Theme for 2022:  Sun, Surf and Sand!

3:00 PM Saturday June 4 & Sunday June 5

Fuller Middle School Amphitheater  

Voices of Metrowest is a 50 member non-denominational, non-audition chorus of co-ed identity founded in 2008. Performances are engaging, high-spirited, intentionally encourage audience participation and are entertaining for all ages. Some song selections are full-ensemble, others are performed by smaller groups and there are solo opportunities for student members anxious for that experience. Our goal is fun, not perfection, allowing for a more relatable and inspiring audience experience. 

Musical Ventriloquist Comedy for Seniors. The performance honors the ventriloquist tradition with tributes to Ventriloquists Edgar Bergan with his Charlie McCarthy replica puppet and Señor Wences with his talking hand puppet. 

Now in its tenth year, the Adventures in Lifelong Learning (ALL) program is a successful collaboration between Framingham State University (FSU) and the Framingham Public Library (FPL). The program provides MetroWest residents aged 60 and older with the opportunity to take courses in a variety of subject areas including art, history, literature and music. FSU faculty and other experts in their fields will teach courses online on Tuesdays on Zoom.

The Ethnic Arts Center (EAC) will provide a hands-on experience for the children of Framingham. Given the strong ethnic backgrounds of the children, it is exemplary to focus on the intergenerational bonds in the family. The children, using as reference the 10 Puppet Shows from 2021 and their own family history, will create puppets that represent members of their clan! They will bring them to life against a backdrop of a family memory or custom they celebrate. 

Framingham Community & Cultural Center, 10 Roxanna Street, Framingham 

The Walnut Hill School For The Arts (WHS) is expanding their current relationship with SMOC by partnering with the Framingham Community & Cultural Center to bring free dance and eurythmic (movement and music) classes to the children in SMOC's childcare system. The program introduces ballet, music, and movement to children who would otherwise not be able to afford private lessons. Classes are held three days a week, two classes per day, in two eight-week sessions per year. This program gives all the children an opportunity to experience professional-grade classes.  

MUSIC Dance.edu 

Two dance classes each of the centers.  The Branches of Framingham, Carmel Terrace Assisted Living, and The Carlyle House. Each dance class is about an hour. Elders do a complete chair, dance, warm-up and hip hop class that begins and ends in the chairs. We travel through time on the “Soul Train” and chair dance to clean cut hip hop and R & B songs. We use creative props such as smiley faces and the African maracas to help make our soul train journey come to life. Senior participants will leave feeling more limber.   

Framingham Centre Common Cultural District 

“Many Cultures, One Heart” is a public art project designed to celebrate the various artistic and ethnic voices of the city through a series of sculptures placed around the Framingham Centre Common Cultural District and along the Sudbury River. The goal of the project is to honor our differences within the unified community of the Cultural District by connecting through art, recreation, entertainment, and history; each sculpture will be painted by a local artist and will highlight the ethnicities and cultures (Brazilian, Latinx, Black, Asian, Indigenous, multiracial) and cultural partners (eg, Learning Center for the Deaf, Danforth Art Museum, FSU, etc.) in Framingham. Statues will be unveiled during a festival in June that includes a juried arts & crafts fair, educational events led by the Framingham History Center and Sudbury River Stewardship Council, and multicultural performances.

49 Lexington Street, Framingham 

Cultural enrichment provides our community with inspiration, education, and connection. Framingham Public Library (FPL) has always been dedicated to bringing the finest musicians and performers to our community and we seek to continue that tradition of excellence in musical programming with our series FPL Concerts 2022, offering an eclectic variety of musical performances with a special focus on expanding musical programs to continue to serve our Portuguese and Spanish-speaking community members. Our goal is to provide a rich tapestry of musical experiences that celebrates the diversity of our community and introduces audiences to new musical experiences. With the Cultural Council's support, we will continue to offer the finest in a series that includes western classical performances at our Sunday Concerts, our popular jazz concerts, and continue to build in world music experiences. 

49 Lexington Street, Framingham 

This will be a two pronged program. In the first, we'll extend our Framingham Public Library Minecraft server from MCProHosting for another year, keeping it's safe, Framingham youth only (4-12th graders) electronic space in place. Minecraft is a sandbox game where players can essentially do whatever they want. They can build, create, explore, and make their own games inside its block based world. It teaches concepts like architecture, engineering, art, geometry, and more in an entertaining and gamified way. It's the best selling video game of all time, and is frequently used in educational settings because of its ability to both teach and be fun at the same time.

In the second, we'll bring in Matt Gabriel from Animal Man Survivor to run two outdoor Summer Programs, a Wild Edibles Plant Walk and Primitive Archery, that will tie into our Read Beyond the Beaten Path summer reading theme. 

