Free tickets drop for Boston kids as performance arts venues join city program

Boston families will soon have ten new options for free cultural activities. Mayor Michelle Wu will announce another expansion of her arts program, Boston Family Days, for school-aged kids and their families during her State of the City address tonight.

Families will have access to free performances at seven of the city’s performing arts institutions such as Arts Emerson, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Ballet, the Huntington Theatre, the Boch Center, the Wheelock Family Theater and the Boston Lyric Opera.

“ It feels so great to know that more families will have the opportunity to explore not just the work that we feel so passionate about at the Huntington, but the vibrant art scene across Boston and what makes us such a great city,” said  Loretta Greco, the artistic director at the Huntington Theatre.

She said the city program feels core to their values. They’ve partnered with Boston Public Schools for decades allowing Boston students to attend productions at little or no cost.

“My hope is that we can keep it as fluid and flexible as possible so that it really does align with the many types of families we have in the city and their many types of schedules,” Greco said. “We have plenty of seats at the Huntington.”

The city will announce more details about which performances will be available to families in the coming months.

The expansion of Boston Family Days also adds three historical museums to its lineup: the Paul Revere House, Old North Illuminated, and the USS Constitution Museum. Beginning next month, Boston children in grades K-12, as well as pre-K, will be offered free admission twice a month.

Nina Zannieri is executive director of the Paul Revere Memorial Association, which owns and operates the house. She said they were pleased that the city reached out and asked them to take part.

To participate this year, she said, particularly in light of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, feels significant. The Paul Revere House sheds light on Revere’s family life and their day-to-day experience.

“History is important,” she said. “If you didn't like it as a kid, again, we invite you to come and try it again as an adult.”

The city is helping to subsidize this program and Zannieri said she hopes residents take the time to rediscover their site.

“I've always believed that history often gets used and misused by people who don't really know it very well,” she said. “I grew up as someone who loved history because I thought of it as stories. They are stories, but stories backed by facts. The facts do matter.”

Later this spring, Revolutionary Spaces, which operates the Old State House and Old South Meeting House, will also be added to the program, according to city leadership. The city estimates that more than 50,000 Boston students and their guests participated in Boston Family Days thus far, and many families are visiting cultural institutions for the first time.

“Delivering an excellent education for every Boston student means making the entire city their classroom. Boston’s world-class arts and cultural institutions are pillars of Boston’s vibrant community and economy, and I’m so grateful for their partnership to show our young people the world,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement sent to WBUR. “We’re thrilled to add performing arts organizations and historical sites to our Boston Family Days program.”

The program is funded through a public-private partnership between the City of Boston supporters such as Amazon, Barbara and Amos Hostetter, the Barr Foundation, Bob and Michelle Atchinson, and Jim and Cathy Stone.

Chad Smith, president and CEO of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, remembers arriving in Boston during the first phase of this program and telling the mayor, “'I want in, I want the BSO to be a part of that. Can the BSO join this cohort?'”

“ It was really a question of, what is the magnitude of the program that we could imagine and how could we be most helpful in anchoring this program and the success of this,” he said. “ I've just been so impressed with the arts organizations coming together and creating this kind of access for our school-aged kids and their families. It's not happening in a lot of places, but it's happening here in Boston.”

Another opportunity for families will be the official launch art classes from the Boston Centers for Youth and Families. Called BCYF Creates, kids ages 8 to 14 will be able to take art classes at community centers throughout Boston. Parents can sign up their kids online at community center websites. The program will offer classes in  photography, theater, digital music production and more.

“ What we could do is be able to tap into young people's passions and their energy ... They may go to a theater production or go to a musical and say, ‘Hey, I love what happened there,’” said Boston's Chief of Human Services José Massó.

Amy Sokolow contributed reporting.