2025 Fall Arts Fair
Friday, September 5, 2025 • George Sherman Union Plaza
Students, staff, and faculty join the BU Office for the Arts every fall, along with BU Arts Programs, academic units, and selected Boston area arts organizations to explore all that BU and Boston have to offer. The fair offers discounts, special offers, internship opportunities, and more! BU students also have a chance to sign up for a pair of raffle tickets only during the Arts Fair to see the Nutcracker on Wednesday, December 3rd. Other organizations will also be holding raffles and giving away free merch.
Participating Organizations (2025)
Boston Area Organizations
Boston Public Art Triennial is the city’s first and only public art organization dedicated to supporting artists and communities in presenting bold, contemporary public art that opens minds, conversations, and spaces, resulting in a more open, vibrant, and equitable region. Their annual programs, Lot Lab and the Public Art Accelerator, find and foster artists and communities, while serving as feeders to a culminating city-wide Triennial public art exhibition. The first-ever Public Art Triennial launched in May 2025 and will run through October 31, 2025. The best part is that it’s open to all.
Celebrity Series is a multi-disciplinary, non-profit, performing arts presenter that envisions a community of Greater Boston where the performing arts are a valued, life-long, shared experience—on stages, on streets, in neighborhoods—everywhere.
The Coolidge Corner Theatre is New England’s most successful independent, nonprofit cinema located just 10 minutes away from the BU Campus! At the Fall Arts Fair, Coolidge Corner Theatre will host a giveaway raffle for a free membership!
The ICA/Boston is a contemporary art museum located on Boston Harbor. The ICA has advanced a bold vision for amplifying the artist’s voice and expanding the museum’s role as educator, incubator, and convener. Its exhibitions, performances, and educational programs provide access to the breadth and diversity of contemporary art, artists, and the creative process, inviting audiences of all ages and backgrounds to participate in the excitement of new art and ideas.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum founded by Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1903. Isabella Stewart Gardner’s collection of 18,000+ objects spans thousands of years and five continents and includes paintings, sculptures, furniture, archives, books, textiles, and more. There will be a raffle for an Under 30 Membership.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston welcomes college students and faculty to engage deeply with its collections, exhibitions, programs, and spaces. Learn about upcoming fall programs including Museum Careers Night, College Night, and the MFA Pathways Internship Program. Whether connecting with the Museum as part of a class or with friends and family, the MFA offers many ways to deepen learning, inspire curiosity, and connect with others. The MFA be giving away MFA stickers and pins at the Fall Arts Fair and is free to all BU students, staff, and faculty.
The mission of the New England Philharmonic, a volunteer orchestra, is to foster the composition and the appreciation of contemporary classical music by performing commissions and recent works alongside traditional repertoire in concerts that engage and electrify audiences.
The Pao Arts Center’s mission is to celebrate and strengthen the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community of Chinatown and Greater Boston through access to culturally relevant art, education, and creative programs. Pao Arts Center functions in service of BCNC’s and BHCC’s goals to support the social well-being, economic success, and education of their constituents.
The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM), founded in 1799 in Salem, Massachusetts, just 15 miles from Boston, embodies this purpose. Museums are places where people, ideas, and emotions converge—bridging time, place, and culture. Through art and creative expression, we seek connection, perspective, and a deeper understanding of ourselves and our shared humanity. As the oldest continuously operating museum in the United States, PEM has evolved into one of the nation’s most dynamic and fastest growing art museums, with a global presence shaped by its vibrant network of partnerships and patrons. At the Fall Arts Fair, the Peabody Essex Museum will host a raffle!
The QT Library is a brick-and-mortar LGBTQIA+ library & community space for the queer & trans community coming to Boston, MA!
The White Snake Projects was founded in 2018 to uplift the voices of historically marginalized creators and artists. As one of the few opera companies founded and led by an immigrant woman of color, White Snake Projects has blazed the way for opera-based activism to open public discourse on the pressing issues facing us in today’s conflict-ridden world.
