, educator, and cultural connector Jorge Santiago Arce coaches young strings players through an afternoon of multicultural, multigenerational joy and discovery.

Your Neighborhood Arts experience

What to Expect:

Tickets are not required for these events, but we invite you to sign up for email reminders on our website.  Signing up for reminders doesn’t guarantee your spot: seating opens 30 minutes before each event, and is first come, first served.
Post-event get-togethers: join us after most performances for food, drinks, and conversation!
If you would like to request a disability-related accommodation for a performance, please contact the box office at least two weeks before the event.
Listen your way: most events are amplified, but you can sit as far as you wish from the speakers. If you need to stand up, leave the hall, or take a sensory break from the performance, you’ll be able to return to your seat at a pause in the music.
Help us improve: enter to win tickets to one of our upcoming events when you take a survey at every event to let us know what you loved, and what we can do better!  Follow us on YouTube for video highlights from select shows!

“Thank you to [Vivo Performing Arts] for taking the quality of production so seriously, and having such high standards for a good-looking and- sounding performance, even in this strange online world. It was really special and precious to be together in person making music, and to be able to share it out with so many people!! Thankful to you ALL. ”
Shaw Pong Liu, Neighborhood Arts artist Violin, erhu, Soul Yatra Trio

2026/27 Season

Explore the subscription season, offering 70+ ticketed events to choose from!

Learn more

How can we assist?

Everyone is welcome at all of our performances, especially our free performances in the community through our Neighborhood Arts series. Seating is first come first serve, and all of our venues have the ability to provide Accessible seating. You can also learn more about Accessibility at each venue by visiting our venue pages.

Please fill out the form below to notify our team of any accommodations you'd like to request in advance.

Accessibility in Advance Form

Watch Neighborhood Arts in action!

choral performance video — Freedom Hymn: A New Choral Work by B.E. Boykin on the Words of Phillis Wheatley

Castle of our Skins Wind Quintet, live performance — We Shall Overcome – Brian Raphael Nabors | Castle of our Skins Wind Quintet (Live Excerpt)

Boston Conservatory Faculty Brass Ensemble in performance — Enrique Crespo: Suite Americana No. 1, “Son de México” | Boston Conservatory Faculty Brass Quintet

Boston String Academy musicians in performance — Paul Desenne "La Petite Bande à Schubert" performed by Boston String Academy

Thank you to our supporters!

Vivo Performing Arts is grateful to our 2026/27 Season Sponsors Crescendo Donor Advised Fund and The Thonis Family, and to the many individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies whose generosity supports Arts for All! and help fulfill our mission to present performing artists who inspire and enrich our community.

Individual and institutional supporters include Amy & Joshua Boger, Crescendo Donor Advised Fund, Dr. Joan Helpern Goldberg, Lizbeth & George Krupp, Nancy & Richard Lubin, Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation, Marilyn Miller, Eleanor & Frank Pao, Royal Little Family Foundation, Samuel & Gretchen Shubrooks, Schrafft Charitable Trust, Stifler Family Foundation, Belinda Termeer, Anonymous (2), and many others.

Arts for All! programs are also made possible by support from the LIVE PERFORMANCE! Arts for All Endowment Fund and Amy & Joshua Boger Innovation Fund of Vivo Performing Arts.