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free things to do in New York City
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Free Events, Free Things to Do in New York City! Read More
Are you looking for free things to do in New York City (NYC) on April 16, 2026?
27 free events take place on Thursday, April 16 in New York City. Don't miss the opportunities that only New York provides! Exciting, high quality, unique and off the beaten path free events and free things to do take place in New York today, tonight, tomorrow and each day of the year, any time of the day: whether it's a weekday or a weekend, day or night, morning or evening or afternoon, December or July, April or November! These events will take your breath away!
New York City (NYC) never ceases to amaze you with quantity and quality of its free culture and free entertainment. Check out April 16 and see for yourself. Summer or Winter, Spring or Fall! Just click on any day of the calendar above and you'll find most inspiring and entertaining free events to go to and free things to do on each day of April . Don't miss the opportunities that only New York provides!
Some events take place all year long: same day of the week, same time there are there for you to take advantage of. One of the oldest free weekly events in Manhattan is Dixieland Jazz with the Gotham Jazzmen, which happen at noon every Tuesday. Another example of an event that you can attend all year round on weekdays is Federal Reserve Bank Tour, which takes place every week day at 1 pm (but advanced reservations are required). You can take at least 13 free tours every day of the year, except the New Year Day, July 4th, and the Christmas Day. If you are classical music afficionado, you can spend whole day in New York going from one free classical concert to another. If you love theater, then New York gives you an option to attend plays and musicals free of charge, or at deep discount. You just need to have information about it. And we are here to make that information available to you.
Are you looking for free things to do in New York City (NYC) on April 16, 2026?
27 free events take place on Thursday, April 16 in New York City. Don't miss the opportunities that only New York provides! Exciting, high quality, unique and off the beaten path free events and free things to do take place in New York today, tonight, tomorrow and each day of the year, any time of the day: whether it's a weekday or a weekend, day or night, morning or evening or afternoon, December or July, April or November! These events will take your breath away!
New York City (NYC) never ceases to amaze you with quantity and quality of its free culture and free entertainment. Check out April 16 and see for yourself. Summer or Winter, Spring or Fall! Just click on any day of the calendar above and you'll find most inspiring and entertaining free events to go to and free things to do on each day of April . Don't miss the opportunities that only New York provides!
Some events take place all year long: same day of the week, same time there are there for you to take advantage of. One of the oldest free weekly events in Manhattan is Dixieland Jazz with the Gotham Jazzmen, which happen at noon every Tuesday. Another example of an event that you can attend all year round on weekdays is Federal Reserve Bank Tour, which takes place every week day at 1 pm (but advanced reservations are required). You can take at least 13 free tours every day of the year, except the New Year Day, July 4th, and the Christmas Day. If you are classical music afficionado, you can spend whole day in New York going from one free classical concert to another. If you love theater, then New York gives you an option to attend plays and musicals free of charge, or at deep discount. You just need to have information about it. And we are here to make that information available to you.
Join the Club!
The quality and quantity of
free events,
free things to do
that happen in New York City
every day of the year
is truly amazing.
So don't miss the opportunities
that only New York provides:
stop wondering what to do;
start taking advantage of
free events to go to,
free things to do in NYC
today!
The quality and quantity of
free events,
free things to do
that happen in New York City
every day of the year
is truly amazing.
So don't miss the opportunities
that only New York provides:
stop wondering what to do;
start taking advantage of
free events to go to,
free things to do in NYC
today!
27 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Thursday, April 16, 2026
All events are free unless otherwise noted.Workshop | Learn How To Play Mah-Jongg
Mah-Jongg is a four-person tile game of skill, strategy, and luck! Learn the rules and mechanics of American Mah-Jongg. Attend a two hour group lesson with instructor Susan Richards. Sets and a few cards provided, but you are encouraged to bring your own cards.
New York City, NY; NYC
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10:00 am
Free
Free
Master Class | Learn the Ins & Outs of Great Chamber Music Performance
Nicholas Mann, founding member of the Mendelssohn String Quartet and music educator, imparts skills and techniques for chamber music mastery, via distance learning.
New York City, NY; NYC
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10:00 am
Free
Free
Park Walk | Explore a Beautiful Park with an Outdoor Educator
Take a stroll with outdoor educator Marieke Bender and explore your connection to the great outdoors! See what makes NYC parks an important refuge for humans, animals, and plants, and search for signs of Spring along the Hudson River.
