48 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Wednesday, October 10, 2018
All events are free unless otherwise noted.
Explore the diversity of migrating birds that find food and habitat in The Battery. Led by Gabriel Willow, ...
more >> an educator from NYC Audubon, who is an experienced birder and naturalist, and is well-versed in the ecology and history of New York City. He has been leading walks for NYC Audubon for more than ten years, guiding new and experienced birders in all five boroughs and beyond. Wednesdays through October 10, 2018.
New York City, NY; NYC
8:00 am
free, no reservation required
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
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
Two youngsters from rival New York City gangs fall in love, but tensions between their respective friends ...
more >> build toward tragedy. Directors: Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise 153 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
Sarah Wilson Sokhey of the University of Colorado will present the research from her recent book in which ...
more >> she examines the global trend in the reversal of a radical pension policy using survival analysis, survey data, and case studies of the Russian, Polish, and Hungarian experiences.
New York City, NY; NYC
12:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Learn the different types of family history writing styles and explore the writing manuals that will ...
more >> match your writing style. Explore the history of the places where your family lived, learn tips for creating a cohesive narrative, and why writing a family history is the ultimate goal of genealogy research.
New York City, NY; NYC
12:00 pm
free, no reservation required
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
Editor's Pick
Dances at a Gathering was filmed on June 7, 1969. Danced by members of the New York City Ballet: Allegra ...
more >> Kent, Sara Leland, Kay Mazzo, Patricia McBride, Violette Verdy, Anthony Blum, Robert Weiss, Robert Maiorano, John Prinz, and Edward Villella. Pianist: Gordon Boelzner. Choreography by Jerome Robbins, and music by Frédéric Chopin.
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
Trumpeter John Eckert has played with the greats Stan Kenton, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Benny Goodman, Buck Clayton, ...
more >> Grover Mitchell, Lee Konitz, and Bobby Short. Beyond his versatility within the Jazz medium, he has also played in the orchestra pit of several Broadway musicals, as well as with the Simon & Garfunkel reunion band.
New York City, NY; NYC
1:00 pm
suggested donation $10
Ria Honda, violin; Claire Lee, piano; Chris Gao, cello. Program Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Piano Trio No. ...
more >> 1 in D minor Arensky (1861-1906) Piano Trio in D minor Violinist Ria Honda has won first prize at the MTNA Junior Strings Competition, Seattle Music Teachers Association Simon Fiset Competition, DePaul Concerto Festival, Sejong Music Competition, Seattle Symphony Young Artists Auditions and Cascade Symphony Young Artists Competition. Pianist Claire Lee began her early piano studies in Vancouver under Dr. Sasha Starcevich, Ken Broadway, and Ralph Markham. Notable achievements include winning first prize at the International Seattle Young Artists Music Festival in 2014, and top prizes at the 2009 International Russian Music Competition and 2007 and 2009 Canadian Music Competition national finals.
New York City, NY; NYC
1:00 pm
free, no reservation required
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Bill Wurtzel, a renowned jazz guitarist, has performed worldwide with many jazz greats. His style in ...
more >> his own words: "I love mainstream jazz and the American songbook. Albums I’ve played on range from gospel, mainstream and soul jazz to Christmas songs in Latin."
New York City, NY; NYC
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
An introduction to some of the southern Park highlights, including Grand Army Plaza, the Pond, Gapstow ...
more >> Bridge, Wollman Rink, Chess and Checkers House, and the Dairy.
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
What does the future hold for coffee farming families across the world? This is a conversation with Sustainable ...
more >> Harvest, a coffee importer, and Coocentral, a Colombian coffee farmer cooperative. Taste coffees and learn about the challenges that farmers face and threaten their livelihoods.
New York City, NY; NYC
New Yorkers see the city as a character in their own personal novels. Choreographer Jerome Robbins was ...
more >> no different. Take a tour of the exhibition Voice of My City: Jerome Robbins and New York with Library staff and special guests to discover how all of Robbins’ love, frustration, and identity as a New Yorker were infused into his works. Special guest Grover Dale.
New York City, NY; NYC
4:00 pm
free, reservation required
Drawing upon the symbiotic relationship between fashion and art, Contextualizing Fashion celebrates fine ...
more >> artists, designers, photographers and filmmakers at Pratt Institute who explore fashion as a prime motivator in their work.
