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Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
Michael Busack steps into the spotlight as new head of Club Passim
Advertisement With the Trustees, music was a part of the bigger job. Now, as executive director of Passim, one of the country's most prominent folk music venues, it's his entire job. He oversees a $1.5 million annual budget with 10 full- and part-time administrative staffers, as well as a roster of around 40 part-time servers, teachers, and event workers — with shows and classes happening almost every day of the year. Among his challenges will be figuring out how to expand Passim's presence beyond the walls of the cozy basement club and its offices and classrooms on a floor above the club, in a Harvard University -owned building at the corner of Church and Palmer streets. 'There's no room to grow in this current space,' Busack said. 'We're programmed to the max.' Advertisement Passim's leaders are in active conversations to help present shows at bigger, different venues across Greater Boston. The goals: to broaden the number of people who can come to the shows, expand the programming beyond the traditional folk music the club is known for, and reach different audiences. 'We have to think a little bigger and bolder about how we continue to operate in the future,' Busack said. Most staffers sing or play an instrument of some sort, and usually show off their talents at a quarterly show put on by Passim employees and board members. Busack said he hopes to pick up an instrument at some point so he can join in. 'The team here is encouraging me to take lessons,' Busack said. 'This will give me the right amount of pressure to figure something out. I don't want to not contribute as the new guy.' New role for Meet Boston exec Hilina Ajakaiye is taking a new job as chief strategy officer at the National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals. HANDOUT Meet Boston 's Hilina Ajakaiye is stepping into a new national role, but she's not stepping away from Boston. This week, Ajakaiye takes a new job as chief strategy officer at the Staying in Boston allows her to maintain her roles at local nonprofits, including as board chair of the Rose F. Kennedy Greenway Conservancy and a board member of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts . Ajakaiye joined Meet Boston, the region's tourism bureau, in 2020 as its executive vice president. As the world reopened from the COVID-19 pandemic, she helped chief executive Martha Sheridan reposition Meet Boston to better support the industry's recovery. Advertisement Ajakaiye — a first-generation Ethiopian immigrant — strengthened Meet Boston's connection to communities of color and helped spearhead the 'There's a huge opportunity,' Ajakaiye said. 'A lot of folks don't know how to galvanize the community and how to make people feel welcome, so that'll be my focus.' Nonprofit law firms team up Pioneer Law president Frank Bailey. Photo courtesy of Pioneer For the past few years, Boston has essentially had two free-market-oriented, nonprofit law firms, the Pioneer Public Interest Law Center and the New England Legal Foundation . Now, there will be only one, as the Pioneer law center acquires some of NELF's assets, including the brand name. The Pioneer law center will be rebranded as the Pioneer New England Legal Foundation , or PNELF, and led by Frank Bailey , a former federal judge who became Pioneer's first president in 2022. (The Pioneer law center is a separate nonprofit from the Pioneer Institute led by Jim Stergios , though they share back-office services, among other connections.) Bailey said NELF's board decided to wind down its operations, so it reached out to Bailey and Pioneer chair Brackett Denniston to propose what Bailey calls a 'strategic alliance.' Several NELF board members are joining the Pioneer law center's board, as is NELF president Natalie Logan ; NELF attorney Ben Robbins is now on Pioneer's four-person legal staff. And Pioneer will also take over the John G. L. Cabot Award Dinner, an annual NELF fund-raiser that will return in 2026. Advertisement Both groups get involved in legal cases related to economic fairness and free enterprise, Bailey said, though Pioneer also works on cases that advance educational opportunity or government transparency. Unlike NELF, which focused on appellate cases, Pioneer will also initiate complaints, and follow them through to trial, if necessary. Pioneer also has welcomed members of the various NELF advisory councils in New England, who help surface legal causes worth championing. 'We're going to be more effective,' Bailey said. 'We have been involved in matters outside of Massachusetts already [but] the best way to do that is to have people on the ground in those other states. That's what the advisory councils bring us.' 'First big milestone' for Holocaust museum At the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Holocaust Museum Boston, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, center, spoke with Jody Kipnis (left), and Todd Ruderman (right), cofounders of the Holocaust Legacy Foundation and Holocaust Museum Boston. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff Jody Kipnis has been working on the concept of Here were Boston Mayor Michelle Wu , city Councilor Ed Flynn , and State House power brokers — including Senate President Karen Spilka , House Speaker Ron Mariano , and House Ways and Means chair Aaron Michlewitz — gathered to salute this once-crazy dream Kipnis and Todd Ruderman had, a dream that's getting much closer to reality. 'I don't think it hit until today, the gravity of what we're doing,' Kipnis said afterward. 