free things to do in New York City

Free Events, Free Things to Do in New York City! Read More

32 free events take place in New York City on Tuesday, January 28, 2014.

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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.

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that only New York provides:
stop wondering what to do;
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free events to go to,
free things to do in NYC
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32 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Tuesday, January 28, 2014

All events are free unless otherwise noted.

Editor's Picks

Experiments in Dance: Daniel Flores Dance / KitchenSink Collective / Florence Nasar

Anna Quindlen reads from her book Still Life with Bread Crumbs

Korean Film: Kwak Kyung-Taek's Friend: The Great Legacy (2013)

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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.

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11:00 am
$6...

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" Tour times: 11:15 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 12:45 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:15 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.

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11:15 am
Free...

Jazz | Dixieland Jazz with the Gotham Jazzmen

The Gotham Jazzmen bring their take on Dixieland Jazz. The band features: Ed Bonoff on drums; James Collier on trombone; Lee Lorenz on cornet; Pete Sokolow on piano; Dick Waldburger on bass; Ernie Lumer on clarinet; and Bill Wurtzel on guitar.

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12:00 pm
free, no reservation required

Gallery Talk | Exhibition Tour: Before and After the Horizon: Anishinaabe Artists of the Great Lakes

Join Museum Ambassador Asia Marie Tail for an engaging tour. Highlights include discussion of underwater panther and thunderbird, figures in Anishinaabe cosmology; and an in-depth look at artists such as Norval Morriseau, George Morrison, and Keesic Douglas.

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12:00 pm
free, no reservation required

Workshop | Learn Juggling in the Park

Test your coordination and dexterity with free juggling lessons in the park. All skill levels are welcome to join in the fun. Equipment is provided. Lessons are weather permitting. You'll be surprised that Alex and Jordan can often be found outside tossing pins in the snow!

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12:00 pm
free, no reservation required

Concert | Bach at Noon

The keyboard works of Bach offered in 30-minute meditations by Patrick Allen, organist and master of choristers, and Phillip Lamb, organ scholar.

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12:20 pm
free, no reservation required

Gallery Talk | Gallery Tour: The ABC of It: Why Children's Books Matter

Enjoy a 45-minutes docent-led tour of the exhibition.

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12:30 pm
free, no reservation required

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.

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1:00 pm
$6...

Tour | US Customs House Building Tour

A Museum Ambassador provides a 45-minute in-depth look at the unique architecture and design of the Alexander Hamilton Customs House.

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1:00 pm
free, no reservation required

Workshop | Ballet Exercise Class for Adults

Here’s your chance to experience the ballerina in you. Learn basic ballet steps and experience the joy of dancing in a class that combines ballet and exercise specifically for older adults. You’ll have fun as you dance and see for yourself the benefits of ballet for good balance, agility and grace. Wear comfortable clothes and be ready to have fun.

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2:00 pm
free, no reservation required

Tour | Harlem Tour

Although world famous, Harlem may be New York's best kept secret with some of the city's best architecture, 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.

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2:00 pm
Free...

Gallery Talk | Gallery Tour: The ABC of It: Why Children's Books Matter

Enjoy a 45-minutes docent-led tour of the exhibition.

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2:30 pm
free, no reservation required

Lecture | Living the Life of the Professional Jazz Artist

Jimmy Owens (trumpet, flugelhorn) has over 45 years of experience and is active as a jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger, lecturer, and music education consultant. His experience covers a wide range of international musical achievement, including extensive work as a bandleader, soloist, and composer of orchestral compositions, movie scores, and ballets.

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3:00 pm
free, no reservation required

**Film | Roland Emmerich's White House Down (2013): One Man vs. the Terrorists**

With Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal. Capitol Policeman John Cale has been denied his dream job of protecting the President with the Secret Service just as the White House is overtaken by a heavily armed paramilitary group. 137 min.

