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Free events for Thursday, 05/19/22
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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 May 19, 2022?

36 free events take place on Thursday, May 19 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 May 19 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 May . 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.
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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.

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!

36 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Thursday, May 19, 2022

All events are free unless otherwise noted.

Editor's Picks

free events nyc Homes of the Past: The Story of a Lost Museum (online)
free events nyc Garmenting: Costume as Contemporary Art
free events nyc Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution (online)
free events nyc Drums, Flute, Vocals, and Electronics: artful merging of traditional Eastern music and theater elements with contemporary Western styles...
More Editor's Picks for 05/19/22
        

Discussion | Water Insecurity in Pakistan (online)


Over the last decades, exacerbating climate change and rising population demands have intensified water stress globally. This situation is particularly of concern in South Asia—home to 1.9 billion people. Pakistan is poised to be most direly impacted by the shifting climate and water patterns. Climate-induced water insecurity is already creating significant socio-economic and development challenges for Pakistan. This is a discussion on water insecurity in Pakistan with Aisha Khan of the Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change; women's rights activist and climate change professional Simi Kamal, and Farwa Aamer, Research Analyst with the Stimson Center’s Energy, Water, & Sustainability program.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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9:30 am
Free

Discussion | Intermixing: 2 Arts Venues In Conversation


Electronic Arts Intermix and The Kitchen recently celebrated their 50th anniversaries. Rebecca Cleman, EAI's Director, and Alison Burstein, Curator at The Kitchen, reflect on their shared organizational histories rooted in an alternative arts ecology and how it informs their institutional roles in the present.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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10:00 am
Free

Fair | Street Fair


Free fun for the whole family, including arts, crafts, antiques, plants, entertainment, games, and more.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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10:00 am
Free

Discussion | A Conversation with the Associate Director of Broadway's Macbeth


Raz Golden talks about the the current revival that stars Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga. Hosted by Ilana Levine
   New York City, NY; NYC
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12:30 pm
Free

Jazz | Piano in the Park


New York City’s finest ragtime, stride, and jazz pianists perform.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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12:30 pm
Free

Discussion | Homes of the Past: The Story of a Lost Museum (online)


In the midst of World War II, a small group of scholars who had gathered at the YIVO Institute's New York headquarters announced plans to create a "Museum of the Homes of the Past," which would present to American visitors the richness of East European Jewish life. But after spending more than two years collecting hundreds of items for the museum, the project was abandoned. Why did YIVO set out to create this museum? What was the vision for its displays? Why was this project never realized? And what can we learn from this episode, largely forgotten, which took place at a momentous turning point in Jewish history?
   New York City, NY; NYC
1:00 pm
Pay-what-you-wish

Tour | Urban Farm Tour


Take a tour of an urban farm to learn about how they grow produce in the heart of downtown New York City
   New York City, NY; NYC
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1:00 pm
Free

Book Discussion | In the Blood: The Latest from New York Times Bestselling Author Jack Carr (online)


In this new thriller, James Reece embarks on a global journey of vengeance.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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3:00 pm
Free

Lecture | Material Hardship Among Asian Americans: Patterns, Determinants and Consequences (online)


Speaker: Kevin Gee, Associate Professor, School of Education, and Faculty Research Affiliate with the Center for Poverty & Inequality Research, University of California, Davis
   New York City, NY; NYC
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4:00 pm
Free

Opening Reception | Surprise!: Group Exhbition


A group exhibition of emerging artists, co-curated with Tomashi Jackson. The artists Marissa Cote, Isabella De Matteo, Braden Hollis, Matthew Li, Ernesto Renda, Ivan Ríos-Fetchko, and Raya Terran were all Jackson's former students who continue to make interesting work and expand their practices. This group of artists studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; Cooper Union, New York and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston. Works vary from paintings to sculptures to mixed media to conceptual installation.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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5:00 pm
Free

Discussion | Art from Tragedy (in-person and online)


