free things to do in New York City
Free events for Monday, 05/22/23
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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 22, 2023?

24 free events take place on Monday, May 22 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 22 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!

24 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Monday, May 22, 2023

All events are free unless otherwise noted.

Editor's Picks

free events nyc Tour of Gracie Mansion, Home of New York's Mayors
free events nyc DVS Mindz: The Twenty-Year Saga of the Greatest Rap Group to Almost Make It Outta Kansas (online)
free events nyc American Symphony Orchestra Musicians with Grammy Nominated Oboist
free events nyc Celebrating Jazz Drummer Chick Webb
free events nyc Broadway Responds to Antisemitism, with Tony-Nominated Actress Tovah Feldshuh
More Editor's Picks for 05/22/23
        

Tour | 13 Tours, All City Neighborhoods, Any Time Of The Day, Choose One Tour Or Many


These free tours take place at various times during the day, all day long. You can make reservations for as many tours as your schedule allows. SoHo, Little Italy and Chinatown Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Heights + DUMBO 3 Hour Lower Manhattan Harlem Chelsea and the High Line 6 Hour Downtown Combined Greenwich Village Central Park Lower Manhattan Midtown Manhattan Grand Central Terminal Graffiti and Street Art Tours World Trade Center
   New York City, NY; NYC
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10:00 am
Free

Tour | Tour of Gracie Mansion, Home of New York's Mayors


In 1799, a prosperous New York merchant named Archibald Gracie built a country house overlooking a bend in the East River, five miles north of the then-New York City limits. Little did he know that, more than 200 years later, his home would be serving as the official residence of the First Family of New York City - a place where history is made, not merely recorded. As a historic house museum run by the Parks Department, sitting on 11 acres of grounds now known as Carl Schurz Park, Gracie Mansion has served as the home of 11 mayors, beginning first with Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia in 1942. Start times: 10:30am, 12pm, 1:30pm
   New York City, NY; NYC
10:30 am
Free

Park Walk | Sesnory Walk


Human and non-human beings perceive the world in different ways, depending on our psycho-physical capabilities and experiences. What we have in common is the ability to sense our surroundings. The environment in which we live is strongly vision-oriented. The environment in which we would like to live focuses on multi-sensory experiences, preserves memories, arouses our vigilance and curiosity. A calm and sharp mind, as well as a body that feels are open to empathy. Being more self-reflective, inward-thinking and aware makes us care about others, both human and non-human beings, about our environment, ourselves. Now we need it more than ever. This sensory walk is about care and attention to inner and outer self, arousing awareness and empathy to everyday life nature. You will walk carefully, focusing on your sensual perception. 
   New York City, NY; NYC
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11:00 am
Free

Workshop | Juggling in the Park


Jugglers use the park throughout the year to provide free classes to the public. Stop by for a quick lesson, stay for the whole time, or just enjoy watching them put their skills to the test. They're a friendly group and open to drop-ins, even if you catch them outside of the regular juggling lessons. All skill levels welcome. Equipment is provided.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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12:00 pm
Free

Concert | Piano in the Park


Come on by and tap your toes to The Big Apple's finest ragtime, stride, and jazz pianists around! Featuring special events and performances by distinguished musicians. Today's pianist: Sue Maskalerisi.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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12:30 pm
Free

Staged Reading | An Afternoon of Play Readings


Featuring works by Sarah Congress, Michael Chepiga, Laurel Lockhart, Parker Cross, Denis Meadows, Jen Ju and more.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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1:00 pm
Free

Workshop | Creative Writing Workshop


A weekly writing session led by Jon Curley. Taking inspiration from life events, participants will be encouraged to use reflection as a way to enhance their writing styles in any preferred mode.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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2:00 pm
Free