New York City, NY; NYC
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10:30 am
Free
Free
Classical Music | Afternoon Bach
Take a momentary respite from a busy day to enjoy a selection of organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach in an intimate venue.
New York City, NY; NYC
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12:20 pm
Free
Free
Classical Music | Baroque German Ensemble Works (In Person AND Online!)
The Fooles ensemble performs an exploration of the instrumental works of three of Germany’s most important composers from the 17th century: Schein, Scheidt, and Schmelzer. These pieces come from important publications and collections of instrumental music, including the Kromeriz archive in the Czech Republic, which serves as one of the greatest sources of instrumental and vocal music from Germany in the 17th century.
New York City, NY; NYC
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1:15 pm
Free
Free
Jazz | Live Concert in the Galleries
Enjoy live performances by talented young jazz musicians, bringing rhythm and improvisation to the museum’s musical instrument galleries. This series showcases the energy of jazz while connecting music to the artistry of the instruments on display.
New York City, NY; NYC
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2:00 pm
Free
Free
Workshop | Learn about Photography Portfolio Reviews, Critiques, & Audiences
Photographer and filmmaker Stephen Mallon discusses portfolio reviews, critiques, and presenting your work to a particular audience. Stephen will bring his portfolios to demonstrate how he presents his body of work to curators at review sessions, while helping you gain valuable insight from the perspective of both reviewer and artist. Learn what to look for, how to prepare for reviews, and more!
New York City, NY; NYC
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3:00 pm
Free
Free
Film | It Happens Every Spring (1949): Sci-Fi Sports Comedy Film
A college chemistry professor, Vernon Simpson, invents a substance that keeps insects away from wood. But after a baseball crashes through the window and gets coated in the fluid, Simpson discovers that the ball repels wood. To further his experiment, Simpson tries out as a pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals and becomes a master of the screwball, propelling him into the spotlight as a star player, much to the confusion of his fiancée, Deborah. Director: Lloyd Bacon Cast: Ray Milland, Jean Peters, Paul Douglas
New York City, NY; NYC
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4:00 pm
Free
Free
Museums | Thursday Evenings at a Living Memorial Museum
Explore a museum dedicated to Holocaust remembrance, Jewish life, and education. View expansive galleries, survivor testimonies, and tens of thousands of artifacts. The museum also offers a theater, a genealogy center, an outdoor memorial, and a cafe.
New York City, NY; NYC
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4:00 pm
Free
Free
Museums | Photography:The Power of the Image.
This museum is the world's leading institution dedicated to photography and visual culture. It was founded in 1974 to champion "concerned photography"--socially and politically minded images that can educate and change the world. Through its exhibitions, education programs, community outreach, and public programs, the museum offers an open forum for dialogue about the power of the image.
New York City, NY; NYC
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5:00 pm
$5, tickets required
$5, tickets required
Lecture | Antiquity Reimagined: Karl Lagerfeld’s Greek Obsession
Christophe Kone explores Karl Lagerfeld’s fascination with Ancient Greece. Using Chanel’s "The Modernity of Antiquity" 2017/18 Cruise collection as a starting point, the talk examines the recurrence of Greek Antiquity in Lagerfeld’s work for both Chloé and Chanel, as well as in the designer’s photography. Discover how the designer wove classical themes into modern fashion, creating a dialogue between ancient history and contemporary style.
New York City, NY; NYC
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5:30 pm
Free
Free
Opening Reception | On Foot: Photographic Journey Exhibition (+ Artist Discussion)
Experience Esther Levine’s exhibition On Foot, a photographic journey along an invisible line, following memories, family history, and stories Esther Levine grew up with. The story unfolds through landscapes, roadsides, and encounters alongside the path where nothing seems to happen, yet everything does. Each photograph marks a pause in the movement (act of walking). The walk follows a line that is both geographical and internal, tracing histories buried beneath the surface of the landscape. The repetition of views mirrors the rhythm of walking, slow attentive and accumulative. What emerges is not a document of a route, but a visual record of memory made tangible through the act of walking, noticing, seeing and recording. The exhibition opening will include a conversation between Esther Levine and Sarah Girner.
