free things to do in New York City
Free events for Thursday, 12/16/10
<

December 2010

>
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
   1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031 
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 December 16, 2010?

48 free events take place on Thursday, December 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 December 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 December . 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!

Go!
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!

48 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Thursday, December 16, 2010

All events are free unless otherwise noted.
        

Tour | Federal Reserve Bank Tour


Learn about central banking functions that Federal Reserve System performs and see Bank's vault of international 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. Congressman Ron Paul considers the Federal Reserve "both corrupt and unconstitutional" Five tours daily on the hour.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
9:30 am
Free

Workshop | Online Social Networking


Hands on using wireless laptops. Learn about online social networks and explore some of the most popular websites, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
10:30 am
Free

Tour | Cathedral Tour


Explore the Cathedral's newly cleaned and restored Nave. Learn about the art, architecture and history of this great sacred space from 1892 to the present.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
11:00 am
$6

Screening | Cinema from Spain: Pedro Almodóvar's Oscar Nominee Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)


With Antonio Banderas. A woman's lover leaves her and she tries to contact him to find out why he's left. She confronts his wife and son, who are as clueless as she. Meanwhile her girlfriend is afraid the police are looking for her because of her boyfriend's criminal activities. They talk to a female lawyer, who turns out to be the lover's new lover. 89 min. In Spanish with English subtitles.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
11:00 am
Free

Park Walk | West Side Stories Tour


Walk through a scenic area on the western edge of the Park, much of which is off the beaten track for most visitors. See rolling meadows, lake views, bridges of different styles, and a garden with flowers and plants mentioned by Shakespeare.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
12:00 pm
Free

Dance Performance | A Celtic Christmas with the Niall O’Leary Irish Dance Troupe


Holly and mistletoe become thistle and shamrock when Niall O’Leary and his dancers transport you to the Emerald Isle for a feast of Irish dance, as well as some Irish holiday songs and tunes. Hailing from Ireland and across America, this troupe blends their influences and experiences to create an exciting Irish dance show combining traditional forms with new choreography.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
12:30 pm
Free

Concert | Akimi Fukuhara, Pianist


A native of Osaka, Japan, Fukuhara started her performing career in Suntory and Hamarikyu-Asahi Halls in Tokyo at age of thirteen. Fukuhara has appeared in solo and chamber programs at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Hall, Peter J. Sharp Theatre, Bargemusic in Brooklyn, Miller Theatre in Colombia University, Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center, Salle Cortot in Paris, Bertramka Villa in Prague, and throughout Japan.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
1:00 pm
$5 suggested donation

Tour | Cathedral Tour


Explore the Cathedral's newly cleaned and restored Nave. Learn about the art, architecture and history of this great sacred space from 1892 to the present.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
1:00 pm
$6

Screening | Short Films on Native Americans


Showing: Clay Beings and With the Grain: The Life and Art of Willard Stone. Starts at 1pm and 3pm.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
1:00 pm
Free

Workshop | Featured Library Database: Biography in Context


Hands on using wireless laptops. Find information on more than 525,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas. Search for specific people by name, occupation, nationality and other criteria or browse biographies by category.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
1:15 pm
Free

Screening | 2 Short Christmas Films: Canadian Brass: A Christmas Experiment / The Nutcracker


CANADIAN BRASS: A CHRISTMAS EXPERIMENT, color, 52 minutes; Directed by Barbara Willis Sweete, 1997 - The brass quintet, in costumes designed by their children, star in 15 scenic segments, each built around a particular Christmas carol.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
2:00 pm
Free

Tour | Open Labyrinth Walk


A labyrinth walk is a symbolic pilgrimage, a cathartic act that leads to salvation, enlightenment or consolation. It is open to the public for walking, prayers and meditation.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
2:00 pm
Free

Workshop | Researching with E-resources: Catalogs


This introduction to research concentrates on the Library's integrated online catalog as well as basic navigation of WorldCat, an online catalog of materials held in libraries worldwide.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
2:15 pm
Free

