Culture - Marblehead Current

04 Aug

CURRENT EVENTS: Marblehead’s best bets coming up

Leigh BlanderArt, Community Resources, Culture, Education, Entertainment, Recreation, Theater, Top Stories

Current Events spotlights exciting happenings in the coming week. If you’d like to contribute a listing, please email the Current at info@marbleheadnews.org. Slavery to Freedom walking tourThursday, Aug. 6, 4 p.m. Join Jarrett Zeman from Marblehead Museum for a walking tour on the history of slavery and the abolition movement in Marblehead. You’ll see local sites where enslaved people worked and lived, and where white abolitionists fought for freedom from the pulpit, ballot box and Underground Railroad. Tickets are $15.90 for the general public. Go…

29 Jul

Marblehead Arts to host opening reception, art crawl

Marblehead Current staffArt, Culture, Local News

Marblehead Arts Association is pleased to announce two cultural, community events on Sunday, Aug. 9 and Sunday, Aug. 16. The first, on Aug. 9, 2-4 p.m., is the opening reception for the Marblehead Arts Association Late Summer Solo Exhibits with inspiring works by juried artists Lucia Balinbin, Annette Sykes, Jessica Murdock, Christen Mailler and Richard Honan, as well as “The Spirit of ’76” themed artist members’ exhibit. Admission is free, and complimentary refreshments will be served, with opportunities to meet the artists, and view and…

28 Jul

CURRENT EVENTS: Marblehead’s best bets coming up

Julia RocklerAbbot Public Library, Art, Community Resources, Culture, Entertainment, Top Stories

Current Events spotlights exciting happenings in the coming week. If you’d like to contribute a listing, please email the Current at info@marbleheadnews.org. Women’s History with Marblehead MuseumThursday, July 30, 4 p.m.Join Jarrett Zeman, museum associate director, for a tour of downtown Marblehead focused on Women’s History from the 1860s to the 1920s. You will dig into stories of courageous women who helped end slavery and fought for women’s rights. $15.90. Tickets available at marbleheadmuseum.org. Live Music at The LandingThursday, July 30, 7-10 p.m.End your Thursday…

27 Jul

NEWS IN BRIEF: ‘Marblehead’s Liquor War,’ food drive and more

Kris OlsonAbbot Public Library, Community Resources, Culture, Food, Local News

The Current welcomes 150- to 200-word submissions to News in Brief. Send them to info@marbleheadnews.org. Museum presents ‘Marblehead’s Liquor War’ On Wednesday, Aug. 12 at 7 p.m., the Marblehead Museum will host a lecture featuring new research on the history of drinking in Marblehead. Jarrett Zeman, the museum’s associate director, will present “Marblehead’s Liquor War: The Temperance Movement, 1840-1930.” Zeman will showcase how Marbleheaders fought each other for the right to buy alcohol. Fed up with their unruly men, the local temperance movement made Marblehead…

14 Jul

CURRENT EVENTS: Marblehead’s best bets coming up

Leigh BlanderArt, Community Resources, Culture, Health, Recreation, Top Stories

Current Events spotlights exciting happenings in the coming week. If you’d like to contribute a listing, please email the Current at info@marbleheadnews.org. Singer Donna Byrne at the MAAThursday, July 16, (doors open 6:30 p.m.) 7-9 p.m. Listen to live music by Donna Byrne at the Marblehead Arts Association as part of its Jazz and the Arts concert series. The cost is $35. Register at marbleheadarts.org. Rock out with Code Blue Friday, July 17, 9 p.m. Start your weekend with live music from Code Blue at The Beacon Restaurant.…

07 Jul

CURRENT EVENTS: Marblehead’s best bets coming up

Julia RocklerArt, Community Resources, Culture, Education, Entertainment, Local History, Recreation, Top Stories

Current Events spotlights exciting happenings in the coming week. If you’d like to contribute a listing, please email the Current at info@marbleheadnews.org. Sick and Tired Tour Thursday, July 9, 4 p.m. The Marblehead Museum will hold a walking tour on the controversial history of health and medicine in town from colonial times to World War I.Stories from the tour include the smallpox epidemic of 1730, when a local mob nearly tore down a judge’s house to protest inoculations; Dr. Elisha Story’s battle with anti-vaxxers in 1800; a…

01 Jul

Student film, ‘Gilded Lily,’ to premier at the Warwick

Grey CollinsArt, Culture, Top Stories

Just weeks before the premiere of their feature film “Gilded Lily” at the Warwick Theater on July 6, recent MHS class of 2026 graduates and co-directors Matias Watts Cruz and Cam Gibson sat in a couch in the back of Mookie’s Cafe to reflect on their years-long journey that brought them to the big screen. Their 90-minute film began as an ambitious idea during their sophomore year of high school. After countless script revisions, months of filming during the summer before their senior year, and…

30 Jun

Last-minute preps underway as Arts Festival heats up Wednesday

Leigh BlanderArt, Community Resources, Culture, Entertainment, Top Stories

With the 60th Marblehead Festival of the Arts set to kick off in earnest Wednesday, crews and volunteers are in overdrive installing stages, testing sound systems and preparing venues across town — all while organizers keep a close eye on an incoming heat wave. At the heart of the live music setup, Concerts at Crocker coordinator Brian Wheeler said 25 to 30 volunteers are working to get the performance space ready in time for opening night. The series kicks off Wednesday, 6 p.m., with duo…

30 Jun

From murals to marine science, MCC grants fund range of local projects

Leigh BlanderArt, Culture, Local News

The Marblehead Cultural Council is showcasing results from its 2026 grant cycle. These funds annually support community cultural, artistic, scientific and historical programs. The Marblehead Cultural Council is one of 329 local organizations funded directly by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. AgeSpan Inc. and residents of the Marblehead Housing Authority’s Farrell Court were granted funds for a communal mural project to revitalize concrete planters in the common green space. The Farrell Court apartments provide supportive housing for low-income Marblehead residents over age 60 and individuals under…

24 Jun

THE VAULT: Are you ready to hit the beach?

Submitted ContentColumns, Culture, From the Vault, Opinion

By Jarrett Zeman, Marblehead Museum If a Marblehead woman visited a beach in the 1890s, her bathing suit would have looked very different than swimwear today. The Marblehead Museum’s collection includes this cotton bathing suit, featuring a knee-length tunic with puffed sleeves and a sailor collar. The woman’s swimsuit was designed for “sea bathing,” which consisted of wading and socializing rather than swimming, as the suit could weigh 25 pounds when wet. Like most Victorian fashions, the primary goal was to maintain modesty, aided by…