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free things to do in New York City
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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 12, 2026?
32 free events take place on Tuesday, May 12 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 12 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.
Are you looking for free things to do in New York City (NYC) on May 12, 2026?
32 free events take place on Tuesday, May 12 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 12 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.
Join the Club!
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!
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!
32 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Tuesday, May 12, 2026
All events are free unless otherwise noted.
Workshop | Learn & Practice the Chinese Martial Art of Tai Chi in the Park
Practice this traditional system of health and self-defense, derived from the philosphy of Taoism. Tai Chi was designed to develop the optimum degree of harmony between body and mind, as well as between the individual and the natural order of the universe. Classes are led by teachers and students who train nearby at CK Chu Tai Chi under the direction of Master Hyland Harris. Classes are rain or shine. All levels are welcome, and no equipment is necessary.
New York City, NY; NYC
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7:30 am
Free
Free
Workshop | Cardio & Strength Workout (All Levels Welcome)
Instructor Natalie Hahn leads 45 minutes of bodyweight exercises, combining cardio and strength for a full-body workout. This class is high-energy with programming options for all levels!
New York City, NY; NYC
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8:00 am
Free
Free
Birdwatching | Morning Birding in the Park with NYC Audubon
Discover the surprising diversity of birds that call New York home during migratory season with guided tours by NYC Audubon, led by environmental educator and urban naturalist Gabriel Willow. This 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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8:00 am
Free
Free
Workshop | Outdoor Dance Cardio Session
Enjoy a complimentary outdoor wellness experience designed to energize your body, elevate your mood, and connect you with community. Flow into an uplifting dance cardio class led by Sarah Wolff, then keep the glow going at ALO with sips + light bites.
New York City, NY; NYC
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8:00 am
Free
Free
Screening | Most Watched International Sporting Events on the Big (30-foot!) Screen Outdoors: Tennis & Baseball
Today's Schedule:
10:00am - 6:30pm Italian Open
6:30pm - 9:30pm MLB- NYY vs Baltimore
*Scheduled programming subject to change. Seating is open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis. Wells Fargo customers receive priority seating.
New York City, NY; NYC
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10:00 am
Free
Free
Workshop | Zumba Workout
Enthusiastic instruction and easy-to-follow Latin dance choreography working on balance, coordination, and range of motion.
New York City, NY; NYC
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10:30 am
Free
Free
Discussion | Collective Power: Art & Climate in Conversation
Join artists for an intimate salon exploring vision, resilience, and community action through creative practice. Engage in discussions on current climate-focused works, participate in an audience Q&A, and reflect on the connections among art, environmental justice, and the future we can shape together.
New York City, NY; NYC
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12:00 pm
Free
Free
Workshop | Learn to Juggle, All Skill Levels Welcome
This juggling class is ideal for a quick lesson, an extended practice session, or just enjoy watching jugglers 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
Free
Classical Music | Afternoon Bach
Take a momentary respite from a busy day to enjoy a selection of organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach in an intimate venue.
New York City, NY; NYC
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12:20 pm
Free
Free
Jazz | Piano in the Park: Thelonius Monk Award-Winning Musician
Come on down and swing along to the best Brazilian and Latin jazz the Big Apple has to offer, with musician Sue Maskaleris. Maskaleris is an award-winning pianist, singer, composer, lyricist, arranger, and producer. She has performed and toured the world as a bandleader and soloist. Sue performs a seemingly endless repertoire of unusual material and reconceived standards, but Brazilian jazz and Latin jazz are her wheelhouse. Sue’s CD of original Brazilian jazz, Bring Nothing But Your Heart, debuted at #3 nationally, featuring Mark Egan and Horacio “El Negro” Hernández. Sue’s latest CD, Love Is the Key, featured Grammy-nominees violinist Sara Caswell and drummer Mauricio Zottarelli, as well as percussionist Nêgah Santos from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and was met to critical acclaim.
New York City, NY; NYC
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12:30 pm
Free
Free
Talk | Tony-Nominated Performer Discusses Broadway Musical Death Becomes Her
Hear from the people who make Broadway magic happen. Don't miss Betsy Wolfe discussing the Tony Award nominee for Best Musical, Death Becomes Her, the hit comedy on Broadway, adapted from the 1992 film with Meryl Streep. Wolfe will be in conversation with Ilana Levine, actress and podcaster of Little Known Facts with Ilana Levine. Betsy Wolfe has starred in a multitude of Broadway shows, including Death Becomes Her (Madeline Ashton), & Juliet (Anne, Tony nomination), and Waitress (Jenna). She has performed as a soloist with over 65 symphony orchestras, including the BBC Orchestra, National Symphony, Chicago Symphony, and the New York Pops. Wolfe also co-founded BroadwayEvolved, an industry-respected theatre training program for students.
New York City, NY; NYC
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12:30 pm
Free
Free
Film | Face/Off (1997): Aci-Fi Action Thriller with John Travolta & Nicolas Cage
To foil a terrorist plot, an FBI agent assumes the identity of the criminal who murdered his son via facial transplant surgery, but the crook wakes up prematurely and vows revenge. Mayhem ensues. Director: John Woo Cast: John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Gina Gershon, Alessandro Nivola John Travolta is an American actor whose accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and a BAFTA Award. Nicolas Cage is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award.
