Summer in the City

Vanessa Trien & the Jumping Monkeys perform at Magazine Beach as part of Cambridge Arts' Summer In the City, July 3, 2018.

Each summer, Cambridge parks come alive with music, dance, storytelling, theater, puppetry, movies and more! Cambridge Arts' Summer in the City program offers a wide array of FREE, multicultural, interactive arts programs, performances, and activities both day and night for children, families, and the entire community.

2019 Summer In The City Schedule

July - August, 2019 

Cambridge Arts Summer in the City 
@ Parks and Public Spaces Across Cambridge

Download our brochure detailing the whole 2019 Summer In The City schedule. (Large print version.)

Click on each event listing below for more detailed information:

  • July 1, Monday: ScienceTellers – “Aliens: Escape from Earth!” 10AM

    ScienceTellers @ Sennott Park, 305 Broadway, Cambridge MA 02139
    (Rain Site: Elm Street School, 89 Elm Street).

    Trapped by a crazy scientist, a few kids must risk everything to rescue the aliens and help them escape from Earth! Using science experiments to bring the story to life, this show is totally out of this world!

  • July 3, Wednesday: Triveni Dance 10 AM

     Triveni Dance @ Sacramento Field, Sacramento St. & Mass Ave., Cambridge MA 02139.
    (Rain Site: Baldwin School, 85 Oxford Street)

    Neena Gulati presents her Triveni Dancers, showcasing two popular styles of Indian classical dance: Kuchipudi and Odissi. Watch and listen as classical dance and contemporary music weave a beautiful story.

  • July 8, Monday: Mystic Paper Beasts – “SkyTails” 10 AM

    Mystic Paper Beasts @ Greene Rose Heritage Park, Harvard St. between Windsor St. & Moore St.
    (Rain Site: Fletcher Maynard Academy, 225 Windsor St.)

    SkyTails is a series of Native American stories told through intricate masks, dance, puppets, and painted scrolls. Join the Mystic Paper Beasts as they link stories from across America and inspire mystical wonder.








  • July 10, Wednesday: Behind the Mask – “Cat Mountain” 10 AM

    Behind the Mask @ Glacken Field, Huron Ave. & Cushing St.
    (Rain Site: Haggerty School, 110 Cushing St.)

    A Japanese folk tale comes to life with original music, masks, and traditional Japanese songs. Experience the story of Sho, a girl who journeys to Cat Mountain where she hopes to find her cat and her own freedom.

  • July 16, Tuesday: Lucy Kalantari and the Jazz Cats 10 AM

    Lucy Kalantari & the Jazz Cats @ Bergin Park, Haskell St. & Pemberton St., Cambridge MA 02140
    (Rain Site: Fitzgerald School, 70 Rindge Ave.)

    Families and kids will love this summer celebration! Enjoy an engaging show with bilingual jazz-scat-along play while singing about the summer, nature and community. lucykalantari.com

  • July 18, Thursday: Ideas, Not Theories 10 AM

    Ideas, Not Theories ALERT: Due to the rain, this Summer in the City performance has been moved inside. Join us at the King Open School, located at 359 Broadway!

    @ Sennott Park, 305 Broadway, Cambridge MA 02139
    (Rain Site: King Open School, 359 Broadway)

    Bicycles, water, brushes, the body, drums, and original characters create a musical performance that is quirky and unique! Join director and creator Reynaliz Herrera and her theatrical percussion company for an unconventional, eye-opening experience. 

  • July 22, Monday: Tanglewood Marionettes – “An Arabian Adventure” 10 AM

    Tanglewood Marionettes @ Tobin Field/Callanan Playground, Concord Ave. & Alpine St., Cambridge MA 02138
    (Rain Site: Tobin School, 197 Vassal Lane)

    Facing danger at every turn, a courageous prince must battle his way out of a dungeon to save his princess! Learn about the art of puppetry through beautiful characters and the masterful mechanics of marionettes.





