It’s time to reconsider use of the historic Cambridge Kiosk in Harvard Square, city councillors said Monday – and to bring back its “Out of Town News” neon sign and restore the name Out of Town News Kiosk. One councillor even wants to be able to buy a newspaper there again (and isn’t alone in that).
None of this is to criticize the kiosk’s programmer, CultureHouse, councillors said, noting the constant construction and maze of chain-link fence that has surrounded and obscured the kiosk since it opened to the public last year after a reported $3.3 million refresh.
“This is not meant to say that CultureHouse is doing anything wrong,” said Marc McGovern, the councillor who wrote the policy order. “I just don’t think it’s right for that spot.”
Cathie Zusy, a councillor with experience as a museum curator, said CultureHouse had “done a great job considering its challenges,” but that the city needs in Harvard Square “something far more dynamic and really a portal to the larger world, which is what the Out of Town News was.”
CultureHouse also had many supporters at the meeting, councillors among them, who spoke to how the the Somerville nonprofit had shaped the kiosk into “an essential cultural anchor” and creative hub with free performances, lectures and panels, art, minigolf, shopping and tourist and resident resources. “I’ve worked with families, with kids, seniors and even unhoused people who have expressed thankfulness for that space,” resident Missy Arellano said. Its successes were especially striking “considering the fact that it is under construction and barricaded literally by scaffolds and construction workers and noise and dust.”
Undermining the idea that the kiosk has underperformed was a figure introduced by councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler based on data commissioned by the city – that it has drawn more than 250,000 visitors and become one of the top destinations in Cambridge.
The 400-square-foot structure at Zero Harvard Square began as a subway station headhouse; its identity as the Out of Town News began in 1983, when it was taken over by a neighboring newsstand business operating since 1954. Cambridge created a Harvard Square Kiosk and Plaza Working Group in 2017 to figure out public use for when the Out of Town News closed in 2019, its use diminished by the Internet. CultureHouse ran the kiosk for eight months as a test. After years of construction beginning in 2021, the Cambridge Office of Tourism and CultureHouse took over programming officially at a May 30, 2025, opening.
The CultureHouse contract expires in December 2027, so the process of renewing it or finding a next operator wouldn’t begin until next summer, said Melissa Peters, assistant city manager for Community Development. The city will use a bidding process known as a request for proposals.
“Kiosk magic” amid a mess
The nonprofit’s Aaron Greiner said on Tuesday that CultureHouse appreciated the recognition given to its programming of “a lot of incredible, magic moments” over the past year and a half. He singled out a series of HipStory concerts that drew in passersby and an installation called the Registry of Permissions, which invited people to write on cards the things they wanted permission to do – such as sleep in more – that were then stamped to grant the person official authorization to follow their wishes.
That bit of “kiosk magic” had lines down the street, Greiner said. “We’re looking to increase the number of times that magic happens.”
A changeup in approach begins in early December, when CultureHouse brings in artists for three-month residencies that follow a theme. The first theme is “unseen connections,” which is perfect for winter when bad weather weakens interpersonal connections, Greiner said. “It takes years to establish an arts and culture space,” he said, “ but in the coming weeks we’re going to get into a slate of programs that we hope will show a version of the kiosk that reveals its vibrancy.”
Plaza construction has provided a challenge that has no end in sight. The kiosk’s natural use is as part of a space like the plaza was before its reconstruction: a place where people gather, relax and explore. The maze of fences, scrim and scaffolds means the kiosk is hidden, and its home transformed from a public square into a sidewalk from which CultureHouse must “drag people in by breaking their stride,” Greiner said. “Once we have a full plaza back, we are so excited about how the kiosk can be part of that.”
Like a museum – good and bad
Though the 250,000-visit figure was greeted with some skepticism, CultureHouse drew praise – McGovern said he would “love to see CultureHouse in some other location in the square, or even in Central Square in the Cultural District” – and officials agreed that it was impossible to know how activity at the kiosk would look without construction around it.
While there were councillors happy with current uses – Ayah Al-Zubi recounted visiting an exhibit of Arabic calligraphy at the kiosk – others had grander plans. Tim Flaherty imagined Christmas caroling and photos with Santa inside, but also what it would be like to honor the high school’s football team as it heads off to playing at Fenway Park at Thanksgiving. “We should have a rally, a citywide rally at the kiosk with fire engines and a marching band and hundreds of people sending the team off for a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Flaherty said. He also wanted to be able to stop in and buy a Sunday Globe, but what Al-Zubi treasures about the space is, to Flaherty, a criticism: “’Sometimes it seems like it’s a museum there. It’s quiet. It’s not active.”
The city expects to renew its thinking about kiosk use with partners such as the Harvard Square Kiosk Committee, Harvard Square Advisory Committee and the local neighborhood association, since the last community process was held from 2017 to 2018, Peters said.
Based on that process, “the current RFP is limiting in terms of what the operator can do,” Peters said. “Things have changed, and I definitely think we should revisit what we allow. At that time there was a concern of vending and advertisements. The committee decided that the Out of Town News sign should not go back on the building … opinions change, times change, and we’re happy to go back.”
