Berklee Art Windows Showcase Hidden Fenway

Berklee’s Office of Community and Government Relations has partnered with the Fenway Civic Association and Fenway residents to create Berklee Art Windows, a collaborative project to enliven and invigorate the shared public realm through art installations at college-owned properties.

The concept of Berklee Art Windows was one of the first projects community members identified as a priority when Kaitlin Passafaro, Berklee’s vice president of Community and Government Relations, met with them in early 2022 to discuss how Berklee can continue to make meaningful contributions to the neighborhood. The college’s senior leadership supported the idea, and it quickly gained traction.

The first installation to be displayed is Hidden Fenway, a photography series that showcases the neighborhood, its residents, and the buildings that make up this vital and eclectic area of the city. Featuring images by Steve Harnish, a community artist, photographer, and a resident of the Fenway since 1997, the black and white and color photography series grew out of a project Harnish worked on in 2017 where he spent a year snapping images of Haviland Street and documenting it in a photo blog. Of his work, he says, "I'm always interested in the quiet, unique places in an increasing world of sameness.”

The photography exhibition will be on display to pedestrians and passersby in the windows of 170–171 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston beginning the week of July 25 through the fall.

"I am thrilled that we are able to showcase local artist Steve Harnish to not only the Berklee community but to the many individuals that live here, work here, and traverse through this busy corridor of the city,” says Passafaro. “Hidden Fenway is a magnificent representation of the area that Berklee has the privilege to call home. This display adds to the vibrancy of our institution and the surrounding area. I want to thank Steve and the Fenway Civic Association for their commitment to bringing this concept to fruition." 

The goal of the Berklee Art Windows project is to engage the community and invite exploration, elevate artists and their artistic expression, and strengthen the community and its ties to the arts.

“I am immensely grateful to Berklee's leadership and staff for helping realize the Art Windows project,” says Marie Fukuda, a longtime East Fenway resident and member of the Fenway Civic Association. “Activation of the shared public realm, especially that which incorporates resident voices, exemplifies how collaboration and partnership help connect and support this neighborhood.”