55 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Friday, April 28, 2017
All events are free unless otherwise noted.
This is a 3-hour tour that begins with a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, an icon of New York City for ...
more >> over 125 years, with spectacular views of Manhattan and Brooklyn. The tour then moves on to a stroll of Brooklyn Heights, America’s and New York City’s first suburb. The tour then explores the neighborhood DUMBO before ending at the Fulton Ferry landing.
The 3-hour walking and subway tour covers the Financial District including Wall Street and the World ...
more >> Trade Center, SoHo, Little Italy and Chinatown. These are neighborhoods that simply can’t be fully appreciated from a bus. There will be one or two opportunities to sample tasty treats.
This workshop aims to open up an interdisciplinary debate about the cultural impact of the military on ...
more >> modern and contemporary Italian society, during war as well as peacetime.
9:30 am
free, no reservation required
It is here, as much as anywhere, where American history started. It's where the first US Congress assembled ...
more >> and produced the Bill of Rights and where President George Washington took his first oath of office. It's here where the world's most important stock exchange and one of the most famous bridges stand. And it is here where an unspeakable tragedy took place and where a rebirth is underway.
Are you a Bridge buff? Put your game face on and show off your best plays. Join the fun and meet new ...
more >> friends! All players welcome!
10:00 am
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
Don't have enough time to take all of the tours? Prefer to experience Manhattan with a smaller group, ...
more >> but a private booking is out of reach? Then consider our All-in-One New York Tour. This tour utilizes your feet and the New York City Subway to transport you from Lower Manhattan, the birthplace of New York, through Wall St and the Financial District, the World Trade Center, Greenwich Village, SoHo, Chinatown, Little Italy, Chelsea Market and the Highline Park.
A conference exploring the pre-histories of human rights in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. ...
more >> It takes as a point of departure recent scholarship opening up the history of human rights and seeing it in less deterministic ways—less centered on Enlightenment republicanism, less Western, less inevitably focused on civil and political rights at the expense of social and economic rights.
10:00–10:30 am – Welcome 10:30–12:00 pm – Joy James (Williams College): The Trumpian Praxis ...
more >> of Perpetual Warfare 12:00–1:30 pm – Jennifer Saul (Sheffield), Linguistic Techniques of Racist Political Manipulation 1:30–2:30 pm – LUNCH 2:30–4:00 pm – Boris Groys (NYU): Trump’s America: Playing a Victim
10:00 am
free, no reservation required
For a century or more, citizens of the Eastern Bloc viewed public space as the primary setting for urban ...
more >> life. Socialist architects and planners envisioned common space as a transformative cultural force, deploying “social condensers” meant to break down inequitable hierarchies and foster a sense of the collective. Private property effectively disappeared from view. But just as the nationalization of property transformed cities at the opening of the twentieth century, so too did privatization at the century’s close. This two-day colloquium will explore the cultural, political, and socioeconomic implications of post-socialist urban transformation.
10:20 am
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
Federico Finchelstein (Professor of History) will address the public impact of populist movements. The ...
more >> lecture will be historically focused on what populism is and it will be especially tuned to contemporary public discourse on populist anti-politics in the context of discrimination against immigrants and minorities in the United States.
10:30 am
free, no reservation required
Test your coordination and dexterity with free juggling lessons in the park. All skill levels are welcome ...
more >> to join in the fun. Equipment is provided.
12:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
The keyboard works of Bach offered in 30-minute meditations by Patrick Allen, organist and master of ...
more >> choristers, and Mary Pan, organ scholar. Bach at Noon concerts takes place Tuesdays through Fridays, from September 13, 2016 to May 25, 2017.
12:20 pm
free, no reservation required
People from across the political spectrum have long felt frustrated, powerless, and disenfranchised. ...
more >> Year after year we've seen citizens feel ignored by those in power, convinced that their voices would remain unheard. And yet, amidst all the frustration, there is the opportunity for citizens to reclaim power from the bottom up. We're now witness to a resurgence of civic energy as Americans organize, use new platforms of influence, and demand to be heard. So, what does it really take to create meaningful change? And how can you wield influence on a grass roots level? Join a conversation with Eric Liu, acclaimed author and CEO of Citizen University, as he shares his thoughts on the evolving influence of civic power, the new role of the citizen, and how to make change happen.
Discover architecture and social history of Grand Central neighborhood; learn secrets of Whispering Gallery ...
more >> in Grand Central Terminal; gaze upon hubcaps and roadsters on side of Chrysler Building; discover favorite Midtown Manhattan hangout of Mercury, Hercules, and Minerva; learn why Pershing Square isn’t really square; visit original Lincoln Memorial by Daniel Chester French. Award-winning tour led by urban explorer, historian, and storyteller Justin Ferate. This tour takes place every Friday.
