WBUR developing new space for events and engagement

WBUR, Boston University’s National Public Radio affiliate, will be opening a new cultural events space early next year. The venue, called CitySpace, will host a variety of WBUR events, including debates, live radio broadcasts and theatrical performances.

Boston University spokesman Colin Riley said the space is being funded by approximately $10 million, much of which came from Jonathan Lavine, a co-managing partner of the investment firm Bain Capital, and his wife, Jeannie Lavine.

Riley said CitySpace will take up 7,500 square feet, with an open and flexible seating plan that will be able to fit up to 240 people at once.

The architectural firm CambridgeSeven designed CitySpace, which will include a hydraulic stage that can be raised and lowered, robotic cameras and lights, and a 9-by-16-foot LED screen. The building, which is at the former location of Landry’s Bicycles at 890 Commonwealth Ave., will have floor-to-ceiling windows that will allow passersby to see what’s happening inside, with benches and speakers outside.

Due to its flexibility, the space will be able to house several different kinds activities. Amy Macdonald, WBUR’s director of community engagement, said some of the activities will be dance performances, readings, debates and film screenings. WBUR also plans to have family programming and children’s arts and crafts programs during the day.

Ye Chen, a freshman in the College of Engineering, said he would be interested in seeing some of the performances and productions himself.

“I love seeing pieces of art and other things of that sort that can stimulate conversation and engagement,” Chen said. “It’s important to bring people together somehow, outside of the protesting and yelling and anger.”

Macdonald said the BU community will also have its own role in CitySpace.

“We plan to approach BU professors who are teaching courses for people [that] are more of a show and tell,” Macdonald said. “We will look for [professors] who teach film and they can teach that in the afternoons, so if you walk by, there will be class.”

BU President Robert Brown said he thinks CitySpace will be an excellent opportunity for members of the BU community to engage with different issues and perspectives.

“These events will engage the Boston University community and the City on topics of social, political and intellectual interest,” Brown wrote in an email to The Daily Free Press. “Together, the Booth Theatre and CitySpace will give our community two new great destinations on Commonwealth Avenue west of the BU Bridge.”

Macdonald said other non-profits in the Boston area that have been in need of a space are partnering with WBUR to use CitySpace as a centerpoint to engage with the community as well.

Kristen Holgerson, the director of marketing and promotions at WBUR, said she believes that WBUR’s mission to connect with the community has grown since it began in 1950.

“WBUR really has this mission to innovate and to find new ways to connect with people,” Holgerson said. “This is the next place that we can innovate — the in-person experience.”

Despite all of the technology available today, Macdonald said, people still seek out live events to engage with others.

“There’s actually a thirst … for people to come together to have live events and for people to have a communal experience,” Macdonald said. “It forms community, and people like to meet other like-minded people who are curious and want to be illuminated.”

Agatha Tam, a sophomore in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said she is happy to see WBUR’s willingness to physically incorporate their audience.

“I think it’s really cool that a space like this is going to become the center for conversation and thought, and the fact that audiences can physically be there to engage with programming is awesome,” Tam said. “It immerses people and gives them a totally different experience. It makes them feel like they’re really part of something.”