On November 7, some of the best seats in Kendall Square were on the sidewalk. The vertical dance company BANDALOOP performed suspended from the façade of The Platform, a new performing arts center at 315 Kendall Street in Cambridge. Inside, the free opening celebration brought together Malian percussion, Balinese gamelan, and musicians from the Kendall Square Orchestra.
A permanent home for Global Arts Live
For more than three decades, Global Arts Live has brought music and dance from around the world to stages across Greater Boston. The Platform gives the nonprofit its first permanent home, occupying three floors of a building that also houses space for biotech research. It’s a pairing that feels distinctly Kendall Square.
The 45,000-square-foot center includes the 404-seat Takeda Theater, the smaller Tempo Stage, and a rehearsal studio. At street level, the public commons has a café, a bar, and an indoor garden. The building itself is worth a look. Its façade uses roughly 50 shades of tile to evoke a New England sunset, with vertical lines that suggest the folds of a theater curtain.
A reason to spend more time in Kendall Square
What interests me most about The Platform is what happens between performances. A ground-floor space where you can stop for coffee or meet a friend gives people a reason to come by during the day. In the evening, a theater with just over 400 seats offers a chance to see a touring dance company or hear live music in a room that still feels intimate.
There’s a benefit for local artists, too. Global Arts Live plans to present about 100 nights of programming annually and make roughly 200 additional nights available at subsidized rental rates. The organization is also offering 25 free rental nights to the community. That gives local performers and arts organizations a place to develop work and share it with an audience in Cambridge.
When I talk with clients about a neighborhood, I like to think about how they’d spend an ordinary week there. Where would they meet a friend after work? What’s close enough to do on a weeknight? The Platform adds a few new answers in Kendall Square, whether you’re going to a show or just stopping in for a coffee.