The Platform at 585 Kendall will host a free public opening celebration on Nov. 7 featuring BANDALOOP, local musicians, dance performances, family activities and more
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A new 45,000-square-foot performing arts center is set to open in the heart of Kendall Square this November, adding a new midsize venue for performances, community gatherings and artistic collaboration in Greater Boston.
The Platform, located at 585 Kendall, will hold a free public Opening Day celebration on Saturday, Nov. 7, from noon to 4 p.m. The event will feature performances by internationally known artists as well as musicians, dancers and cultural groups from the region.
The center’s opening events will begin Nov. 5-6 with programs for project stakeholders, civic and community leaders, donors, sponsors and other guests. Those events will feature BANDALOOP, the internationally recognized vertical dance company, performing on the exterior of the 585 Kendall building while suspended from its roof. Inside, French-Algerian dance company Compagnie Hervé Koubi will present the Boston premiere of Sol Invictus in The Platform’s 400-seat Takeda Theater.
BANDALOOP will also perform twice during the Nov. 7 public celebration, at 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. The performances will be visible to people in the surrounding area.
The free Opening Day program will feature a range of regional artists and performers, including Malian master drummer Sidy Maiga; musicians from the Kendall Square Orchestra, whose members include professionals from the local science, medicine and technology communities; singer Ella Faye, a fan favorite from the “Tiny Desk Contest”; Bhangra music and dance from Bollywood Dance x Purnima; musicians from the Millennium Gospel Choir; Balinese gamelan music from Gamelan Galak Tika; and the mobile performance group A Trike Called Funk.
The Platform also commissioned a commemorative poem from Jean Dany Joachim, who served as Cambridge Poet Populist from 2009 to 2011.
The public opening will conclude with a ticketed performance by Compagnie Hervé Koubi in the Takeda Theater.
A New Performing Arts Destination
The Platform occupies the first three floors of the 585 Kendall building and is designed to accommodate a broad range of performances and community activities.
Its largest space, the 400-seat Takeda Theater, is named for lead sponsor Takeda and is described by the organizers as the largest performance venue of its type built in the region in the past 20 years.
The facility also includes the 125-seat Tempo Stage, a cabaret-style performance space located in the building’s first-floor atrium. Artist amenities include a rehearsal studio, multi-station dressing rooms, a wardrobe room and green rooms.
For audiences, The Platform includes a ground-floor commons with a bar, café and indoor gardens, creating a public gathering space intended to encourage visitors to spend time at the facility beyond performances.
The center is designed to help address Greater Boston’s longstanding shortage of midsize performance venues. Its flexible spaces will be available for performances, rehearsals, community events and other arts-related activities.
The project was developed by BioMed Realty in collaboration with Global Arts Live, with CBT Architects, Suffolk Construction and a network of civic and community partners.
Global Arts Live, a nonprofit presenter of global music, jazz and contemporary dance, will program approximately one-third of The Platform’s events. The organization will also provide administrative services, including marketing, finance, fundraising and audience services. The remaining performance, rehearsal and lobby spaces will be available to other arts organizations and artists.
“The Platform opens a new chapter for the performing arts in our region,” said Connie C. Chin, CEO of Global Arts Live and The Platform. “This is more than a beautiful new theater. It’s named The Platform because it truly serves as a platform for art and ideas.”
Chin said the facility is intended to provide opportunities for both established and emerging artists and organizations.
Rent-Free Opportunities for Local Arts Groups
As part of its community-access model, The Platform plans to make 25 nights each year available rent-free to local community arts and cultural organizations through an application process.
The initiative is intended to provide affordable access to performance space for organizations that may otherwise face limited venue options in the region.
“The possibilities for us and for dozens of regional arts groups seeking affordable space are limited only by the number of days in the year,” Chin said.
Global Arts Live founder and advisor Maure Aronson said the opening represents the culmination of more than three decades of work.
Aronson founded World Music, the organization that eventually became Global Arts Live, in 1990. She said having a permanent venue had once seemed unlikely, while emphasizing that Boston’s existing theaters and performance spaces would continue to play an important role in the region’s cultural ecosystem.
The Platform, she said, creates new opportunities for Global Arts Live, independent artists and nonprofit organizations to collaborate and develop new work.
Collaboration Across Business and Arts Communities
The Platform represents a partnership among business, nonprofit and civic organizations. BioMed Realty, owner and operating partner of 585 Kendall, helped advance the project, while Takeda serves as the building’s anchor tenant and lead sponsor of the largest performance space.
CBT Architects, Suffolk Construction and Redgate also are among the project’s partners.
Global Arts Live said individual donors as well as corporate, government and foundation funders have contributed $13.7 million toward its $15 million year-end fundraising goal.
“The Platform could only happen through this kind of collaborative and entrepreneurial thinking, in a neighborhood that fosters and appreciates the benefits of a cultural center like this,” said Nagesh Mahanthappa, chair of the to recognize a personal connection to Global Arts Live Board.
As the center prepares to open, Global Arts Live is conducting the Elevate The Platform: Expanding Access to Live Arts fundraising campaign to support the facility’s launch, programming, operations and long-term sustainability.
The campaign also includes opportunities for donors to name seats in the Takeda Theater in honor of individuals or organizations or to recognize a personal connection to the performing arts.