New York City, NY; NYC
Editor's Pick
In Devil’s Mile, Alice Sparberg Alexiou tells the story of the Bowery in stunning detail. She ends ...
more >> in the present, bearing witness as the old Bowery buildings, and the memories associated with them, are disappearing. Kerri Culhane, an architectural historian who wrote the report that led to the designation of the Bowery as a historic district in 2011, will engage Alice Sparberg Alexiou in conversation about the Bowery’s past, present, and future, followed by time for questions and answers.
New York City, NY; NYC
5:00 pm
free, no reservation required
A new body of large-scale watercolors by Walton Ford. The series is a result of over eighteen years of ...
more >> research by Ford into the iconic Barbary lion. This subspecies—the subject of a long, ongoing cultural fascination—historically ranged across the Atlas Mountains of North Africa, but has been extinct in the wild since the early 20th century after over 2000 years of persecution. The Barbary lion is the lion of the Roman amphitheater, the lion painted by Delacroix, and the lion that roars for the Hollywood film studio MGM.
New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Quaytman, a self-professed “classical modernist”, helped to reshape the trajectory of American painting ...
more >> in the 1960s and 1970s with his monumental shaped canvases and is acknowledged for moving abstract painting into a more sculptural direction.
New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
This exhibition explores the present status of twenty-two major artists from South Korea currently living ...
more >> and working in the United States. As transnational or immigrant artists, they adapted their artistic sensitivity to the demands of the New York art market, global art biennials, local art communities, or art fairs around the world. Postmodernism in South Korea gained momentum during the economic boom in the 1990s after the Seoul Olympic Games and the democratization movements. While the fine arts departments at major universities and art markets in Seoul yet maintained a “purity” of high modernism through abstract painting, a younger generation sought out new perspectives and innovative paradigms in art. When these artists arrived in the late 1990s to study in the United States toward their MFA degrees, postmodernism had already passed its apex. Many artists from South Korea were torn between progressive politics, including institutional injustice, and aesthetic pursuits innate in their artistic sensibility and training. Some turned their attention to conceptual art and embraced a new vocabulary of postmodernism, while others never discarded the intrinsic values and skills influenced by aesthetic formalism.
New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
On a bedrock of scholarly research, Caroline Weber weaves together the lives of Marcel Proust’s three ...
more >> muses for his character, the Duchess de Guermantes. Weber’s new book is addictive reading for Proustians, who will discover surprises hidden inside the lives of these three singular women. Lecture, followed by a book signing.
New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
free, reservation required
Celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the acclaimed and influential debut album The Miseducation of ...
more >> Lauryn Hill with award-winning feminist author and journalist Joan Morgan. Released in 1998, Lauryn Hill’s first solo album is often cited by music critics as one of the most important recordings in modern history. Artists from Beyoncé to Nicki Minaj to Janelle Monáe have claimed it as an inspiration, and it was recently included in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, as well as named the second greatest album by a woman in history by NPR (right behind Joni Mitchell’s Blue).
New York City, NY; NYC
Choreographer Susan Rethorst was born in 1951 in Washington D.C. Rethorst began modern dance studies ...
more >> at an early age. Tutorials with Judith Dunn at Bennington College laid the groundwork for Rethorst's artistic sensibility. Since 1975, Rethorst has steadily created dances out of New York City. Since 1995, she has divided her time between New York and Amsterdam, teaching choreography throughout Europe and Scandinavia and continuing to make work in both Europe and America. Refreshments will be served.
New York City, NY; NYC
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
Marriage played a crucial role in the making of a Catholic slavery-based society such as that of Brazil ...
more >> from the 16th century to the 19th century. Historical sources such as legal documents and petitions from slaves can shed light on the topic. In this Catholic world, marriage was accessible to slaves, in theory at least, without their master’s permission. The point is to understand how the ecclesiastical institution made possible some marital freedom within the slavery system and how slaves used this real but limited right to claim some area of autonomy. Attentive to slaves’ voices, this lecture is an invitation to think about the functioning of the long-standing slavery-based Brazilian society, developed between Africa, America and Europe. Speaker Charlotte de Castelnau-L'Estoile is Professor of Early Modern History at the Université de Paris 7 – Diderot.
