The whole time I spent compiling this edition of The Drop, I was plagued by one question: What ties these activities together, apart from their temporal bond to the month of May? The answer, by and large, is nothing. Here represents a slate of activities that encourages you to do what you may. Spring has unambiguously arrived, after all, and you can’t be faulted for tacking left to enjoy sun and manicured lawns when those opportunities present themselves.
This is a month of series. There’s art exploring motherhood and the feeling of belonging. Film festivals encourage us to engage with the Jewish experience and the cultural pull of Boston as New England’s crown jewel. Music, too, abounds. Now, whether or not you can freeze time is none of my business. But if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say that you can’t, and these concerts are not extending for weeks on end. However, there are no shortage of engagements — so whether it’s a late night with a few talented DJs or sitting in for a jazz combo set, there’s no doubt you can make something work for you this month.
Independent Film Festival Boston 2023
Ends May 3
Times and locations vary
General admission $15 | IFF members $12 | Students $14 | Members of WGBH, WBUR, Coolidge Corner Theatre and Brattle Theatre $14
IFF Boston wraps up on May 3, but those final days feature no shortage of features and shorts films to discover. Split between Somerville Theatre and Crystal Ballroom, Coolidge Corner Theatre and Brattle Theatre, the end highlights include "BlackBerry," in which Glenn Howerton and Jay Baruchel chronicle the rise and fall of the ubiquitous mobile device; "Kokomo City," a documentary sharing the stories of four trans sex workers in Atlanta and New York; and "Quahoggers: Rhode Island’s Iconic Shell-fishermen," a short about those digging the clams by hand.
'Points of Return'
Opens May 1
The Umbrella Arts Center
40 Stow St., Concord
Free with registration
Perhaps you’re already familiar with "Points of Return," the virtual-yet-international exhibit that brought together 25 artists from the world over to share their creative responses to the deepening climate crisis. If you aren’t yet familiar with it, now you can be.
As the name suggests, Points of Return’s main artistic statement is that there is time yet — time to carve out a path to sustainability, time to stem the environmental bleeding, and time to have hope about the future.
Now, A La Luz — which presents "Points" in its digital format — has partnered with The Umbrella Arts Center in Concord to bring the exhibit to the physical world. The exhibition runs until late June. Throughout its stay, viewers can (freely) register for talks, tours, soundbaths and a film screening.
'Revelations' for Everyone: A free community dance workshop with Alvin Ailey
Wednesday, May 3, 7 p.m.
The Salvation Army Kroc Center
650 Dudley St., Dorchester
Free
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to Boston with performances from May 4-7, courtesy of the Celebrity Series of Boston.
This time, however, the movement isn’t restricted to the dancers on stage, it's for everyone. Three Alvin Ailey company dancers — Yannick Lebrun, Khalia Campbell and Courtney Celeste Spears — are going to be leading a community dance workshop that involves step work from "Revelations" and "Night Creatures."
Chris Wiggins and Matthew L. Jones: 'How Data Happened'
Wednesday, May 3, 6 p.m.
Harvard Science Center
Hall C, 1 Oxford St., Cambridge
Free; $32 with purchase of book
During his days as a bureaucrat, my best friend and longtime roommate would often sing “If corporations are people, then people are data.” I don’t think he’s wrong. But how exactly did it get that way?
Chris Wiggins, associate professor of applied math at Columbia University, and Matthew L. Jones, history professor also at Columbia, pull up to Harvard Bookstore this month figure that out in a discussion of their new book "How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms."
Opening reception Thursday, May 4, 6-8 p.m.
On view through June 28
Gallery Tempo at Jameson & Thompson
18 Bartlett Square, Jamaica Plain
Free
Gallery Tempo is following up last year's inaugural "Raw Emotion" exhibit with a multidimensional look at motherhood featuring 48 artists drawing on interdisciplinary media to capture the universal — but intensely unique — social relationship that is motherhood. Whether the artist is a mother themselves, or the child of a mother, or if the relationship is good or bad, here’s a moment to meditate on one of the most fundamental and complex human relationships.
Social Studies Meets House of Diggs, with Dee Diggs and Kilopatrah Jones
Friday, May 5, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Lower Level
55 Bishop Allen Dr., Cambridge
Early bird $15 | General admission $22.85 (includes $2.85 fee)
Artists are busy, and there's an argument to be made that the better you get at your craft, the more gigs you book, and the busier you get. Such is the case, at least, with these DJ-ing powerhouses. Social Studies first linked up with Dee Diggs and Kilopatrah Jones a year and a half ago. By all accounts, it was a good night that ended with a "We should all do this again sometime" vibe. But that is much easier said than done. Dee has been busy crossing the globe on tour, and Kilo has been building up a following in New York. This month, though, everyone is back and will converge in Cambridge for a night of the finest house curation.
Charles Yuen: 'Rhyming the Invisible'
Friday, May 5, 5-8 p.m. (opening reception with the artist)
Saturday, May 6, 1-2 p.m. (artist talk with John Yau)
On view through May 28
LaiSun Keane, SoWa Art + Design District
460C Harrison Ave C8A, Boston
Free
Hawaiian-born, Brooklyn-based, Japanese-Chinese artist Charles Yuen embraces the hyphen in his first Boston solo exhibition at LaiSun Keane. The themes of longing and belonging — feelings the varied-background artists knows well — run through "Rhyming the Invisible." As poet and critic John Yau writes in the show's overview essay, the paintings in this clutch are invitations for the viewer to make sense of paintings that can best be described as unambiguously straightforward. Whether we're looking at disembodied arms reaching toward an inverted Babel, or the juggler who — despite their facelessness — somehow projects and optimism, we the viewers (or buyers!) come together in the act of interpretation.