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free
Free
Discussion | Artist/Writer Discusses NYC's Artistic Movements of the 1980s & 1990s
Artist and writer Gregg Bordowitz will present a lecture followed by a conversation with Benoît Loiseau on the "French Theory" and New York's artists in the 80s and 90s. During the 1980s and 1990s, many New York artists felt a sense of permission granted by semiotic, structuralist, and post-structuralist theory read in English translations of works written in French by Roland Barthes, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and many others. The wide-spread effects of these readings were both energizing and limiting. Artist Gregg Bordowitz recalls that so-called “French Theory” suggested artistic methods that did indeed result in genuine alternatives to established contemporary gallery practices. These alternatives were claimed by both artists and activists, combining a variety of different approaches—including visual arts, writing, performance, street activism, and models for institution-building—that defeated inherited distinctions among disciplines. Are those developments relevant to present circumstances? What can we learn from the past?
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free
Free
Book Discussion | Cartoonist Shares Her New Comic Memoir, Bury Me Already (It's Nice Down Here)
Attend a conversation with cartoonist and writer Julia Wertz to celebrate her new book, Bury Me Already (It's Nice Down Here), a comic memoir of pregnancy and motherhood in all of its pains and all of its joys. She will be in conversation with Roz Chast, followed by a signing.
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free
Free
Discussion | Dance Artists Share a Discussion with Sara Rudner on the Craft
In this program, JodyMelnick and Wendy Perron, two dance artists who worked with Rudner in different decades, will present video excerpts of Sara Rudner in Tharp’s Eight Jelly Rolls, Bix Pieces, and The Catherine Wheel, as well as in her own works like Dancing Parttime, Heart Beat, and the 1999 version of the Dancing-on-View. Perron and Melnick will be in conversation with Sara Rudner (founding member of Twyla Tharp’s dance company) about her long dance life and the ways in which she challenged the conventions of concert dance.
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free
Free
Lecture | Historical Researcher Explores the Life & Career of Gilded Age Artist Amalia Kussner
Author and historical researcher Kathleen Langone presents the full arc of artist Amalia Kussner's amazing life, many images of her stunning portraits, and some new research Ms. Langone has uncovered since publishing the Kussner biography. Throughout the latter half of the Gilded Age and up until WWI, Amalia Kussner was the sought after artist to render exquisite miniature portraits of many of the Who’s Who of that era. Her impressive list of portraits included, among many others: Edward VII, Mrs. Astor, Czar Nicholas II,Cecil Rhodes, and the Duchess of Marlborough (born Consuelo Vanderbilt). As she became more famous in the Edwardian Era, her popularity was compared with John Singer Sargent, and both their works were seen in the Royal Academy of Arts. But, paralleling her astonishing career, were scandals, such as a sudden and mysterious marriage in 1900, followed by a lawsuit whose contents were never revealed.
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
$5, RSVP required
$5, RSVP required
Party | LGBTQ+ Publishing Award Ceremony (In Person AND Online!)
Honoring the best LGBTQ+ books published in 2025, The Publishing Triangle Awards celebrate outstanding achievement across a wide range of literary categories. The ceremony will be hosted by Emanuel Xavier, with a reception to follow. Founded in 1988, The Publishing Triangle is dedicated to promoting LGBTQ+ literature and supporting LGBTQ+ authors, editors, agents, publishers, and other publishing professionals. Through literary programming, awards, and community-building initiatives, the organization works to increase awareness, recognition, and appreciation of LGBTQ+ voices and stories.
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:30 pm
Free
Free
Book Club | Luddite Book Club--Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age by Vauhini Vara
This offline book club is a space for in-person conversation about the role technology plays in the world, where the group will be discussing Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age by Vauhini Vara. Synopsis: Using internet search history as raw material, explores the seduction and the danger of corporate-owned language machines. Through several deeply personal essays, attempts to answer the question, "could a chatbot write my memoir?"
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:30 pm
Free
Free
Museums | Contemporary Art, Open Doors: Thursday Nights at NYC's Leading Museum
Contemporary art is a vital social force that advances questioning, learning, and working towards a better society. This weekly program offers an accessible opportunity to explore groundbreaking exhibitions by emerging and established artists from around the globe. Engage with current artistic dialogues and help expand the definition of art.
