Three hearts, eight arms, can’t lose. Cephalopod Week is back with our annual celebration of these amazing creatures, from the cunning cuttlefish, to the superb squid, to the outstanding octopus! We’re teaming up with Atlas Obscura and a band of partner organizations around the country to give you a place to celebrate these incredible invertebrates together. We love cephalopods so much that this year we are gathering in pods in 10 cities around the U.S.!

Join us for an evening of talk, tentacles, and talent, featuring four original short films from Science Friday, followed by conversations with cephalopod experts, performances, activities, and other ceph-tastic fun. Don’t be afraid to be shellfish—get your tickets before someone with four times as many arms grabs them first!

New York

We’re back at our favorite underground science speakeasy for a deep dive on cephalopods! Join Science Friday video producer Luke Groskin as he chats with local experts Dr. Tessa Montague, who studies cuttlefish camouflage at Columbia University, and New York Aquarium’s Connor Gibbons, who will give us a sneak peek into their new exhibit, Spineless, opening soon! The American Museum of Natural History will debut a never-before-seen video, “The ABCs of Cephalopods,” featuring Samantha Cheng, biodiversity scientist at the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, who will be joining us via livestream to answer all your cephalopod questions!

Also, we’re thrilled to be offering one cephalopod fan the chance to take home a carefully preserved, and ethically sourced, mounted octopus tentacle by ScientificWoman. ScientificWoman allows access to the unique and unknown by offering innovative creations for everyone to examine the curious nature of life through Biological Art and Interactive Taxidermy.

When: Friday, June 21st at 9:00pm (Doors at 8:30)
Where: Caveat, 21A Clinton Street, New York, NY 10002
Tickets: $28 – available now! Venue is mixed seated and standing. Arrive early for the best seats. 21+ only

Washington, DC

Join ceph-enthusiasts and experts for a night of movies and underwater magic! Science Friday education director Ariel Zych will be joined by Dr. Stephanie “Stephalopod” Bush and Dr. Karen Osborn from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History who will tell us all about the mysterious middle waters of the ocean. We’ll bob in the water column to learn all about the cephalopods and curious ocean drifters that thrive there.

*New time slot added at 9:00pm!

When: Friday, June 21st at 7:00pm (Doors at 6:30pm) and 9:00pm (Doors at 8:30pm)
Where: 826DC, 3333 14th St NW M120, Washington, DC 20010
Tickets: $25 – available now for the 9:00pm show (7:00pm sold out)!

Sacramento

All aboard the squid train! We’re teaming up with Capital Public Radio and  the California State Railroad Museum for an evening full of jet propulsion and locomotion. Join hosts Ezra David Romero from Capital Public Radio and Danielle Dana from Science Friday for a cinematic evening of cephalopods. After the screenings of short science film documentaries, Richard Ross from the Steinhart Aquarium will invite us to his Secret Home Lab, where he has been caring for octopuses for almost 10 years, and we’ll learn all about squid locomotion with Dr. Diana Li from Stanford University. All your cephalopod curiosities will be answered!

When: Friday, June 21st at 6:30pm (Doors at 5:30pm)
Where: California State Railroad Museum, 125 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
Tickets: SOLD OUT! If you still want to cephalo-brate with us, there are tickets available for our San Francisco Cephalopod Movie Night on June 26, at 9:00pm.

Los Angeles

Join Science Friday senior producer Christopher Intagliata for an evening of talk, tentacles, and merriment! In addition to screening SciFri’s new Cephalopod Week videos, there will be conversations with cephalopod expert and aquarist Angelina Komatovich from the Aquarium of the Pacific, engineer and squid skin-inspired materials expert Dr. Alon Gorodetsky from the University of California, Irvine, and SCUBA diver and English professor Melody Jue from the University of California, Santa Barbara. See how art and science collide!

When: Saturday, June 22nd at 7:00pm
Where: Aquarium of the Pacific, Ocean Theater, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach, CA 90802
Tickets: $25 – available now! Special entrance provided so ticket to the Aquarium itself is not required. This is a family-friendly event.