Other | Artists' Open Studios on Governors Island


Swing Space visual artists-in-residence open their studios at the culmination of their residencies. Sixteen individual artists and two collaborative groups have been working since August, developing new projects in a wide range of media. Come see the exciting work they have created. Resident artists include: Lee Arnold, Gretchen Bennett, J Carpenter, Rick Caruso, David Colosi, Shingo Francis, Mariam Ghani + Erin Ellen Kelly, Aoife Hand, Christina Kelly, Michael Krondl, Jessica Lagunas, Carolyn Lambert + Siobhan Rigg, Katherine McLeod, Joy Nagy, Kirsten Nelson, Evan Robarts, and Shino Soma.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
2:30 pm
Free

Workshop | Digital Camera Buying Guide


This will be a Lecture/Demonstration. Learn how to choose the right digital camera for your needs.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
2:30 pm
Free

Dance Performance | Open Rehearsal of the Faye Driscoll Dance Group


Driscoll and her dancers invite guests to experience rehearsals of early explorations of new work; a duet featuring Driscoll and Jesse Zaritt, which examines beauty through myth, ritual, masculine/feminine bleed of power, and the performance of dissolving selves. What is the beauty of real transformation? Is it like a snake shedding its skin versus a cultural obsession with self-improvement like botox lips? How are they indicators of the same urge?
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
2:30 pm
Free

Workshop | Dreamweaver and CSS Workshop


Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are *essential* on websites. If you have been avoiding them up to now, here’s a chance to bring yourself up to date. If you are using them now, you still may want to attend to see their full potential. Style sheets allow you to easily style text and more. They also save time and money since you can make global changes throughout your site with one change! In this seminar we’ll cover the different types of style sheets and when you’d use each; how to create and use styles, as well as why every piece of text on your website should have a style! Get up to date on using CSS in Dreamweaver.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
3:00 pm
Free

Gallery Talk | Guided Tour of the Exhibition Serbia - Frequently Asked Questions


A guided tour through our current exhibition with co-curator, Andreas Stadler. This week's special guest for a post-tour Q&A will be Laura Silber, the Director of Public Affairs at the Open Society Institute, and an expert on the Balkans.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
4:00 pm
Free

Opening Reception | MFA Fine Arts Open Studios


   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
5:00 pm
Free

Screening | Short Films on Native Americans


Showing: Clay Beings and With the Grain: The Life and Art of Willard Stone.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
5:30 pm
Free

Talk | Visiting artist John Miller discusses her work


Miller has created an eclectic panoply of works over the course of his career (including more or less photorealistic paintings based on images of game-show sets). But it’s the brown pieces—taking shape variously as wall-mounted panels or tabletop models or free-floating objects suspended from the ceiling with fishing line—for which he’s best known. Miller’s approach is stubbornly off-putting, and has been since he first started exhibiting in the mid-80s. But Miller delights in this quality, taking it upon himself to challenge the sacrilization of art, characterizing this unwavering faith quite viscerally and crudely via the scatological intimations of his aesthetic. His work has thus found its way into several esteemed collections, including those of the Whitney and MOCA, Los Angeles. Miller lives and works in New York and Berlin.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
5:30 pm
Free

Opening Reception | 4 Exhibitions: The Odyssey Within / Elements of Abstraction / Sensorial Realms / Metamorphosis


Fully in tune with their cultural heritage, the artists in The Odyssey Within bring a contemporary approach to their art, with results that will resonate with their audience on many levels. A powerful sense of vitality infuses the works in Elements of Abstraction, as the artists thrust their full enjoyment of life into their art, creating a sense of movement and energy that will sweep you along with it. Exploring novel techniques and innovative structure, the artists whose work is showcased in Sensorial Realms present us with the products of their unique creative ideas. Subtle yet striking, thoughtful but often vibrant, these works will spark your imagination and enrich your mind. Inspired by a personal quest for healing and grace, VéroniKaH manipulates colors, textures and forms in Metamorphosis to bridge the barriers that often separate us as humans.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
6:00 pm
Free

