44 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Wednesday, October 17, 2018
All events are free unless otherwise noted.
These free tours take place at various times during the day, all day long. You can make reservations ...
more >> 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
Paint in watercolor, or use pastels, chalk, and charcoal to capture the magical vistas of the Hudson ...
more >> River and the unique landscape. An artist/educator will help participants of all levels with instruction and critique. Art materials provided. Please note that this program is for adult participants (age 18 and up).
New York City, NY; NYC
10:00 am
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
Get inspired by the beautiful expanse of the Hudson River and New York Harbor and by the verdant park, ...
more >> with its very special Hot and Cool gardens; each flower-filled and colorful throughout the season. All art materials are provided. Wednesdays through October 31, 2018.
New York City, NY; NYC
11:00 am
free, no reservation required
Christopher Price, a small-town bank executive, continues to be loyal to and idolize his boyhood friend, ...
more >> Joseph Jefferson Parker, a famous war correspondent. Directed by Sam Wood. Starring Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche. 90 min.
New York City, NY; NYC
11:15 am
free, no reservation required
The workshop will look at Shakespeare's work as a process that moves from page to performance, exploring ...
more >> the methods directors and actors use to analyze, interpret, penetrate, and activate the world of the play. The plays were written and designed for this type of engagement, making for a holistic Shakespeare experience: engaging one's mind, body, and spirit. The workshop will feature a DVD screening of the chosen play. The dates are October 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, and November 7.
New York City, NY; NYC
11:30 am
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
The organ works of J.S. Bach (1685-1750) offered in 30-minute meditations. Bach at Noon concerts take ...
more >> place every Tuesdays through Fridays, from September 11, 2018 to May 22, 2019.
New York City, NY; NYC
12:20 pm
free, no reservation required
Directed by Church Street School for Music and Art, the BPC Chorus is open to all adults who love to ...
more >> sing. Learn a mix of contemporary and classic songs, and perform at community events throughout the year.
New York City, NY; NYC
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.
New York City, NY; NYC
Take a mid-day pause to refresh your mind and re-establish your center in the midst of bustling city ...
more >> life. Meditation is a powerful tool to eliminate stress, to heal the body, mind, and brain, and to enhance your personal well-being and positive relationship with the world.
New York City, NY; NYC
1:00 pm
$10 suggested donation
Songs of Harold Arlen with Josephine Sanges. American composer of popular music Harold Arlen composed ...
more >> over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, including the classic Over the Rainbow, Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the Great American Songbook. "Over the Rainbow" was voted the 20th century's No. 1 song by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
New York City, NY; NYC
1:00 pm
suggested donation $10
Editor's Pick
Peter Rutkowski, piano. Program J.S. Bach (1685-1750) Prelude and Fugue in C Major, WTC II Schubert ...
more >> (1797-1828) Impromptu in B-flat Major Chopin (1810 - 1849) Ballade no. 3 Chopin (1810 - 1849) Scherzo no. 3 About the musician Peter Rutkowski is an active performer for Music Humanities Classes and for the Chamber Players Carnegie Hall Series. He's won first prize in the Concert Festival International Competition, Bradshaw & Buono International Competition, and Symphony of the Lakes Concerto Competition.
New York City, NY; NYC
1:00 pm
free, no reservation required
The story of an alcoholic, co-dependent couple. Director: Blake Edwards. Starring Lee Remick and Jack ...
more >> Lemmon. 117 min.
New York City, NY; NYC
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Challenge your artistic skills by drawing the human figure. Each week a model will strike both long and ...
more >> short poses for participants to draw. Artists/educators will offer constructive suggestions and critique. Wednesdays, July 11-October 31, 2018.
New York City, NY; NYC
2:30 pm
free, no reservation required
A dialogue between Leta Hong Fincher and LU Pin on the past strategies and future prospects of the feminist ...
more >> movement in China.Leta Hong Fincher is a journalist-sociologist who recently published a book, Betraying Big Brother: Feminist Awakening in China. She resides in New York City. LU Pin is a feminist activist from China who founded the influential micro-blog Feminist Voices that was shut down in March 2018. She is now a graduate student in the Women's and Gender Studies Program at SUNY Albany.
New York City, NY; NYC
4:00 pm
free, no reservation required
A rock singer travels to a small Ohio town to make his "farewell" television performance and kiss his ...
more >> biggest fan before he is drafted. Director: George Sidney. Starring Dick Van Dyke, Ann-Margret, Janet Leigh. 112 min.
