As Cambridge city councillors debated the future of the Harvard Square KiOSK on Monday evening in Sullivan Chamber, CultureHouse KiOSK manager Cleo Brigham watched the meeting anxiously from inside the 500-square-foot building.
Around her, two local artists prepared the latest installation in the historic former Out of Town News newsstand: a gift shop where nothing costs money and visitors are invited to exchange objects and the stories behind them.
The juxtaposition captured the competing visions for one of Harvard Square’s most prominent public spaces. While some councillors argued that the KiOSK needs to become a more vibrant gathering place, the artists working inside it defended CultureHouse’s management as a rare opportunity for community-based art in an increasingly expensive city.
The City Council ultimately voted 8-0, with one member absent, to approve a policy order calling for a review of the KiOSK’s operating model, setting the stage for a new competitive bidding process that could reshape how the space is used. Assistant City Manager Melissa Peters said the city plans to issue a new request for proposals next summer, ahead of the December 2027 expiration of CultureHouse’s current contract.
The vote came after two weeks of debate among councillors over whether CultureHouse, the Somerville-based nonprofit that operates the KiOSK, has done enough to transform the historic newsstand into the bustling public gathering place councillors envision.
“I think what they do is good. I just don’t think it’s right for that spot,” Councillor Marc McGovern, the policy order’s lead sponsor, said. “If CultureHouse … were not to win that [new] RFP, I would certainly love to see CultureHouse in some other location in [Harvard] square or even in Central Square in the Cultural District.”
Councillor Tim Flaherty said the KiOSK sometimes feels more like a museum than a public gathering place.
“We’ve got the [Cambridge Rindge and Latin School] football team playing at Fenway Park this Thanksgiving. We should have a rally, a citywide rally at the KiOSK with fire engines and a marching band and hundreds of people sending the team off for a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Flaherty said. “Christmas caroling. We should have Santa there with kids having a photograph with Santa. There’s just so many things that could be done in a different way for everyone in the community.”
Councillor Patty Nolan acknowledged that the KiOSK appeared underutilized by her assessment, but questioned whether ongoing construction surrounding the space, expected to finish before the end of the year, was partly to blame.
Amending amendments
Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, who delayed a vote on the policy order by exercising his charter right when it was first introduced Oct. 20, sought to soften its implications for CultureHouse with an amendment recognizing the cultural programming at the site since it reopened last year.
The amendment initially named CultureHouse and encouraged it to compete for the next contract, but that was removed after city legal staff warned that singling out an organization in a policy order concerning a future competitive bidding process could give unsuccessful applicants grounds to challenge the results.
The revised amendment recognized the KiOSK’s current cultural programming, citing city-commissioned data indicating that it had attracted more than 250,000 visitors since reopening in May 2025. Nolan questioned how that figure was calculated, and Sobrinho-Wheeler acknowledged that he did not know. In an Oct. 9 email to Cambridge Day, Brigham reported a substantially lower figure of 47,500 visitors since May 2025. The amendment passed 6-2, with McGovern and Councillor E. Denise Simmons opposed, before the council unanimously approved the policy order as amended.
Providing the architecture for convivial infrastructure
At the KiOSK, artists Eden Attar and Sage Vorhees offered a different perspective on the value of CultureHouse’s programming, arguing that the nonprofit provides something increasingly difficult to find in Cambridge: free, accessible space for local artists and community groups.
“If you want a city to have art, you need a place for it to happen,” Attar said. “I think it’s really neat and important to have a space in the middle of Harvard Square that doesn’t cost money.”
Vorhees, who moved to Greater Boston in 2020 and lived in North Cambridge before recently moving to Allston, described Cambridge as a city with thriving artistic subcultures but a shortage of affordable venues where they can gather.
“Venues themselves are something that are absolutely critical to subcultures thriving,” Vorhees said. “The KiOSK, through CultureHouse, is a venue.”
The two artists were preparing to open “Convivial Infrastructure,” an installation exploring existing ideas about systems that allow people to meet their needs through cooperation and sharing rather than commercial transactions. Public libraries, potlucks and free stores served as examples. Its centerpiece, the Harvard Square Gift Shop, invites visitors to exchange objects accompanied by personal stories, filling out tags explaining the significance of the gifts they give and receive.
What comes next
Peters said the city plans to consult the existing KiOSK Committee, Harvard Square Advisory Committee, neighborhood associations and other stakeholders before developing the next proposal request. The policy order also directs City Manager Yi-An Huang to report back to the council within 60 days on the current operating arrangement and options for a long-term management model addressing programming, maintenance, partnerships and public use.
Meanwhile, CultureHouse is moving ahead with a new seasonal residency program that will bring different artists and community organizations into the KiOSK four times a year. Its inaugural theme, “Mycorrhiza,” draws inspiration from the underground fungal networks that connect trees and other plants, reflecting the nonprofit’s goal of fostering connections among Cambridge’s diverse communities.
In a statement Tuesday, Brigham welcomed the council’s recognition of CultureHouse’s programming and its interest in removing barriers to the KiOSK’s success, including the construction. She also acknowledged shortcomings in the nonprofit’s management.
“The last year and a half has not been easy! There have been great successes and also times we fell short,” Brigham said. “We are confident that with construction cleared up, alignment on clearer goals for success in the space, a new seasonal residency programming strategy, continual adjustment based on feedback from community members, and better communication, we can deliver a vibrant public space for the Cambridge community.”
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