Roundup: Fall Events at Boston Area Colleges

2011 Berklee Beantown Festival. Photo via Flickr/Matthew Ireland

Once September arrive, it’s easy to see why Boston is known as a college town. The peace and quiet that the city felt all summer gets rudely ruptured by the college students that take over the city and surrounding suburbs once September comes.

They’re not all bad, however, as the return of the students means a surplus of unique events held on college campuses, often for free. This season, we’ve gathered the best events taking place in  the numerous colleges around the city. If you can’t be rid of ’em, join ’em.

Berklee: Beantown Jazz Festival
A complete takeover; Berklee College of Music’s BeanTown Jazz Festival floods the South End every year with fantastic food, energetic crowds, beautifully bluesy music, even an Instrument Petting Zoo (need we say more?). This year’s festival, centered around the theme “Jazz: The Next Generation,” will focus the newest and best in the jazz scene, including the former Berklee grad and Grammy-Award-winning drummer for Living Colour, and more.
Saturday, September 28, 12-6p.m., Columbus Avenue between Massachusetts Avenue and Burke Street, beantownjazz.org

MassArt: Wearable Art 2013
Every year our very own Project Runway comes to town with MassArt’s wearable art exhibit. Evening gowns made of bark, cocktail dresses of water bottle wrappers, and flirty numbers stunned at the school’s exhibit during Fashion week last year, check out what these artistic geniuses come up with this time around at the exhibit in Copley place or watch them strutt down the runway on October 2 at Boston Fashion Week.
September 12-October 1, Copley Place, 100 Huntington Avenue, 617-262-6600, massart.edu

Fisher College: Lessons Learned Dick Lehr
It’s no question that Whitey Bulger’s trial was the talk of the summer. Boston blogs were abuzz with everything from racketeering to who could best play Whitey on the big screen. Part of the “Lesson Learned” Fisher Speaker Series at Fisher College, New York Times bestselling author Dick Lehr, author of The Life of America’s Most Notorious Mob Boss and Black Mass will give insight into the trial and the mind of this notorious mob boss. A feat only few reporters can do.
September 25, 2013, 12:30 pm, Alumni Hall, 116 Beacon Street, Fisher College, 617-236-8800, fisher.edu

Bands of the Beanpot
Just another way to keep up the healthy college hockey competition. The Boston College, Harvard, Northeastern and Boston University bands will put on a free concert at Boston University in honor of the tournament. Why wait until the tournament to show your team pride when you could hear the spirit bounding from tubas and trumpets instead?
Sunday, November 3, 4-6 p.m., Boston University, Tsai Center, 685 Commonwealth Ave., 617-353-8725, events.bc.edu

Emerson: Performances
Thanks to wide budgets and abundant performance spaces, the colleges in and around Boston are often the places that attract the most varied entertainment from around the coutry. A prime example of that for this fall? ArtsEmerson’s lineup. At the top of our list is Columbinus, September 17-29. A play bringing together diaries and home video footage into a theatrical setting for a unique and powerful look at a tragedy that struck the nation, performed by Chicago’s American Theater Company. If you want a slightly more energetic night, check out the first profession step company, Step Afrika!, stomping from November 7-9.
Various Dates throughout the Season, Theaters at Emerson College, artsemerson.org

Boston University: Aerial Dance Intensive
When else are you going to get the chance to fly through the air in Boston? Skip the treadmill for a weekend and head to the sky instead with Boston University’s Aerial Dance Intensive Class. Elegantly landing from bar to bar, testing your creative skills with the free reign to experiment.
$75, $95, $115, Boston University Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 915 Commonwealth Avenue, 617-358-3740, bu.edu/fitrec

MIT: European Short Film Festival 
Paying to see movies can add up, especially at those cute little independent theaters with lofty films and overpriced popcorn. For three days in October, MIT will host their yearly European Short Film Festival. For nothing out of pocket, you can see the newest European short films premiering at festivals and the best from European filmmakers and even grab some free snacks.
October 4-6, 7-10 pm, Building 10, Room 250, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 617-715-4480, arts.mit.edu

Northeastern: Open Classroom 
Getting a education on a graduate level doesn’t have to break the bank with Northeastern’s Open Classroom series, Policy for a Healthy America. From September through December, the school will be hosting weekly seminars from an impressive set of guest speakers including September 18th’s discussion of public health with Mayor Menino.
September 4-December 4, West Village F, Room 20, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, 617-373-2000, northeastern.edu