41 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Saturday, October 20, 2018
All events are free unless otherwise noted.
One hour of walking, stretching, and strengthening exercises. For a breath of fresh air, take your workouts ...
more >> outdoors. Parks are becoming a logical alternative environment for those who want to add variety to their workouts, or who just don't like the gym. And, it's an affordable way to increase physical activity opportunities, because there's nothing special to build. Exercise with a view, in natural sunlight, with green scenery all around bestows health benefits that can’t be found indoors. Scientific studies have shown that the pleasure of being outdoors for example gives your brain, psyche, and immune system an extra boost. Led by trained professionals, and suitable for all levels. Wear comfortable clothing and bring water. Every Saturday.
New York City, NY; NYC
8:30 am
free, no reservation required
Follow the Bronx shoreline along the Hudson River and the Harlem River ending at 143rd Street. Approximately ...
more >> 12 miles. Steady, brisk pace. Please no slow walkers. Few rest stops. Hills (some steep and stairs). Bring lunch and water. Rain cancels.
New York City, NY; NYC
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is a groundbreaking public education program which introduces participants ...
more >> to risk factors and warning signs of mental health problems, builds understanding of their impact, and overviews common treatments. MHFA is an 8-hour certification course, which uses role-playing and simulations to demonstrate how to assess a mental health crisis; select interventions and provide initial help; and connect persons to professional, peer, social, and self-help care. The program also teaches about the risk factors and warning signs of specific illnesses like anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and addictions.
New York City, NY; NYC
9:30 am
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
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
Free fun for the whole family, including arts, crafts, antiques, plants, entertainment, games, and more.
New York City, NY; NYC
10:00 am
free, no reservation required
Veteran Donald Calliste leads you to tone and define your core, lower back, and glutes with cardio exercises ...
more >> that keep your heart rate up and fat burning. Please bring a mat.
New York City, NY; NYC
10:30 am
free, no reservation required
Take a guided 90-minute walking tour through the historic Wallabout neighborhood north of Myrtle Avenue ...
more >> in Brooklyn. The neighborhood - listed on the National Register of Historic Places - has a beautiful mix of pre-Civil War homes and late 19th-century industrial buildings. The walk will discuss how the neighborhood has developed since the Dutch arrived in the early 1600’s and highlight notable residents.
New York City, NY; NYC
Editor's Pick
Learn about the making of New York City's most notable and celebrated public squares. Then, take a stroll ...
more >> down New York's most famous street--learn about its origins as a Lenape trail, and how it eventually became the main artery of the most populous city in the United States. Finally, we walk through scenic SoHo, exploring both the neighborhood's recent history as well as some sordid tales from centuries past.
New York City, NY; NYC
The Harvest Festival is a magical day full of free fun and activities for everyone to enjoy from delicious ...
more >> snacks to pumpkin decorating to face painting, crafts and more. Costumes encouraged.
New York City, NY; NYC
12:00 pm
free, no reservation required
How do China’s composers deal with their country’s painful history? In partnership with the China ...
more >> Now Music Festival, composers Ye Xiaogang, Zhou Long, Chen Yi, Tony Fok, Su Wei, and the Festival’s artistic director Jindong Cai will talk about how the tumultuous past—the Cultural Revolution, the Nanjing Massacre, the Opium War—has influenced their work.
New York City, NY; NYC
An all-day celebration of Mexico's 3,000 year-old lively tradition commemorating friends and relatives ...
more >> who have passed away. The program will begin with a procession led by Danza Azteca Chichimeca from Central Park's Dana Discovery Center (110th Street between Lenox Ave and Fifth Ave) to the museum, followed by a workshop with members of The Villalobos Brothers, a special concert by Radio Jarocho and Zenen Zeferino, art-making workshop, face painting, and more.
New York City, NY; NYC
12:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Dismantling Injustice is a multi-issue criminal justice-focused series, centered around the voices of ...
more >> those who have been directly affected by the punitive and racist NY criminal injustice system. The series will provide a space for these individuals to publicly share the work they are doing now to promote transformation and healing. This is a public workshop with RAPP, CAIC, and JLUSA. Organizers will give a brief overview of the legislative process in New York,outlining their specific bills and stages in the legislative process, and discuss how participants can get involved in producing concrete policy changes that will help radically transform New York’s prison system.
New York City, NY; NYC
1:00 pm
free, no reservation required
If you collect, read, or interested in classic Pulp magazines, join the Gotham Pulp Collectors Club. ...
more >> The group members meet once a month to talk about their favorite subject: popular fiction magazines from the first half of the 20th century. They discuss what they've been reading along with new developments in the fields of reprints, movies, TV, auctions, conventions, "New Pulp" fiction, and more.
New York City, NY; NYC
1:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Would you like feedback on your writing? Do you have an idea, but don't know how to get started? Sign ...
more >> up for a 20-minute session with an experienced writer and editor.
New York City, NY; NYC
1:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Filmmaker Morgan Neville examines the life and legacy of Fred Rogers, the beloved host of the popular ...
more >> children's TV show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." Starring: Joanne Rogers, Betty Aberlin, David Bianculli. Directed by Morgan Neville. 94 min.