'This was the first big milestone for us, publicly.' When general contractor Lee Kennedy Co. completes the project in late 2026, the Holocaust Museum Boston will stretch across six floors of a 33,000-square-foot building at 125 Tremont St., facing Boston Common. Kipnis, a former dental hygienist, now leads the Holocaust Legacy Foundation , a nonprofit she formed in 2018 with Ruderman to keep the stories and lessons from the Holocaust alive for new generations. Advertisement Their foundation bought a three-story building on that site for $11.5 million in 2022, using money that Ruderman and Kipnis contributed. Their initial plans called for retrofitting the structure, but then they decided to build something new, and twice the size, to fulfill their ambitious vision. They say they have raised around two-thirds of the $100 million construction cost; a supplemental budget under consideration at the State House could provide up to $10 million in state funds. It all started with a trip they took in 2018 to Auschwitz with Holocaust survivor and friend David Schaecter , who told them: You've seen Auschwitz, so now what are you going to do? The foundation they created was initially intended to fund fellowships for teens to learn about the Holocaust. The COVID-19 pandemic paused that plan. Kipnis and Ruderman came up with a more ambitious one. The museum will feature a donated Nazi-era rail car, personal artifacts from the Holocaust, as well as an interactive holographic exhibit featuring interviews with Schaecter. 'This is not a Jewish museum, this is a museum for everyone,' said Ruderman, owner of the Value Store It chain. 'We're using the Jewish people as an example of what happens when democracy breaks down.' Jon Chesto can be reached at
Boston Globe
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Nine ways to kick off summer in Boston this Memorial Day weekend
REASON FOR THE SEASON Seamus Gagne, 10, helped to plant some of the 37,000 flags for the Memorial Flag Garden on Boston Common last May ahead of Memorial Day. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff Keep the holiday's meaning in mind. There are plenty of area parades this weekend. To name a few: Somerville's Memorial Day Parade steps off at 11 a.m., May 25, from Davis Square, with a ceremony following at Somerville Veterans Cemetery, Get Love Letters: The Newsletter A weekly dispatch with all the best relationship content and commentary – plus exclusive content for fans of Love Letters, Dinner With Cupid, weddings, therapy talk, and more. Enter Email Sign Up Meanwhile, the annual Advertisement BOSTON CALLING & DUNKIN' POP-UP Boston Calling attendees take a picture at the entrance on the first day of the music festival. Erin Clark/Globe Staff What do Dave Matthews, Luke Combs, TLC, Megan Moroney, Vampire Weekend, and Public Enemy have in common? They're all spending Memorial Day weekend in Boston. Yup, as the old-timers say, 'tis not really summer in Boston until Fall Out Boy takes the stage at Harvard Athletic Complex … or something like that. Advertisement Catch big names May 23-25 — from Sheryl Crow to The Black Crowes to Harvard alum Tom Morello. Ride the Ferris wheel, and eat your way through an entire food village — And it's back, baby: The fest's Fest tickets from $181. Details: CAMPFIRE SONGS Singer/songwriter Lori McKenna/file Looking for something more low-key? Passim's semiannual Now in its 27th year, Passim's managing director/fest founder Matt Smith Advertisement The heart of the festival is 'about those new discoveries,' he said. This year, some 60 artists play over the course of four days. You may even be able to say you saw-them-when: some major names have made their Passim debut via the event, including 47 Palmer St., Cambridge. Tickets from $15, free for students. Details or . HOP ON THE ICE CREAM TRAIL Juice Bar, Nantucket. Brie Bristol Beep beep! This is not a drill, people; 2025 marks the state's first Memorial Day weekend with an official ice cream trail. Unveiled last July, Map and guide at . Stops in Greater Boston include: Summer staple Crescent Ridge Dairy Bar — perhaps Advertisement 'JAWS' AT 50 Beachgoers run from the water in a scene from the 1975 release of "Jaws." AP Duuun-dun. Duuuun-dun. Dun-nun-dun-nun-dun-nun … Yup, the shark movie turns 50 this summer, and there's no better way to kick off beach season than by giving yourself beach nightmares. We're gonna need a bigger boat: FREE ART BY THE WATER ICA patrons take the water shuttle over to the ICA Watershed space in East Boston. Lane Turner Soak up two free days of art by the ocean. Kick off the long weekend May 22 with the ICA's ' Plus, it's the ICA's Watershed season opener. It kicks off with ' Ticket includes regular ICA admission, $20, 25 Harbor Shore Drive, . GO, VAN GOGH 'The Yellow House (The Street)' by Vincent van Gogh, 1888. Vincent van Gogh/Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Boston's MFA offers Tickets available in person, first-come, first-served, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston, Advertisement A WHALE OF A CRUISE New England Aquarium and Boston Harbor City Cruises join to offer a whale watching cruise. Handout The New England Aquarium and Boston Harbor City Cruises have collaborated to kick off whale watch season with a . Cash bar available, snacks available for purchase. From $70. 3-4 hours. Meet at 1 Long Wharf. Details: BURGER KINGS Burger from Hojoko in Fenway. Delaney Gardner What turkey is to Thanksgiving, burgers are to Memorial Day weekend. Who makes the best in Boston? Globe Magazine's 'burger aficionados' crowned its Eight Dorchester's buzzy 2255 Dorchester Ave. 159 Newbury St., . For veggie burgers, Globe's Best of the Best team picked 50 Massachusetts Ave., . Lauren Daley can be reached at ldaley33@ Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at . Lauren Daley can be reached at
