February Arts and Cultural Events in Medford

Arts Collaborative Medford just celebrated its one-year anniversary, but by the looks of its programs, you’d think the community arts center has been around for much longer!

In February, ACM begins Year 2 at 162 Mystic Avenue with a diverse and expanding lineup that includes a Craft + Cinema Night (Feb. 6); Indigo dyeing workshops for adults (Feb. 8) and kids (Feb. 18); a Medford Jazz Festival Jam (Feb. 8); the new monthly Jam Down By Riverside (Feb. 9); a Vision Collage Workshop (Feb. 10); a three-day puppet workshop for kids during school vacation week (Feb. 18-20); the monthly Make + Mingle Night (Feb. 19); a Community Potluck Blues Show featuring Professor Harp (Feb. 20); a Block Printing Workshop (Feb. 25); and the monthly Poetry and Song Open Mic Night (date TBD).

And ongoing at ACM until March 7 is the heralded exhibition “The Threads That Tie Us,” in which 10 area artists disrupt traditional notions of textiles by engaging embroidery, quilting, tufting, weaving, and other fabric-based practices as contemporary tools for addressing social issues and reclaiming histories. (Regular gallery viewing hours are noon to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday.)

Other standout February events on CACHE’s Arts Across Medford Calendar include:

+ City celebrations of the Lunar New Year (Feb. 1 at the Senior Center), Black History Month (Feb. 17 at City Hall), and International Mother Tongue Day (Feb. 21 at the library)

+ EventThem Studios’ first Winter Art Market, showcasing the work of 19 local artists (Feb. 2)

+ The Black History Month edition of the West Medford Community Center's Words and Music program, exploring "Medford's Brown Beginnings" with a conversation with Kyera Singleton, executive director of the Royall House & Slave Quarters (Feb. 7)

+ Medford High graduate Iverson Eliopoulos’ return home to conduct the orchestra (including acclaimed pianist James Dick) in a benefit concert at Tufts for the James Dick Foundation for the Performing Arts (Feb. 10)

+ A Medford Historical Society & Museum program at the library, "Defining Moments," with Medford native son Dave McGillivray (Feb. 20)

+ Paul Caporino's garage punk band M.O.T.O. (Masters of the Obvious), now in its 44th year, headlining one of 12 live music shows at Deep Cuts (Feb. 26)

+ The start of a six-show run at Tufts of “Cabaret,” a modern-day interpretation of the 1966 Broadway musical (Feb. 27-28)

+ New community theater group Mystic Players Revival’s first formal performance, “The Mystic Cabaret,” at McGlynn Middle School (Feb. 28, with a second show on March 1)

For details on these and many other February events, visit the Arts Across Medford Calendar on the website for CACHE: The Coalition for Arts, Culture and a Healthy Economy in Medford. On that site you can also subscribe to a weekly Monday email that provides the latest schedule updates for the coming 10 days.