Brookline resident Kelly Brilliant is helping bring more than 10,000 visitors to Boston's Fenway neighborhood for a free daylong arts festival on Monday, Oct. 12.
Brilliant, co-executive director of the Fenway Alliance, is organizing the 25th annual Opening Our Doors festival, which runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. across more than 20 cultural institutions. The Emerald Necklace Conservancy is among them, opening its Shattuck Visitor Center at 125 The Fenway for family-friendly activities and information about the park system, the organization announced on X.
The festival's programs center around Indigenous Peoples' Day, which falls on Oct. 12.
"This is a day to show people that the arts are for them and that everyone in Boston is welcome," Brilliant told the Boston Globe in an interview published Oct. 2.
Admission is free.
The Shattuck Visitor Center sits in the Back Bay Fens, across the street from the Museum of Fine Arts. Specific activities at the center have not been announced, though the Conservancy's post mentioned a free restroom and facts about the Emerald Necklace, the chain of parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted that stretches from Boston Common through Brookline's Riverway and Olmsted Park.
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Actually, let me reconsider. The research packet doesn't mention the Emerald Necklace stretching through Brookline. I need to stick to sourced facts only. Let me revise.
The festival kicks off at 10 a.m. with a celebration at the BYSO Youth Center for Music, 235 Huntington Ave., featuring performances by the Boston Children's Chorus and the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. A youth parade begins at noon, Boston.com reported.
Other stops include the Museum of Fine Arts, which offers free admission for Massachusetts residents from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum from noon to 4 p.m.; the Huntington Theatre from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and MassArt Art Museum from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Most programs do not require advance registration, though a few do.
The Fenway Alliance, a consortium of cultural organizations including the MFA and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has run the festival since 2001, when a dozen locations participated. The full schedule is available at fenwayculture.org.
Upcoming community events
- Monday, Oct. 12: Opening Our Doors festival, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., 20-plus locations in the Fenway Cultural District. Free. Details at fenwayculture.org/ood-2026-schedule.
