FAQ

MassQ Ball 2025: Color will take place Saturday October 4th from 10am to 4pm on the grounds of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. The main entrances will be the Bussey Street entrance opposite the Peters Hill Gate on 243 Walter St, Boston, MA 02130. We strongly encourage all attendees to use this entrance.

No! MassQ Ball 2025: Color is FREE and family-friendly! ​

MassQ Ball 2025: Color artists include a wide range of dancers, installation artists, visual artists and musicians from a host of different cultural backgrounds. Learn more about them HERE

The MassQ Ball is for all who wish to attend and participate. As this event is to celebrate the unique traditions and cultures of Boston’s communities of color, we specifically encourage people from those communities to participate.

Yes! If you believe in the goals of the MassQ Ball then you are warmly welcomed to participate. We believe it is important to support and appreciate events and spaces where cultures, perspectives and peoples outside one’s own are centered. It is also important to enter these spaces with the proper respect and reverence that they deserve.

A MassQ is a ceremonial application of paint to the face used to reveal rather than conceal one’s inner essence and/or state of being. MassQing is the technique of MassQ-making. Based on indigenous practices of body decoration found all over the world, MassQing allows people to transform themselves into living works of art through the power of their own creativity. At our MassQ Ball, attendees will have the opportunity to MassQ themselves or be MassQed by a cohort of visual artists. For more information about the MassQ and MassQing process, click HERE.

Yes! MassQing uses hypoallergenic, water-based children’s face paint. It is made for sensitive skin, and is 100% washable. Being MassQed is completely optional, but highly recommended in order to get the full experience of the event.

No. Being MassQed is completely optional, but highly recommended in order to get the full experience of the event.

MassQ Ball 2025: Color has four main goals: To celebrate and uplift the cultural traditions of Boston’s diverse communities of color. To encourage learning, interaction, and dialogue across cultures, generations and neighborhoods. To create a space of healing, transformation and unity through art, communion and nature. To co-create an inclusive vision for how we want our world to be.

No. MassQ Ball 2025: Color will be the third iteration of the Ball in Boston. The Ball first came to Boston in the spring of 2017 and was held in Roxbury’s Hibernian Hall. In 2022, we brought MassQ Ball: Origin to the Arboretum. Learn more about the Ball's history HERE.

MassQ Ball 2025: Color is co-produced by artist Daniel Callahan of Create & Record, Castle of our Skins, and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. You can learn more about the full team HERE.