The Museum’s exhibition, Boris Lurie: Nothing To Do But To Try centers around the “War Series” of the artist and Holocaust survivor Boris Lurie. However, Lurie is not the only artist who has chronicled war and tragedy. Others such as Chittaprosad Bhattacharya, Francisco Goya, Otto Dix, and Käthe Kollwitz also used art to illustrate their feelings about war, famine, and other tragedies. This is a program about these artists and their work to celebrate the launch of the catalogue of Boris Lurie: Nothing To Do But To Try. The exhibition’s curator Sara Softness will be in conversation with artist Molly Crabapple about these different artists and where Lurie’s work fits into this long tradition.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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5:00 pm
Free

Workshop | Game Nights in the Park


Stop in during weekly game nights and socials to learn a new game, hone your skills, and meet new people
   New York City, NY; NYC
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5:00 pm
Free

Birdwatching | Spring Birding Tour


Discover the surprising diversity of birds that call the park home during migratory season with guided tours by NYC Audubon, led by environmental educator and urban naturalist Gabriel Willow. The park is a hotspot for avian visitors and birders alike. Past sightings include warblers, tanagers, vireos, thrushes, and even a Chuck-will’s-widow.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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5:00 pm
Free

Book Discussion | Translating Myself and Others: The Latest from Pulitzer Prize Winner Jhumpa Lahiri (online)


Luminous essays on translation and self-translation by the award-winning writer and literary translator
   New York City, NY; NYC
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5:30 pm
Free

Book Discussion | Garmenting: Costume as Contemporary Art


Curator Alexandra Schwartz, artist Enoch Cheng, and Museum of Arts and Design Deputy Director for Education Lydia Brawner for a discussion of the exhibition and book which looks at the use of clothing as a medium of visual art by thirty-five international artists. The panel will be moderated by Alida Jekabson, Curatorial Assistant at the Museum of Arts and Design.
   New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
Free

Opening Reception | Glenn Kaino: Bridge (Raise Your Voice in Silence)


Glenn Kaino's first solo exhibition with the gallery will spotlight a single large-scale installation that reflects his decade-long collaboration with Olympic track and field athlete Tommie Smith. The exhibition, coinciding with Frieze New York, will highlight the artist’s boundary-pushing and rigorous investigations into art’s potential to catalyze change.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Opening Reception | Jean-Luc Moulène: Clearly


“Movement at a standstill” is a phrase that speaks to our experience of an artwork’s aesthetic capacity, coming to us from Adorno’s late work. Jean-Luc Moulène, as a consummate technician, scientist, semiotician, and provocateur all wrapped together under the aegis of an artist, persistently puts this phenomenal aesthetic dictum to every possible material and perceptual test—and then some. Indeed, his decades-long, proliferate output of variant, nuanced and never-repeated analytic questions-qua-objects time and again invents the latest test for elucidating contemporary art, searching along the outer contours of aesthetic history’s most troublesome complexities and responding with precisely engineered, incisive solutions. The works comprising Clearly are objects that on first impression produce a seductive enigma, an irrefusable riddle, and which then, upon further reflection, make apparent their own answers as though self-evident—explicitly, clearly.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Gallery Talk | Oscar Murillo: Ourself behind ourself concealed: Exhibition Talk


A conversation between artist Oscar Murillo and art historian and curator Courtney J. Martin on the occasion of Murillo’s show at the gallery that will feature large-scale canvases that extend two of the artist’s ongoing series, manifestation and news, and characterize his studio practice and sustained engagement with process, as well as his continued emphasis on art making as a means of synthesizing sociopolitical contexts. 
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Gallery Talk | Artist Talk: Plexus


The artist Camille Norment will be in conversation with musician, author, and curator David Toop about Camille Norment: Plexus, the current exhibition. Toop has long been engaged with Norment’s practice and is a contributor to Camille Norment: Rapture (2015) and Dia’s forthcoming publication.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Dance Lesson | Midtown Dance


Enjoy an outdoor dance class. Participants will learn a new dance style from New York City’s most eclectic instructors. Midtown Dance is hosted and produced by Talia Castro-Pozo. This week: West Side Story Mambo.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Concert | Sounds of Venezuela, Morocco, and North America


Miriam Elhajli is a folk singer, composer-improviser, and musicologist whose work is influenced by the rich musical traditions of her Venezuelan, Moroccan, and North American heritage.
   New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
Free