  • July 24, Wednesday: Urbanity Dance – “Dancing in Each Other’s Shoes” 10 AM

    Urbanity Dance @ Ahern Field, Charles St. & Spring St., Cambridge MA 02141.
    (Rain Site: Kennedy-Longfellow School, 158 Spring St.)

    This fresh and highly interactive performance celebrates diversity and encourages community. Using contemporary dance, this highly interactive show embraces the beauty of individual differences.

  • July 30, Tuesday: Opera on Tap – “Alice in Operaland” 10 AM

    Opera on Tap @ Amigos School, 15 Upton St, Cambridge MA 02139

    Journey with us down the rabbit hole as we present some of your favorite opera storybook characters from Dvorak’s Little Mermaid to Mozart’s Queen of the Night. Make way for the Fairy Queen, Cinderella, and the Sea Witch!


  • August 1, Thursday: Bee Parks and the Hornets Band 10 AM

    Bee Parks and the Hornets Band @ Riverside Press Park, River St. & Memorial Dr., Cambridge MA 02139
    (Rain Site: MLK School, 102 Putnam Ave.)

    Discover what it means to “be a bee” with this indie pop-rock band. Featuring all-original tunes, insect puppets, and lots of dance moves!

  • August 6, Tuesday: UNH’s Little Red Wagon – “Who Came Up With That?” 10AM

    UNH’s Little Red Wagon @ Magazine Beach Park, 668 Memorial Drive Cambridge MA 02139
    (Rain Site: Amigos School, 15 Upton St.)

    Follow along with the UNH Little Red Wagon Time Travelers as they travel through time to discover who was responsible for some of their favorite inventions.

  • August 8, Thursday: Inman Square Movie Night featuring Boston Lightsaber Stage Combat Club 7 PM

    Boston Lightsaber Stage Combat Club @ East Cambridge Savings Bank Parking Lot, 1310 Cambridge St.

    Heroes, villains, true love…lightsabers? Jedi Master Buttercup has been captured by a motley crew of mercenaries! Chasing them are mysterious figures in black…but are they friend or foe?

    MOVIE HINT: In a galaxy far, far away…our heroes defend themselves from a hot pursuit on a cold planet.

  • August 8, Thursday: Multicultural Arts Center Presents A Latin Dance Party with MetaMovements 6-8PM

    Logo for Multicultural Arts Center @ Centanni Park, adjacent to 41 Second St.

    Multicultural Arts Center Free Summer Performance: A Latin Dance Party with MetaMovements. For all ages! Lessons, social dancing, Timba lines, performances and more!

  • August 13, Tuesday: Cambridge Crossing Movie Night featuring Ricardo Frota – “Ecology of Sound” 7 PM

    Ricardo Frota @ Cambridge Crossing at North Point Common, 320 Morgan Ave

    Join Ricardo Frota as he combines traditional rhythm instruments like African drums, Brazilian percussion, and indigenous sounds with instruments made from recycled and natural-found objects.

    MOVIE HINT: A magical boardgame releases jungle-themed creatures and a man who has been stuck inside the game for decades. Can they win his freedom by surviving the game?

  • August 15, Thursday: Harvard Square Business Association Movie Night featuring The Busted Jug Band 7 PM

    The Busted Jug Band @ Palmer St., Harvard Square

    High energy music from the '20s and '30s that gets everyone dancing! Enjoy swinging rhythms and fun instruments like a washboard, washtub bass, banjoleles, kazoos, and rubber chickens!

    MOVIE HINT: You won’t need a spoon full of sugar to enjoy this magical story of a family who receives a new nanny.

  • August 20, Tuesday: Kendall Square Association Movie Night featuring Big Joe the Storyteller 7 PM

    Big Joe @ Alexandria Technology Square Lawn, Main St. and Technology Sq. Cambridge MA 02139 

    Big Joe the Storyteller and his trusty assistant Robo Big Joe presents “Reuse and Never Lose," a collection of tales from all around the world and all through time about recycling for conservation and innovation.