New York City, NY; NYC
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 Ross Hammond and Sameer Gupta 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
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Struggles against racism, misogyny, and xenophobia in media industries have a long history, although ...
more >> in television these struggles have long been suppressed. Drawing from her recently published book as well as new archival research and declassified FBI files, Carol Stabile’s presentation focuses on two overlapping stories: about a generation of incredibly talented women in media who were poised to influence the television in 1950 and the anti-communist blacklist that drove them out of television, radically changing the new medium in the process.
New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
Dr. Edward Halperin, Chancellor and CEO of New York Medical College, will deliver a lecture on a little-known ...
more >> episode of anti-Semitic violence in American medical education. Though anti-Semitism in early 20 th century U.S. medical education was pervasive, it rarely resulted in acts of violence. The exception was in Brooklyn where Jewish interns were twice assaulted at Kings County Hospital in 1916 and 1927. Halperin will present the findings of his recent research on these incidents and discuss the implications of the assaults in light of the current debate on immigration and higher education.
New York City, NY; NYC
The poet Anthony Hecht returned from combat in WWII devastated by the horrors he had seen. Soon after, ...
more >> he established a lifelong connection to Italy that began with a move to the island of Ischia, and ended at the Bogliasco Foundation, where he wrote his final poems in 2004. Building on research he developed during his 2017 Bogliasco residency, Johns Hopkins University Professor David Yezzi will discuss the crucial impact of Italian art and culture on Hecht’s personal and creative trajectory.
New York City, NY; NYC
The United Nations has called the East side of Manhattan home for more than seventy years. The bond has ...
more >> been likened to a long marriage—both quarrelsome and committed. In A Worldly Affair, Pamela Hanlon tells the story of this hot and cold romance, from the 1940s, when Mayor La Guardia was determined to bring the new world body to New York, to the UN’s flat rejection, then abrupt change of heart in the face of a Rockefeller gift, and on to the tense, troubling years that followed. Hanlon will be joined in conversation by James Wurst, journalist and author of The UN Association–USA: A Little Known History of Advocacy and Action, a history of the popular movement that helped create the United Nations.
New York City, NY; NYC
6:30 pm
free, reservation required
A timely essay collection about life, love, and becoming an American from breakout comedy star and podcaster ...
more >> Maeve Higgins.
New York City, NY; NYC
6:30 pm
free, no reservation required
R.O. Kwon’s first novel, The Incendiaries, is forthcoming from Riverhead (U.S.) and Virago (U.K.) in ...
more >> July of 2018. She is a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, Vice, BuzzFeed, Noon, Time, Electric Literature, Playboy, San Francisco Chronicle, and elsewhere.
New York City, NY; NYC
6:30 pm
free, no reservation required
A conversation with entrepreneur, author, and investor Nathalie Molina Niño, CEO and founder of Brava ...
more >> Investments, where she invests in businesses that economically benefit women. Molina Niño is also the author of Leapfrog: The New Revolution for Women Entrepreneurs, a book designed to level the playing field for women entrepreneurs and anyone sick of the status quo. A technologist and coder by training, Molina Niño is a consummate entrepreneur and a storyteller at heart. She launched her first tech startup at the age of twenty.
New York City, NY; NYC
Editor's Pick
In honor of the Nobel Prize-winning Isaac Bashevis Singer's body of work, the evening will include a ...
more >> reading of one of his stories by Yiddish actress Eleanor Reissa; a conversation with prominent writers and scholars who will discuss the question, “Isaac Bashevis Singer: Time for a Reappraisal?”; and the screening of a seldom seen short film, Isaac Singer’s Nightmare and Mrs. Pupko’s Beard, directed by renowned photographer Bruce Davidson and starring Singer himself. Featuring: Rivka Galchen Rebecca Goldstein Anita Norich Eleanor Reissa Ilan Stavans David Stromberg.
New York City, NY; NYC
6:30 pm
free, reservation required
In Maggie Terry, Sarah Schulman returns to pulp fiction, telling the story of a woman single-mindedly ...
more >> trying to keep her head down in New York City. Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore's Sketchtasy takes place in that late-night moment when everything comes together, and everything falls apart: it's an urgent, glittering, devastating novel about the perils of queer world-making in the mid-'90s.
