Anti-Bullying, 'Growing Up Gay' Themed-Play Re-Opening at BCA

"Reflections of a Rock Lobster," is based on a true story of a gay teenager and his struggles against bullying and intolerance.

Bullied, ridiculed, misunderstood and gay. That was the life of Cumberland, Rhode Island high school student Aaron Fricke. The year is 1980 and as an openly gay high school student, Aaron is subjected daily to violence and rejection--leaving him feeling dejected and with thoughts of suicide.  Rising from his despair, Aaron strikes back by suing his Rhode Island high school for the right to escort his boyfriend to the prom.   By standing up for his personal and civil rights and for refusing to apologize for who he is, Aaron not only wins in court, but he also wins in the hearts and minds of his peers and his community. His strength and ultimate victory help pave the way for legions of gay and lesbian students. That's the true story behind "…

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Last Chance: Hunger Games Opens Friday At IMAX

You may want to order your tickets early as the midnight show is already sold out.

(Hundreds of events are posted on South End Patch each week, but how often does one pass you by that you wish you hadn't missed? Each week South End Patch will give you a quick reminder about an event, an important sign-up, or a looming deadline you won't want to forget.) On Friday, March 23, the movie the Hunger Games, based on the popular young adult sci-fi novel by the same name, opens in the IMAX theater  at the AMC Lowes Boston Common, 175 Tremont St. The screening for the 12:01 a.m. show is already sold out. The next screening is at noon on Friday. And if that's too intense for the young kiddies, take them to a Families Connect event at the Boston Center for The Arts. On Saturday, March 24 from 12:45-1:45 p.m. you can get a peek of …

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Boston Center for the Arts' Director of Programs Leaving

After a year on the job, Kristina Newman-Scott has decided to take a position with the City of Hartford, the center announced Friday.

The following is a press release from the Boston Center for the Arts: The director of programs at the Boston Center for the Arts was appointed as the marketing, events and cultural affairs director of the City of Hartford Friday by Hartford Mayor Pedro E. Segarra. The appointment comes just a year after Kristina Newman-Scott joined the center’s staff. In her year tenure, Newman-Scott redesigned campus programs, increased participation by 20 percent and raised the the center’s profile regionally, nationally and internationally. “I have thoroughly enjoyed working for the BCA, and I appreciate having had this wonderful opportunity to work with the staff and artists on campus,” Newman-Scott said. “I now look forward to this new position that …

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Play Dress Up at BCA's Artist Residency Program

Artist’s ‘Made with Love’ project takes playing dress up to a whole new level.

If you’ve ever enjoyed surprising everyone at a Halloween party, you may want to drop by a playful dress-up event at the Boston Center for the Arts next year. This time, you might surprise yourself. In the BCA’s artist residency program, Stacy Scibelli, a Brooklyn artist, will invite participants to try on at least 300 garments, all handmade by her, in any way and in any combination as they please, as they get photographed. In various shades of blue, green, gray and yellow, each piece is hand sewn with an arm hole here, a neck hole there, all with ambiguous shapes and mysterious intended uses. They can be worn as shirts, pants, scarves, hats, skirts or whatever you can imagine. “You need to figure out and negotiate your way into and out of…

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Photo Gallery: BCA Tree Lighting

Images from the 2011 Macy's Enchanted Trolley Tour and Tree Lighting Saturday outside the Boston Center for the Arts.

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Medicine Wheel Vigil Helps Remind Youth of AIDS Crisis

The annual vigil at the Cyclorama on World AIDS Day entered its 20th year Thursday.

Kurt Reynolds can still vividly remember going to work for the AIDS Action Committee in 1984. “At the time, our residents were dying every six weeks,” said Reynolds, who found housing for people with AIDS. Reynolds remembers living on Appleton Street in the South End, and he remembers seeing no fewer than 20 of his neighbors die from the syndrome. Now Reynolds, a fifty-something artist living in South Boston, is afraid that the horribly destructive nature of the syndrome, so evident during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and early 1990s, is being lost on younger generations. “They don’t have any of the visuals,” he said, “don’t have any of the associations that someone my age would have.” However, Reynolds is hopeful that events such as …

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Interactive Art Installed at BCA Plaza

The two installations are part of Occupy 539, a BCA program exploring ways in which people “congregate and linger” in public spaces.

Two temporary art installations are now on display in the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza as part of Occupy 539, a program run by the BCA to explore ways in which people “congregate and linger” in public spaces. Immediately noticeable from Tremont Street is an arched wooden structure covered with painted Plexiglas panels. Akin to a large-scale painting, visitors can walk through the tunnel-like structure and watch the artwork transform. The piece was created by architects Tim Severo and Andrew Adamopolous in collaboration with artist Matthew Cleary. This year, two installations will occupy space on the Plaza from July through October. Artist Philippe Lejeune designed a sculpture to be used as a stage for public performance. The stage, …

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Emerging Latino Artists Illustrate 'Close Distance' Between Cultures

A new show at the BCA's Mills Gallery reaches for conceptual highs.

Furthering the notion that visual art transcends cultural and linguistic barriers, “Close Distance” at the Mills Gallery covers an immense terrain of universally applicable topics despite the show’s Latin origins. Practicing across “diverse media and national borders,” the show features work from a half-dozen emerging Boston-area Latino artists via paint, video/film, installations, performance and more. “Close Distance” opened on July 15 and runs through August 28 with a Families Connect Workshop on July 31, a joint artist/curator talk on August 3 and a special performance piece on August 17. All aspects of the show are free and open to the public. Curator Liz Munsell described the artists involved as “long-established and notable members …

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Video: Craftboston Holiday 2010

Boston Center for the Arts welcomes 90 of the most innovative artists of our time to annual holiday event.

Not your typical arts and crafts show, Craftboston, presented by the Boston Center for the Arts in the South End's Cyclorama building, welcomed 90 exhibitors working in all different mediums for its holiday show.   The event was held Dec. 10-12 expecting nearly 8,000 visitors. The spring show is scheduled to be held on the Boston Waterfront this March.  Click here for more information.

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