New York City, NY; NYC
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1:00 pm
Free
Free
Symposium | Latino Art Rising: Market Influence Collecting and Cultural Impact
Join a panel of museum leaders, curators, collectors, artists, and cultural advocates for a conversation about the growing influence of U.S.-based Latino artists in today’s global art market. Building on the Latin American art market’s success, the discussion explores opportunities to increase visibility, secure institutional recognition, and attract investment.
Through case-driven insights, the program examines how emerging and established voices are shaping a new wave of cultural impact, positioning Latino artists within a broader global conversation about representation, demand, and creative influence.
New York City, NY; NYC
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2:00 pm
Free
Free
Film | Is This Thing On? (2025): Comedy-Drama with Star-Studded Cast
As their marriage unravels, Alex faces middle age and divorce, seeking new purpose in the New York comedy scene. Meanwhile, his wife Tess confronts sacrifices made for their family, forcing them to navigate co-parenting and identities. Director: Bradley Cooper Cast: Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day, Bradley Cooper
New York City, NY; NYC
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3:00 pm
Free
Free
Museums | Art from All Over The World in the Most Amazing Museum
Discover a vast collection of art from a diverse range of countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Russia, France, Spain, Japan, India, United States and more. Tickets for Pay-What-You-Wish hours are available online only and released at 10 am the morning of the event.
New York City, NY; NYC
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4:00 pm
$1 min pay-what-you-wish,...
$1 min pay-what-you-wish,...
Party | Make New Friends Playing Board Games Outdoors
Organizers bring a wider selection of board games to the Games Cart at this event, with games like Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Catan, King of Tokyo and more. Not sure what to play? The Games Hosts can help you find the perfect game and match up players!
New York City, NY; NYC
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5:00 pm
Free
Free
Book Discussion | Rolling Stone Contributor Launches His New Book, Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music,1969–2000
Music journalist Barry Walters launches his book, Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969–2000! The culmination of four decades’ worth of criticism, including posts at the Village Voice, Spin, and Rolling Stone, Mighty Real takes readers back in time to show us how far we’ve come. From Lou Reed to David Bowie to Sylvester, whose song “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” inspired the title of the book, Mighty Real tells the story of music by and for the LGBTQ community. Walters will be joined in conversation by curator, writer, and photography critic Vince Aletti.
New York City, NY; NYC
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5:30 pm
Free
Free
Concert | American Symphony Orchestra Ensemble Performs Afrocubanismo Music Outdoors
The American Symphony Orchestra performs a musician-curated program of Afrocubanismo: African music and modernity in Cuba, curated by percussionist-composer Javier Diaz -- whose studio credits include Steven Spielberg's West Side Story and Lin-Manuel Miranda's In The Heights. Afrocubanismo explores Cuban music as a synthesis of many different musical influences: a combination of Spanish, French, Central African, West African, North American, and many other national musics. Cuban music emerges as a unique vernacular musical idiom that appears larger than the sum of its components.
New York City, NY; NYC
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5:30 pm
Free
Free
Workshop | Learn to Juggle, All Skill Levels Welcome
This juggling class is ideal for a quick lesson, an extended practice session, or just enjoy watching jugglers 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
Join the Club!
5:30 pm
Free
Free
Opening Reception | A Field of Becoming: Multi-Media Art Unfolding through Time
Discover five decades of art by Lee Kang So (b. 1943), who has developed a distinctive and influential practice within Korean contemporary art. Working across painting, sculpture, installation, photography, and performance since the 1970s, he has consistently challenged fixed definitions of artistic form, approaching art as an open and evolving process rather than a finished object. This exhibition, A Field of Becoming, brings together works from the 1970s to the present, tracing the continuity and transformation of Lee’s practice. From his early experimental works—where action, material, and environment intersect—to later paintings and sculptures, Lee’s work unfolds through time, resisting closure and embracing change.
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free
Free
Opening Reception | Desire, Rebellion, and Radical Form: The Art of Carol Rama
This focused presentation offers a major survey of Italian artist Carol Rama’s work, spanning six decades of painting, textiles, sculpture, and assemblage. The exhibition traces her restless experimentation with materials and forms from the mid-20th century onward.
Long overlooked during her lifetime, Rama’s practice is now widely recognized for its bold engagement with themes of desire, repression, and liberation. The exhibition highlights her enduring influence on contemporary art and her singular commitment to artistic freedom.
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free
Free
Opening Reception | Meta-Paintings, Photography, and Hauntological Images
Experience an exhibition of mixed-media paintings that blend gestural abstraction, appropriated imagery, and photographic overlays to explore authorship, authenticity, and visual culture. Layering reworked paintings with manipulated photographic prints, the works investigate how images circulate among popular media, personal archives, and contemporary notions of memory and “haunted” time.
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free
Free
Party | Play Bridge in a Stress-Free Environment
The card game of Bridge requires four people to play: two teams of two people. Join the group with your bridge partner, or you will be matched with someone to play as a pair. If you would like to learn how to play bridge, organizers can offer some instruction, and you can observe others.
