Free Things to Do in Boston, March 2015

Photo via Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism, Creative Commons

Pascale Lord: “A Table !”

Pascale Lord is a French artist whose exhibit portrays the relationship between the dinner table and communication. Running through the month of March, this exhibit opens with a reception including complementary free French wines to pair with dinners on canvases.

Free, opens Wednesday, March 4, 6:30 p.m., continues through March 30, French Cultural Center, 53 Marlborough St., Boston, frenchculturalcenter.org.

Boston Hunger Banquet 

Taste how the other half eats at Oxfam America’s Hunger Banquet. At this dinner banquet, guests pick an income tier at random—either low, medium, or high—and receive a complementary meal that corresponds to that status. The dinner symbolizes the relationship between poverty and hunger, and is meant to raise awareness of continuing food inequity worldwide.

Saturday, March 7, 4:30-6:30 p.m., Radcliffe Institute of Harvard University, 18 Mason St., Cambridge, registration required.

Microchondria II Release Party

Looking for a local read? Join the team at Harvard Book Store in welcoming the not-so-sequel to their 2010 Microchondria to shelves at a free release party open to the public this month. In the beginning of February, the bookstore put out a call for short stories and promised to select and print the collection on their in-store machine. Join the team, including very important guest printing press Paige M. Gutenberg, as they celebrate the release of this second edition.

Free, Saturday, March 7, 7 p.m., Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, harvard.com.

Chinese New Year Parade

Welcome the year of the goat in this Harvard Square procession from Winthrop Park to Hong Kong restaurant. Watch lion and dragon dancers as they proceed down a route illuminated by lanterns. Following the processional, Hong Kong will be open to the public for arts and crafts as well as musical performances to continue the celebration.

Free, Sunday, March 8, 1 p.m., Harvard Square, Cambridge, harvardsquare.com.

John Boyne Reads from A History of Loneliness

Join John Boyne, author of the New York Times bestseller The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, as he reads from his latest novel, A History of Loneliness. The novel dictates the story of a young man who enters the Irish Seminary to become a priest, believing that he is dedicating his life to good. Years later, he must face revelations that shatter the Irish faith in the Catholic Church and the demons of his own family’s past.

Free, Monday, March 9, 7:00 p.m., Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, harvard.com.

Author Talk with Dennis Lehane

Stop by the Boston Public Library to catch up with Dennis Lehane, author of locally based classics Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone as well as the popular Shutter Island. Lehane will talk about his new novel, World Gone By, a psychological crime thriller in which former crime kingpin Joe Coughlin comes face to face with his criminal past during World War II in Cuba and Ybor City, Florida.

Free, Thursday, March 12, 6:00 p.m., Boston Public Library Central, 700 Boylston St., Boston, bpl.org. 

Spring Into Health

Witness the first signs of spring after a record-breaking winter at the Arnold Arboretum. On this guided walk, you’ll have the chance to shake off those winter blues while wandering the Arboretum’s less-traveled trails and learning the names of some of the interesting plants along the path that are just starting to sprout for spring.

Free, RSVP required, Saturday, March 14, 10:30 a.m., Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, 125 Arborway, Boston, registration required.

Reykjavik Calling Concert at the Middle East

Experience a night of cultural fusion with music from local and Icelandic artists. Icelandic acts Kaleo and Beebee and the Bluebirds will headline the show along with Boston-based Love in Stockholm as well as George Knight with Pablo Palooza. This free music festival is part of “Taste of Iceland,” a five-day celebration of Icelandic culture happening in multiple locations around the city.

Free, Saturday, March 14, 8 p.m., Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub, 480 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, icelandnaturally.com.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Whether you’ve got Irish in you or not, it’s that time of year to put on some green and head to the annual St. Paddy’s Day Parade. Join the crowds as they line the streets in Southie and watch the processional as it winds down Broadway.

Free, Sunday, March 15, 1:00 p.m., South Boston, southbostonparade.org.

Andy Warhol at Wellesley

Experience Andy Warhol’s iconic, vibrant pieces that put pop art on the map at Wellesley College’s Davis Museum. From Campbell’s Soup cans to celebrities, Warhol’s work spares no subject. The timeless representations of American culture in the 1960s are displayed in his eye-catching, colorful trademark prints that have sparked controversy and intrigue for decades.

Free, through June 7, Davis Museum at Wellesley College, 106 Central St., Wellesley, wellesley.edu.

Free Thursdays at the ICA

Explore the ICA for an evening any Thursday this month and stop by two of the museum’s newest exhibits. First, check out “When the Stars Begin to Fall: Imagination and the American South,” a collection of art by 35 different artists created throughout the 50 years following the civil rights movement. Then swing by Sonic Arboretum, a collaborative effort between sculptor Ian Schneller and musician Andrew Bird, which combines music and visual art in a 50-minute immersive performance through 36 sculpted speakers–all made from compressed newspapers and dryer lint.

Free, Thursdays, 5-9 p.m., Institute of Contemporary Art, 100 Northern Ave., Boston, icaboston.org. 

Free Film Fridays at the Museum of Science

Spend an evening experiencing new worlds in the IMAX Omni Mugar Theater at the Museum of Science. From the Galapagos Islands, to Mayan Ruins, to following the journey of a humpback whale, the free, educational films on New England’s only IMAX screen will take you out of your seat and into natural wonders located hundreds of miles away.

Free, Fridays in March, showtimes vary, Museum of Science, 1 Science Park, Boston, mos.org.