Arts & Culture

Explore Harvard’s vibrant arts scene—from campus exhibitions and theater to cultural analysis and literary reviews. Discover how creativity shapes the Harvard experience.

A man sitting at a wooden table in a formal setting with portraits on the wall.

A theatrical reenactment explores a 1976 clash between science and democracy.

by Laurel M. Shugart

Painting of masted ships on the ocean

Peabody Essex Museum’s “In American Waters”

From oceanic voyages to romping in the waves, a new exhibit explores relationships to water.

by Nell Porter-Brown

A photograph of Zoe Sarnak performing on stage

Putting the Music in Musical Theater

Composer Zoe Sarnak’s warm-hearted songs

by Lydialyle Gibson

Photo of Bonnie Tsui standing on a pier

A Surfing Author’s Children’s Book

In the swim with Bonnie Tsui

by S.I. Rosenbaum

The front and back of a die-cut trade card shaped like a donkey that was used to advertise coffee. When the card is flipped over, the viewer can see that there is a boy riding on the donkey's back.

Trade Cards, Eye-Catching Heralds of Mass-marketing

A nineteenth-century advertising medium traces the rise of consumer culture.

by Jonathan Shaw

Aerial view of historic downtown New Bedford buildings

New Bedford

Exploring the coastal fishing hub’s history, architecture, parks, and arts scene

by Nell Porter-Brown

Photograph of the world's first net-zero Victorian passive house

A Net-Zero-Energy Victorian Home Makes History

HBS alumna Betsy Harper develops the first net-zero-energy, Victorian “passive house” in the world.  

by Kristina DeMichele

The painting “Love Potion” features two lovers craning toward each other in a boat on roiling ocean waters.

Alexander Gassel retrospective at the Museum of Russian Icons

A blend of Russian Orthodox iconography and mythical motifs

by Nell Porter-Brown

Braxton Shelley sits at a keyboard

Musician and professor Braxton Shelley

A gospel scholar shapes music theory.

by Jacob Sweet

An illuminated manuscript page from thirteenth-century Iraq showing two men on a camel arriving in a village, depicted as two-story white buildings with people looking out the windows

al-Hariri, a master storyteller

Brief life of a master storyteller

by Michael Cooperson

Johnson plays his harmonica with the Boston Pops orchestra behind him.

Singer, songwriter, harmonica player Scott Albert Johnson

Scott Albert Johnson finds his path.

by Jacob Sweet