Friday, Sept. 29

Cambridge Science Festival, running all day through Sunday with events today mainly at The MIT Museum, 314 Main St., Kendall Square, Cambridge, and in other select locations around town. Most festival activities are free. More than halfway through the festival, there are still lots of events (searchable by date and a variety of tags), including multiple art installations and exhibits; tours of various science centers and labs in town; lunchtime talks on brain-computer interface scenarios, artificial intelligence in cancer research, children’s science literature and several on sustainability and pollutants; shows on physics in the circus and on neuroscience in magic; workshops on wildfire science and making moving art; dramatic readings of real but absurd-sounding research studies; and a deep time walk of 4.6 billion years and kayaking to a floating wetland. On Saturday, delve into fashion with textile science, wearable lights, a how-to on creating fabric prints with AI, a reimagining of swimwear and the launch of Boston Fashion Week with an immersive runway experience. All this and even more, plus on Sunday the huge Science Festival Carnival. Information is here.

Art at Night: Lemelson-MIT Open House from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at The Foundry, 101 Rogers St., East Cambridge. Free. Enjoy light refreshments and learn about invention education programs for K-12 through community college, including the national high school grants initiative called InvenTeams, the “Bridge to Invention and Inclusive Innovation” program piloted with Cambridge high school students this past year and continuing with My Brother’s Keeper Cambridge this fall, plus neighborhood after-school programs and the upcoming Steam It Up Night. Information is here.

Mid-Autumn Festival Party from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at The Foundry, 101 Rogers St., East Cambridge. $5 to $15 and all ages. This event will feature mooncake and make-a-lantern workshops for kids, Chinese shadow puppet storytelling, dance and music performances and crosstalk comedy dialogue by Boston Fuyun Comedy Club. Sponsored by the Chinese American Association of Cambridge. Information is here.

Ross Gay reads from “The Book of More Delights” at 6 p.m. The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $29.75 (includes book). The award-winning author of the essay collections “The Book of Delights” and “Inciting Joy” discusses his latest collection which continues to delve into the small joys and pleasures that connect us and give us meaning, many of which arise from experiences outdoors in nature. Sponsored with Harvard Book Store. Information is here.

Joshua Bennett reads from “Spoken Word: A Cultural History” and “The Study of Human Life” from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at The MIT Museum, 314 Main St., Bldg. E-28, Kendall Square, Cambridge. Free. Author, MIT professor and artist Bennett reflects on the craft of storytelling, the art of the spoken word and his journey as a writer and educator during this Cambridge Science Festival event. Information is here.

Kalliope in Blue concert from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Somerville Museum, 1 Westwood Road, in the Spring Hill neighborhood. $10. In conjunction with the exhibit “Blue: The Celebration of a Color,” running through Dec. 2, the Kalliope Reed Quintet joins forces with Mezzo Soprano Carrie Cheron and composer Francine Trester to perform 20th and 21st century works inspired by the color, including works by Berklee’s Trester, Peruvian Daniel Cueto, Columbian Luis Calvo, Joni Mitchell and George Gershwin. Information is here.

Falling into the Rhythm and Blues from 6 to 9 p.m. at Starlight Square, 84 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. R&B performances by Boston-based women Melissa Mills, ToriTori and Aldra. Information is here.

Novuyo Rosa Tshuma reads from “Digging Stars” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Following her award-winning “House of Stone,” Tshuma’s novel chronicles the transformation of Rosa, an adoring daughter of a brilliant astronomer, in whose memory she pursues similar academic success for herself. But friendships with other young ambitious scientists cause Rosa to rethink identity, the ethics of technology and, most painfully, her father’s legacy. Joining the conversation is Noviolet Bulawayo, author of the novels “Glory” and “We Need New Names.” Information is here.

Poetry Reading: “Who Do You Think You Are?” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the CAA@Canal Gallery, 650 E. Kendall St., Kendall Square, Cambridge. Free. Poets and poetry teachers Judson K. Evans, Linda Carney-Goodrich, Deborah Leipziger and Anne Elezabeth Pluto read poems in conjunction with the gallery’s exhibition (which runs through Oct. 11). Information is here.