BU Organizations
Boston Playwrights’ Theatre is dedicated to the voice and vision of the playwright. We focus on first and second productions of new plays by living writers that are text forward and technically simple, that center vital questions in the lives of those in our region, and that amplify voices in our communities that have been historically silenced or ignored. In this time of great uncertainty and great possibility, we believe that playwrights are necessary to the project of reflecting on our past, engaging with our present challenges, and shaping our future.
BU Art Galleries is a vibrant resource of learning and cultural engagement for BU, the city of Boston, and the surrounding metro area. The galleries, which are free and open to the public, maintain ongoing rotating exhibitions that feature a wide scope of art from all ranges of mediums and artists.
BU College of Fine Arts School of Theatre is a nationally recognized program, with all the opportunities of a larger liberal arts university right at your fingertips. We believe each student is unique and should be able to pursue their individual interests while receiving strong foundational techniques within the art form. Valuing each student’s goals and gifts while furthering the conversation of diversity and inclusion makes the School of Theatre at Boston University College of Fine Arts a leading program in the country.
The CAS Creative Writing Program offers a graduate degree (MFA) as well as several Creative Writing class offerings for undergraduate students.
The Cinema & Media Studies program offers undergraduate students a comprehensive education in moving image media. We offer lectures and screenings open to the entire BU community throughout the academic year.
The College of Fine Arts, Office of the Dean, provides comprehensive support and services to students. This office includes Student Services, the Registrar, and Financial Aid resources, ensuring students have the necessary tools and guidance to thrive both academically and personally.
EPIC (Engineering Product Innovation Center) is a 15,000-square-foot, multi-million dollar engineering, and manufacturing facility located in the heart of BU’s Charles River Campus. We are a resource for all of BU – and regularly host training events and workshops to teach members of our community how to use our equipment. We are committed to having fun and showcasing the work of our amazing students: come check us out!
The Department of History of Art & Architecture at Boston University grants BA, MA, and PhD degrees in the history of art and architecture as well as a Certificate in Museum Studies. Faculty expertise spans the full range from antiquity to the present and virtually worldwide, allowing us to offer a global curriculum in the history of art and architecture. Our location in Boston also brings with it the opportunity to benefit from the world-class museums of Boston, Cambridge, and the greater metropolitan area.
Everyone who walks into The Howard Thurman Center is helping to build a welcoming, inclusive community. It’s a place where people with different worldviews, cultures, and philosophies engage in unique experiences that break down barriers, while honoring and investigating their own identities.
Innovate@BU empowers ALL Boston University students, regardless of their major, to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and the skills needed to turn their ideas into impactful solutions. Whether you’re just starting out or ready to scale, we offer resources, mentorship, and a supportive community to help you transform challenges into opportunities and shape the future you envision. Student-Made BU is a program powered by Innovate@BU for student creators and business owners to sell their products to their campus community and our growing network of campuses! We host pop-up shops, networking events and provide support in all aspects of business management.
The LGBTQIA+ Student Resource Center provides a gentle and affirming space for students to explore their identities and find community with one another. Through collaboration with BU departments and off-campus partners, the center provides programming and leadership opportunities that show students that there is life for them after graduation and equips them to lead in their chosen fields. The work of the center necessitates ensuring that it is only one of many places where LGBTQIA+ students feel welcome. Through relationship-building across BU’s three campuses, the center advocates for equitable policies and processes and models the importance of coalition-building in developing a just environment.
The Newbury Center provides community-building events, personal and professional development opportunities, and holistic individual advising to BU’s first-generation undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.
The School of Visual Arts (SVA), one of three academic schools within the College of Fine Arts at Boston University, fosters each student’s creative potential through a balance of rigorous studio training, critical dialogue, and open exploration. Rooted in inquiry and experimentation, SVA emphasizes experiential learning that builds expertise through concept, process, and critique.
Student Wellbeing is a campus-wide initiative to support students’ health and wellbeing during their time at BU. We believe that everyone deserves to feel good and that how students feel matters. Our collective goal — as administrators, faculty, and staff — is to inspire our students to feel fulfilled each day, despite the ups and downs of life on campus.
BU Study Abroad allows students to explore international education through over 170 programs across 30 different cities worldwide. BU Study Abroad gives students the opportunity to participate in an internship, explore major or minor classes, or expand their language skills while immersed in a new culture.