12:30 pm
free, no reservation required
A guided walking tour of the historic and revitalized 34th Street District. Tour-goers will explore the ...
more >> neighborhood's rich history of commerce, transit, and architecture. This 90-minute tour is held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through May 28, 2017.
Stars: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker. When twelve mysterious spacecraft appear around the ...
more >> world, linguistics professor Louise Banks is tasked with interpreting the language of the apparent alien visitors. 116 min.
1:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Learn about central banking functions that Federal Reserve System performs and see Bank's vault of international ...
more >> monetary gold on bedrock of Manhattan Island, five stories below street level. Learn why Federal Reserve has "Federal" in its name, while it's a private bank, not Federal at all. Tour times: 1:00pm, 2:00pm. This tour takes place Mondays through Fridays, except bank holidays.
Stars: Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane. Rusty James, an absent-minded street thug struggles to ...
more >> live up to his legendary older brother's reputation, and longs for the days when gang warfare was going on. 94 min.
1:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Bringing to vivid life the emotions of the people of ancient Greece, and prompting questions about how ...
more >> we express, control, manipulate, or simulate feelings in our own society, A World of Emotions: Ancient Greece, 700 BC–200 AD is a path-breaking exhibition.
1:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Alexandra Isles, the documentary filmmaker of Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist tells how ...
more >> “Red Scare” politics in the 1950s were used to set back the civil rights movement and destroy the lives of prominent African-American entertainers and writers.
Stars: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler. A depressed uncle is asked to take care of his ...
more >> teenage nephew after the boy's father dies. 137 min.
1:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Get started with Freegal Music today with just your NYPL card. Freegal Music is a downloadable music ...
more >> service which provides access to millions of songs from ten thousand record labels including the labels of Sony Music Entertainment. With a valid library card, download up to three digital songs per week on a PC, MAC or Smartphone, Search for artists, song titles, albums, music genres, create playlists, get the latest releases. NOTE: This is a hands-on class, please bring your NYPL Library card, PIN, Mobile Device/Tablet and Apple password.
Editor's Pick
Beginner lessons with masters from Manhattan Fencing Center. Take a stab at the modern sport of fencing. ...
more >> No prior experience needed and equipment is provided. Must be 16 or older to participate.
Stars: Mahershala Ali, Shariff Earp, Duan Sanderson. A chronicle of the childhood, adolescence and burgeoning ...
more >> adulthood of a young, African-American, gay man growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami. 111 min.
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
New York City is a mecca for graffiti and street art, making it a very attractive playground for artists ...
more >> from around the world. Bushwick, in a working class district on the north side of Brooklyn adjacent to Williamsburg, has been attracting artists for some time now. The neighborhood has a fair collection of art studios and galleries, but it’s Bushwick’s industrial landscape that’s attracting the street artist. If you came looking for 1960′s Greenwich Village, you’ll find something brewing in Bushwick. Tour takes place Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Greenwich Village is among Manhattan's most desirable and expensive residential neighborhoods. It's history, ...
more >> however, betrays it's monied status. The Village, with it's quiet, shaded streets, lined with lovely brick and brownstone townhouses, was once the incubating ground of artistic, social and political movements that have helped shape US history. From the Beats to the Folk Movement, from workers rights to gay rights, the Village has often been the center of it all.
Although world famous, Harlem may be New York's best kept secret with some of the city's best architecture, ...
more >> food, music and people. Harlem's history is also one of the city's most dramatic, having gone through many ethnic, cultural and socioeconomic changes over the past roughly 400 years, which have resulted in a diverse array of places of worship, theaters, homes and eating establishments. This tour takes place daily.
Stars: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie. A gang of criminals and corrupt cops plan the ...
more >> murder of a police officer in order to pull off their biggest heist yet across town. 115 min.
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Stars: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly. After John Nash, a brilliant but asocial mathematician, ...
more >> accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a turn for the nightmarish. 135 min.
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
You've seen the iconic skyscrapers, attended a Broadway show, visited Lady Liberty and relaxed in Central ...
more >> Park. Looking for a little more of the Big Apple? Maybe it's time to visit some of Manhattan's oldest and most enchanting historic districts. Take a relaxing stroll through SoHo, Little Italy and Chinatown.
Editor's Pick
After a televised intervention goes off the rails, three friends go to extreme measures to take things ...
more >> into their own hands. HATEWATCH is an exploration of the connection between art and commerce, torture, manipulation, friendship, pornography, and cheese dip. This show is very experimental in nature and rated "R". Written by Ellen Steves.
