New England Aquarium

As a young Black girl in Chicago, Letise LaFeir was fascinated with marine life. She would ask her mother to go to Shedd Aquarium, where she would gaze into the giant tank full of sharks, stingrays and saltwater fishes.

Growing up in Dorchester, Maria Lyons said she had limited access to nature. Her family went to the handful of small beaches in the area, spent time at the Franklin Park Zoo and public parks, but had few options beyond that. Then work to extend the Neponset River Greenway opened up a whole new resource.

Each summer, throngs of people head to Boston’s downtown waterfront to kayak, sail or relax along the water. But many in Boston’s Black and brown communities often feel cut off from the city’s shores.

The New England Aquarium is welcoming Letise LaFeir, Ph.D., as the organization’s first-ever chief conservation and stewardship officer.

The new IMAX film “Pandas,” is a connection between people, cultures and animals, says narrator Kristen Bell (“Frozen,” NBC’s “The Good Place”). Directed by David Douglas and Drew Fellman, the filmmakers behind the documentaries “Island of Lemurs: Madagascar” (2014) and “Born to Be Wild” (2011) and captured with IMAX cameras, “Pandas” is a beautifully shot and visually stunning film that’s at once entertaining and educational.