Palaver Strings: A Change is Gonna Come from 8 to 9:30 p.m. at the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $10 to $20. This program by the musician-led string ensemble based in Portland, Maine, explores our country’s legacy of protest songs and features Grammy-nominated tenor Nicholas Phan. Information is here.

Immersive Afrofuturism Experience from 8 to 10 p.m. at the Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St., East Cambridge. $45 to $60. Discover the powerful cultural movement that combines elements of African diaspora, science fiction, technology and imagination as it’s explored in this presentation of visual art, dance performances, music and fashion. Information is here.

Serotones: a Live Hip-Hop/R&B Experience from 8 to 11 p.m. at the The Cantab Underground, 738 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. $15. Booming Bay brings together Boston-area artists including B.Cave, J.Roach, Kay Wolf, Matty Owens, Shandelle and DJ Tucker Mitchell. Information is here.

“T: An MBTA Musical” from 9:30 to 11 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. $25 to $39 and 21-plus. This snarky play by John Michael Manship (book) and Melissa Carubia (music and lyrics) pulls back into the station for a twice-monthly staging. Three 20-somethings whose lives have been derailed by the MBTA’s incompetency discover a secret map that will enable them to overthrow the transit system’s corruption. Songs include “The Shuttle Bus Song (We Can’t Handle It),” “The People on the T” and “The Bro Song.” Information is here.

Dääd performs at 10 p.m. at The Middle East Corner, 480 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. Free and 21-plus. No, Dääd is from Boston, not Copenhagen. And yes, it’s a dad band. And they play hard-hitting power rock from the ’80s and ’90s through today. And they’re loud and they’re in your face – but not about your grades. Information is here.

---

Saturday, Sept. 30

Cambridge Science Festival (continued) running all day through Sunday with events mainly in the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge, and The MIT Museum, 314 Main St., Kendall Square, and in other select locations around town. Most all festival activities are free. Information is here.

Hive Maker Showcase from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at The Hive in the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Learn more about this community maker-space as you explore finished and in-process Hive-made projects. Information is here.

Sennott Park and Playground Opening Celebration from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Sennott Park, 305 Broadway, The Port between Inman and Central squares, Cambridge. Free. Enjoy refreshments and children’s entertainment; recent big upgrades offer something for every age group and ability, from creative play elements along the path to fitness station (chin-ups, anyone?). Information is here. (Update on Sept. 29, 2023: Organizers say this event is canceled for now.)

Port Community Pride Day from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Clement Morgan Park, 60 Columbia St., The Port, Cambridge. This 19th annual celebration sponsored by the Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House begins with a peace walk and continues back at the park with food, a basketball tournament, outdoor activities, entertainment, city resources and more. (Twice postponed because of rain, this event now falls on a day with many other things happening nearby, leaving no excuse to skip a trip to the Central Square area today.) Information is here. (Update on Sept. 29, 2023: Organizers say this event is canceled for now.)

Central Square Dumpling Festival from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at University Park Commons, 65 Sidney St., in Cambridgeport near Central Square, Cambridge. Free. An annual extravaganza inspired by culinary trailblazer Joyce Chen featuring dumplings for sale from 30 local restaurants and food trucks. Information is here. (Update on Sept. 29, 2023: Organizers say this event is canceled for now.)

Intro to Library E-Resources from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Learning Lab of the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free. Explore online resources. Laptops and mice will be available. Bring your library card. Information is here.

---

Sunday, Oct. 1

14th Annual Bow Tie Community Bicycle Ride at 9 a.m., meeting at Joan Lorentz Park at 457 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge (in front of the Cambridge Main Library). Free. Wear a bow tie (it’s kind of like the shape of Cambridge, after all) or come as you are to this approximately 2.5-hour relaxed-pace ride escorted by the Cambridge Police Department’s bike patrol. A Danehy Park history lesson is offered midway by History Cambridge. Information is here.

