Thursdays at the Gardner

We’re open late on Thursday nights! Starting in November, our very own Café G will transform into a bar, serving beer, wine, and bar bites. Grab a drink, unwind with a friend, and soak in the beauty of the Gardner. Enjoy curated live music and DJ performances, interactive activities, and surprise gallery experiences brought to you by local artists and visionaries—you and your friends won’t want to miss it!

Maimouna Youssef, DJ Real P, and Fabiola M. Méndez Quiñones perform in Calderwood Hall, the Courtyard, and the Dutch Room on May 30, 2019.

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Thursdays Live

Thursdays Live is our new music series highlighting a mix of R&B, soul, spoken word, and hip-hop music featuring local and nationally renowned artists. Experience their talents up close and personal in the Museum’s Calderwood Hall—a literal “sonic cube” that creates a totally unique musical encounter not to be missed.

A Soulful Delight with Carolyn Malachi, BOOMScat, and Dokun Oke

Explore your own meaning of eternal happiness with melodic vocals, self-affirming lyrics, and live instrumentation with D.C.’s own GRAMMY-nominated songstress Carolyn Malachi.

Kindred Souls with The Hamiltones

Sync your ears and hearts with a powerful experience filled with limitless harmonies from North Carolina natives known as The Hamiltones.

Feelin' Global with Radiant Children

Explore another dimension of soul music with international flavor by London trio Radiant Children.

Soul'd with BJ The Chicago Kid

Experience a live concert that brings a deep-rooted feeling of connection, high energy, and summertime vibes with GRAMMY Award-nominated artist BJ The Chicago Kid.

The Larger Conversation

A gutsy series that connects current issues with Isabella's story and collection. Join us select Thursday nights for The Larger Conversation and discover fresh perspectives from artists and innovators from Boston and beyond. Informal and intimate, these discussions explore the intersection of creativity, lived experience, and social justice.

The Larger Conversation: Redefined

Join Lorraine O'Grady and Adam Pendleton for a discussion of the body, race and gender in American Art, and the need to rethink, document and preserve new histories of diverse stories.

The Larger Conversation: Reclamation

Join us for a community conversation that examines the role, cultural relevance, and societal impact of the 19th-century black model with Harold Steward and Chanel Thervil.

Third Thursdays

It's a party every third Thursday! One of our most popular, long-standing offerings, each Third Thursday features food and wine, live music in the Courtyard and gallery spaces, interactive activities, and multidisciplinary art experiences built around a new theme each month. 

Third Thursdays: Date Night

New Year, new you! If you're single and ready to mingle, looking to make new friends, or wooing your boo, let sparks fly at the Gardner.

Third Thursdays: Creative Sway

How do you like to move? Selected from our Neighborhood Salon Luminary program, we invite the best of Boston's artists and culture-makers to take over the Museum.

Third Thursdays: Local Notion

Discover how local artists use the arts in creative ways to convene and inspire us to challenge our ways of thinking.

Third Thursdays: Sky View

Delve into a world of unconventional local music and art that uplifts your creative energy and reconnects you with friends throughout the Museum.

Third Thursdays: Go with the Flow

Join us for a night of atypical art-making and activities that you are challenged to accept as they are—no questions asked.

Image at top: Visitors look out over the Courtyard during Neighborhood Nights: Viewfinder on July 11, 2019. Photo by Steve Osemwenkhae.