Boston University - Campus - Boston Campuses and Facilities - Cultural Life

Cultural Life

Located at the junction of Fenway-Kenmore, Allston, and Brookline, the university has long enjoyed these neighborhood's cultural offerings. In the Fenway-Kenmore area are the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and Landsdowne Street. Allston has been Boston's largest bohemian neighborhood since the 1960s. Nicknamed "Allston Rock City," the neighborhood is home to many artists and musicians, as well as a variety of cafés, and many of Boston's small music halls. Beyond the southern border of the campus in Brookline, Harvard Avenue offers independent and foreign films at Coolidge Corner Theatre, and author readings at the Brookline Booksmith. Other local destinations for campus intellectuals and culture lovers include Symphony Hall, the Beacon Book Annex, Jordan Hall, the main branch of the Boston Public Library in Copley Square, the art and commerce of Newbury Street, and, across the river, the museums, shops, and galleries in Harvard Square and elsewhere in Cambridge. The combined proximity of so many cultural institutions, colleges, public spaces, and performance outlets, with the University's own College of Fine Arts, College of Communication, University Professors Program, and other on-campus sources for cultural energy, has enabled BU to cultivate a thriving creative community. The George Sherman Student Union on Commonwealth Avenue hosts concerts and performers at "BU Central" and Metcalf Hall. There are 12 a cappella groups on campus, two notable of which are the co-ed group The BosTones and the all-male group the Dear Abbeys. BU is home to the Huntington Theatre Company at the BU Theatre as well as Boston Playwrights' Theatre, and hosts campus and non-campus performances in the Tsai Performance Center. Visiting artists' work are displayed in rotating exhibitions in the University's three galleries.