arts

Boston’s Museum of Science has debuted a robust schedule of after-hours programs for adults in the winter/spring 2022 season, including a conversation with award-winning actress and mental health advocate Taraji P. Henson.

Maurice Emmanuel Parent has become a beloved fixture of the Boston theater scene since his arrival in the city in 2006. But his rise to theatrical success wasn’t always the well-choreographed dance it is now. In his early years in Boston, Parent worked a day job in the Boston Public School system and performed on nights and weekends.

Chyrstyn Fentroy has been promoted from soloist to principal dancer in the Boston Ballet Company. Fentroy joined the Boston Ballet in 2017 and for several years was the only Black female dancer in the company.

The Network for Arts Administrators of Color (NAAC Boston), a program of ArtsBoston, announced its new year of mentorship between BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) business and cultural leaders and Boston arts administrators of color.

The Handel and Haydn Society and the Museum of African American History welcomed the new year with their traditional Emancipation Proclamation Concert on Dec. 31.

Grammy Award-winning songster Gregory Porter will debut his new album “All Rise” at Emerson’s Colonial Theatre on Jan. 20.

This winter, contemporary dance companies will visit Boston with works born of the African diaspora and its language of resilience, rebirth and joy.

Jazz musicians released albums this year to celebrate life after incubation brought on by the pandemic. Six albums stand out with enough depth, surprise and harmony to bear listening to weekly. One is a surprising discovery, recorded in 1961 and only released two weeks ago!

Free Soil Arts Collective has debuted a book of interviews with Black residents of Lowell. “Hidden in Plain Sight: Stories of Black Lowell,” published Dec. 13, delves into the history of the city that’s often left behind in archives and dialogues.

Langston Hughes’ “Black Nativity,” a joyful Boston holiday tradition, brings stirring vocals and community spirit to Emerson Paramount Center this month.

In just five years in Paris, Malik Ameer Crumpler has made a space and a name for himself in avant-garde arts and culture circles.

Oval and circular shapes dominate Simone Leigh’s sculptures, semi-abstract female figures in terra cotta, bronze and ceramic that exude the power of totems.