Neighborhood Nights

Brown Art Ink is a community incubator to support the arts ecosystem for women artists of color, cultural practitioners, and communities of color. They strive to build stronger and more intimate relationships between local artists and their communities, through public programming, dialogue, and resource-sharing. In partnership with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and local Boston artists, Brown Art Ink demonstrates how artists are geographers and demographers in their own right, capturing descriptions of the city that document its changing landscape alternative to maps.

Bring the whole family to the Gardner for free interactive evenings in our beautiful galleries and gardens. Enjoy performances, hands-on art making, food trucks, a cash bar, and gallery games.This summer, we invite you to engage with themes from our special exhibition Big Plans and envision your own alternative "counter-maps."

Program for the Evening

In the Courtyard | 5–9 PM
DJ Real P spins Afrobeat, hip-hop, and fresh tracks all night!

Food & Drink | 5–8:30 PM
Grab a bite to eat at Café G, the Museum's sit-down restaurant, or enjoy a drink from our cash bar in the Jordan Garden. If you're in the mood for casual bites, stop by the Boston Burger Company and Wild Pops food trucks outside the Museum.

In the Education Studio | 5–8:30 PM
Join Yennifer Pedraza, founder of KILIKO, a studio that uses design and event programming to combat loneliness and build community, in the Studio, where you will learn the importance of place and create your ideal built environment.

In Calderwood Hall | 5 & 7:15 PM
Join in creating site-specific responses to your environment with artist, writer, and curator Dell M. Hamilton.

In the Living Room & Jordan Garden | 5–8:30 PM
Help create an archive of Boston-dwellers in the current moment by taking a self-portrait with photographer Khabeer Sultan.

In Calderwood Hall | 6:30 & 8 PM
What I Mean by Mercy: Remembering & Remapping—a poetic meditation by JME. Remember and remap your personal narrative with poetry and film. Screening of What I Mean by Mercy with creative writing to follow.

Free admission from 5–9 pm on select Thursday evenings. Free admission will be available at the Museum entrance on a first-come, first-served basis. Visitors under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Admission includes access to the entire Museum, including special exhibitions. To ensure everyone's experience at the Museum is pleasant, entry may be timed every 30 minutes, with the last entry at 8:30 pm.