Five Reasons to Leave the House This Weekend

Photo by Natasha Mousta

Art
Third Thursdays: Garden Party 

This week, forget the cold and get your hands dirty at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s garden party. As part of its monthly Third Thursday events, you can enjoy a horticulture gardening project and two spotlight talks about the museum’s plant-focused art pieces. And like its regular Third Thursdays, the museum will be open late for an evening of music, dinner, drinks, and fun.

$5, Thursday, February 15, 5:30 p.m., 25 Evans Way, Boston, gardnermuseum.org.

Photo by Clyde Petersen

Film
Torrey Pines 

Part stop-motion animation and part concert, catch Torrey Pines at the Emerson Paramount Center this weekend. The film will be screened along with a performance of its live score. Torrey Pines is a trans-queer adolescent, struggling to live with their schizophrenic mother as they come of age. Be sure not to miss this event, which ArtsEmerson Artistic Director David Dower called a “multimedia experience for the senses.”

$60, Thursday, February 15 through Saturday, February 17, various times, 559 Washington St., Boston, artsemerson.org.

The writer Francisco Cantú (USA) / Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan

Reading
Francisco Cantú

Francisco Cantú will be at the Harvard Book Store on Friday to present his new book, The Line Becomes a River. Cantú is no ordinary author, as he served as a border control agent from 2008 and 2012. Haunted from his experiences policing the Mexican border, Cantú felt it best that he leave the patrol. The Line Becomes a River is an intimate recollection of Cantú’s experiences, from the dangers of capturing drug smugglers to the everyday moments of honest, human interactions.

Free with book available for purchase, Friday, February 16, 7 p.m., 1256 Massachusetts Ave., harvard.com.

Silent Child / Photo provided

Film
Oscar-Nominated Shorts

Make sure you’re up to date for the 2018 Oscars with screenings of all of the Oscar-nominated short films at both the Institute of Contemporary Art and Kendall Square Landmark Cinema. At Kendall Square, choose from both animated short films and live action. The ICA will be showing various screenings of separate genres such as animation, live action, and documentary.

ICA, $5+, through March 11, various times, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston, icaboston.org.

Kendall Square, $10.50+, through February 22, various times, One Kendall Sq., 335 Binney St., Cambridge, landmarktheatres.com.

Papadosio / Photo by Keith Griner

Music
Papadosio 

Self-described as “music that is not readily defined…a state of mind as much as it could be considered a genre,” Papadosio is a band that combines rock, jazz, and electronic. Performing this weekend at the Sinclair, catch the band and the groove-rock opening act, Aqueous, for a colorfully fun night to remember.

$25, Friday, February 16, 8 p.m., 52 Church St., Boston, sinclaircambridge.com.