New York City, NY; NYC
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
Inspired by the true events of the 1976 hijacking of an Air France flight en route from Tel Aviv to Paris, ...
more >> and the most daring rescue mission ever attempted. Director: José Padilha. Starring Rosamund Pike, Daniel Brühl. 107 min.
New York City, NY; NYC
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Ash tells the story of two unlikely pen pals—acquainted by chance through a used copy of Leo Tolstoy's ...
more >> Resurrection—and their seemingly unrelated lives. Meanwhile, a young police detective pursues the truth behind two unsolved murders. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing China in the late 1990s, the film portrays hopeful youth in a booming city fighting for their dreams of love and success. Director: Li Xiaofeng Stars: Shi Ce, Li Fang, Jue Huang 114 min. Followed by Q&A with the director
New York City, NY; NYC
The film is about the remarkable African-American men who fought in WWI. Directed by Harlem filmmaker ...
more >> William Miles, Men of Bronze is part of the Moving Image & Recorded Sound collection and projected on 16mm. Stars: Hamilton Fish, Melville Miller, Albert Veyrenc.
New York City, NY; NYC
2:00 pm
free, RSVP required
A group of people hide from bloodthirsty zombies in a farmhouse. Director: George A. Romero. Starring ...
more >> Judith O'Dea, Russell Streiner & Duane Jones. 96 min.
New York City, NY; NYC
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
A young woman visits a seaside town, which is attacked by a terrifying force of nature in the form of ...
more >> birds gone wild. Starring: Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy and Tippi Hedren. 120 min.
New York City, NY; NYC
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Join Small Business Administration Economic Development Specialist Man-Li Lin to learn marketing strategies ...
more >> and how to build a blog for your business. In this workshop you will learn:
The Elements/Procedure of Marketing
Market Research is the Key
Market Analysis
Developing a Marketing Plan
Why and When to Build a Blog for Your Business
Build a blog using Blogger.com step-by-step
New York City, NY; NYC
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Between 1880-1924, over 4 million Italians immigrated to the United States. Many settled in the neighborhood ...
more >> in downtown Manhattan, where Italian-Americans began to establish a unique culture that mixed the traditions of the old country with the ebbs and flows of their new home. This two hour walking tour visits the churches, restaurants, and infamous locales that have made Little Italy one of America's most enduring and celebrated neighborhoods.
New York City, NY; NYC
Cartoonist Ron Wimberly is an editor of LAAB magazine (2018); author of Black History in Its Own Words ...
more >> (2017) and Prince of Cats (2016). He has been featured in The New Yorker and The Nib. Ron Wimberly discusses how our world and its politics and power relations produce the aesthetics of art, literature, and pop culture, and how his practice acknowledges that relationship.
New York City, NY; NYC
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
The screwball comedy The Awful Truth epitomizes the comedies of the late 30's and 40's, as remembered ...
more >> in the movie with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. The play was written in 1921, and Sydnie Grosberg Ronga has adapted the story for radio. The story begins with a happy married couple, Jerry and Lucy Warriner, who find themselves headed to divorce court when they begin to doubt each other's fidelity. They file for divorce quickly, but soon regret their hasty actions. Before their divorce becomes final, Jerry and Lucy Warriner both do their best to ruin each other's plans for remarriage, Jerry to haughty socialite Molly Lamont, she to oil-rich bumpkin Daniel Leeson. Custody of the dog keeps Jerry close to Lucy, and Lucy impersonates his 'sister' to foil his budding romance with Molly. Soon, it's a madcap race to bring the lovebirds back together.
New York City, NY; NYC
2:30 pm
free, no reservation required
Selfie Made is Meridith Valiando Rojas's one-of-a-kind guide to creating a digital identity, finding ...
more >> an audience, and building a powerful brand—your own!—on the Internet. Whether you want to be in front of or behind the camera, produce click-worthy content or start your own business, this book is the place to begin. Restrictions apply. Call store for details.
New York City, NY; NYC
3:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Staged reading of an unusual play about love and loss over time in the midst of hurricanes. Written ...
more >> by Cesi Davidson. Directed by Lucia Bellini. Featuring Gregory Bastien and LeVera Sutton.
New York City, NY; NYC
3:00 pm
free, no reservation required
On recycled bottles students will learn to draw and transfer their image to glass. This mixed media bottle ...
more >> painting class will focus on basic painting technique, the use of space and dimension, shapes and patterns, and visual storytelling. Presented by artist Marcela Carvalho.
New York City, NY; NYC
3:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Corey Cott won rave reviews in his Broadway debut as Jack Kelly in the hit musical Newsies, a role he ...
more >> starred in for two years. Cott returned to Broadway in the revival of Gigi, and recently appeared opposite Laura Osnes in the world premiere of Bandstand at Paper Mill Playhouse.
New York City, NY; NYC
3:00 pm
free, reservation required
Editor's Pick
The winners of the Music Academy of the West’s prestigious Marilyn Horne Song Competition (2017), soprano ...
more >> Hannah Rose Kidwell and pianist Christina Giuca perform together. Kidwell has appeared in Chapman University’s productions of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and sung the title role in Puccini’s Suor Angelica. Giuca holds a collaborative piano fellowship at Bard College, and has served on the music staffs of the Houston Ballet, Eastern Music Festival, and SongFest.