Lilac tours
Tours available May 6-11
Times vary
Arnold Arboretum
Meadow Road at Bussey Hill Road, Boston
Free with reservation
The Birding 101 Tour was originally going to be included in this guide, but everyone has apparently already heard about it because it's totally booked up and only accepting reservations on a waitlist basis. But if you still wanted to hit the arboretum for a dose of that sweet vitamin D, you have recourse to the lilac tours largely taking place during the second week of the month. The 45-minute walk reacquaints you with the blossoming arboretum, providing not just visual stimulation, but olfactory stimulation as well.
Patricia Zárate Pérez Quintet
Saturday, May 6, 3 p.m.
Recording available to stream on May 18
Arlington Street Church
351 Boylston St., Boston
Free
In 1999, Chilean saxophonist Patricia Zárate Pérez graduated from Berklee as part of their inaugural cohort of music therapists. Two decades later, she released "Violetas," featuring her quintet leadership ahead of a combo featuring Lucia Pulido (voice), Danilo Perez (piano), Ben Street (bass) and Adam Cruz (drums). As you may guess by the inclusion of a vocalist in the quintet, the set can be described as “lyrical” and occasionally haunting. Three years after "Violetas" release, professor Pérez brings her band to Arlington Street Church for a performance of the album.
New England Conservatory's Contemporary Musical Arts Spring Festival
Sunday, May 7, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Eben Jordan Ensemble Room
255 St. Botolph St., Boston
Free
New England Conservatory’s Contemporary Musical Arts Program is kicking off the spring season with a musical day befitting a 50th anniversary. Beginning at 11 a.m., the Eben Jordan Ensemble Room will play host to a rotating cast of musical outfits, including the Middle Eastern Music ensemble (featuring Mal Barsamian) and the Tango Ensemble (doctor of musical arts candidate Delfina Cheb-Terrab). Yes, there will be room for dancing.
The National Center for Jewish Film’s Annual Film Festival
May 7-23
Coolidge Corner Theatre
290 Harvard St., Brookline
Prices vary
The film festival returns this year to the Coolidge Corner Theatre. The films presented here — new works and restorations and rescues alike — offer glimpses not just into past Jewish lives, but also provide a grounding for real questions that continue to permeate society. John Reinhardt's 1948 film "Open Secret" is a noir movie that explores themes of American Nazism and white supremacy. With it's New England premiere, Aviva Kempner's 2022 documentary "A Pocketful of Miracles" — which traces the lives of her own mother and uncle from their separation during the Holocaust and reunification after the war — demonstrates that many true stories have yet to be told.(Kempner's family members promised to never tell their children about their histories.)
Third Thursday Tastings at Boston Public Market and 'Love Language'
Thursday, May 18, 5-7 p.m.
Boston Public Market
100 Hanover St., Boston
Free Admission
It’s straightforward: Every third Thursday, Boston Public Market wants to hook you up with some samples of gastronomic goodness.
This month, munch and shop and enjoy the sounds of Fuller and Friends, and boozy offerings from The Pine Bar. And given the location, you should definitely make your way over to the Rose Kennedy Greenway for the newest public art installation, "Love Language." It may not give you a gift, but it is 12 feet tall. And the youth developed it! God save the children.
The Greater Roxbury Book Fair
Saturday, May 20, 12-5 p.m.
BPL Roxbury Branch
149 Dudley St., Roxbury
Free
BPL is for the children! Pass on the unadulterated joy of the elementary school book fair, from a private to a public domain. The Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library is launching their inaugural fair featuring book signings, readings and overall celebration of summer reading lists from Boston Public Schools. Having fun isn’t hard.
Light of Day Records and Wenham Street Cinema: Summer Concert Series
Saturday, May 20, 3-7 p.m.
23 Wenham St., Jamaica Plain
$10
Wenham Street Cinema, the definition of a community gathering space — it's hard to top an open-to-all movie house based in a Jamaica Plain garage — is teaming up with local wax purveyor Light of Day Records for another summer concert series. The first date features Yoni Gordoni, Christina Lacoste and Cody Switch. BYOB. Enjoy a vinyl popup. Keep your eye out for special guests!
In case you missed it: Wenham Street's May screening is "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever." I missed the Marvel flick during its theatrical run, and deeply regret it. If you made the same mistake as me, consider this some kind of redemption.
Opera Night with the Boston Lyric Opera — Representation Matters: AAPI Voices & Stories
Thursday, May 25, 6-7 p.m.
Central Library in Copley Square
700 Boylston St., Boston
Free with registration
Opera has a fraught history re: diversity. Gypsies in "Carmen," evil witch doctors in "Un Ballo in Maschera," and the flurry of stereotypes that comes from "Turandot," "Madama Butterfly" and "The Mikado." The Boston Lyric Opera is diving into the latter with mezzo-soprano Nina Yoshida Nelsen, who also happens to be the Boston Lyric Opera artistic advisor and founder of Asian Opera Alliance. She’ll start off in conversation with other artists to discuss Asian representation in the operatic canon, while also discussing the history of Asian contribution to the form.
