Kelly Brilliant on Art, Travel, and Making Boston's Culture Free for Everyone

Kelly Brilliant is a community leader in Boston who believes everyone should have access to the arts. She is the co-executive director of The Fenway Alliance, a group of more than 20 cultural organizations in the Fenway neighborhood. These include famous places like the Museum of Fine Arts, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Huntington Theatre. On October 12, the Alliance will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its Opening Our Doors Day — a festival with more than 25 free programs for the public.

Brilliant lives in Brookline with her husband, Michael Kim, and has an adult stepson named Nathanial Kim. She grew up in Beacon, New York, but she says Martha's Vineyard is her happy place for peace and fun. She recently talked about travel, her favorite memories, and what she has learned from exploring the world.

The Opening Our Doors Day festival is very important to Brilliant. Many of the programs focus on Indigenous People's Day, and the day kicks off with a youth parade at noon. She thinks it is especially important for young people to help shape the festival so it keeps getting better. 'This is a day to show people that the arts are for them and that everyone in Boston is welcome,' she said.

When asked where she would travel right now, Brilliant said she is heading back to Venice, Italy, at the end of December. She will ring in the New Year there with two close friends. She loves Venice for its art, food, music, and unique architecture. She believes it is a city everyone should visit at least once.

Brilliant says she has never used a travel agent, but she is curious about it. She usually plans trips herself and often organizes vacations for her husband and friends. She admits it would be nice to let someone else take charge once in a while. Still, she says she enjoys the process of researching new places.

She laughed when talking about her worst vacation. Her father wanted the whole family to go on a cruise because he knew he did not have much time left. Brilliant discovered on that trip that she gets a little claustrophobic — which means she feels nervous in small, closed-in spaces. Even so, she has funny memories from the trip, including watching a men's sexy leg competition with her teenage nieces.

Her favorite childhood travel memory is going to dinner at the Clark Cooke House in Newport, Rhode Island. Every year during the first week of August, her father would take the whole family there, and everyone got dressed up. She and her sister felt like they were living in a fancy dream. This past June, her husband took her back to the same restaurant, and she called it peak nostalgia — a warm, happy feeling about the past.

On Martha's Vineyard, Brilliant has had some truly special moments. She and her husband once heard Senator and Reverend Raphael Warnock preach at the Oak Bluffs Tabernacle, with music from the Martha's Vineyard Chorus. In the same weekend, they heard local musician Will Dailey play at a small house concert and caught a surprise song by Jennifer Holliday at a fundraiser for the Boston Arts Academy. She says moments like these are exactly why she loves the Vineyard.

When it comes to souvenirs, Brilliant treasures a strand of yellow Murano glass beads her husband bought her at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice. She highly recommends visiting that museum, saying the collection is incredible and the setting on the canal is hard to beat. For flights or road trips, she keeps it simple — she and her husband often share a ham, butter, and mustard sandwich on a baguette from Cutty's in Brookline Village.

Her best travel tip is simple: plan a few activities, but always leave room for surprises. She believes travel teaches people to slow down and enjoy the moment. 'More often than not, that's when the really good stuff happens,' she said. She also recommends staying open to small adventures, because those are often the most memorable.