A conference at the university that is the home of the new jazz discography, J-DISC. Featured speakers ...
more >> Tom Lord and Michael Cuscuna. The Center for Jazz Studies is currently engaged in the J-DISC project. They are building a database for jazz recordings that is massively searchable and available to all researchers without charge. Although it is still very much a work-in-progress, you can take a look at what is now online at: http://jdisc.columbia.edu. The J-DISC project involves people devoted to compiling accurate information on specific recordings by jazz artists and making this data available to anyone with an interest in the music. This includes scholars in the rapidly growing disciplines of jazz studies as well as in the exciting new area of Music Information Retrieval.
3:00 pm
free, no reservation required
One of America’s most influential writers, Anne Sexton has long been overshadowed by fellow confessional ...
more >> poets Sylvia Plath and Robert Lowell and is seldom featured in literary criticism. This Business of Words reassesses Sexton and her poetry for the first time in two decades and offers directions for future Sexton scholarship. With new access to her archives, the scholars and poets featured in this volume explore her work, responses to her contemporaries, and her legacy. In The Business of Words critical and creative perspectives intersect, inspiring new questions about Sexton’s poems and how to interpret them. This volume maps the influence of Sexton’s craft on twenty-first century cultural contexts and emphasizes her continuing vitality. This event comprises lectures and discussion featuring contributors to This Business of Words: Reassessing Anne Sexton, moderated by the editor Amanda Golden.
4:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Zixiang Wang, Piano 4 p.m. Randy Ryan, Piano 4 p.m. Addison Maye-Saxon, Tenor Trombone 6 p.m. Angela ...
more >> Vallone, Soprano 6 p.m. Nicolette Mavrolean, Soprano 8 p.m. Nate Sparks, Jazz Trumpet 8 p.m.
4:00 pm
free, no reservation required
A dramatic reading with special guests including Brett Fletcher Lauer, Cathy Park Hong, and Morgan Parker. ...
more >> Matthew Rohrer’s first collection of poetry, A Hummock in the Malookas (1995), was selected by Mary Oliver for the National Poetry Series. His books include Surrounded by Friends (Wave Books, 2015), Destroyer and Preserver (Wave Books, 2011), A Plate of Chicken (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2009), and his latest collection, The Others (Wave Books, 2017).
5:00 pm
free, no reservation required
5:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Swedish folk pop from Sofia Talvik (picutred) Indie folk from Kami Maltz Americana pop from Anielle and ...
more >> Matthew
5:30 pm
free, no reservation required
An electric debut novel about love, addiction, and loss; the story of two girls and the feral year that ...
more >> will cost one her life, and define the other’s for decades.
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Drawing on methods ranging from philosophy to ethnography to politics, this panel will address problems ...
more >> at the intersection of affect and work. Drawing on her ethnographic fieldwork with immigrant nurses in Toronto, anthropologist Lalaie Ameeriar (author of Downwardly Global: Women, Work, and Citizenship in the Pakistani Diaspora) will discuss pedagogies of affect in job training, arguing that teaching Western notions of docility and deference to women workers reproduces a racialized notion of femininity. Political theorist Kathi Weeks (author of The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics and Postwork Imaginaries) will present “Down with Love: Feminist Critique and the New Ideologies of Work,” a paper comprising new research on love and happiness in popular management discourses. Philosopher Shiloh Whitney will critique the use of authenticity as a framework for analyzing affective labor, suggesting instead a notion of affective agency that allows us to rethink emotions outside of the binary of sovereign and spontaneous versus forced or feigned.
This free, two-day, art-filled event shines a spotlight on the work of over 30 incredible artists who ...
more >> are working across all disciplines and genres from painting and sculpture to poetry and fiction to dance and theater. Discover a new artist, art form, or idea, and connect with other art lovers. Artists, who have been working in their studios since last September, will open their studio doors to the public for two days only, offering a unique, behind-the-scenes window into their creative practices in the visual, literary, and performing arts. The opportunity to meet them and see their work is not to be missed.
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
The Magic of Concepts interrogates “the economic” as concept and practice, as it was construed historically ...
more >> in China in the 1930s and again in the 1980s and 1990s.
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Since Stefan Falke began photographing artists on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border in 2008, the ...
more >> physical barrier itself has been a prominent and unavoidable protagonist in his work. His intent has always been to shine a spotlight on the cultural vitality of the region, and over the years Falke has portrayed about 200 painters, architects, designers, photographers, musicians, and writers, documenting a creative exuberance that is almost completely overlooked in the media.