Boston

Nothing quite says a summer evening like basking in the shade of an octopus’s garden. Join WBUR and Science Friday’s video producer Luke Groskin to talk all-things cephalopods with‎ Dr. Carrie Albertin and Bret Grasse, both from The Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, and aquarist and octopus wrangler Bill Murphy from the New England Aquarium. Bring the whole family for this squiddy celebration—there may even be some cephalopods to meet in-person!

When: Monday, June 24 at 6:30pm (Lobby open at 5:30pm)
Where: WBUR CitySpace, 890 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215
Tickets: $10 – available now! This is a family-friendly event.

San Francisco

Cephalopods may be known as speedy, swift swimmers, but some octopuses have been spotted sprinting on the ocean floor! Gather together with experts who contemplate the odd behaviors of octopuses’ nimble arms—or legs, depending on how they’re moving. Join Dr. Christine Huffard from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and Dr. Jean Alupay from the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and dip your toes into some cephalo-knowledge.

*New time slot added at 9:00pm! Please note: For this 9:00pm screening, we will be joined by Dr. Jean Alupay and Meghan Holst, aquarist at the Aquarium of the Bay studying octopus stress!

When: Tuesday, June 25th at 7:00pm (Doors at 6:30pm) and 9:00pm (Doors at 8:30pm)
Where: PianoFight, 144 Taylor St, San Francisco, CA 94102
Tickets: $20 – available now for the 9:00pm show (7:00pm sold out)!

San Antonio

Get ready, San Antonio—now’s your chance to watch some amazing cephalopods on the silver screen! Our short science film documentaries will be followed by a conversation with aquarist Jamie Shank from the San Antonio Aquarium and oceanographer Dr. Alberto Mestas-Nuñez from University of Texas, San Antonio as we explore the mysterious world of the deep through film, conversation, and lots of arms and tentacles.

*Please note our venue change as of June 4.

When: Wednesday, June 26th at 8:00 (Doors at 7:30pm)
Where: Alamo Drafthouse Park North, 618 Northwest Loop 410, San Antonio, TX 78216
Tickets: $12.25 – available now!

Chicago

No ocean, no problem! Dive into the mysterious deep at the Otherworld Theatre, where we’ll combine science with sci-fi for an extra special event. Our short science film documentaries will be followed by a conversation with invertebrate zoologist Dr. Janet Voight from the Field Museum, and Hugo Award-winning science fiction author and cephalopod enthusiast Nnedi Okorafor. You can sip on cephalo-inspired cocktails with us in the Alchemists’ Lab before or after your screening for vintage nautical films, scientists, specimens, and special guest artists—oh my!

JUST ADDED: Nina Nightingale will be practicing the very rare art of Silhouette Portraiture, with the addition of a few extra tentacles here and there in celebration of Cephalopod Week!

When: Thursday, June 27th at 7:30pm and 9:00pm (Doors at 7:00pm)
Where: Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60613
Tickets: $28 – available now!

Please note: 7:30pm seating will be invited to join activities in the Alchemists’ Lab after the screening; 9:00pm seating can explore the Alchemists’ Lab before the screening.

Seattle

Want to find out how the dexterous arms of an octopus works? Just give it a toy! We’ll get a chance to hear from David Gire and Dominic Sivitilli from the University Of Washington, who monitor octopuses’ brains as they grasp and play with monitoring toys to better understand just how those arms function, and aquarist Tim Carpenter from the Seattle Aquarium, who works with the aquarium’s visiting Giant Pacific Octopuses and other amazing creatures. Don’t be a sucker and miss out on this evening!

When: Thursday, June 27th at 7:00pm (Doors at 6:30pm)
Where: Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, 104 17th Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98144
Tickets: $18 – available now!

Philadelphia

Move over, Blackbeard—the cephalopods are taking over Philly! Gather around for Science Friday’s newest and most classic cephalopod short science film documentaries. Following the screenings, Elah Feder, host of Undiscovered, will lead a conversation with cuttlefish camouflage expert Dr. Alison Sweeney from the University of Pennsylvania and deep-sea diver Dr. Erik Cordes from Temple University as we explore the biology and ecology of our favorite underwater creatures.

When: Friday, June 28st at 7:00pm (Doors at 6:00pm)
Where: Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19125
Tickets: $20 – available now! 21+ only