Past Events

GBH Music, JazzBoston, and the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra present a special tribute to Duke Ellington to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the iconic jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader's birth.

Join Cambridge Forum for a discussion about ageism considering the many factors that make this a global issue of importance. It is as much about how the elderly see themselves as it is about how society views them, according to Professor Andrew Scott, author of the new book, The Longevity Imperative.

Scott’s research focuses on the economics of longevity and ageing and is published in a wide range of leading academic journals. He has advised through a variety of roles a range of governments, institutions and companies. His award-winning book, The Hundred Year Life is a global bestseller having sold 1 million copies.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, attention on NATO has increased throughout the world. As its members prepare for the 75th NATO summit in early July, focus will intensify even more. In the U.S. we hear a lot of opinions about NATO, but how do Europeans feel about their security? The world will get key indicators of European political trends next month as 400 million people vote in European Parliamentary elections. Join us on the eve of these elections as the Consuls General of France and Germany discuss the future of NATO and the future of Europe.

GBH will host Outspoken Saturdays, a spoken word poetry event for emerging artists. Every first Saturday of the month, the series will be created in collaboration with spoken word artist Amanda Shea.

Registration is encouraged for this free event.

Note: This event was originally scheduled to take place at the GBH Studio at the BPL but due to their broken air conditioning, this event will now take place at GBH’s main studios in Brighton. Please find details below.

Location: GBH Studios, One Guest Street Brighton, MA 02135
Directions and parking: https://www.wgbh.org/foundation/where-we-are/brighton-studios
15 Guest Street Parking Ticket Validation: GBH will validate parking tickets for guests who park in the 15 Guest Street Garage. Please bring your ticket inside to the registration table when you arrive. Parking ticket validation will happen as guests arrive to the event.

Whether you’re on social media or surfing the web, you’re probably sharing more personal data than you realize. That can pose a risk to your privacy – even your safety. At the same time, big datasets could lead to huge advances in fields like medicine. In NOVA's Secrets in Your Data, host Alok Patel explores these issues on a quest to understand what happens to all the data we’re shedding and explores the latest efforts to maximize benefits – without compromising personal privacy.

Join NOVA at GBH for a screening of selected clips from Secrets in Your Data paired with a panel discussion featuring experts from the film. Following the program, we will host a catered reception in the Atrium.

NOVA's Secrets in Your Data premieres Wednesday, May 15, at 9/8c on PBS. Check local listings for details. It will also be available for streaming online and via the PBS video app.

Our panel for the evening will include:
Alok Patel — Moderator, Host of Secrets in Your Data, Physician, ABC News Medical Contributor
Matt Mitchell — Founder of Crypto Harlem, Hacker
Ramesh Raskar — Associate Professor at MIT Media Lab, Founder of the PathCheck Foundation
Hayley Tsukayama — Associate Director of Legislative Activism, Electronic Frontier Foundation

In today’s world, Artificial Intelligence’s implications are not yet fully understood, so how can we leverage this technology to ensure it serves us as an asset for all?

In this closing plenary session of the MIT Solve flagship event, solvers tell stories to help us understand how we use AI systems to help build a more stable, fair and delightful world.

With:
Hala Hanna, MIT Solve
Seth Dobrin, CEO Quantum AI and Nayeema Raza, host of Mixed Signals
Pattie Maes, MIT Media Lab
Amr AboDraiaa. CEO Rology, Gatanjali Rao, UNICEF Youth Advocate, founder of Vervient Foundation & Michele Malejki. Global Head of Social Impact at HP
Smita Sharma, photojournalist and TED Fellow
Imara Jones, founder and CEO TransLash Media - Ayan Kishore - CEO Benetech, Danielle Forward, CEO and co-founder Natives Rising.
Devshi Mehrotra, CEO Justice Text

What if we focus on abundance and community? What if we focus on the journey to our destination rather than on whether we’ll get there?

MIT Solve welcomes solvers on its stage to present solutions on how to adapt to our changing climate, centering local and community needs. As Hala Hanna, Executive Director of MIT Solve, put it: "Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up, ready to take action with a determination to make it".

With Scooby Laposky, independent artist, Henk Rogers - Blue Planet Alliance and Julia Kumari Drapkin - ISeeChange, Sara Beery, MIT Professor, Rania Khalif, Inara and Ritu Raman, MIT with Alexander Dale, MIT Solve, James Newell - GSR Foundation, and Taita Ngetich - Synnefa.

Music has always been central to the African American quest for freedom. The Civil Rights struggle and its music provided some of America’s most powerful calls of hope, moral clarity, and equity.

During the 19th century, spirituals such as Steal Away carried coded protest. In the 20th century, protest became explicit. In the 1930s Ethel Waters sang an anti-lynching song that shocked Broadway and Billie Holiday bravely recorded the stinging song Strange Fruit. Duke Ellington’s long career spoke for racial respect and civil rights in such pieces as Black Beauty and [Martin Luther] King Fit the Battle of Alabam’.

As political action picked up and in the 1950s and 1960s, We Shall Overcome became the clarion anthem of the Civil Rights movement and central to America’s moral quest for “a more perfect Union.” Old songs like This Little Light of Mine took on new meaning and fresh songs appeared such as If You Miss Me from the Back of the Bus. Black and white activists alike sang Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind. And great artists—such as Sam Cooke (A Change is Gonna Come), The Impressions (People Get Ready), James Brown (Say It Loud), Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, on up to The Roots—all sang to advance respect and equality.

Dr. John Edward Hasse, long-time music curator at the Smithsonian and Duke Ellington’s biographer, plays stirring video clips of these songs that inspired, motivated, and advocated for what Martin Luther King called for in his “I have a dream” speech: that we all be judged not by the color of our skin, “but by the content of our character.” He also plays works by W.C. Handy and Duke Ellington that helped lay the musical foundation for the Civil Rights movement.

Join GBH Music in welcoming the Ulysses Quartet as its first-ever quartet in residence with a free performance at the GBH Studio at the Boston Public Library on Wednesday, May 22, at noon.

The Ulysses Quartet's season-long partnership as quartet in residence furthers GBH Music's ongoing effort to connect with listeners of all backgrounds and ages. The partnership will span over fifty performances and events throughout the year, including with the Boston Public and Massachusetts schools. The Ulysses Quartet’s residency at GBH is made possible by a generous contribution from the Mattina R. Proctor Foundation.

Registration is encouraged for this free event.

Photo credit: Lara St. John

This event is presented with support from CRB and the Ulysses Quartet.

The Ulysses Quartet’s residency at GBH is made possible by a generous contribution from the Mattina R. Proctor Foundation.

What does an equitable and sustainable future look like? How can we continue making progress amidst conflict, pandemics, and climate disasters? We’ve invited global leaders to our opening plenary, to address these universal questions, and share how they’re wielding technology through global crises.

Speakers include MIT President Sally Kornbluth, WHO Director-General Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health, Dr. Vanessa Kerry, and Grammy-nominated artist, Simón Mejía of Bomba Estéreo.