Tufts Community Day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Tufts University’s Academic Quad, 419 Boston Ave., Medford. Free. This Somerville-Medford school offers live performances, children’s activities, a raffle and free refreshments, as well as a peek at research projects by faculty and resource information from Medford and Somerville community groups. Information is here.

Cambridge Science Festival Carnival from noon to 4 p.m. adds to the festival’s all-day events, free in the festival zone around Kendall/MIT Open Space at 292 Main St., Kendall Square, Cambridge. Among the more than 80 individual activities at this family-friendly carnival with hundreds of presenting partners are: making RNA models with pipe cleaners, turning milk into a rainbow, helping build a huge Lego art piece, creating a 3D identity map, building a walk-along glider and drawing with pendulums and gear-based machines; demos on interactive circuitry, wind turbines (in miniature) and ocean acidification (in a cup); scientists and grad students creating fun with whirligig centrifuges, mathematics and neuroscience; hands-on activities such as a vaccine cornhole game, a giant brain to take apart and put back together and kirigami paper-cutting art; edutainment featuring parts of the brain used for reading and language and the science of plate spinning; plus activities centered around virtual reality, exoplanets, 3D printing, gene editing and robots. A liquid nitrogen ice-cream-freeze-off competition returns. Carnival information is here. Overall festival information is here.

“Smoke This” Rib Fest from noon to 4 p.m. on Cambridge Street between Fulkerson and Fifth streets, East Cambridge. Free, but 10-rib Taste Tickets are $34 (ribs are also available individually). This 14th annual rib culinary showdown of pit master vs. pit master for the title of best ribs around includes live music and is presented by the East Cambridge Business Association and developer DivcoWest. We wrote about the event in-depth here; basic information is here.

La Belle Epoque: Debussy and Ravel performances from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the Calderwood Courtyard of the Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Chamber music performances inspired by late 19th- and early 20th-century paintings in the museums’ collections, which guests can visit before or after the concert. Information is here.

Biodanza: Dance with your Life from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at The Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. Free, but registration is required. Clara Rubin-Smith McKie teaches this experiential workshop offering a series of accessible movement exercises paired with inspirational music from around the world, based on a dance movement that originated in Chile. No experience needed, just bring comfortable clothes, indoor-only shoes (or you can dance in bare feet) and a water bottle. Information is here.

Durand Jones performs at 8 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. $29.50. Enjoy a night of Southern Black music from an artist whose debut solo album, “Wait Til I Get Over” includes “rhythms heavy with raw, Delta grit; bright exhalations of church spirituals; even tender, cadent spoken word.” The Nashville-based soul and rock duo Bird and Byron also performs. Information is here.

---

Monday, Oct. 2

“50 Years of Ms.: The Best of the Pathfinding Magazine That Ignited a Revolution” panel discussion at 6 p.m. in the lecture hall at the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free, or $53.13 with book. This event features a panel discussion with Ms. contributors Carrie Baker and Aziza Ahmed; advocates Diane Rosenfeld and Naitasia Hensey; and actor and activist Ashley Judd. Sponsored with Harvard Book Store. Information is here.

“Feeding the Future: Food Sustainability and Climate Change” opening event at 7 p.m. at the Knafel Center of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, 10 Garden Street, west of Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. During this keynote discussion to kick off Tuesday’s science symposium, Irene Shiang Li, co-founder and co-owner of Mei Mei Dumplings, will talk about her efforts to offer healthy, sustainable food through equitable partnerships and business models. Barbara Moran, of WBUR’s climate and environmental team, joins the conversation; registered attendees will enjoy a dumpling reception before the talk. Co-sponsored by Harvard’s Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability. Information is here.

Chess Night from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Somerville Public Library, 79 Highland Ave., Central Hill (and continuing every first Monday of the month). Free. Players of all skill levels are welcome, and chess sets are provided. Information is here.

Poets Cate Marvin and Dana Levin read from 8 to 9 p.m. at Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 56 Brattle St., Harvard Square. $5. Sponsored by the Blacksmith House Poetry Series, which brings established and emerging writers of poetry and fiction to Harvard Square. Information is here.

