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Art on a nice Summer night? Nothing sounds better than that! Come to the Library and enjoy an art filled evening learning the techniques of acrylic painting. In partnership with artist Brooke Lambert, a professional printmaker and painter, she will take you through this guided art class. The library will provide all materials. Please try your best to arrive on time or notify us if any lateness. There will be a 10 minute grace period to keep your spot held before going to waitlisted registrants.

Kamishibai (paper theater) is a traditional form of Japanese street theater and storytelling where author illustrator Yumi Izuyama uses her original artwork to tell folktales from around the world, bringing them to life for families with young children. A second generation Japanese Brazilian, Izuyama will educate and entertain us using Kamishibai with both traditional Japanese and Brazilian folktales! Funding for Summer Reading has been generously provided by the City of Cambridge, Cambridge Public Library Foundation and Friends of the Cambridge Public Library.

To mark the 250th anniversaries of the American Revolution and the founding of the United States, a coalition of local non-profits and government agencies will present Washington in American Memory, a seven-part speaker series. Explore how Americans have remembered and forgotten Washington’s involvement with slavery over the past 250 years. Three historians who work at the intersection of scholarship and public history will shed new light on our founding contradictions: Kelli Racine Barnes, ACE Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow and historian of 18th- and 19th-century U.S. history John Garrison Marks, author of Thy Will Be Done: George Washington’s Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory (forthcoming April 7, 2026) and Vice President of Research and Engagement at the American Association for State and Local History Kyera Singleton, Executive Director of the Royall House & Slave Quarters and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Tufts University Center for the Humanities This event will conclude with a book signing by John Garrison Marks. Copies of Thy Will Be Done: George Washington’s Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory will be available to purchase.

Come outside and play as warm weather arrives. The Community Development Department (CDD) partners with local businesses and organizations to sponsor free events in squares and neighborhoods across the city.

34 artists and organizations are being awarded $112,461 in Local Cultural Council Grant funding by Cambridge Arts and the City of Cambridge. Funded projects include a comics camp for foster children, a hip-hop dance class for seniors, a celebration of the history of Black American music, a poetry writing program pairing teens with older adults, an elementary school playwriting project addressing the indigenous history and ecosystem of the Charles River, performances of short plays by short plays by Asian Americans, a documentary about the late Cambridge artist Peter Valentine, and a documentary about The Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub.

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Molly Jong-Fast—contributing writer at Vanity Fair, political analyst at MSNBC News, and host of the podcast “Fast Politics”—for a discussion of her new book How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir. She will be joined in conversation by Laura Zigman—author of six novels, including the bestsellers Small World, Separation Anxiety, and Animal Husbandry. Registration is required.

In honor of Pride month, we are celebrating the colors of the rainbow with tie-dye! Teens are welcome to tie-dye a provided shirt or bag or bring something of their own to tie-dye. Snacks are provided. No registration required, supplies are provided until they run out. The City of Cambridge does not discriminate, including on the basis of disability. We may provide auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures to people with disabilities. For more information contact us at library@cambridgema.gov, 617-349-4032 (voice), or via relay at 711.

Learn how to be safer online with accounts and passwords. We will provide an overview of frauds and scams to watch out for. To view and register for other Basic Tech Classes at the Library, please go to tinyurl.com/basictechclass. Registration is encouraged, but not required.

Navigating intersections can be dangerous while riding a bike. Adding bike signals to busy intersections that already have traffic signals will help cyclists safely cross intersections at a reasonable cost to the city.

The Election Commission is responsible for managing and supervising elections and the annual census in the City. The Election Commission also manages municipal campaign finance reporting and administers and enforces the City’s Ethics Ordinance.