    MOVIE HINT: The last robot on earth spends his days organizing trash until he falls in love and finds the key to saving humanity.



  • August 22, Thursday: CambridgeSide Movie Night featuring Mad Science – “Air and Ice” 7 PM

    Mad Science @ Lechmere Canal Park at CambridgeSide, East Cambridge

    What’s colder than ice? Why does a teakettle whistle? How do you make fog? These answers and more will be answered in this show involving windpower, flash fire, and frigid ice!

    MOVIE HINT: What do sisters, reindeer, trolls, and a snowman have in common? Protecting the kingdom from bad men and accidental icy storms!

  • August 22, Thursday: Multicultural Arts Center Presents "Call Mr. Robeson" 7:30PM

    Logo for Multicultural Arts Center @ Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St.

    Multicultural Arts Center Free Summer Performance: “Call Mr. Robeson," a play with live music about the life of actor, singer, and civil rights activist Paul Robeson.


  • August 27, Tuesday: Community Art Center Movie Night featuring Kemp Harris 7PM

    Kemp Harris @ Clement Morgan Park, 60 Columbia St.
    Kemp Harris is a Cambridge musician, storyteller, teacher, composer, author—you name it! Join him for a warm evening of grand storytelling.

    MOVIE HINT: Ease on down the yellow-brick road as a Harlem schoolteacher tries to get back to Manhattan with help from her new friends.

  • August 29, Thursday: East Cambridge Business Association Movie Night featuring Leland Faulkner – “Visions of Peace” 7 PM

    Leland Faulkner @ East Cambridge Savings Bank Parking Lot, 292 Cambridge St.

    Prepare to be astounded! Classical conjuring, lighthearted humor, physical theater, and amazing shadows create a unique performance.

    MOVIE HINT: A fiery, red-headed princess must use her bravery and archery to save her family from a beastly curse.

  • August 31, Saturday: Bread & Puppet Theater “Diagonal Life Circus” 3 PM

    Bread and Puppet Theater @ Cambridge Common
    Visually stunning and mentally invigorating, Bread and Puppet Theater presents a colorful interpretation of life and culture. Powered by stunning painted puppets and a bold brass brand, "The Diagonal Life Circus" brings humor to urgent themes of the day through song, dance and magical, diagonal movement. breadandpuppet.org

    Bread and Puppet Director Peter Schumann writes:

    "Reality is either horizontal or vertical or both. The horizontal produces us, and eventually takes us back into its giant arms’ embrace. The vertical is the exceptional human predicament, the up- and forward-striding ambition that makes history and warfare.

    "The diagonal results from the hurts that the vertical suffers in the process. It is our common human fate, the hard-to-sustain-in-between life, neither up nor down that needs to muster all its strength to lift itself up and the courage to invent tricks that keep it from falling. And this trickery deserves a circus, to celebrate the inventiveness of the struggling body and mind in the fight against falling, as well as a victory feast for the successful lifting itself up."

    As always, the circus will feature the riotous Bread and Puppet Brass Band, stilters, flags, and the whole roaring, squawking, whinnying paper-maché menagerie, attempting to speak to the urgent heart of the moment. Following the performance, Bread and Puppet will serve its famous sourdough rye bread with garlic aioli, and the Bread and Puppet Press Store -- with posters, banners, books, pamphlets, and postcards from the Bread and Puppet Press -- will be open for perusal by the public.


accessability symbol
Summer in The City is held in parks all over Cambridge with varying accessibility. Cambridge Arts is committed to making reasonable accommodations to make the events accessible to everyone. Please feel free to contact us with special requests or for additional assistance. Phone: 617-349-4380. TDD: 617-349-4621. Email.



Thanks To 2019 Summer In The City Sponsors

Summer in the City is made possible through the generous support of our sponsors. Learn how you can become a Summer in the City sponsor or make an individual donation to support access to high-quality arts programming for children and families in Cambridge.

2019 Cambridge Arts Summer In The City sponsor logos