Performance | Theater in Quarantine: "Virtuosic..." (in-person and online)


"Virtuosic... The closet has produced some of the new medium's most imaginative work." -- Jess Green, The New York Times "Makes confinement a virtue, a prompt to imagination." -- Helen Shaw, New York Magazine Since the beginning of the pandemic, Theater in Quarantine (TiQ) has developed and livestreamed dozens of visually distinctive, original performances from an eight-square-foot closet in the East Village. Hailed as one of the most consistent and imaginative makers of digital performance, this Drama League Award-winning company has worked with over 100 remote collaborators, been profiled on NPR and in The New York Times, and has reached audiences around the globe. Now, for the first time in its history, Theater in Quarantine will perform live for an in-person audience, bringing the closet to the stage. Get a behind-the-scenes view of how TiQ makes digital magic, as co-creative directors Joshua William Gelb and Katie Rose McLaughlin perform old favorites as well as a world premiere.
   New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
Free

Book Discussion | Lost and Found: A Memoir from Pulitzer-Winning New Yorker Writer Kathryn Schulz (online)


How do love and loss impact each other? Streamed live from a recreated 1950s bedroom, Kathryn Schulz's memoir takes us through the death of her father and the start of a new romantic relationship. When she experiences both at the same time, she is moved to document and explore what we may find-about ourselves, others, and the world -- in loss. Schulz will be joined by Dani Shapiro, bestselling novelist and host of the podcast Family Secrets.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:30 pm
Free

Film | Tina in Mexico (2002): Italian Photographer in Mexico


Documentary film portrait of Italian photographer Tina Modotti (1896-1942, born in Udine, Italy) in revolutionary 1920s Mexico, looking at her work and her passionate relationships with contemporary artists and revolutionaries, including Edward Weston and Diego Rivera. (Publisher Summary) Directed by Brenda Longfellow 60 minutes
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:30 pm
Free

Lecture | Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution (online)


In this lecture, Mary Sarah Bilder looks to the 1780s, the Age of the Constitution, to investigate the rise of a radical new idea in the English-speaking world: female genius. Bilder will discuss Eliza Harriot Barons O'Connor, a path-breaking female educator who delivered a University of Pennsylvania lecture that was attended by George Washington as he and other members of the Constitutional Convention gathered in Philadelphia.
   New York City, NY; NYC
6:30 pm
Free

Book Discussion | The Year of the Horses: Out of Depression


Sharp, heartfelt, and cathartic, The Year of the Horses captures a woman's journey out of depression and the horses that guide her, physically and emotionally, on a new path forward. At the age of thirty-seven, Courtney Maum finds herself in an indoor arena in Connecticut, moments away from stepping back into the saddle. For her, this is not just a riding lesson, but a last-ditch attempt to pull herself back from the brink even though riding is a relic from the past she walked away from. She hasn't been on or near a horse in over thirty years.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
$5

Reading | A Reading with 2022 Writing Fellows (online)


Fellows come together to share their published writing and works-in-progress. This year’s fellows are Joshua Borja, Gina Chung, Caleb Gayle, Senny George, Jared Jackson, Jen Lue, Mary Wang, Katie Yee, and Na Zhong.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free

Talk | Artist Talk: Collecting Stardust with One Hand (online)


Aline Smithson is a visual artist, editor and educator based in Los Angeles, California. Smithson is best known for her conceptual portraiture and a practice that uses humor and pathos to explore the performative potential of photography. In this virtual lecturek, Smithson will share work from her 25-year journey as an analog photographic artist and as editor in chief of Lenscratch, a daily journal on photography. She will also provide insights into her projects and methodologies, including what she has learned along the way. Growing up in the shadow of Hollywood, Aline Smithson's work is influenced by the elevated unreal. She received a BA in Art from the University of California at Santa Barbara and was accepted into the College of Creative Studies, studying under artists such as William Wegman, Allen Rupersburg and Charles Garabedian. After a career as a New York Fashion Editor working alongside some of the greats of fashion photography, Smithson returned to Los Angeles and her own artistic practice.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free

Discussion | Exploring the Future of the City (online)