---

Tuesday, Oct. 3

“Feeding the Future: Food Sustainability and Climate Change” science symposium from 9 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. at the Knafel Center of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, 10 Garden Street, west of Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free and includes boxed lunch. Academics, nutritionists and chefs from the United States, England, Thailand and Australia speak during panels on production and transportation, preparation and consumption and access and security, with focus on policies and adaptive solutions especially for resource-poor environments. Information is here.

WhistlePig Queer Morris Practice from 6 to 8 p.m. at The Foundry, 101 Rogers St., East Cambridge (and continuing every Tuesday). Free. This weekly practice of Boston metro’s first officially queer-focused Morris team, which performs a wide array of traditional English folk dances at festivals and public events all over New England, is open to anyone (whether you want to perform at events or choose not to). Information is here.

Walter Isaacson reads from “Musk” at 7 p.m. at First Parish Cambridge Unitarian Universalist, 3 Church St./1446 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $20, or $45 with book. During this Harvard Book Store event, bestselling biographer Isaacson discusses his latest book, about the richest man on earth, with David M. Rubenstein, co-founder and co-chairman of The Carlyle Group. Information is here.

Virginia Pye reads from “The Literary Undoing of Victoria Swan” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Pye follows her latest book, a collection of stories called “Shelf Life of Happiness,” with a novel set in Gilded Age Boston about an author of romance and adventure novels who shakes up the literary establishment when she becomes a champion of women’s rights. Joining the conversation is Marjan Kamali, author of the novel “The Stationery Shop.” Information is here.

Cirque Us Stories from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville (and also on Wednesday). $25. A brand-new show from the Boston-based troupe and the first with a social mission, creating a narrative about confidence, community and identity amid thrilling acts by aerialists, jugglers, acrobats, contortionists and clowns. Information is here.

Yumi Zouma at 8 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. $20. This electro-pop group from New Zealand launches its North American tour in Somerville after good reviews for their 2022 album, “Present Tense,” which marked an evolution of their sound (yup, they added acoustic instruments and live drums). Information is here.

---

Wednesday, Oct. 4

J. Craig Venter reads from “The Voyage of Sorcerer II: The Expedition That Unlocked the Secrets of the Ocean’s Microbiome” at 6 p.m. at the Harvard Science Center, 1 Oxford St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free, or $29.70 with book. After working on the Human Genome Project, Venter travelled 65,000 miles around the globe sampling microbes in ocean water. In his conversation with Dimitar Sasselov, founder and director of the Harvard Origins of Life Initiative, he talks about the massive library of genes, protein families and lineages of bacteria he discovered and suggests harnessing the microbial genome to develop alternative sources of energy, food and medicine that might ultimately avert our destruction from climate change. Information is here.

Benjamin Wurgaft and Merry White read from “Ways of Eating: Exploring Food Through History and Culture” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Historian and writer Wurgaft and Boston University anthropologist White (son and mother, respectively) will talk about what’s vital in food writing, food anthropology and food history as they recount stories from 13 years of research and experiences from Japan and Korea to Tuscany and Panama. Information is here.

Cirque Us Stories (continued) from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. $27.25. Information is here.

Pianist Eunbi Kim performs “it feels like a dream” at 8 p.m. at Longy School of Music’s Pickman Concert Hall, 27 Garden St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free to $20. Kim’s sonic memoir features a “soundworld” of classical music threaded with an indie-pop awareness, expanded with visuals by new media artist Xuan. Information is here.

Daphne Parker Powell performs from 8 to 11 p.m. at The Lizard Lounge, 1667 Massachusetts Ave., in the Baldwin neighborhood between Harvard and Porter squares, Cambridge. $18 and 21-plus. Appalachian-born singer, songwriter and music producer Parker Powell makes her only Massachusetts stop on tour. Also performing: Kat Parks and Rodney Henry. Information is here.

---

Thursday, Oct. 5

“This Machine Creates Opacities” artist talk and opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 24 Quincy St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. This exhibition, launching Friday (and continuing through Dec. 22), celebrates the center’s 60th anniversary by restaging four major works by artists Robert Fulton, Renée Green, Pierre Huyghe and Pope.L that examine the ways buildings choreograph, shape and control social life, learning and cultural structures. Chicago-based Pope.L talks from 6 to 7 p.m., followed by a reception and community dinner. Information is here.

