Around Town

Watertown Preschool Hosting Winter Gala Silent Auction

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The following announcement was provided by Russell Cooperative Preschool:

For 50 years, Russell Cooperative Preschool has been a place where young children learn through play, explore nature, and experience the joy of belonging to a caring community. This holiday season, Russell invites current families, alumni, neighbors, and the wider Watertown community to support that mission by participating in its annual Winter Gala Silent Auction, open now through Saturday, December 13th at 8 p.m.

This year’s auction showcases a wide range of local offerings, creative experiences, and one-of-a-kind items donated by current families and area businesses. Highlights include a month of chef-prepared meals, a cozy winter gift basket, a private yoga session, passes to local play spaces, and gift certificates to popular Watertown eateries. Each item reflects the spirit of generosity and connection that has long defined the Russell community. At Russell, children build confidence, independence, and curiosity through hands-on exploration, whether they are mixing paints, climbing snowbanks, planting seeds in the garden or creating imaginative worlds with their friends.

Entertainment

Concert of Traditional Armenian Folk Songs Being Held at Watertown Church

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The following announcement was provided by Orchestra Without Borders:

As October draws to a close, preparations are underway for a multidisiplinary celebration of Armenia’s musical heritage in Watertown, home of New England’s largest Armenian community and a new statue of the Armenian musician Komitas. 

A priest, composer, choir leader, and musicologist, Komitas (also known as Gomidas Vartabed) established much of the musical heritage of Armenia as we know it today. He collected folk tunes from all over the country, recording them for posterity in several published volumes. Although Komitas himself became a casualty of the Armenian Genocide (traumatized by what he experienced during his deportation, he died in a pyschiatric clinic), his music lives on, including in the set of Armenian folk songs transcribed for strings by Sergey Aslamazyan, founder of the renowned Komitas Quartet. 

On December 12th at 8 p.m. at the historic St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church in Watertown, MA — where Komitas’s music forms part of the weekly liturgy — the Orchestra Without Borders of Boston, led by conductor Luca Antonucci, will perform the Armenian Folk Songs transcribed by Aslamazyan in collaboration with the women of the internationally-renowned Sayat Nova Dance Company, a leading Armenian dance organization. The concert, which is sponsored by the Watertown and Mass Cultural Councils and co-hosted by six local Armenian churches, also features a special archival display from the collection of NAASR, the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research. 

Rounding out the program are two rarely-heard works for string orchestra by composers from the Armenian Diaspora: New England native Alan Hovhannes and Soviet-era composer Alexander Arutiunian. 

Composing in 1970s Soviet Armenia, Arutiunian forged a unique expressive musical voice that fused elements of Armenian folk music with aspects of the Russian musical lineage of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and, more recently, Shostakovich and Prokofiev.

Around Town

Watertown Updating FEMA Mitigation Plan, Public Can Take Survey

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The City of Watertown provided the following announcement:

The City of Watertown is updating its FEMA Hazard Mitigation Plan to assess its vulnerability to natural hazards and identify strategies to increase the resilience of our community, infrastructure, and natural resources. Please join the upcoming presentation to the Committee on Public Works at their meeting on Dec. 15, 2025, at 6 p.m. at Watertown City Hall (149 Main Street), or by watching online. See the agenda for the meeting details. Also, please take the community survey associated with this project to help inform and support the project team through this process! More information about the info can be found here https://watertownma.portal.civicclerk.com/event/8203/files/agenda/12425

Entertainment

Arshile Gorky Exhibit Opening at Armenian Museum of America on Dec. 12

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An exhibit featuring the artwork of abstract expressionism artist Arshile Gorky will open at the Armenian Museum of America in Watertown on Dec. 12. Gorky lived in Watertown for a time, arriving in 1920 as part of a third wave of Armenians immigrants looking to escape persecution. See more details in the announcement from the museum below. We are proud to announce the opening of a landmark exhibition, Arshile Gorky: Redrawing Community and Connections, on December 12, 2025.

Around Town

Lane Shifts & Parking Restrictions on Parts of Mt. Auburn St. This Week

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The Mt. Auburn Street Project includes line striping and tree removal from Dec. 9-12 and there will be lane shifts for motorists and parking restrictions in the areas of the work. See details in the announcement from the City of Watertown, below. Temporary Traffic Line Striping

Crews will be working overnight on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, beginning at 7:00 PM to adjust and complete the temporary traffic line striping on Mount Auburn Street between the Cambridge line and Arlington Street.

Schools

Watertown Schools Receive Grant to Provide Hands On Learning About Green Buildings

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The Watertown Public Schools received a Student and Young Adult Career Awareness and Training grant of $250,000 from the Mass. Clean Energy Center in the state’s effort to grown Massachusetts’ clean energy workforce. The funds will be used to launch the High-Performance Buildings initiative to deliver clean energy career exposure and hands-on learning opportunities to a broad student population, according to the announcement from MassCEC. The grant was one of 22 awarded in category, with a total amount awarded of $4.7 million in the category and $27 million overall. See more information in the announcement, below.

Business

Charles River Chamber Hosting Immigration Webinar for Businesses

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The Charles River Regional Chamber will host a free Webinar called “How policy shifts may impact your employees and business” on Wednesday, Dec. 10 from 3 – 4 p.m. Via Zoom. It is free and open to members and non-members. See more information provided by the Chamber, below. As immigration policies continue to evolve, understanding the impact on your immigrant workforce is essential for business success.