After two years of tragedy and uncertainty, COVID-19 appears to finally be transitioning to an endemic. However, we are not returning to a world that existed pre-COVID. The pandemic left an indelible imprint on our city and region, particularly on our central business districts. With COVID-19 spurring innovations and seismic structural shifts in how we live, work, and operate in urban environments, RPA Chair, Scott Rechler, moderates a panel discussion on how our central business districts must evolve in a post-COVID world and what this impact will have on housing, restaurants, transit systems, office buildings, cultural institutions, and more.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free

Discussion | Occupation Culture


Artist/writer/activist Alan Moore in a lively conversation with Carla Cubit and Marta Ro. Vi-da about the relationship between vacant space and artistic expression. Moore was an original member of Colab, the artists collective that famously created ABC No RIO. Both his professional and academic work seeks to correct the marginalization of artists who lived in squats and showed their work in alternative venues. Both Cubit's and Ro. Vi-da's work are deeply influenced by years living in squats. They’ll discuss such fantastical downtown creations as Bullet Space, the Rivington School and Garbagia.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free

Discussion | Our Existence Is a Rebellion: Writers and Genocide


What role do writers and poets play in helping us find our way in a time of genocide? This is a special reading in collaboration with poet and visual artist Sham-e-Ali Nayeem. With poetry as our balm, we hope to resoundingly stand in solidarity with Muslims, Dalits, Christians, Sikhs, Adivasis and other marginalized communities in India impacted by state sanctioned violence.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free

Classical Music | Sacred Works by Cesar Franck: Choir and Organ at a Cathedral


To commemorate the 200th anniversary of Cesar Franck's birth, choir and organist perform his Seven Last Words, Psalm 150, Panis Angelicus and other short sacred works. Cesar Franck (1822-1890) was a Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher. In 1858, he became organist at the Basilica of St. Clotilde, Paris, a position he retained for the rest of his life. He became professor at the Paris Conservatoire in 1872. Franck wrote several pieces that have entered the standard classical repertoire, including symphonic, chamber, and keyboard works.
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
Free

Poetry Reading | Discovery Poetry Contest Winners’ Reading (in-person and online)


The Discovery Poetry Contest has long recognized the exceptional work of poets who have not yet published a book. Many of these writers—John Ashbery, Mark Strand, Lucille Clifton, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Mary Jo Bang, and Solmaz Sharif, among others—have gone on to become leading voices of their generations. This free reading with the winners of this year's contest: Jada Renée Allen, Sasha Burshteyn, April Goldman and Kristina Martino.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:30 pm
Free

Concert | Drums, Flute, Vocals, and Electronics: artful merging of traditional Eastern music and theater elements with contemporary Western styles...


Kaoru Watanabe, the New York-based composer and musician specializing in Japanese flutes and percussion, has worked with such groundbreaking artists as Laurie Anderson, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Yo-Yo Ma, and Jason Moran. Watanabe is best known for his artful merging of traditional Eastern music and theater elements with contemporary Western styles. His newest work, developed while isolated during the pandemic, premieres this May, in celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The solo performance features Watanabe live on drums, flute, and vocals, mixed with electronic loops and samples as he explores the dual uses and meanings of the piece's title--burning and calming, smoldering and healing, provocation and release--as they relate to personal ritual, social conflict and rising above the tumultuous moment.
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:30 pm
Free

Comedy Club | Bomb Shelter Comedy Show


Bomb Shelter is a free weekly comedy show in New York City where you’ll find some of the best comedians performing. Expect free pizza.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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8:00 pm
Free

Movie in a Park | The Riverside Bench (2022): Tragedy and Renewal in the Park


A close-knit Upper West Side family's untroubled lives are altered by a personal tragedy. Over the seasons, they find community, sanctuary, and renewal in New York City's Riverside Park. Director: Austin Chang Stars: Francisco Solorzano, Czarina Mada, Lynn Cohen Grab a blanket and come enjoy a movie in your neighborhood park. 7:30 p.m. | Q&A with Director, Cast & Crew 8:30 p.m. | Movie Screening Movies begin at dusk.
   New York City, NY; NYC
8:30 pm
Free
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