Arts & Culture

Step Afrika!, the first dance company devoted to the art of stepping, returns to ArtsEmerson this fall for a two-week engagement of their newest production, “Drumfolk.”

Musician, composer, actress and author Ledisi will be coming to Boston for a year as the first artist in residence at the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. As artist in residence, Ledisi will be teaching, running workshops, advising students and, of course, performing!

Tina Turner’s bold vocals and tumultuous life story take the stage in “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” running at the Citizens Bank Opera House Sept. 20 through Oct. 2, presented by Broadway in Boston. The uplifting comeback story is saturated with powerful performances of Turner’s greatest hits.

Karmimadeebora “Mima” McMillan’s “Unsung Heroes” is an ode to the neighborhood and specifically to the Freedom House, an advocacy group that works with Black, Brown and immigrant students working through high school and college.

The Sisters In Stitches Joined By The Cloth Quilt Guild celebrates 25 years of creation this fall with the exhibition, “The Essence of Us: We Have Always Been Here” at the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Dillaway-Thomas House at Roxbury Heritage State Park.

“Project Misik: A Neponset RiverYard,” is a celebration of Afro-diasporic artwork pioneered by local musician Kera Washington with the help of one of the Olmsted Equity grants intended to diversify Boston’s green spaces.

Parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted around Boston are getting shaken up this year. In celebration of the 2022 Olmsted bicentennial, Olmsted Now Parks Equity & Spatial Justice Grants totaling $205,000 have been distributed to 16 artists. These artists will activate Olmsted green spaces and the parks’ histories throughout the fall with the specific purpose of welcoming and celebrating marginalized groups.

This weekend, the sounds of salsa will waft through the streets of East Boston during the East Boston Latin Music Festival: Sonidos de la Gente, on Saturday, Sept. 10 at Bremen Street Park from 1–6:30 p.m. Presented by ZUMIX and state Sen. Lydia Edwards, the free festival celebrates the diverse Latin American cultures of East Boston and their vibrant music.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are paying a visit to Boston. Well, their images are. Boston is the final stop on “The Obama Portraits Tour,” an exhibition of the presidential portraits of the couple. The portraits will be on view at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston through Oct. 30.

This fall, the team behind the Boston Latino International Film Festival will debut CineFest Latino Boston, a new festival with similar goals to celebrate Latin American filmmakers and educate moviegoers about the diversity of the Latinx experience.

Jazz performers are returning to stages throughout Boston and Cambridge this fall to delight audiences parched for the exhilaration that live music can create. The talent is extensive, with famous and soon-to-be famous musicians taking to the stage.

Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) Studio Residency Artist Karmimadeebora McMillan is breaking new ground, physically and artistically. McMillan is the first artist in residence to exhibit in the Project Room space, and the Mills Gallery itself has been closed for several years. “Project Room No. 1: Karmimadeebora McMillan” brings the space back with a collection of vibrant and probing works.