March 4, 2024

LOVE LETTER TO STARLIGHT

Starlight Square IS a labor of love.

What started as a pre-pandemic plan to prototype a square in Central Square became the heart of the Cultural District, a place for generations of Cantabrigians to reconnect, be in community, and imagine a neighborhood where people’s artistic and economic endeavors have a permanent home. 

For four years, it’s been a joy and a privilege to see our seedling of an idea take shape and grow roots in the place where we live—where many of us grew up. Where many of our parents grew up. 

Given all that’s been positive and joyful, it’s with mixed emotions that we share this will be Starlight’s last season on Lot 5. The structure will be decommissioned in July, after the current license agreement expires.

For us, Starlight is a representation of home.

For decades, we’ve experienced the gentrification of this neighborhood. Friends and family have left. Businesses have closed. The sounds and languages we used to hear have changed. The buildings have changed. So many people remark upon coming home: I don’t recognize any of this. Starlight restored so much of what we miss, mourn, and crave in Cambridge. It not only created a stage for new voices, it was also a way back; a reverse course for displacement. A place to invite people to and re-engage those still here. A place to find joy and disrupt struggle. Being a part of this restorative work was beautiful and emotional for us. 

For the community at large, Starlight became a destination for safe, shared experiences. At the height of the pandemic, it was critical public health infrastructure, allowing essential functions of city life to safely transition outdoors—from out-of-school-time learning to mutual aid and food security efforts. It was a way to stay connected and together when the realities of the virus were keeping us apart. As the country faces a “loneliness pandemic,” public spaces designed like Starlight will remain critical public health infrastructure.

Starlight was also the springboard for Popportunity, now a 501c3, that served 140 entrepreneurs, primarily women of color from Cambridge. It was a starting place for many young people, a bridge for others, and the final step before a brick-and-mortar for many more, including Lola’s, Mahogany Expression, The Journey Within, and Amantolli. 

At the heart of the project was a statement about city life. So much can be shared and celebrated when there is space and resources to do so. Thinking back on the last four years, many special moments stand out to us. The high school prom with Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley. The second line band and memorial for Dr. Bob Moses. Carnival. Cambridge Families of Color and Blackyard Arts’ Juneteeth celebration. Secret Queen’s Pride drag shows. Everybody Gotta Eat’s Entrepreneur Mixer. Our first event: an NBA2K video game tournament with our Mayor’s Program students. To date, Starlight has hosted over 300 free, public events showcasing the best of the Cultural District. Events imagined and produced by community members have become annual traditions, like the Cambridge Community Center and THHT’s Summer Showcase, The Triggered Project, Flamenco, Bollywood, Bridgeside, Nomadik’s Silent Dance Parties, and Laraland’s Roller Discos. 

Every year, Starlight’s identity got stronger and richer; its impact more obvious and quantifiable. It was an ecosystem producing positive change throughout the entire neighborhood, an award-winning model proving what’s possible when underutilized land is reclaimed for spatial justice, civic life, and cultural programming.

Starlight exemplifies the idea of placekeeping: the creation and stewardship of spaces by and for the people they serve.

For the last four years, the Central Square BID and Flagg Street Studio have stewarded Starlight Square, working year-round to keep it open and accessible to all, going so far as to file a citizen’s petition to change the zoning to allow Outdoor Recreation and Entertainment on the lot when the Board of Zoning Appeal voted not to renew its application. With the unanimous support of the City Council, State Representatives, and hundreds of letters and calls from supporters, the petition was successful and Starlight continued. 

We share this piece of the story to underscore the challenge of holding a grassroots, people-powered project over time. Concurrent with the building, fortifying, programming, and marketing of this community venue, we were continually defending it and advocating for its existence. It always danced on a knife’s edge. In 2022, the project received an ARPA award from then-City Manager, Louis Depasquale, to present a path to permanence for Starlight and Popportunity. Last week, that award was rescinded, because it was deemed no longer necessary given the findings of the City of Cambridge’s Community Development Department’s Central Square Lot Study.

Weighing these findings and what we know to be true, we have decided this year will be Starlight Square’s last on Lot 5. We have made the difficult decision to refocus our resources on finding a permanent home for Starlight. Its energy, not its temporary physical form, is its most precious asset. And we’ve already started to explore new avenues for its reconstitution. You can sign up here to keep up with that process. 

On behalf of all the people who’ve invested their time, love, and care into Starlight Square, thank you for being a part of its first chapter. Thank you to the community organizers who made the space sing every night; to the neighbors who filled the seats and brought a friend; to Popportunity’s entrepreneurs for opening their doors; to the artists for wrapping this world in visuals that reflected our values. And finally, thanks to you, reader, for giving us the opportunity to share our side of the story.

We will see you in the Square. Starlight forever!

- The Starlight Square Community Team