Paired with the challenges that local musicians have faced in recent years, Allston’s plight soon took on an imaginative shape: the Rat City Arts Festival. “This term of ‘Rat City’ has grown, because it doesn’t just represent a physical rat being present in your space. A band performs at the 2025 Rat City Arts Festival at the Charles River Speedway. Audience members dance as a band performs at the 2025 Rat City Arts Festival at the Charles River Speedway. A band performs at the 2025 Rat City Arts Festival at the Charles River Speedway.