New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
What does it mean to lose your roots—within your culture, within your family—and what happens when ...
more >> you find them? Nicole Chung discusses her debut memoir, a poignant and graceful exploration of transracial adoption, family, and identity. In conversation with comic book writer and filmmaker Greg Pak.
New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
$5 suggested donation...
What does it take to recover from trauma? Opening with a piece that juxtaposes the pleasures of masturbation ...
more >> with the terrors of a courtroom during a rape trial, You Can’t Own the Fucking Stars is both a celebration of healing and a fearless testament to resilience in the face of suffering. In customary engaging and accessible style, Clementine Morrigan offers a series of reflexive vignettes, poems and meditations, written over a period of five years, on experiences recovering from trauma and addiction.
New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
Modern democracy evolved in both Europe and the US through a complex, dialectical interaction between ...
more >> socialism and liberalism as rival political movements, affiliated with distinct, though sometimes allied political parties. Are these categories that crystallized in the nineteenth century -- democracy, socialism, liberalism -- still meaningful or pertinent in contemporary Amercian politics? What is the most useful way to define their similarities and salient differences within the ongoing resistance on the left to the authoritarian drift of American politics under Donald Trump? What role should political journals play in addressing the questions that surround socialism, liberalism, and the future of democracy today? A public conversation featuring: Atossa Araxia Abrahamian (senior editor, The Nation) John Gould (editor, The New Republic) Sarah Leonard (editor and writer, Dissent, The Nation, The New Republic) James Miller (author, Can Democracy Work?, professor of politics) Bhaskar Sunkara (editor, Jacobin) Moderated by Helena Rosenblatt (author, The Lost History of Liberalism, professor of history, CUNY Graduate Center)
New York City, NY; NYC
Editor's Pick
America’s number one citizen Ralph Nader’s latest book shows us how unchecked corporate power has ...
more >> led to the wrecking ball that is the Trump presidency. Nader brings together the outrages of the Trump administration with the key flaws and failures of the previous administrations—both Republican and Democratic—that have led our nation to its current precipice.
New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Antigone in Ferguson was conceived in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in 2014, through a collaboration ...
more >> between Theater of War Productions and community members from Ferguson, Missouri. Translated and directed by Bryan Doerries and composed by Phil Woodmore, the project fuses a dramatic reading by leading actors of excerpts from Sophocles’s Greek tragedy with live choral music performed by a choir of activists, police officers, youth, and concerned citizens from Ferguson and New York City. The performance is the catalyst for panel and audience-driven discussions on race and social justice, the core component of the event. This multifaceted production will offer a glimpse not only into the effects of the tragedy in Brown’s local community, but also the trauma of police violence and racial injustice in communities of color in New York and across the nation. Local stakeholders and community leaders will participate as panelists, assisting in opening up dialogues with audiences. These guided discussions, which aim to promote healing and bridge the growing divide between law enforcement and local communities, will focus on the impact of racialized violence against communities of color, and the legacies of the tragic deaths of Michael Brown, as well as Eric Garner, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, Saheed Vassell, and numerous other victims. The presentation will feature a rotating roster of acclaimed actors, including Samira Wiley (The Handmaid’s Tale), who will reprise the role she portrayed in the premiere of Antigone in Ferguson presented on the stage of Michael Brown’s high school in Ferguson in 2016. Other cast members include: Paul Giamatti (Billions), Tamara Tunie (Law & Order: SVU), David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck), Adepero Oduye (12 Years a Slave), Frankie Faison (The Wire) and Kathryn Erbe (Law & Order: Criminal Intent). Each week will feature a different group of actors. Tuesdays through Saturdays, September 13-October 13, 2018.
New York City, NY; NYC
Editor's Pick
With a record number of women running for office, She’s Running is a frank portrayal of what life is ...
more >> like for female political candidates in 2018, offering viewers rare insight into a political campaign—from struggles with political sexism and endless fundraising to the impact campaigning can have on personal lives. For these special episodes, producers from VICE News Tonight, the Emmy Award–winning half-hour nightly newscast from VICE Media and HBO, went behind-the-scenes of 30-year-old Democrat Katie Hill’s fight to become the Congressional representative in LA County's most conservative district. Filmed in real time, the episodes follow Hill and her young team as they maneuver the world of political spin, debates, and lobbying before advancing to the general election this November.
New York City, NY; NYC
7:30 pm
free, no reservation required