Other | Community Plant Exchange


Meet other plant enthusiasts for a free plant swap. Share tips, advice, and plants in this community event. Tips for success: Please bring only pest-free plants. If your plants are in containers, please be sure they are in containers that you are ready to give away or exchange. Rooted cuttings may be brought in a sealed plastic bag wrapped in a moist paper towel. Registration required.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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3:30 pm
Free

Book Discussion | DVS Mindz: The Twenty-Year Saga of the Greatest Rap Group to Almost Make It Outta Kansas (online)


With author Geoff Harkness. DVS Mindz might be the greatest rap group you've never heard of. Formed in Topeka, Kansas, in the mid-1990s, they developed a reputation for ferocious rhyming and frenetic live performances. In their heyday, DVS Mindz released a critically acclaimed CD, received nominations for prestigious awards, and opened for legends such as Wu-Tang Clan, Run-DMC, and De La Soul as well as KC icon Tech N9ne. But the group struggled with creative differences, substance abuse, ego battles, and money issues, and they split up in 2003.
   New York City, NY; NYC
5:00 pm
Free

Classical Music | American Symphony Orchestra Musicians with Grammy Nominated Oboist


American Symphony Orchestra musicians on violin, percussion, double bass, clarinet and trumpet; featuring Grammy-nominated Imani Winds' oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz. Program Javier Diaz (b. 1976), America Unbound: Suns and Moons of a New World (World Premiere) About the Program Experience the world premiere of this new piece by percussionist Javier Diaz, whose studio credits include Steven Spielberg's West Side Story and Lin Manuel Miranda's In The Heights. Commissioned by the American Symphony Orchestra, this chamber music composition incorporates stylistic elements from music across the Americas and takes listeners on a journey through history, spaces, and generations. It evokes the idea of ancestral sounds, and it is inspired by traditional musics from the Western Hemisphere: ancient songs from the Afro-Cuban tradition, Mexico, the African-American tradition, Venezuela, Haiti, and a "merging" between a J.S. Bach chorale and a Venezuelan Merengue. America Unbound is a unique artistic experience that exalts the human condition and underlines the importance of multi-cultural influences in the shaping of the musics of the Americas. This new work is eclectic and multicultural, with a robust compositional design: the American continent unbound through a journey of musical histories and inter-generational melodies, making palpable the universality of sound, word, and song.
   New York City, NY; NYC
5:30 pm
Free

Opening Reception | Bibi Lencek: A Retrospective


Works by pioneering feminist artist Bibi Lencek on display for limited run in career-spanning retrospective. The exhibition will showcase Lencek's figurative, feminist art that responds to the world with a radical female sensibility. From paintings of fornicating couples entwined in bedsheets to large-scale pastels celebrate the sensuous abandon of a swimmer moving through water, Lencek's work unabashedly revels in the beauty of the human body while challenging the tradition in which male artists depicted anonymous, idealized, and often eroticized female models. Lencek's work has challenged both societal norms and art world conventions, and as a result, was not without controversy. Her daring depiction of frontal nudes featuring heterosexual and interracial couples making love sparked student protests when exhibited at Rutgers University in the fall of 1975.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Book Discussion | Distillations: Nancy Goldring Drawings and Foto-Projections 1971–2021


Artist Nancy Goldring surveys fifty years of visual and conceptual exploration, with Giulia Oskian, Lauren O'Neill-Butler, and Nancy Princenthal.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Book Discussion | Lone Women by Victor LaValle with musical guest Kaia Kater (In Person AND Online)


