Tuesday Night Club brings new programs to historic setting

MONUMENT SQ.—The Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club, the organization formed in 1896 that owns and manages the Loring-Greenough House, has kicked off a new community-based and volunteer-run program series: the Jamaica Plain Tuesday Night Club.

Four Tuesday evenings a month from September through May the Loring-Greenough House at 12 South St. across from the Monument is welcoming Tuesday Club members and the public to gather and enjoy common interests and games, film, arts and crafts and educational programs. The Tuesday Night Club, which meets from 7 to 10 p.m., is free for members, $4 for guests.

First Tuesday: FYI (For-Your-Information) Night. Lectures and demonstrations on wide-ranging topics from architectural and cultural history to fashion and environmental sustainability are scheduled. On Nov. 3, JP historian Curt DiCamillo, executive director of the National Trust for Scotland USA, will entertain with enlightening stories from the great repository of art and culture: the British country house. His lecture is “Smithsonian, Badminton, Oxygen and a Sandwich: Stories from British Country Houses.” JP’s own Michael Frank (curator in chief of the Museum of Bad Art) will present a talk on the enduring appeal of bad art and how he has parlayed that into an international phenomenon. Collaborations with the JP Historical Society and more talks by local scholars and specialists are also being scheduled.

Second Tuesday: Game Night. Are you a Scrabble freak? Are you just dying to learn bridge or mahjong? Do you shock your friends with a competitive streak? Check this out and whip it up on opponents in whist, charades, Pictionary, poker, Boggle, Trivial Pursuit, Apples to Apples…whatever. It’s host’s choice. Nov. 10 will be Scrabble Night, hosted by Julianna Bruce. All levels are welcome from “How do you play?” to the truly competitive.

Third Tuesday: Film Night. The best of Boston-area independent filmmakers show their work in this series. The September kick-off was a special outdoor screening of Andrew Landauro’s “Circuit,” a feature-length sci-fi film. October featured short works by JP resident and MassArt film faculty member Rob Todd. November and December will feature local film projector DJs and short films by another well-known filmmaker.

Fourth Tuesday: DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Night. Artists and collagists, quilters and knitters, crafters and creative types are invited to come and share conversation and skills, tips and fun while exploring their creativity. November DIY will feature Plum Kennard leading a workshop on fabric painting that will benefit a local social service charity. It will be an opportunity to explore one’s creativity in a fun and safe environment while doing good. December plans are being formed but will feature something fun and festive and interactive for the holidays.

Each theme has a coordinator who serves as a touchstone for hosts who take the reins for each Tuesday night’s activities, designing it around the interests of their network. The model is guilt-free volunteerism that adjusts to the realities of 21st century lifestyles while opening the house as a lively and diverse place for community to gather.

The JP Tuesday Night Club series grew out of the Tuesday Club’s 2008 strategic plan. The plan identified increasing use of the 18th century house and 2-acre grounds and growing the Club’s volunteer base as goals for the long-term sustainability of the club.

Film Night, for example, is coordinated by Mariya Nikoforova, an Emerson College graduate and filmmaker who lives around the corner from the house on Greenough Street. She is mining her network of area filmmakers to show their work at the house while bringing in new audiences. When asked why she has agreed to take this on Nikoforova said, “As a recent film major graduate, I felt that there weren’t enough exhibition opportunities for young filmmakers in Boston. I would like to see JP turn into a more happening film scene, and I think there is definitely potential at the Loring-Greenough House for something like that. It has been fun volunteering there. There is a welcoming vibe and room for creative ideas.”

To learn about late-breaking Tuesday Night Club news, the schedule of other events (including live music and spoken word), the history of the house and the JP Tuesday Club or to become a member, see www.loring-greenough.org

To volunteer to host a Tuesday Night Club please contact a coordinator: FYI Night: Elizabeth Wylie [email protected]; Game Night: Heather Carito [email protected]; Film Night: Mariya Nikiforova, [email protected]; DIY: Kasey Appleman, [email protected].

Submitted by The Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club.

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