49 Lexington Street, Framingham 

Each summer we promote reading practice for pre-k and elementary age children through a summer adventure co-sponsored by the Mass Library Assoc and the Boston Bruins. Usually there is a kick-off program the end of June / beginning of July, then 6-7 weeks of exciting cultural programs at the library. This summer we increased our COVID-low participation of 155 to 384 participants and hope to increase again to ~800+ once we get back to advertising in the schools and presenting more in-person programs as vaccinations extend to children under 12. We will also bring back in-person trivia contests and guessing jars which encourage children to visit the library where they can be tempted by our book displays. This program, then, will continue to combat the dreaded summer slide of school skills and also enrich with many diverse activities the summer of children who cannot or do not attend camp. 

746 Water Street, Framingham 

We encourage and promote reading for ages 4-12 through a reading adventure co-sponsored by the Mass Library Association. Awaiting updated covid-19 guidelines, as the school year ends, we host a kick-off party and then 7 weeks of stimulating and fun cultural programs which take place at McAuliffe. This past summer McAuliffe had to quickly adapt and revise planned programs to offer 8 summer programs and together the Framingham Public Library registered 155 children in the Program. We also do weekly trivia and guess jar contests, themed t-shirts, and incentives for reading a certain number of hours/books over the summer. These efforts are all aimed to keep children engaged with reading and coming to the library to avoid boredom or falling behind in the skills they worked hard on throughout the school year and to also enrich the summers of children who don't or cannot go to a camp or travel. 

Christa McAuliffe Center for Integrated Science Learning at Framingham State University 

4 locations: Framingham, Marlborough, and Milford High Schools; and the Christa McAuliffe Center for Integrated Science Learning at Framingham State University  

Perspectives of Earth – Team Mentorship (PETM) fosters problem-solving of community environmental issues. This online, out-of-school time program uses a project-based learning approach and a suite of NASA Earth Science assets to promote STEM learning and practices among youth from Framingham, Marlborough, and Milford High Schools. Youth work on real-world projects with their mentors at their high school and the McAuliffe Center. Projects include an environmental awareness campaign for their local communities. Youth produce exhibits and videos that promote an appreciation for the connection between local and global environmental challenges and share the youth’s solutions to address such problems. Program expansion includes summer employment in partnership with the local MassHire office for students who complete both the Fall and Spring terms of the program.  

By Eve Costarelli 

Location:  Hoops & Homework sites at Pusan Road & Interfaith Terrace in Framingham   

Last year's grant from the Framingham LCC went to the creation of mindfulness videos and this year's will support those videos by allowing me to help implement the calming, focusing and community building activities at the two Hoops & Homework sites. In-person programming along with the video content and applied practices will help to fortify the exercises with frequent instruction and practice. I will go to both sites and conduct in-person yoga & mindfulness classes and will have the sites practice using the videos so the children, staff and the families become accustomed to using them and feeling their benefits. Constant repetition is especially important for this afterschool porgram for all the children and the staff involved so that they can embody the practices. I will use mindful movement, focusing acitives and applied practices to enhance the video content. 

Pinefield Garden Club   

Since 2013, The New Garden Society has facilitated year-round educational opportunities in partnership with The MA Department of Correction. The Society has trained over 500 incarcerated and detained students in the art and science of plants. In prisons’ prison hospitals and youth facilities, the students are 13-80 years old. In prison classrooms, students are taught core horticultural concepts, and these concepts are then applied in prison gardens and greenhouses. 

Framingham High School   

Mass Educational Theatre Guild is the umbrella organization for theatre education. Each year for 90 years they have sponsored a festival of one acts. In 2020 and 2021 Covid brought that tradition to a pause. This year Framingham has been asked to host two levels of the festival, Preliminary and Sem Final round. With covid safety practices in place we will safely bring students from 10 surrounding towns as well as Framingham to once again share their passion for theatre with each other. We will also,, safely, open the performances to live audiences. Each school will need a dedicated space, a host or mentor, technical support since many have not been in their own spaces and coaching for new directors since many directors have left. We hope to use this festival to bring theatre to our kids and our community and to share the theatre from across the state with our own students and families.  

