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The Center for Arts at the Armory’s signature Performance Opportunity Program (POP) seeks to serve local individuals and groups involved in arts, culture and community building, and for whom our regular rental rates for the Performance Hall are too great a financial burden. We believe that arts and culture play an essential role in strengthening the local community we serve, and we know that access to performance and event spaces are one of the most challenging issues facing local artists and cultural workers. Performing arts events that showcase diverse voices promote mental health, well-being and understanding within the wider community. By opening our Performance Hall to arts groups who would not otherwise have access to a large performance venue, we are seeking to provide a welcoming and healing space for local artists and audiences to flourish within the rich multicultural communities of Somerville, Greater Boston, and beyond. 

Once per month, skipping July and August, Arts at the Armory will select an individual or group to host a POP event in our Performance Hall on an off-peak night of Monday-Wednesday. Applicants will be accepted on a rolling basis, and will be chosen based on how well they reflect our values of community, creativity, and inclusivity. Events must be open to the public, and feature music, theater, dance, circus, film, media arts or spoken word/literary arts. Arts at the Armory will support production costs and also assist with marketing and promotion. Please click here to download a POP Application Form and click here to download a Budget Worksheet (both forms are required for a POP submission).

Funding support for POP generously provided by Cambridge Trust, Mass Cultural Council and Somerville Arts Council.

Photo by Wayne Lake courtesy of Jean Appolon Expressions

“Noticing the trees around us — on our commutes, in our yards, parks, or neighborhoods — is the first step to valuing them,” notes R.O.O.T. (Recognizing Our Oldest Trees) co-organizer Kerrie Kemperman, and this is the rationale behind the Somerville tree-themed photography exhibit at Arts at the Armory. The show offers a glimpse of some marvelous tree specimens, seen through the eyes of Somerville residents.

Trees are a valuable natural resource, and their merits are extensive: cleaning the air, mitigating stormwater, combating heat island effects, and more. Overcoming “plant blindness” and purposefully observing trees is a critical step toward ensuring their protection and conservation. The photographs in this exhibit were selected not only to demonstrate the aesthetic qualities of trees, but also to acknowledge the places where human activity often comes into conflict with them.

“Trees tend to be cut or removed whenever they interfere with human goals: power lines, roads and new MBTA lines, sidewalks, and housing construction… which are not inherently bad reasons to cut down a tree, but it is worth considering these as opportunities to work around trees that are already well established in a particular spot.” Especially since it takes 25 to 40 years for a tree to reach maturity, and the tree provides greater environmental benefits as it ages

R.O.O.T. and the Urban Forestry Committee have also launched the “Remarkable Trees” program. We ask Somerville residents to nominate a local tree that is special to them, and the nominated trees are then added to a shared “walking map” so that everyone can visit these remarkable specimens (visit https://tinyurl.com/nominateatree). We also created a mobile outdoor banner of Somerville tree photos. The banner has appeared at street festivals and other locations around the city — watch for it in your neighborhood park or square.

Our participating artists are all Somerville residents. Artist information is provided with each photograph. If you are interested in purchasing, please contact the photographer directly.

This exhibit was produced with the assistance of Arts at the Armory and the Somerville Urban Forestry Committee. It is on display until November 7, 2021.

We have some important new COVID-19 regulations to share with our community. Effective October 1, 2021, the Center for Arts at the Armory will require all staff and event guests to show proof of vaccination status. Children under the age of 12 will not have to show proof of vaccination (nor will they have to present a negative COVID test) for admittance to events but are required to wear a mask. Guests who wear masks and present a negative COVID test 24 hours prior to the event will also be admitted. Guests are encouraged to show proof of vaccination from their cell phones. In addition, effective August 13, 2021, once inside the Armory building, the Center for Arts at the Armory requires all staff, volunteers, interns, vendors, shoppers and guests to wear a mask regardless of whether they have been vaccinated against COVID-19. We will continue to evaluate and update these policies as the situation evolves.