Opening Reception | Exposure 3: Works by 8 Artists


A unique, rotating exhibition of multiple, one-week, one-person shows bringing a diverse group of artists to audiences. With: Susan Arnold, Lucky Checkley, Lauren Evans, Virginia Giordano, Movement-E, Yasuji Nakamura, Fumiko Nishimura, and Sandra Stanton.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
6:00 pm
Free

Discussion | A Conversation with Claudio Baglioni, one of the most beloved artists in the history of popular Italian music


Baglioni, one of the most beloved artists in the history of popular Italian music, is touring the globe with his "Un Solo Mondo - One World 2010." On this occasion, he will meet the public. The discussion will be introduced and moderated by journalist Letizia Airos (i-Italy), journalist Mario Platero (Il Sole 24 Ore) and Tiziana Rinaldi Castro (writer). The event will be in Italian with English translation.
   New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
Free

Lecture | Body Parts: Ancient Egyptian Fragments and Amulets


A lecture with speaker Yekaterina Barbash, curator of Ancient Egyptian Art at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. She will explore ancient Egyptian art from a slightly new perspective. Egyptians respected the divinity of every element of the human body and paid careful attention to its depictions. The fragments of sculpture and relief which have come down to us through the ages can reveal significant insights into the art and beliefs of ancient Egypt. The lecture will also examine details of the manufacture of wooden sculpture and composite statues, shed light upon specifics of symbolism of certain body parts, and explore the magnificence of ancient Egyptian craftsmanship.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
6:00 pm
Free

Book Discussion | Book Club: Dubliners by James Joyce


Please come prepared for this discussion of Joyce's debut work of fiction.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
6:00 pm
Free

Workshop | Dreamweaver and CSS Workshop


Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are *essential* on websites. If you have been avoiding them up to now, here’s a chance to bring yourself up to date. If you are using them now, you still may want to attend to see their full potential. Style sheets allow you to easily style text and more. They also save time and money since you can make global changes throughout your site with one change! In this seminar we’ll cover the different types of style sheets and when you’d use each; how to create and use styles, as well as why every piece of text on your website should have a style! Get up to date on using CSS in Dreamweaver.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
6:00 pm
Free

Concert | Glories of the Japanese Traditional Music Heritage: Winds and Strings of Change


The Japanese Hogaku instruments featured in this concert, though of ancient origin, flourished particularly during the Edo period and evolved into the deeply-admired urban art music of the 18th and 19th centuries. The artists - Yoko Nishi, koto (multiple-stringed board zither), Kifu Mitsuhashi and James Schlefer, shakuhachi (end-blown bamboo flute) and Yukio Tanaka, biwa (short-necked lute) - each internationally renowned stars in their own right, will appear in special combinations performing both traditional and innovative works to honor the composer Toru Takemitsu, who so loved these instruments, and was among the first to include them in his Western orchestral pieces. Takemitsu was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Columbia University in 1996 for his magnificent innovation in bringing Japanese soundscapes into the Western music world, thereby changing both.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
6:00 pm
Free

Workshop | Open Lab Computer Class


Bring your technology questions and get one-on-one assistance. If you have your own lap top you can also bring it to the class.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
6:00 pm
Free

Film | Sia Nyorker & Jacob Templin's Documentary 125th Franco's Blvd: The Rembrandt of Harlem


When a community is in the process of gentrification, what happens to the art and culture that represents the people of that community? Franco the Great has been painting murals on the storefront rolldown gates on 125th street for 40 years. A rezoning legislation threatens to remove those gates along with the art and culture that is painted on them. Who will step up and preserve Franco's art in the wake of big plans to change Harlem? Also showing: A Day Without Mines Filmmaker Adisa Septuri visits a village in Sierra Leone and commits himself to improving the lives of the youth who end up working int he diamond mines if their parents cannot afford the money to send them to school.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
6:00 pm
Free