Join WNYC's Alison Stewart and Victor LaValle for a live conversation about his newest book, Lone Women, followed by a special musical performance from Kaia Kater. Lone Women is a gripping story about an unforgettable cast of adventurers who find horror and sisterhood in a brutal landscape, painting a portrait of early-twentieth-century America like you’ve never seen. Victor LaValle is the author of seven works of fiction: four novels, two novellas, and a collection of short stories. His novels have been included in best-of-the-year lists by The New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, The Nation, and Publishers Weekly, among others. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Book Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Key to Southeast Queens. Montreal-born Grenadian-Canadian Kaia Kater's jazz-fueled voice and deft songcraft have garnered acclaim from NPR's Tiny Desk, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and No Depression. On her JUNO-nominated and Polaris Music Prize long-listed album Grenades, Kaia leaned into a wide array of sounds and styles in order to convey a broad range of emotions and topics, most notably her paternal Caribbean ancestry. In 2021, Kaia took part in the Slaight Music Residency at the Canadian Film Center, released a new single (Parallels), and composed original music for The Porter (BET+ TV 2022). Her next album will land in October 2023. Registration required.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Poetry Reading | An Evening of Poetry, Music, and Art


Music by Puma Perl and Friends and LJ Murphy. Featured Poets: Nancy Mercado, Jane Ormerod, Nicca Ray. Puma Perl is a widely published poet and writer with five solo collections in print.  The most recent is Birthdays Before and After (2019). LJ Murphy is an Irish-American singer-songwriter guitarist. Recently nominated for the prestigious Pushcart Prize, Nancy Mercado received the American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement and was named one of 200 living individuals who best embody the work and spirit of Frederick Douglass.  Jane Ormerod is an artist and the author of the full-length poetry collections Welcome to the Museum of Cattle and Recreational Vehicles on Fire. Nicca Ray is the author of the poetry collections, Curve and Back Seat Baby, and the memoir, Ray by Ray: A Daughter’s Take on the Legend of Nicholas Ray. She has a poetry collection, Go-Go-Go Girl coming from Poison Fang Books in the fall 2023 and the memoir, Love and Cigarettes: A Mother Daughter Story coming early 2024 from Punk Hostage Press.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Lecture | Celebrating Jazz Drummer Chick Webb


William Henry "Chick" Webb was one of the first virtuoso drummers in jazz and an innovative bandleader--the "Savoy King," who reigned at the Savoy Ballroom and helped launch the Swing Era of the 1930s. In Rhythm Man, the first full biography of Webb, jazz historian Stephanie Stein Crease explores Webb's engrossing life and times. This discussion by Crease will be moderated by drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. celebrating Chick Webb and the publication of Crease's new book. Drawing from previously unpublished material and years of archival research, Crease paints a nuanced portrait of Webb's life and career. Webb intersected with almost every important jazz musician of his time--including Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Louis Armstrong--and helped launch the careers of such legends as Louis Jordan and Ella Fitzgerald. But, as Crease details, Webb also struggled with the harsh realities of racism and show business, in addition to his chronic spinal tuberculosis that contributed to his death at the young age of 34. Registration required.
   New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
Free

Film | Master of Light (2022): From Prison to Art


George Anthony Morton, a classical painter who spent ten years in federal prison travels to his hometown to paint his family members. Going back forces him to face his past in his quest to rewrite the script of his life. Director: Rosa Ruth Boesten 83 min. Followed by a panel discussion with the documentary's featured artist, George Anthony Morton.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:30 pm
Free

Film | The Kindest Man in the World: The Legend of Carlo Tresca: Documentary on Slain Workers' Rights Figure


Carlo Tresca was a very unusual political leader who fought for workers' rights and against organized crime. A hero of his time, he was was killed in 1943 by a gunshot wound to his back just a few blocks from where Casa Italiana now stands. He was then ignored for decades because of his radical ideas. Directors: Angelo Figorilli, Francesco Paolucci  38 min. In Italian with English subtitles Followed by a Q&A with director Angelo Figorilli
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:30 pm
Free

Book Club | Graphic Novel Book Club


Comic books and graphic novels have long been popular with a wide range of readers and influential for many in creative endeavors. These graphic works have become an important means of artistic and literary innovation, while gaining long overdue scholarly and academic attention. Over the past few decades, the popularity of comic books and graphic novels has significantly risen. Registration is encouraged, but not required.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:30 pm
Free