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free
Free
Opening Reception | Sculptural Reliefs & Animal Bronzes Exploring Interspecies Connection
Blending humor, curiosity, and commentary, the works reflect an artist’s fascination with the boundaries between humans and the nonhuman world. Using painted foam panels and sculptures, the exhibition features animal figures with personality and presence. Drawing from theatrical composition and an intuitive approach, the works balance lightness with deeper themes of empathy, perception, and coexistence.
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free
Free
Discussion | The Complexitiy of Housing Affordability and Urban Policy (Online!)
Planner and housing researcher Alan Mallach joins a conversation about the complexities of the housing affordability crisis, examining how development costs, incomes, and housing prices interact across the U.S.
In conversation with Andrew Berman and Juan Rivero, the program challenges the notion that increased zoning alone can solve affordability issues, offering a deeper look at who is most affected and why the crisis varies by region.
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free
Free
Lecture | Anthropologist & Dancer Discusses Dance as a Facet of Social Life
The recent groundbreaking exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York "Urban Stomp: Dreams and Defiance on the Dance Floor" was curated by Dr. Derrick Leon Washington, an anthropologist and dancer, who will speak at this event. Building on this and his earlier exhibition "Rhythm and Power: Salsa in New York," he will examine social dance as a vital force in social life. Through examples ranging from lindy hop and salsa to hip hop and hustle, Dr. Washington shows how dance floors have functioned as spaces of creativity, community, and social meaning. Combining research, archival images, music, and movement analysis, the presentation reveals how social dancing reflects history, possibility, and collective defiance. This presentation invites the audience to look beyond performance and consider social dance as a cultural language that continues to shape how people gather, communicate, and imagine defiant joy.
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:30 pm
Free
Free
Workshop | Dance Aerobics Class: Low Stakes & All Fun
Find your inner dancer and get your body moving with pure joy at this cathartic dance aerobics class! Low stakes, all fun, and open to all levels. Space is limited, unreserved, and available on a first-come, first-served basis. If there is heavy rain at the time of the event, the event will be canceled.
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:30 pm
Free
Free
Workshop | Origami Group Meet-Up
This event is for people to come together and share in the beautiful art of Origami--an ancient art of folding various mediums, most commonly paper. The word comes from the combination of the Japanese verb oru (to fold) and the noun kami (paper). Other materials often folded are fabric, wire mesh, sheet metal, tissue, thin plastic, cardboard, and straws.This group meets to teach each other new models and share paper, books, and tips. This meeting is free and open to all level of folders from beginner to advanced. There will be free paper available to share. You may choose to bring your own paper and books and just show up and fold! If you have models you would like to learn, or teach, let the organizers know, and they will try our best to accommodate.
New York City, NY; NYC
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6:30 pm
Free
Free
Talk | Time, Life, & National Geographic Photojournalist Discusses His Craft & Career
Hear a talk from Rick Smolan, a New York Times bestselling author with over five million books in print. Adam Driver portrayed him in the award-winning movie Tracks, based on Smolan's National Geographic cover story about Robyn Davidson's 1700-mile, nine-month solo camel trek across the treacherous Australian outback. A Time, Life, and National Geographic photojournalist, he created the "Day in the Life" book series, which featured the world's leading photographers and combined storytelling with state-of-the-art technology.
New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free
Free
Classical Music | Baroque Music from Colonial Mexico.
The Early Music group Piffaro (Priscilla Herreid, Grant Herreid, Greg Ingles, Jonatan Alvarado, Ariel Abramovich, Heloise Degrugillier, Sian Ricketts, and Erik Schmalz) performs a program of baroque music exploring cultural collision and combination in colonial era Mexico. The program reflects this rich musical environment, featuring sacred polyphonic works housed in Mexican collections--including two pieces in Nahuatl from the Valdes Codex--alongside villancicos (a rustic song, often on a Christmas text), jacaras (a poetic song that highlights individual singers), instrumental dances such as the zarabanda, gaita, and the Aztec tocotin, and a chant from one of the earliest Mexican choir books (the Graduale Dominicale of 1576), newly adapted from Latin into Nahuatl.
New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free
Free
Concert | Renaissance Wind Instruments & Early Music Traditions
Experience the rich sounds of the Medieval and Renaissance eras through a vibrant performance by a renowned early music ensemble. Featuring historically inspired instruments, including shawms, sackbuts, lutes, recorders, and percussion, the program brings to life both rustic folk traditions and refined courtly music.
New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free
Free
Classical Music | Percussion Works by Scriabin & More (In Person AND Online!)
Heeyeon Kim, percussion. Program: Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) Rebonds A Nicolas Martynciow Tchik Etienne Perruchon (1958-2019) 5 Danses Dogoriennes Kylen Rappe Ouroboros Franco Donatoni (1927-2000) Omar II Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) Deux Poemes, Op. 32
New York City, NY; NYC
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8:00 pm
Free
Free
Join the Club!
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Classical Music | Faure's Masterpiece and More at a Landmark Venue
Regular Price: $65CFT Member Price: $0.00
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