New York City, NY; NYC
5:00 pm
free, no reservation required
The workshop will answer all important question such as, how can we develop a daily writing practice ...
more >> that allows us to live our lives while writing, all at the same time? No experience with writing is necessary, just a desire and commitment to make a writing practice part of your life.
New York City, NY; NYC
5:15 pm
free, no reservation required
Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a ...
more >> young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn't commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy's time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy's conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together. Tayari Jones is the New York Times best-selling author of the novels Leaving Atlanta, The Untelling, Silver Sparrow, and An American Marriage. Her writing has appeared in Tin House, The Believer, The New York Times, and Callaloo. Please read the book before arriving at the book discussion.
New York City, NY; NYC
5:30 pm
free, no reservation required
This documentary details the radical movement underway to govern whether, when and how women will bear ...
more >> children. The film tells the story of some of the women who have become collateral damage in the aggressive campaign to take control of reproductive health care. 105 min. The director, Civia Tamarkin, and executive producer/writer, Luchina Fisher, will be on-hand to answer questions afterwards.
New York City, NY; NYC
A conversation between Nancy Fraser, The New School for Social Research, and Michael Dawson from the ...
more >> University of Chicago.
New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Julio Cortes is a movement teacher with over 30 years of martial and movement arts experience, specializing ...
more >> in Taijiquan. Taijiquan, also known as Taichi ch’uan, or Taichi, is an internal movement art that includes all of the following: fighting, self-defense, weapons, mental development, meditation, health and healing. The last three are what it is best known for now. In this class students will develop greater body/mind awareness, strength, range of motion, coordination and balance while learning how to move gracefully. Specifically, we will practice a basic warm-up and learn the first set of a powerful and rare long form taught in Asia. Suitable for any age and body condition, this a great opportunity to learn one of the best regarded and most popular body/mind practices in the world. Wednesdays, July 18- October 17, 2018.
New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
6:00 pm
Free tickets available...
Editor's Pick
Opposing the Soviet post-war documentary tradition, the new generation of Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian ...
more >> documentarians—influenced by works of Dziga Vertov and Robert Flaherty—started to pay attention to the characters in their mundane environments that emerged into what is now known as Baltic Poetic Documentary Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. While portraying the local populations and remote areas, these documentaries focus on rural villages and natural environments. Observational style, intuitive decisions made straight on locations alongside a wide use of visual metaphors are some of the common traits characteristic to these films. This event suggests paying particular attention to the ethnographic side of Baltic poetic documentaries and thinking about how the filmmakers approached subjects of their films and how the poetic mode allowed them to bring national themes into their works. Screening followed by a panel discussion with Riho Västrik (University of Tallinn), Sally Berger (Center for Media, Culture and History, NYU) and Pacho Velez (New School University). The films will be presented and the discussion moderated by Lukas Brasiskis (Cinema Studies, NYU). Screening includes: The Coast by Aivars Freimanis (Latvia, 1963, 20 min) The Dreams of the Centenarians by Robertas Verba (Lithuania, 1969, 17 min) Woman from Kihnu by Mark Soosaar (Estonia, 1973, 45 min) Ten Minutes Older by Herz Frank (Latvia, 1978, 10 min)
New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Spiral Music presents acoustic music at the base of the museum’s spiral staircase. Artists who specialize ...
more >> in music from the Himalayas and South Asia are invited to forge a connection between their music and the art in the galleries. This week, Dan Kurfist and Leonid Galaganov are invited to forge a connection between their music and the art in the galleries.
New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Petrochemicals have created a wide range of modern products which have made themselves indispensable ...
more >> to society. The manufacture of those products absorbs an increasing proportion of the world’s oil and gas and the sector accounts for 11% of global final energy demand. This share is expected to increase in the future driven by the sector’s activity growth. Feedstock represents about half of the total energy inputs to the sector, almost 90% of which is oil and gas. Despite its size, the sector continues to take a back seat in the global energy debate. This is a presentation and discussion with Peter Levi, Energy Analyst and the co-lead author of the upcoming report titled The Future of Petrochemicals.
New York City, NY; NYC
The publication of Professor Elizabeth Leake's book on the Italian western comic, Tex, sparks a discussion ...
more >> on how European cartoonists have viewed and interpreted the American West.
New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
Joyce Dubensky, Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, delivers this lecture followed by ...
more >> a question and answer period.
