The mission of the Multicultural Arts Center was to “coordinate ongoing arts programs, house a learning center, offer performing and rehearsal space and nourish all branches of the arts in Cambridge,” the Cambridge Chronicle reported as it was being formed by committee in 1977. It was also intended to be a space for performers and audiences from across Cambridge – and beyond.
But, as board member Victoria Gordon told the Chronicle in 1979, “we are particularly sensitive to the needs of East Cambridge.”
The creation of the center was part of the East Cambridge Riverfront Development Plan, and its location speaks to the commitment of the planning team to adaptive reuse of historic but vacant neighborhood buildings. The center was to be housed in the then-empty Middlesex County Courthouse on Third Street, built in 1814 by Charles Bullfinch and gifted to Cambridge by land speculator Andrew Craigie.
After a decade of buying up the majority of land in the neighborhood, Craigie and his associates in the Lechmere Point Corp. had offered a gift of a new courthouse and the land on which to build it in the hopes this would sway Middlesex County to move its seat to Cambridge. Craigie’s plan worked, bringing government, industrial, and residential development to the area.
The courthouse had been in use for more than a century and a half before closing in 1974, and was still considered a jewel of the East Cambridge neighborhood when architect Graham Gund decided in 1978 to take on its renovation and conversion into a combined arts center and commercial space. Gund was already well-known for his work on Boston’s Institute for Contemporary Art and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and the fact that his firm was based in Cambridge made him the natural choice for such an extensive rehabilitation project.
Middlesex County commissioners approved a 99-year lease on the building in 1981, allowing construction to begin. “This is a major victory for historic preservation and for the arts center. It’s been a long haul,” Cambridge Historical Commission director Charlie Sullivan said in a January 1981 article in the Chronicle. “When we began in 1974 we weren’t so sure we would end up with the building intact.”
The project went well beyond keeping the building intact: It won top honors in a National Endowment for the Arts grant recognition competition in 1982 for excellence in planning and design.
The center opened its doors officially in April 1985 and, over the past four decades, has committed itself to providing a diverse array of artistic performances and workshops, as well as rehearsal and exhibition spaces for the Cambridge community. Drawing from the rich tapestry of artistic and cultural traditions in and around the city, the center has served as a place where residents could share their own art forms and learn about others’ cultures and experiences through programs and presentations.
Along with opening its 2025-2026 season on Thursday, the center is embarking on a crowdsourced history project in anticipation of its 50th anniversary as an organization in 2028. The Past Forward project seeks to collect and share stories of artists, audiences and community members about the role the center has played in their lives. All are invited to share stories and memories with the project’s coordinators, and to read and listen to what others have shared through its website, which features multimedia content including a podcast.
At the first event of the season, the “Lift Every Voice” Bipoc play festival, leaders at the center will dedicate the season – called “We Are the Story,” to the legacy of Gund’s vision and partnership and in thanks for creating the arts facility they call home. Gund died in June 2025, shortly before completion of the center’s Backstage Access Project to renovate the facility and improve access for all artists with upgraded technical theatrical infrastructure and new accessible, all-gender restrooms. These changes reflect the values of inclusion, artistic excellence and cultural equity embodied in the 140-year-old building.
After “Lift Every Voice,” the center introduces a new work called “Be No Rain” on Oct. 16. by The performing-artist-in-residence for the year, Aiden Marshall, developed the piece during his summer residency.
November brings the return of a well-loved center program, a celebration of Día de los Muertos, on Nov. 1, designed and produced with the support of board member Marissa Molinar of Midday Movement.
Also on the way:
- “Stokely and Martin,” a fictional conversation between civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael by Najee Brown, on Jan 16-18.
- Cosmic Roots, the Afrofuturism Hair & Fashion Show, on Feb. 21.
- Anubhava Indian classical dance on April 11.
About History Cambridge
History Cambridge started in 1905 as the Cambridge Historical Society. Today we have a new name and a new mission. We engage with our city to explore how the past influences the present to shape a better future. We recognize that every person in our city knows something about Cambridge’s history, and their knowledge matters. We listen to our community and we live by the ideal that history belongs to everyone. Throughout 2025, we are focusing on the history of East Cambridge. Make history with us at historycambridge.org.
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Beth Folsom is programs manager for History Cambridge. Adria Katz is managing director of the Multicultural Arts Center.
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