“Seeing in Art and Medicine” exhibition conversation from 6 to 7:15 p.m. at Harvard Art Museums, Menschel Hall, 32 Quincy St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. This conversation with curator Jen Thum and with Hyewon Hyun and David Odo (founders of the museum’s medical humanities program upon which the exhibition, running through December, is based) includes interactive segments showing what can be gleaned through close looking. Information is here.

Artists Jonathan Mark Jackson and Ali Newhard talk from 6 to 8 p.m. at Gallery 263, 263 Pearl St., Cambridgeport. The artists behind large-format photography show “Once Through a Lens,” closing Oct. 7, discuss how the pairing of their work into narrative sequences showcases their shared history of being racialized, queered and estranged by the landscape of New England. Information is here.

Poets Toni Bee, Jean Dany Joachim and U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo read from 7 to 8 p.m. at Grolier Poetry Book Shop on 6 Plympton St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $10, but registration is required. With an introduction by Tom Daley. Information is here.

Pre-Honk! Brass Band Blowout from 7 to 10 p.m. in Union Square Plaza, Somerville. Free. This semi-official event includes performances from some of the bands taking part in the weekend-long Honk! Festival which starts tomorrow. Information is here.

“Two Girls One Ghost” podcast at 7:30 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. $33. Corinne Vien and Sabrina Deanna-Roga recount the creepy details of their overnight experience of The Conjuring House in Rhode Island. Information is here.

Avgi Saketopoulou and Ann Pellegrini read from “Gender Without Identity” from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Connexion, 149 Broadway, Somerville. Free or $31.82 (includes book). A co-authors conversation sponsored by All She Wrote Books. Information is here.

---

Friday, Oct. 6

Honk! Festival lantern parades and band showcase at 4 p.m. at Hodgkins-Curtin Park, Holland St., Somerville (and continuing through Sunday). Free. The 18th Honk! Festival features 33 activist-oriented bands, some local, some from across the country, and some with as many as 30 players. This annual event has spawned more than 20 similar festivals around the world. The kickoff this evening begins with optional lantern-making workshops followed by lantern parades (at 6:30 p.m.) on six routes from Hodgkins Park. We wrote about the festival here; information about this evening’s schedule is here.

Salsa in the Park from 6 to 9 p.m. at Termeer Square 300 Athenaeum St., Kendall Square, Cambridge. Free. The MetaMovements artist collective begins the evening with small-group lessons for people of different ages and abilities. Stay for the party with performances and dance coaching corners. Information is here.

Dance of the Dead! from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Starlight Square, 84 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Square, Cambridge. Free. A Halloween-theme dance party with two DJs and a special guest performance. Information is here.

Honk! Festival bands at 7 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square, Somerville. Free. Weather permitting, hear a few of the festival’s brass bands at the taproom, including the Yes Ma’am Brass Band (of Austin, Texas), Clamor & Lace Noise Brigade (Chicago) and Undertow Brass Band (Providence, Rhode Island). Information is here.

Tribute Concert for Justine Covault from 7 p.m. to midnight at Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. “A Night for Justine” honors a musician, promoter, founder of Red on Red Records and tireless supporter of the Boston music scene with performances by Quest For Tuna, The Croaks, The Black Threads, The Bags, Dink Pinkerman, Tom Baker and the Double Down and The Unclean. Information is here.

Sara Ahmed reads from “The Feminist Killjoy Handbook: The Radical Potential of Getting in the Way” from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Connexion, 149 Broadway, Somerville. Free, or $31.88 with book. An author conversation with All She Wrote Books founder and owner Christina Pascucci-Ciampa. Information is here.

A Season of Illuminating Dance: A Toast and Kickoff from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at The Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. Free, but registration is required. An informal toast (sparkling beverage provided) to the coming season’s events and performances, and to the resident and visiting teaching artists. Includes free dance lessons, a party and additional surprises. Information is here.