New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
pay-what-you-wish, reservation required
pay-what-you-wish, reservation required
Concert | Lena Dardelet Performs Caribbean & Dominican Music with Multicultural Influences
Artist Lena Dardelet infuses Caribbean and Dominican music with her multicultural influences and modernity. A trilingual singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Dardelet has performed on local and international stages with artists such as Vicente Garcia, iLe, Monsieur Perine, Techy Fatule, Simon Grossman, and Alex Ferreira.
New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free
Free
Author Reading | Prize-Winning Author Shares His New Novel, My Lover, the Rabbi
Wayne Koestenbaum, an American artist, poet, and cultural critic who has received an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, My Lover, the Rabbi.
New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free
Free
Poetry Reading | Pushcart Prize-Winning Poets Share Their New Work
A reading by Cameron Awkward-Rich, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, and Carey Salerno, followed by a reception/signing with books for sale. Cameron Awkward-Rich is the author of three poetry collections: Sympathetic Little Monster, Dispatch, and An Optimism. Cameron’s creative work can be found in POETRY, American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review, and elsewhere, and has been supported by fellowships from Cave Canem, The Watering Hole, and the Lannan Foundation. Gabrielle Calvocoressi is the author of The Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhart, Apocalyptic Swing (a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize), and Rocket Fantastic, winner of the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry. Calvocoressi is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships including a Stegner Fellowship and Jones Lectureship from Stanford University; a Rona Jaffe Woman Writer's Award; a Lannan Foundation residency in Marfa, TX; the Bernard F. Conners Prize from The Paris Review; and a residency from the Civitella di Ranieri Foundation, among others. Carey Salerno serves as the executive director & publisher of Alice James Books where she has been dedicated to broadening the spectrum of the American poetic voice since 2008. She is the author of The Hungriest Stars, Tributary, Shelter, and a co-editor of Lit From Inside: 40 Years of Poetry from Alice James Books. She is the recipient of a 2025 Pushcart Prize and a 2025 Individual Artist Fellowship from the New Jersey State Arts Council.
New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free
Free
Screening | Spanish Film Festival Opening Night featuring Belle Epoque (1992)
Attend the opening night of the Spanish Film Festival, with a special tribute to Rafael Azcona and a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Spanish Film Academy. The evening features a special screening of Belle Epoque (1992), directed by Fernando Trueba, winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The screening will be followed by an opening cocktail reception with special guests, industry professionals, scholars, members of the press, and representatives from cultural institutions.
New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free
Free
Concert | Urban Ballads by New Yorkers
Experience a monthly showcase featuring original songwriters from New York City. Curated and hosted by renowned Irish songwriter Niall Connolly, this series has been a warm space for both emerging and established artists. Past performers include Lana Del Rey, Anais Mitchell, Lucius, Mundy, Mick Flannery, and Susan O'Neill. This month's performance features international touring singer/songwriter, Megan Burtt.
New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free
Free
Master Class | Learn the Ins & Outs of Great Piano Performance
Puerto Rican pianist Jose Ramos Santana--a leading interpreter of Spanish repertoire and recipient of the 2020 Isaac Albeniz Medal--imparts skills and techniques for piano mastery.
New York City, NY; NYC
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7:30 pm
Free
Free
Screening | 3 Bad Men (1926): Silent Western with Live Ensemble Score
Experience a live-to-picture performance of John Ford's 1926 silent western, 3 Bad Men. The film sets its narrative against a fictionalized Dakota land rush, where three outlaws find unexpected redemption when they protect a young woman seeking a new life on the frontier. This presentation features the world premiere of an original orchestral score. Director: John Ford Cast: George O'Brien, Olive Borden
New York City, NY; NYC
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8:00 pm
Free
Free
Comedy Club | Standup Show
Catch some of the best comedians at this free weekly stand-up show, featuring a lineup of rising stars and seasoned favorites. Past performers include Sheng Wang, Mark Normand, Dan Soder, Annie Lederman, and more.
New York City, NY; NYC
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8:00 pm
Free
Free
Join the Club!
Complimentary Tickets
to shows, concerts ... (CFT Deals!)
Concert | Multi-Grammy Nominee and The Great American Songbook
Regular Price: $67CFT Member Price: $0.00
Concert | Spirituals, Broadway Tunes and More at a Landmark Venue
Regular Price: $65CFT Member Price: $0.00
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