New York City, NY; NYC
3:00 pm
free, no reservation required
This course will interrogate the history of democratic participation in the United States, with an emphasis ...
more >> on disparities in access to the ballot, racial discrimination, and violence, which continue to exclude voters from the franchise. We will start with an overview of the historical development of democratic inclusion, exclusion, and participation in the United States, and then focus on how social, political and economic institutions intersect with and inform this development. The second half of the course will focus on the ways that democratic participation in the United States is mediated and informed by the carceral state, the regulation of citizenship, political power, wealth, redistricting, and contemporary voter suppression efforts. The class will conclude with a discussion of current efforts to secure and expand voting rights in the United States, focusing on a selection of promising innovations, reforms, and movement building projects. Saturdays, October 6, 20, 27, November 3, and 10 from 3:00 - 4:30pm.
New York City, NY; NYC
3:00 pm
free, reservation required
Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra; Blythe Gaissert, mezzo-soprano; Chris Whittaker, conductor. Program ...
more >> Strauss (1864-1949) Overture and Dance from Ariadne auf Naxos, Op. 60 Jessie Montgomery Records from a vanishing City John Corigliano The Cloisters Beethoven (1770-1827) Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 21 About the Program The program explores memory, nostalgia, and change -- new music that speaks to the past, and old music that has become timeless.
New York City, NY; NYC
3:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Forty-five minute organ meditations celebrating the diverse repertoire of the pipe organ. The program ...
more >> features the great repertoire of the organ on the 101-rank Pipe Organ built by Herman Schlicker and the 5 stop chamber organ built by Taylor and Boody Organ Builders. Takes place every Saturday and Sunday from 9 September 2018 to 26 May 2019.
New York City, NY; NYC
4:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
Classical music on a boat with an intimate and romantic setting and beautiful view of New York City. ...
more >> Followed by a Q & A session with the musicians. Program and musicians TBA. Doors open at 3:45 pm.
New York City, NY; NYC
4:00 pm
free, no reservation required
A painstakingly animated dark comedy. In a small city in southern China, the protagonist Xiao Zhang robs ...
more >> his boss at knife point in a desperate effort to salvage his relationship, by paying for his girlfriend's plastic surgery. A series of intersecting misadventures ensue, all within a single day. Liu's simply drawn yet emotionally complex characters and his detailed, gloomy background rich in social commentary, construct a vision of contemporary China complete with its worldly woes beyond the glamorous facade of coastal cities. Director: Liu Jian 77 min. Followed by Q&A With the director
New York City, NY; NYC
Julia Bouwsma lives off-the-grid in the mountains of western Maine, where she is a poet, farmer, freelance ...
more >> editor, critic, and small-town librarian. She is the author of two poetry collections: Midden (Fordham University Press, 2018) and Work by Bloodlight (Cider Press Review, 2017). Henk Rossouw's book-length poem Xamissa won the Poets Out Loud Editor's Prize (Fordham University Press, 2018). Best American Experimental Writing 2018 (Wesleyan University Press) featured an excerpt. An assistant professor, he teaches creative writing at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Asiya Wadud's debut collection, Crosslight for Youngbird, is forthcoming from Nightboat Books in October 2018. Her work has been supported by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Dickinson House (Belgium), Mount Tremper Arts, and the New York Public Library, among others.
New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
A Deal by Zhu Yi is a dark comedy that features a Chinese family’s home buying journey in New York ...
more >> in winter 2015, a time of increased real estate property ownership by overseas Chinese and a sharp decline in the value of the Chinese yuan against the US dollar. It reveals the ideological conflicts between the East and the West in contemporary society by tracking a little stream of the global cash flow.
New York City, NY; NYC
Theater of Light presents the fourth bi-annual production of Lights Up/Fade to Black, an hour of rejuvenating ...
more >> and light-hearted theater made of three short new plays. Play I: A conversation could be a flirtation, she is charming but there is something alarming, what she is planning for today? Play II: It is true, love is for forever but this guy is in a deep haze, figuring out just which who is who; two wives what is he going to do? Play III: She comes to see the doctor about all her crazy quirks, he has quite a diagnosis, will she need hypnosis?
New York City, NY; NYC
Poet and activist a.j.k. o’donnell is reading from her second book. This Void Beckons has been deemed ...
more >> “a dazzling epic of creative genius…” and “a work that is sorely needed at this point in history.”
New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
Nicholas Wiggins, bass. Program Clyne (b.1980) Within Her Arms Mussorgsky (1839-1881) Songs and Dances ...
more >> of Death Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Symphony No. 1 About the musician Bassist Nicholas Wiggins also known by the stage name Zombie Nicholas, is best known for his time as the bassist and backing vocalist for the horror punk band Aiden from 2003 until 2015. He is also a member of the supergroup Me Vs. Myself and played bass for William Control's live band. He has been the rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Girl On Fire, who released their debut album Not Broken in 2013.
New York City, NY; NYC
8:00 pm
$15 donation suggested