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4:00 pm
free, no reservation required

Author Reading | Marco Martinelli discusses his book Noise in the Waters

There will also be a screening of a documentary of the trittico “Mazara-Ravenna 2010” by Alessandro Renda.

New York, NY

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6:00 pm
free, no reservation required

Workshop | The Key to a Dream Retirement

To be confident in achieving your retirement goals, it is important for you to know where you are in life and what steps need to be taken to build or maintain your retirement nest egg. Since retirement has become, for many of us, the longest stage of our lives, understanding asset accumulation, growth, and preservation is critical.

New York, NY

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6:00 pm
free, no reservation required

**Opening Reception | Report on the Reconstruction of the Past, a Show of 2 Women Artists**

An exhibition that transfers the gallery space into an allegoric cosmic ship presenting two art missions by Barbora Klimova and Eva Kotatkova. The vanishing point of the works of the two female artists presented here is a subjective enunciation concerning the traces of the recent past. Each of them creates a typical body of interpretation of historical images, past events and conceptual references.

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6:30 pm
free, no reservation required

Talk | Artist Talk: ESSAM

New York-based street artist ESSAM (a.k.a. Essam Attia, BFA 2011 Photography) and Svetlana Mintcheva, founding director of the Arts Advocacy Project at the National Coalition Against Censorship, talk about art in the street as being distinct from art in a museum, regulations of public space and the relationship between an artist’s mission and the constraints of the law.

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6:30 pm
free, no reservation required

Talk | Chasing the Great Muckraker Seymour Hersh

With Robert Miraldi, author of "Seymour Hersh: Scoop Artist" and an award-winning author, journalist and columnist who teaches at the State University of New York. This talk captures the author’s many years pursuing Seymour Myron Hersh as he wrote the first-ever biography of the Pulitzer-Prize-winning and controversial investigative reporter. He highlights some of his major "scoops," paying particular attention to the time Hersh spent in New York City as a reporter for The New York Times.

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6:30 pm
free, no reservation required

Concert | College Bassoon Recital

Sasha Gee Enegren, Bassoon

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6:30 pm
free, no reservation required

Lecture | Corporate Avant Garde and the Return of Disruption

Eva Franch i Gilabert, executive director and chief curator of the Storefront for Art and Architecture, discusses the need for contemporary forms of radical practice in a world dominated by consumer culture, user-experience-oriented interfaces and disarticulated expertise. Franch i Gilabert has lectured internationally on art, architecture and the importance of alternative practices in the construction and understanding of public life.

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6:30 pm
free, no reservation required

Gallery Talk | Gallery Talk: Boru O’Brien O’Connell / Jen Rosenblit / Jay Scheib

Drawing upon divergent interpretations of memory, cognition, and language, these two artists share deep affinities conceptually and aesthetically, demonstrating an equal fluency in photography, video, sculpture, and installation. The artists’ visions are juxtaposed on either side of a central gallery wall, allowing viewers to encounter the two exhibitions simultaneously upon first entering the gallery, then leaving space for separate consideration.

New York, NY

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6:30 pm
free, no reservation required

Author Reading | Inka Parei reads from her book The Cold Centre

East Berlin provides the bleak landscape for The Cold Centre. The anonymous narrator’s ex-wife is in hospital with cancer, and the doctors can only treat her if the cause can be identified. Was it radiation?

New York, NY

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6:30 pm
free, no reservation required

Forum | Nonfiction Forum: Lucas Mann

Lucas Mann is the author of Class A: Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere. He received his MFA from the University of Iowa, where he was also the Provost's Visiting Writer in Nonfiction. His essays and stories have appeared in or are forthcoming from Barrelhouse, New South, Wigleaf, The Kenyon Review, and others. He is a member of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, teaching writing and journalism.

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6:30 pm
$5

Author Reading | Anna Quindlen reads from her book Still Life with Bread Crumbs

A superb love story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Rise and Shine, Blessings, and A Short Guide to a Happy Life.

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