Teen Clothing Upcycle & Design (Valente)
Learn how to upcycle clothing over four sessions! This program will cover embroidery embellishment, patches and applique, alterations such as hemming, and basic clothing design. Registration is required, and registering for the first session includes the following three sessions. Please plan to attend all four! We encourage you to bring your own piece(es) of clothing to practice on, and will provide all materials as well as scrap fabric. Ages 12-18.
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.
Summer Reading: Live Animal Program with Harvard Alpaca Ranch (O'Neill)
Alpacas from the Harvard Alpaca Ranch will be visiting the library for an educational program and meet and greet. Join us to learn more about alpacas and take some time to say hello! This event is intended for school-age children. No registration required.
This event will be held outside, with a rain date of Aug. 15 at 11 a.m.
Funding for Summer Reading has been generously provided by the City of Cambridge, Cambridge Public Library Foundation and Friends of the Cambridge Public Library.
Vacation Week: Scratch Art Tiles (Collins)
Create your own scratch art tiles. Begin with a black square and scratch a design to reveal the magical colors hidden beneath.
Recommended for children ages 6-12 and their caregivers.
Pinwheel Craft (Collins)
Get creative after school! Follow instructions to turn patterned paper into a pinwheel. Then, watch the springtime wind make it spin.
Recommended for children ages 6-12 and their caregivers.
CPL Presents: AAPI Heritage Month Celebration with Boston Festival Orchestra (Main)
The Boston Festival Orchestra returns to the Cambridge Public Library for the second year of its AAPI Heritage Concert, celebrating the extraordinary breadth of musical voices from Asian American and Pacific Islander composers. This program brings together works that reflect personal history, cultural inheritance, and bold contemporary expression — offering a powerful snapshot of the many ways identity and artistry intersect.
Join BFO Artistic Director Alyssa Wang, BFO musicians, and guest artists for an intimate chamber music experience that pairs performance with conversation, inviting audiences to engage with the cultural, historical, and human stories behind the music. This concert continues the BFO’s commitment to amplifying AAPI voices and creating space for meaningful artistic exchange.
For registration: https://patron.bforchestra.org/ticketing/bfo/AAPImonth
This concert is cosponsored by the Friends of the Cambridge Public Library.
Our Path Forward Lecture: Rachel Slade, author of Making It in America (Main/Virtual)
Join the Cambridge Public Library in welcoming Rachel Slade, author of Making It in America: The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A. (And How It Got That Way)—as well as the national bestseller, Into the Raging Sea—for the latest installment of the Our Path Forward Lecture Series. Slade's book, which follows a young couple in Maine trying to kickstart a lost industry, was named a Publishers Weekly "Top 10 Pick in Business and Economics." Cosmopolitan called Making It in America an "enlightening look at the history of manufacturing in America and how we got to where we are today." After the lecture, Slade will sit in conversation with Janelle Nanos, a business enterprise reporter at The Boston Globe and a finalist for a 2023 Pulitzer Prize, after which she will answer questions from the audience. Registration is required.