New York City, NY; NYC
6:15 pm
free, no reservation required
Eye on Dance was a television series launched in 1981 to deepen the public’s understanding of the full ...
more >> spectrum of dance forms that intersect to produce American dance. An in-depth interview based series, the socially and historically framed discussions were illuminated through performance excerpts. Choreographers Sarah Skaggs, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar of Urban Bush Women, and Miriam Mahdaviani of the New York City Ballet speak with moderator Celia Ipiotis about various aspects of their work as choreographers. The conversation focuses on challenges faced by female choreographers in a male dominated choreographic field including available opportunities, support for creating new works, the impact of critics and criticism as well as advantages offered by choreographic workshops. Celia Ipiotis will be joined by panelists Camille Brown, Miriam Mahdaviani, and Sarah Skaggs for this live screening.
New York City, NY; NYC
The bestselling author of The Essex Serpent, Sarah Perry will speak about her new novel Melmoth with ...
more >> Aidan Flax-Clark, host of The New York Public Library podcast Library Talks. Helen Franklin is hiding out in Prague and working as a low-level translator to escape a secret decades in her past. Karel is a professor being haunted by a mysterious dossier that was left to him by a dead man in the National Library. Part confession, part warning, it heralds the arrival of Melmoth the Witness, a mysterious dark-robed figure who has roamed the globe for centuries, searching for those whose complicity and cowardice have fed into the rapids of history’s darkest waters. When Karel brings it to Helen, she thinks little of it—and then Karel goes missing…
New York City, NY; NYC
6:30 pm
free, reservation required
If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby, ...
more >> it was Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nation's communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Union's top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6. For nearly a decade, as the Cold War reached its twilight, Gordievsky helped the West turn the tables on the KGB, exposing Russian spies and helping to foil countless intelligence plots, as the Soviet leadership grew increasingly paranoid at the United States's nuclear first-strike capabilities and brought the world closer to the brink of war. Desperate to keep the circle of trust close, MI6 never revealed Gordievsky's name to its counterparts in the CIA, which in turn grew obsessed with figuring out the identity of Britain's obviously top-level source. Their obsession ultimately doomed Gordievsky: the CIA officer assigned to identify him was none other than Aldrich Ames, the man who would become infamous for secretly spying for the Soviets. With author Ben MacIntyre.
New York City, NY; NYC
A panel discussion with photographers Nina Berman, Lola Flash, and Ruddy Roye. How do photographers ...
more >> authentically and confidently approach image-making when the photographer, audience, and subjects can be from diverse racial, class, and gender origins? How do photographers present their subjects in a way that ensures dignity, empowerment and inclusion? How do documentary photographers stay focused on issues that raise awareness of the social and political environment and get involved to influence the outcomes of these situations?
New York City, NY; NYC
6:30 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
What if populism was more than the image of demagoguery seen across our media? Chantal Mouffe and Jonathan ...
more >> Smucker discuss the “populist moment” that Western democracies face today and what it means for the left, themes from Mouffe’s latest book, For a Left Populism, just out in the US with Verso Books.
New York City, NY; NYC
6:30 pm
free, no reservation required
The model of news delivery and the relationship between editorial and advertising is changing rapidly. ...
more >> The system is compromised, filled with fraud, and threatens both readers’ trust and journalism’s ethical codes. Security challenges have turned some news sites’ ads into vectors for dangerous ransomware, and publishers must combat a rising duopoly of Google and Facebook. Journalism is stronger than ever, but the business of journalism has never been more precarious. Aram Zucker-Scharff of The Washington Post will moderate a discussion about this complex digital ecosystem, the dangers it poses to a free press, and the possibilities for creating better, sustainable models that favor readers over page views and profit. Zucker-Scharff will be joined by Emily Bell of Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, Brendan Spain of The Financial Times, Elizabeth Anne Watkins, PhD student in Communications at Columbia, and Ryan Brown of Gizmodo Media Group.
New York City, NY; NYC
Mauro Canali discusses his new research and book on American correspondents in Fascist Italy. In Italian ...
more >> with English interpreter.
New York City, NY; NYC
Celebrate the launch of Author, esteemed photographer Beowulf Sheehan's monograph. Sheehan's work has ...
more >> been displayed in the Dostoevsky Museum, the International Center of Photography, the Museum of the City of New York, the New York Historical Society, and elsewhere. Subjects of his portraiture include Bono, Hillary Clinton, Stephen Colbert, Hugh Jackman, Yoko Ono, and Ai Weiwei.
New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
An unheroic road story of discovery in which a selfless Lithuanian couple drives a truck loaded with ...
more >> humanitarian aid for Ukrainians fighting off Russian aggression in the Donbas. They quickly find themselves in the middle of a minefield that is today’s Ukraine, where there is no telling who is a friend and who a foe. Director: Sharunas Bartas 132 min.
