News Briefs

MFA TO EXHIBIT FULL MONET
In honor of its 150th anniversary in 2020, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), celebrates a great treasure of its collection with an exhibition that offers a once-in-generation chance to see all 35 of the Museum’s oil paintings by Claude Monet—among the largest holdings of the artist’s work outside France. Many of the paintings were brought to Boston during Monet’s lifetime, and, although a gallery was dedicated to a rotating display of the artist’s works in 2016, it has been 25 years since the entire collection has been shown together. “Monet and Boston: Lasting Impression” highlights this city’s and this Museum’s enduring commitment to the artist, who breathed fresh life into the art of painting and proposed a new way of seeing and depicting the world. Boston was a center for the collecting and appreciation of Monet’s works even during his lifetime, and through the generosity and forward vision of local collectors, a retrospective exhibition of his long career permanently resides within the MFA’s walls. What’s more: the exhibition draws from the Museum’s broader global collection to bring Monet’s early works into conversation with exemplars he admired—from Japanese woodblock prints to earlier European paintings—enabling a fuller understanding and appreciation of the art and artists that informed his own vision. The groundbreaking show will run from April 18-Aug. 23.

BACK BAY HAPPENINGS
•SAVE THE DATE for a new winter event on Boston Common! To celebrate our 50th Anniversary, on Sunday, Feb. 9, the Friends of the Public Garden will be sponsoring Skating with Friends, FREE skating for all on the Frog Pond!

SOUTH END DATES
•Chester Square Neighbors will meet on Wednesday, Feb. 5, in the Hampton House, 155 Northampton St., at 7 p.m. There will be a presentation by Northeastern University, an update on the postponement of bid openings for Melnea Cass reconstruction, and discussion of the new/overlapping neighborhood association Alexandra Ball.
•The South End Forum will not meet at its regularly scheduled January date. The first quarter meeting is still up in the air, but a date of Feb. 4 is being discussed.
•The Worcester Square Area Neighborhood Association (WSANA) will host its monthly meeting on Tuesday, …., in the Boston Medical Center’s Menino Pavilion in the conference room, next to the surgical suite waiting room.
•The East Berkeley Neighborhood Association (EBNA) will have its next meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 4, at 6:30 p.m. in Project Place.
•The Eight Streets Neighborhood Association has scheduled its Winter Meeting for Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 6:45 p.m. in Project Place, Washington/East Berkeley streets.
•The second-ever monthly meeting for the Alexandra Ball Neighborhood Association will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 7 p.m. in the Grant AME Church, Newcomb Street entrance. The agenda D-4 Police report, Boston Transportation representative and a Parks Department representative.

FENWAY TIMES
•The Rink at 401 Park is open an operating (weather dependent). The rink is open seven days a week. Monday-Friday, 3-9 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. $10 for adults, $6 for college students, seniors and kids under 12. Skate rentals are $6.
•Construction Update: MGM Music Hall at Fenway
If you happened to notice an increase in traffic around the Lansdowne/Ipswich area this week, it is due to Eversource bringing service to the Music Hall site. Sidewalk detours on Ipswich may include crossing to the other side of the street (Boston Arts Academy side) during work hours. Work on helical piles is complete on the 189 Ipswich lot, and Gilbane expects to bring concrete to that site over the next week to 10 days.

WALSH RECOMMENDS OVER $24 MILLION FOR CPA FUNDING
Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the City’s Community Preservation Committee (CPC) on Jan. 27 recommended 40 projects, totaling more than $24 million, for inclusion in the next round for the Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding. The CPC held a public meeting yesterday to vote on the Mayor’s recommended slate of projects for funding. The projects will be submitted to the Boston City Council for approval with an anticipated vote from the Council in the coming weeks. With this funding round, the City of Boston will have awarded over $67 million to support projects in every neighborhood since residents voted to adopt the Community Preservation Act in 2016. After a thorough review process of the applications received, the following projects in the Back Bay, South End, and Fenway/Kenmore are being recommended for funding, among others:
BACK BAY
• $100,000 to the Gibson House Museum to restore the ground floor structural system and its brick underpinning in order to maintain public safety and stability for the Victorian rowhouse
• $10,000 to the Charles River Esplanade to plant trees as part of their tree management and succession plan to restore the Arthur Shurcliff landscape and to increase Boston’s tree canopy
SOUTH END
• $100,000 to the 1858 Francis Dane House, headquarters of the South End Historical Society, to repair windows and masonry on the facade of this Chester Square townhouse
FENWAY/KENMORE
• $35,000 for the Harry Ellis Dickson Park to install an irrigation system and enable community members to continue to plant and maintain this pocket park.

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