Poetry Reading | New Poetry: I, Caustic / Proximal Morocco


A book launch, reading, and conversation celebrating Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:30 pm
Free

Video | Beaut: Her Blood Ran Cold (The Silent Lizards) (online thru Jul 9)


An online video premiere. Concept, script, lizard sightings and drawings by Marti Wilkerson to accompany the photographs in her exhibition and originally performed live by Beaut on October 9, 2022. Vocals and Lyrics: Marti Wilkerson Guitar: Paul Twinkle Technical Director and Video Editor: Itziar Barrio Cameras: Isaiah Davis, John Brattin, Itziar Barrio Lighting Design: Marti Wilkerson DMX Programming: Kai Sundermann WILDBLUR Master Audio Recording: Adam Wolcott Smith Production Manager: Marbles Producer: Lia Gangitano After Dark Director: Itziar Barrio After Dark Technical Associate: Caroline Mills
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free

Book Discussion | Shy: From Mischief to Danger


A novel about guilt, rage, imagination, and boyhood, about being lost in the dark and learning you’re not alone. Author Max Porter asks: How does mischievous wonder and anarchic energy curdle into something more disturbing and violent? Shy is a bravura, lyric, music-besotted performance by one of the great writers of his generation.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
$5

Discussion | Broadway Responds to Antisemitism, with Tony-Nominated Actress Tovah Feldshuh


As reports of antisemitism rise around the globe, the glittering lights of Broadway in the city that never sleeps have been shining on Jewish life. Productions like Parade, Leopoldstadt, Prayer for the French Republic, Harmony, Camp Siegfried, and Funny Girl give essential representation and celebrate the power of Jewish storytelling. Lynne Marie Rosenberg will moderate a conversation with Tovah Feldshuh, the first Jewish actress to play Mrs. Rosie Brice in Funny Girl, award-winning playwrights Alfred Uhry (Parade) and Bruce Sussman (Harmony), alongside other renowned Broadway actors and writers. The panelists will share their insights and experiences on the critical issue of antisemitism, and the significance of Broadway's role in combatting antisemitism in this moment.
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
Free

Video | Full Disclosure: Selected Video-Performances 1972-75 (online thru Apr 30)


An online streaming program of a selection of Anthony Ramos’s video-performances circa 1972-1975, a fertile period for the artist then based in Los Angeles. Ramos’s interest in time and duration stems in part from his long friendship with Allan Kaprow, with whom he studied and worked under as a teaching assistant, and who housed him following his imprisonment for conscientious objection. Ramos met Kaprow while a student at the Southern Illinois University and participated in a handful of the artist’s iconic “happenings,” including the ambitious 1967 event Fluids,, which involved the construction of several intricate igloos across Pasadena. He was later part of a coterie of West coast figures inspired by Kaprow to mount their own interventions—Ramos often staged prankish, ephemeral art events with fellow artists Joe Ray and Lowell Darling, who appear in the two plastic bag videos.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free

Concert | 8-Piece Band Rocks the House


The return of Jonny Rosch & His All-Star Friends Band. Featuring Jonny Rosch on Vocals/Keys (Former lead singer/frontman of the Blues Brothers Band) Mick Gaffney on Guitar (Paul Simon, Billy Joel) Keith Crupi on Drums (Ben E. King, Toni Braxton) Zoe Zeeman on Bass (TV Girl, Jon Zeeman Band) Baron Raymonde on Sax (Rod Stewart, Little Steven) David Bailis on Guitar (Pimps of Joytime, John Forte) James Wormworth on Percussion (Long time drummer of Conan O'Brien Tonight Show) Andy Burton on Piano/Organ (Beck, John Mayer)
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:30 pm
Free
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Classical Music | Opera and Orchestral Works at a Landmark Venue

Regular Price: $45
CFT Member Price: $0.00

Musical | A Musical About Show Business

Regular Price: $70
CFT Member Price: $0.00
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