New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Across seven tales, Haruki Murakami brings his powers of observation to bear on the lives of men who, ...
more >> in their own ways, find themselves alone. Here are lovesick doctors, students, ex-boyfriends, actors, bartenders, and even Kafka’s Gregor Samsa, brought together to tell stories that speak to us all. Murakami has crafted another contemporary classic, marked by the same wry humor and pathos that have defined his entire body of work.
New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Do you know how to play the game you’re in? In finite games, like football or chess, the players are ...
more >> known, the rules are fixed, and the endpoint is clear. The winners and losers are easily identified. In infinite games, like business or politics or life itself, the players come and go, the rules are changeable, and there is no defined endpoint. There are no winners or losers in an infinite game; there is only ahead and behind. With author Simon Sinek. Restrictions apply. Call store for details.
New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Over the past decade, Simon Van Booy has been listening to people’s stories. With these personal accounts ...
more >> as a starting point, he has crafted a powerful collection of short fiction that takes readers into the innermost lives of everyday people. From a family saved from ruin by a mysterious benefactor, to a downtrodden boxer who shows unexpected kindness to a mugger, these masterfully written tales reveal not only the precarious balance maintained between grief and happiness in our lives, but also how the echoes of personal tragedy can shape us for the better.
New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
A 450-page compendium of Margaret Randall’s sixty years of poetry–from her first slim volume self-published ...
more >> in New York City to recent books out with major publishers. She will give a commentated reading.
New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Cullen Washington Jr. utilizes the grid to communicate humanity and inter-connectedness. He describes ...
more >> his collage abstract paintings as “non-representational fields of activity.” Venues include: The Queens Museum; The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; Saatchi Gallery London; and The Studio Museum in Harlem, where he was artist in residence. A recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award, his work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Studio Museum in Harlem, Charles Saatchi Gallery, and the Alexandria Museum of Art, Louisiana.
New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
This program is a collection of travel memories of a sort. Each of the works carries a strong sense of ...
more >> climate and atmosphere. Darius Milhaud's (1892-1974) Sonatina Pastorale is springlike and temperate; Roberto Sierra's b.1953) String Quartet No. 2 is lushly tropical and full of dance rhythms in homage to his Puerto Rican roots; the placid Song of the Varied Thrush by Ann Southam (1937-2010) is cool and Nordic in atmosphere; and Aaron Copland's (1900-1990) Sextet brings to mind a vibrant, mechanical cityscape. Featuring special guests Stephen Gosling, piano and Benjamin Fingland, clarinet. Curated by Momenta violinist Emilie-Anne Gendron. Momenta Quartet has premiered more than 150 works, collaborated with over 200 living composers and was praised by The New York Times for its “diligence, curiosity and excellence.” In the words of The New Yorker, “few American players assume Haydn’s idiom with such ease.”
New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
This is the first of three live performances of David Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy" of albums—1979's Lodger, ...
more >> 1978's "Heroes", and 1977's Low. This year's New Sounds Live performances include past and present members of Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, Shearwater, Dirty Projectors, Battle Trance, and the Wordless Music Orchestra. One album will be performed in its entirety each night. Each concert will open with short programs of music that inspired the trilogy composed by Brian Eno and Klaus Schulze.
New York City, NY; NYC
7:30 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
The New School Community Orchestra; Nell Flanders, conductor. Program Robert Cuckson (b.1942) Zumernakht ...
more >> in Lemberik Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) Pelleas and Melisande, Op. 80 Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Symphony No. 4 in A Major, “Italian” About the Performers Nell Flanders’ conducting credits include performances with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, The Chelsea Symphony, Mannes Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall, the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, and the Riverside Orchestra. The New School Community Orchestra is comprised of students, staff, faculty, administrators, and alumni, together with individuals from the larger NYC community, collaborating with world-class conductors and performing repertoire from a range of musical periods and styles.
New York City, NY; NYC
8:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Combining the virtuosity of world-class artists with the energy of rock stars, Project Trio is breaking ...
more >> down traditional ideas of chamber music. Blending their classical training with an eclectic taste in musical styles, they make a big impact on audiences of all ages. The genre-defying Trio is acclaimed by the press as “packed with musicianship, joy and surprise” and “exciting a new generation of listeners about the joys of classical and jazz music.”
New York City, NY; NYC
9:00 pm
free, no reservation required