Lecture | The Moral Significance of the Coincidence of Opposites in Martin Buber and Nicholas of Cusa


A Philosophy Department Workshop with Sarah Scott. Martin Buber used the phrase “coincidence of opposites” to describe what happens in dialogic or I-Thou relations. His newly uncovered dissertation shows that this phrase comes from his early study of Nicholas of Cusa. Since the coincidence of opposites appears to reject the law of non-contradiction, both thinkers are often dismissed as mystics, and their contributions to ethics are overlooked.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
6:00 pm
Free

Screening | Anthony Donavan's Documentary Local Faith Communities: Many Religions, One Neighborhood


This film follows the diversity of NYC's faith leaders in one local neighborhood: the East Village. 64 min.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
6:30 pm
Free

Discussion | Contemporary British Political Theatre and The Great Game: Tricycle Theatre's Nicolas Kent


Kent, artistic director of London's Tricycle Theatre, joins a discussion of contemporary political theatre in the UK and around the world. Called "Britain's foremost political theatre" by The Guardian, Tricycle Theatre has established a unique reputation for presenting plays that reflect the cultural diversity of its community; in particular, plays by Black, Irish, Jewish, Asian, and South African writers, as well as for responding to contemporary issues and events with its ground-breaking “tribunal plays” and political work. Presented in conjunction with Tricycle's concurrent run of The Great Game at the Public Theater.
   New York City, NY; NYC
6:30 pm
Free

Workshop | Microsoft Office 2003: MS Excel 2


Hands on using wireless laptops. Explore more advanced features of Microsoft Excel 2003. Topics include using formulas and functions, data sorting and conditional formatting.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
6:30 pm
Free

Poetry Reading | Poets Charles Bernstein and Tim Peterson (Trace) read their work


Charles Bernstein was born in New York City in 1950. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and Harvard University from which he graduated in 1972. He is the author of 40 books, ranging from large-scale collections of poetry and essays to pamphlets, libretti, translations, and collaborations. Recent works include: All the Whiskey in Heaven: Selected Poems (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010); Girly Man (University of Chicago Press, 2006); With Strings (University of Chicago Press, 2001); and Republics of Reality: 1975-1995 (Sun & Moon Press, 2000). He has published two books of essays: A Poetics (Harvard University Press, 1992); Content's Dream: Essays 1975-1984 (Sun & Moon Press, 1986, 1994; reprinted by Northwestern University Press, 2001); and one essay/poem collection: My Way: Speeches and Poems (University of Chicago Press, 1999). In spring 2011 Bernstein will publish The Attack of the Difficult Poems: Essays & Inventions (University of Chicago Press, 2011). Tim Peterson (Trace) is a poet, critic, editor, curator, and octopus. The author of Since I Moved In (Chax Press), Peterson also has a new chapbook, VIOLET SPEECH, forthcoming from 2nd Avenue Poetry this fall. Peterson edits EOAGH: A Journal of the Arts and curates a number of events in the NYC area including the talk series Quips & Cranks (with Vincent Katz) at The School of Visual Arts, the Zinc Bar poetry series, and the TENDENCIES: Poetics & Practice talks series on queer theory and the manifesto at CUNY Graduate Center.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
6:30 pm
$6

Conference | The Critical Gift of Design


Elaine Scarry, the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University, delivers the keynote lecture for this conference. Scarry’s lecture will address the “making” of the world, as discussed in her seminal book The Body in Pain. In 2000, Scarry received the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism for her writing. In 2006, Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines listed her among the world’s 100 leading public intellectuals. Scarry lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
6:30 pm
Free

Lecture | Brain Music Therapy: Use Your Brain Waves To Increase Concentration and Treat Stress, Insomnia, Anxiety and Depression