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Natalia Ginzburg (1916-1991) was the author of numerous novels, short stories, and essays. In her work, ...
more >> she was particularly interested in the intersection between private and public, between family relationships and the political sphere. A Family Lexicon, arguably one of the great works of twentieth-century literature, re-creates the small world of a family - and their linguistic codes - against a backdrop of the rise of Mussolini through World War II. On the occasion of the publication of Jenny McPhee's new translation of Natalia Ginzburg's novel A Family Lexicon, this is a panel discussion about Ginzburg, women writers, and the state of the art of translation, featuring: Jenny McPhee (NYU) Jhumpa Lahiri (Princeton University) Ann Goldstein (editor, The New Yorker) Giovanna Calvino (NYU) Lynne Sharon Schwartz (Bennington College) Moderated by Ruth Ben-Ghiat (NYU)
Editor's Pick
Germany, 1772 – the young and boisterous Johann Goethe is sent by his father to a sleepy little town ...
more >> to mend his ways after failing his law exams. At first, he tries to do his best at the Supreme Court and even convinces his superior Kestner. But then Lotte enters his life and nothing is the same as before after they fall in love. 102 min.
6:30 pm
free, no reservation required
An annual exhibition of outstanding creative work by graduate students in the School of Media Studies. ...
more >> Selected by a panel of distinguished jurors, Mixed Messages projects include installations, interactive experiences, web-based work, and works on paper.
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Join comedy team Playground for an hour of comedy, special guests, and free beer. Hear some of New York's ...
more >> best comedians tell you about their day jobs then watch as Playground creates an original improvised show based off those stories. If you're feeling brave, drop your name into our coffee pot for the chance to have Playground interview you live on stage and create an improvised show based on YOUR job. This months temp is Zak Sommerfield, who worked as an FBI informant.
Editor's Pick
Born in the West African nation of Benin, Angélique Kidjo grew up surrounded by the rich sounds, rhythms, ...
more >> and storytelling of traditional Beninese culture. When the Communists took over, they silenced her dynamic culture and demanded that she sing in praise of them. In Spirit Rising: My Life, My Music, Kidjo reveals the details of her dangerous escape into France, and how she became a Grammy Award–winning artist and an international sensation at the top of Billboard’s World Albums chart. She also explains why it’s important to give back by sharing stories from her work as a UNICEF ambassador and as founder of the Batonga Foundation, which gives African girls access to education. .
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
Every ten years Granta publishes a special issue of new fiction from the most exciting American writers ...
more >> under the age of forty. The third list of Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists will be announced on April 26th, and they will host readings from some of these esteemed writers on April 28th.
Editor's Pick
The Library's Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound are the second largest sound collection ...
more >> in America. Captured on disks, tapes, and hard drives, a vast universe of sound is safely stored in stacks deep underneath the Lincoln Center campus. To raise awareness for these treasured, vulnerable recordings, the Library presents a festival of casual, café listening events. For this first Library Listen Fest event, they explore the Library's holdings of "Antique Electronica:" electronic music from the 1950s and 1960s, celebrating the legacy of Pauline Oliveros.
Editor's Pick
Join an evening celebrating the groundbreaking work of Taylor Mac, American actor, playwright, performance ...
more >> artist, director, producer, and singer-songwriter. Taylor’s 24-hour, 246-song marathon performance, A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, was hailed by Wesley Morris in The New York Times as “one of the greatest experiences of my life.” The Edwin Booth Award is given annually by the Doctoral Theatre Students’ Association to honor a person, organization, or company for their outstanding contribution to the NYC theatre community, and to promote integration of professional and academic theatre. Past honorees include: The Royal Shakespeare Company (‘83), Ellen Stewart (‘84), Joseph Papp (‘89), Arthur Miller (‘92), Richard Foreman (‘97), Tony Kushner (‘02), Karen Finley (‘08), The Living Theater (‘09), Elevator Repair Service (‘14) and Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir(’16). The event will feature live performances and a discussion with Frank Hentschker.
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
A renaissance is taking place on the southern tip of Manhattan Island. Since the terrorist attacks of ...
more >> September 11th 2001, a concerted effort has been undertaken to redevelop this part of the city, with the redevelopment of the World Trade Center and the construction of the National September 11th Memorial and Museum. And from twilight into the night is the right time to pay a visit to this part of New York City. From the Memorial to the Woolworth Building, City Hall to the Brooklyn Bridge, some of the your most memorable experiences in the city await you.
Editor's Pick
The ghosts of Greenwich Village are too numerous and interesting to meet in just one evening! Due to ...
more >> popular demand, they are offering a new tour, “Ghosts of the East Village,” as a companion tour to one of their biggest crowd-pleasers, Ghosts of the West Village.
7:30 pm
Free plus subway...
A collaboration of strings and composition. View Larger Map Date: Friday, ...
more >> April 28, 2017 Time: 8:00pm EDT Location: Provincetown Playhouse Contact:
8:00 pm
free, no reservation required