At the Raymond J. Callahan Center 

535 Union Avenue, Framingham 

The Cultural Arts Series will provide older adults with exposures to music, literature, film, and art. The series will feature 17 programs to be offered on Zoom or in person at the Callahan Center. These include:

• Classical Music: 3 piano performances/lectures spanning four centuries of music

• Great American Writers: 3 presentations on the Life and Works of Robert Frost, Eugene O’Neill, John Steinbeck

• Film History: Films that Changed America & Great Courtroom Dramas (2 programs)

• Spotlight on Hollywood Legends: Bette Davis, Vincent Price, Bing Crosby (3 programs)

• Musical Genres : Latin Music (2 programs), Music of Motown (1 program)

• Special Musical Performances – Live vocal & instrumental: Tribute to the Beatles & The Sinatra Standards

• ArtMatters: Life & Works of Edgar Degas 

At the Raymond J. Callahan Center 

535 Union Avenue, Framingham 

Our History - Our World 2022 will showcase 16 informative presentations to be offered to adult learners in person at the Callahan Center or on Zoom. Programs will focus on diverse topics to engage participants in understanding the past, examining events that have shaped our world, and exploring the world we live in. Topics include:

• A 3-part series on the Civil War

• A 3-part program on the American Century and the Global Emergence of the U.S.

• Juneteenth: The Destruction of Slavery in the Civil War

• Immigration & The Uneasy Making of Multicultural America

• What Was the Gilded Age and Are We in Another One Now

• The Untold Story of the Cuban Missile Crisis

• Before Brooklyn: Unsung Heroes Who Helped Break Baseball's Color Barrier

• Forgotten Patriots of the Revolutionary War

• Boston Tea Party

• New England Notebook: 1 Report, 6 States, Uncommon Stories

• Kilimanjaro

• Natl. Parks of the East Coast 

Hoops and Homework

At Pusan Road & Interfaith Terrace in Framingham

Hoops and Homework will expand/continue its piano lesson program offering and piano for free for economically challenged children, in partnership with Performing Arts Center of Metrowest. We would like to offer twice-a-week 60 minute group classes for 25 students/a day at two Hoops & Homework locations; Pusan Road and Interfaith Terrace.  

Link to The recital video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Rth2nHAERGty77eY9

Link to report:  drive.google.com/file/d/1spWOXar_BH_Fk2APCZQm1_ciSBt8UHU1/view?usp=sharing 

City of Framingham Parks & Recreation Department   

The 2022 Friday Night Concert Series will include eight weeks of musical entertainment; Oldie's Rock & Roll, Big Bands, R&B, Country, and every genre in-between. The Concert Series will be held on Friday evenings from 6:30pm - 8:30pm at the Center Common on Edgell Road in Framingham. Crowds vary in age from families with very young children to 55+ senior citizens. Depending on the evening, there could be up to 1000 spectators on the Common!  

Framingham History Center, Inc.   

The FHC is teaming up with the "Portuguese in the Community" class at Framingham State University (FSU), to create a student-curated traveling exhibit focused on the immigrant experience in Framingham. This class is a 300-level directed study offered by Dr. Everton Vargas da Costa, in which students study the history of immigration, and the immigration of Portuguese-speaking people to the U.S. and Massachusetts.  

Performing Arts Center of Metrowest, Inc.   

This grant will support the newly formed middle school and high school choral program for winter, spring, and summer at the Performing Arts Center of MetroWest (PAC). Due to support granted by the FCC in 2021, PAC was successful in beginning a summer 2021 choral intensive. The inaugural choral intensive was a weeklong program aimed at students ages 10-16. Ten students participated in an engaging, in-person, COVID-safe environment, planting the pilot program for this extended programming. Although many youth desire music lessons and participation in a community music environment, cost is often a barrier to participation. This reality has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Designing reduced-cost programming is crucial to open the door to music, scholarship, and expression thereby strengthening our community now and into the future. 

Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild, Inc.   

The Massachusetts High School and Middle School Drama Festivals are two of the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild’s largest events which annually draws an average of 160 participating schools. Framingham High School, Cameron Middle School and drama directors Chris Brindley and Teri Shea have partnered with the METG to host two of the rounds of festival this year. At each site, eight regional schools will come together to perform one act plays for adjudication. Through participation in the festival, students with interests in acting, directing and technical theater gain valuable performance and production experience while also being opened to the work done by their peers in other towns. Students win awards for acting and technical excellence and at the end of the day. 

Amazing Things Arts Center, Inc.   

Firehouse Dinner and Movie Nights is an outdoor family-friendly film series providing entertainment and nourishment to our community. ātac will screen popular kids’ movies in Spanish with English subtitles or in English with Spanish subtitles (depending on the needs of our audience) from late spring to early fall of 2022 for a total of five movies. We will be collaborating with local restaurants, grocery stores, and direct service organizations to provide meals for our audience to enjoy during the show.

Free and open to the public, the series will take place in our parking lot with the movie projected onto the back of our outbuilding. Through this program, we aim to increase our arts and culture programs created with our South Framingham neighbors in mind and build upon community connections we have made with our neighbors and collaborating organizations over the past two years.