A lecture by Dr. Galina Mindlin, an assistant clinical professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and supervising attending physician in the Department of Psychiatry in St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center. She is board certified in psychiatry and neurology and has a Ph.D. in neurophysiology and neuropsychology.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
7:00 pm
Free

Author Reading | Rebecca Newberger Goldstein discusses her book 36 Arguments for the Existence of God


The philosopher and writer’s most recent book is a work of fiction.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
7:00 pm
Free

Lecture | Since ’45: Contemporary Art and Art History’s Old Habits


With Katy Siegel, whose forthcoming book Since ’45: America and the Making of Contemporary Art details the collision of American history and modern art. In it, Dave Hickey wrote, “Siegel lays bare the fragile, historical co-existence of European ideas about avant-garde and the American pre-disposition for designed obsolescence.” Siegel is an author and professor of art history at Hunter College, a contributing editor at Artforum and co-author of Art Works: Money.
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
Free

Concert | The 31st Annual A City Singing at Christmas


With: Cathedral Choir; Young People’s Chorus of New York; New York City Master Chorale; and The Cathedral Organs New York Symphonic Brass. Each year the amazing tradition of Christmas in New York City would not be complete without the annual A City Singing at Christmas. Now in its 31st year, this concert never fails to entertain listeners and put them in the mood for a joyous and holy Christmas season. Listen to the three choirs, brass and organs and join in the singing of great Christmas hymns and carols.
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
Free

Discussion | The Cuba-Miami Connection with Award-Winning Authors Oscar Hijuelos and Carlos Eire


In Beautiful Maria of My Soul, Oscar Hijuelos returns to the character of Maria from his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. The reader follows the enchanting Maria from Havana before Castro’s rise, to the steamy streets of Miami. Hijuelos, the son of Cuban immigrants, is a recipient of the Rome Prize, and the Pulitzer Prize. His novels have been translated into twenty-five languages. Learning to Die in Miami: Confessions of a Refugee Boy is Carlos Eire’s second memoir about his journey from Cuba to America as a boy on his own, and the pains and joys of assimilation. Born in Havana in 1950, Eire left his homeland in 1962. His first memoir, Waiting for Snow in Havana, won the National Book Award for Nonfiction 2003.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
7:00 pm
Free

Discussion | The Glories of the English Language


A discussion with writer-in-residence Christopher Lehmann-Haupt.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
7:00 pm
Free

Concert | Christmas Carols and Folk Songs from Austria


Get into the holiday spirit! The Florianer Tanzlgeiga will perform a Special Holiday Season Concert of traditional Upper Austrian Christmas carols and folk songs. Renowned for their harmonious vocals and authentic instrumentation, the band will conclude the evening with a performance of the world's most popular Christmas carol, "Silent Night, Holy Night" in the original Austrian German.
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:30 pm
Free

Performance | Creative Performance Opportunities Class


A musical theatre piece created, written, directed and performed by members of the class.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
8:00 pm
Free

Concert | The Mannes Orchestra Composers' Concert 2010


This performance will feature new music by students, faculty, and 2011 composer-in-residence Martin Bresnick.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
8:00 pm
Free

Jazz | Music of Art Blakey


Directed by Charles Tolliver.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
9:00 pm
Free

Performance | Soul Glo Comedy Show


Soul Glo is a variety show starring the all-African-American cast of "Nobody's Token" performing a completely improvised sitcom. The show also features multicultural stand-up and sketch comedy by some of the most talented underground comics in New York.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
10:30 pm
$5

Jazz | 5/5/5 After Hours Set


A great way to hear some of the most talented young lions of jazz while enjoying spectacular views of Manhattan.
   New York City, NY; NYC
11:00 pm
$5 cover, $5...
Complimentary Tickets

to shows, concerts ... (CFT Deals!)

Play | A Play with Tony Nominated Director

Regular Price: $60.55
CFT Member Price: $0.00

Play | Drama with Broadway Actors

Regular Price: $77
CFT Member Price: $0.00
Join the Club!

Go!