Passim’s Folk Collective and The Opening Doors Project Launch Voices Rising, a New Free Concert Series with Conversations Around Race, Identity, and Music
(Cambridge, MA) Passim’s Folk Collective and Boston-based arts organization The Opening Doors Project announced Voices Rising, a new joint series of free shows taking place across New England throughout 2025-2026. Each concert will include curated music exploring race and identity paired with conversations about how those topics shape our world. For more information and a full schedule, visit openingdoorsproject.org.
The Voices Rising series includes major cultural touch points such as an Indigenous People’s Day Concert, an MLK Day Concert, and two Black History Month concerts.
The Folk Collective at Passim is an artist-led initiative dedicated to expanding the narrative of folk music by centering the stories, sounds, and perspectives of artists whose voices have long been part of its history, with workshops and events. Through workshops, performances, and community events, the Collective works to uplift diverse creators and foster meaningful artistic exchange.
“The Folk Collective is excited to co-present this series of shows with The Opening Doors Project,” says Shea Rose, Curator of The Folk Collective. “The Folk Collective has lived on the stage at Passim, and in a natural evolution of that work, the community has responded by inviting the artists, music, and conversation into their own spaces. That invitation continues to shape how the program evolves. This partnership brings together two organizational missions rooted in shared purpose: broadening the tapestry of voices represented in folk music, reclaiming overlooked narratives, and deepening community conversations around race, identity, and belonging.”
The Opening Doors Project amplifies voices of color and advances interracial conversations about race through the arts, with community concerts for all ages, education programming at schools, and one of the most diverse teaching artist rosters in the Boston area. Grant underwriting allows the organization to offer concerts for free, while grants, donations, and paid programming in suburban schools help fund free programming in underserved urban schools.
“We’re working towards several goals at once,” says Alastair Moock, Opening Doors Artistic Director and Co-Founder (and Folk Collective alum). “In predominantly white towns and schools, we’re using music to open up needed conversations about race and identity; in Black and brown communities, we’re offering quality programming with a roster that looks like our audiences; and, wherever we work, we’re supporting historically undervalued artists by raising the money it takes to pay fair market wages.”
Together, the organizations are curating a series that uplifts meaningful storytelling, honors a wide range of musical traditions, and uses performance as a bridge toward connection and cultural understanding.
The season features current Folk Collective members and alumni, Opening Doors Project roster members, and other prominent artists and cultural leaders in the Boston arts community.
The series included two shows this fall with an Indigenous Peoples Day Concert in Belmont featuring Wampanoag singer-songwriter Thea Hopkins and a show featuring folk musicians Pamela Means and Anand Nayak for On the Hill House Concerts in Cambridge.
2026 Performances Include:
Sun, Jan 18 at 7pm, Melrose, MA
MLK Day Concert
Melrose UU Church
with Stephanie McKay, Tyrone Chase, and Alastair Moock
Fri, Feb 13 at 7:30pm, Lexington, MA
Black History Month Concert
Follen Church
with Kemp Harris and Adam Osgood
Fri, Feb 27 at 7pm, Belmont, MA
Black History Month Concert
Belmont High School Black Box Theater
with Reggie Harris and Regie Gibson (Massachusetts Poet Laureate)
Sat, Mar 14 at 7pm, Putney, VT
Race and Song Concert
Next Stage Arts
with Pamela Means and Alastair Moock
Sat, April 4 at 7pm, Woburn, MA
Know Your Neighbor Woburn Concert
North Church Woburn
with Lydia Harrell, Pamela Means, Stephanie McKay, Anand Nayak, and Alastair Moock
Fri, May 8 at 7pm, Arlington, MA
Shades of Black: The Hip-Hopera Concert
First Parish UU
with Zakiyyah
For more information on The Folk Collective and Opening Doors Concert Series and a full schedule of events, visit openingdoorsproject.org.
About The Opening Doors Project
Stacey Babb and Alastair Moock co-founded The Opening Doors Project in 2021 to promote meaningful interracial conversations around race through the arts. By bringing new cultural experiences to audiences nationwide, the organization strives to promote and inspire the work of antiracism. Its community concerts and education programs are rooted in the conviction that candid conversation can open people’s minds, and great music can touch people’s hearts.
About The Folk Collective
The Folk Collective at Passim empowers diverse folk music artists in greater New England to leverage music as a tool for community impact and social change by providing them a platform to reach new audiences, hone their craft, and amplify their unique voices. Through its innovative two-year cohort-based model, The Folk Collective addresses the challenges faced by underrepresented artists in the folk music industry by providing performance opportunities, mentorship, and a collaborative space, thus enabling them to cultivate sustainable creative careers.
About Passim
The mission of Passim is to provide truly exceptional and interactive live musical experiences for both performers and audiences, to nurture artists at all stages of their careers, and to build a vibrant, inclusive music community. Passim does so through its legendary listening venue, music school, artist grants, and community programs. As a nonprofit since 1994, Passim carries on the heritage of its predecessors—the historic Club 47 (1958-1968) and the for-profit Passim (1969-1994). It cultivates a diverse mix of musical traditions, emphasizing the relationship between performers and audience and teachers and students. Located in Harvard Square, Passim serves Cambridge and the broader region by featuring local, national, and International Artists. Passim’s ultimate goal is to help the performance arts flourish and thereby enrich the lives of members of our community. For a complete schedule, visit www.passim.org.
