Attractions
Boston: A Hub of Innovation and Energy
By Dottie Jeffries
With entrepreneurship as the theme for Opera Conference 2011, OPERA America could not be convening in a more suitable city than Boston. The legacy of the city's cultural arts coupled with a robust intellectual community has shaped Boston as a focal point of innovation and energy, especially in the arts.
Boston's exciting from the moment you arrive. If you're landing at Logan Airport, take a water shuttle to the city for a change of pace. At Rowes Wharf, where you'll disembark, you'll continue on to the conference hotel by either catching a land taxi or by hopping on Boston's user-friendly "T" subway to the conference hotel, the Hyatt Regency Boston (Chinatown stop).
As you think about navigating Boston, know that the city is compact with narrow and winding streets laid out along old cow paths. Don't even think of a car or taxi. Rather, pick up a street map of Boston from the hotel concierge as well as a map of the "T" subway-trolley system and you'll be set for exploring one of America's most charming and walkable cities. If you plan to spend time in Boston on either side of the conference, take in more of the city with an all-day "hop-on, hop-off" trolley pass complete with a narrated tour.
 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Photo by Alexa B. Antopol. |  Museum of Science, Boston. Photo by Alexa B. Antopol. |
During the Conference
You're always on the go — and wanting to find food that is fast and tasty. So out the door and right around the corner from the Hyatt Regency is your first stop: Max and Dylans Kitchen & Bar, a hip lunch, dinner and brunch spot. And a few more minutes away are two areas filled with a range of enticing dining choices. Boston's Chinatown, the only historically Chinese area in New England, is one that provides an astounding variety of Asian cuisines. Faneuil Hall and the adjacent Quincy Market offer a selection of restaurants, pubs and food stands with outdoor seating perfect for the warm spring days of May.
For remarkable sightseeing right outside the conference hotel, you can't do better than Boston's midtown cultural district featuring three stunning architectural jewels — the Boston Opera House; Emerson College's recently renovated Paramount Center, a masterpiece of the old and new; and the landmark Modern Theatre façade, which now fronts a new building belonging to Suffolk University.
 Paul Revere statue by Cyrus Dallin, Boston Public Gardens. Photo by Alexa B. Antopol. |
Reasons to Extend Your Stay Before or After
Boston is rich with reasons for extending your stay before or after the conference. Here are some more unusual offerings beyond Bunker Hill to pique your planning. Consider a tour of the renowned Boston Public Library, an architectural monument filled with paintings, mosaics and dramatic interiors — or visit the exciting Stan Getz Library of the Berklee College of Music which welcomes the public both to its world class collection, as well to its special events that are free of charge. Tours of the college are also available. And the historic Boston Athenaeum Library will be a must-see in May with its exhibit "Elegant Enigmas: The Art of Edward Gorey" open to the public. Then compliment these visits by walking all or part of Boston's 20-mile Literary Trail that includes a stop at Longfellow's House.
For the more unusual among museum outings, cross the Charles River to Cambridge and take in the List Visual Arts Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which next spring will feature the first American museum survey of the work of Chilean-born video artist Juan Downey. The Center, a pinnacle of innovative ideas, is committed to the principles of artistic and intellectual freedom. While in Cambridge, venture on to Harvard to see Re-View, a long-term display at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum. Re-View features a selection of over 600 objects drawn from the collections of all three museums. And be sure to take advantage of the slate of lectures, symposia, concerts and other programs offered at the Sackler. You might then cap off your Cambridge visit with walks on both campuses, where you'll see panoply of architectural styles ranging from Colonial to Postmodern.
In keeping with the conference theme, explore some of Boston's entrepreneurial arts organizations such as Zumix, where empowered youth use music to make strong, positive change in their lives and their communities. Another enterprising endeavor is Art Interactive, an experimental art space in Cambridge that provides artists a supportive venue for showing cutting-edge work. And in the cultural realm, the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts is a community-building multi-functional center whose mission is to promote, preserve and celebrate Latino arts — an exemplary model for other cities. Not quite enough? Then visit the website of the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston, an invaluable guide to the region's cultural fabric.
Dottie Jeffries is principal of Jeffries Marketing, a strategic communications firm with a focus on the arts. She extends a special thanks to Kerry Maeve Sheehan at the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston.
This article originally appeared in the December 2010 issue of Opera America Magazine.