free things to do in New York City
Free events for Friday, 05/21/21
<

May 2021

>
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031     
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 21, 2021?

22 free events take place on Friday, May 21 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 21 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!

Go!
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!

22 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Friday, May 21, 2021

All events are free unless otherwise noted.
        

Dance Performance | American Ballet Theatre: Five Ballets (virtual, streaming for 24 hours)


American Ballet Theatre presents five new works created by this year's cohort of choreographers. Program - She Didn't Choreography by Joseph Markey; Music by John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (My One and Only Love) and Taylor Deupree (Seep) - Death and Life Choreography by Sung Woo Han; Music by Alessandro Marcello, arranged by J.S. Bach (Adagio from Concerto No. 3 in D Minor) - Nunanu Choreography by Luciana Paris; Music by Future Natives Project (Erial featuring Rodrigo Aranjuelo & Federico Diaz) - Thread of Memories Choreography by Luigi Crispino; Music by Joe Hisaishi (Howl's Moving Castle Theme, Etude, A Wish to the Moon, One Summer's Day) - Soiree Nocturne Choreography by Melvin Lawovi; Music by Frederic Chopin (Nocturne No. 20 in C# Minor, Op. Posth.)
   New York City, NY; NYC
12:00 am
Free

Workshop | (IN-PERSON, outdoors) Pilates Workshop


Dodge YMCA hosts a socially-distanced Pilates. Enhance your control, stability, coordination, endurance, balance, strength, and flexibility.  Fridays, May 7-October 29, 2021 Advanced registration is required. Registration opens every Tuesday at 10:00am for classes the following week.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
8:30 am
Free

Workshop | (IN-PERSON, outdoors) Tai Chi


Improve balance, strength and focus through gentle exercises. The sights and sounds of the river provide a serene background for the ancient flowing postures. • Masks and contact information required upon arrival. • Participants must maintain six feet of physical distance between households. • All programs will be held in accordance with New York State reopening guidance.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
8:30 am
Free

Symposium | As for Protocols: To Hold Things Together (Zoom)


A two-day symposium focusing on modes of social and institutional nodality and protocols of encounter and solidarity in our hyper-local and hyper-dispersed existence. It concludes the first year of the New School Vera List Center’s program cycle As for Protocols. Compositing real and speculative community and institutional models and proposing theoretical and practical elements of coalitional exchange, the symposium’s discursive strands seek to build aesthetic, poetic, and tactical forms of research, assembly, mobilization, and co-creation amid fraught unfolding realities.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
11:00 am
Free

Workshop | Tee Time on the Plaza


Putt putt your way through this 7-hole mini golf course. Grab a friend and make a day of it! May 10-27, 2021
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
11:30 am
Free

Screening | Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, Conducted by Herbert von Karajan (virtual)


When it comes to traversing Beethoven's nine symphonies, few conductors are as instantaneously associated with the works as Herbert von Karajan. The famed conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1955 in a performance of Beethoven's Fifth, at once the most popular and revolutionary of symphonies. A decade later, it was the Fifth that became the first Beethoven symphony Karajan recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic, ultimately leading to a complete cycle preserved on film. The streaming will be available until May 27th.
   New York City, NY; NYC
12:00 pm
Free

Concert | (IN-PERSON, outdoors) Piano Music in a Park


Piano concert series, showcasing ragtime, stride, and jazz pianists. Please wear a mask and practice social distancing.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
12:30 pm
Free

Gallery Talk | Treasures from the Permanent Collection: An Virtual Tour


Morgan docents guide you on an up-close virtual exploration and discussion of one of the many works in the institution’s treasured permanent collection.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
12:30 pm
Free

Tour | Morgan Library and Museum: Treasures from the Permanent Collection (virtual)


From the Morgan’s three Gutenberg Bibles to the intricately carved cylinder seals of Ancient Mesopotamia, join Morgan docents as they guide you on an up-close virtual exploration and discussion of one of the many works in the institution’s treasured permanent collection.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
12:30 pm
Free

Discussion | Towards Comprehensive Planning: Global Cities in Conversation


Many New Yorkers are seeking a more coordinated and collaborative approach to land use planning in the city, while others are comfortable with the status quo or feel New York is too complex for a comprehensive plan. NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s proposal for a new comprehensive planning framework outlined in Intro 2186 and the accompanying report, Planning Together: A New Comprehensive Planning Framework for New York City, comes at the end of the de Blasio administration and on the cusp of upcoming elections that will bring significant changes to every level of government. But what is a “comprehensive plan” and how have they been implemented in other cities? This is a virtual conversation examining the evolution of the comprehensive plan from a planning exercise to a dynamic governance framework. This discussion will illuminate best practices for bringing communities into the process early and often, and how comprehensive plans can assist in adapting to climate change, direct growth, and prioritize investments to address longstanding disparities between people and places.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
1:00 pm
Free

Jazz | Jazz and Strings: Live From The Czech Republic (virtual)


Streaming from the Dvořákova Olomouc Festival in the Czech Republic, this project from trumpeter Lukáš Oravec combines the characteristic sound of the artist’s jazz quartet with the orchestral mastery of the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra. All arrangements are by Russian conductor Pavel Klimashevsky.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
2:00 pm
Free

Gallery Talk | Édouard Vuillard: Sketches and Studies: An Virtual Tour


Isabelle Dervaux, Acquavella Curator and Head of the Morgan Library's Department, Modern & Contemporary Drawings, leads a virtual tour. Although better known for his paintings, Vuillard drew extensively throughout his life, largely in the pages of sketchbooks, which he kept in the privacy of his studio.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
3:00 pm
Free

Jazz | (IN-PERSON, outdoors) Jazz Band: Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and More


David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band is inspired by the noble jazz pioneers Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton and more. The band breathes life and passion into America's own great art form.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
4:00 pm
Free

Opening Reception | (IN-PERSON, indoors) Outside/Outsider: Artists Confront Mental Illness


A group show curated by Karen Gormandy and Issa Ibrahim.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
5:00 pm
Free

Classical Music | The Met's Balcony Bar from Home Featuring ETHEL and Friends in Concert (virtual)


Fix yourself a drink and experience The Met's Balcony Bar from home with ETHEL, one of the most acclaimed string quartets in the contemporary classical field. With an eye on tradition and an ear to the future, ETHEL is a leading force in concert music's reengagement with musical vernaculars, fusing diverse traditions into a vibrant sound. Expect familiar classical tunes mixed with a fair share of the group's signature cutting-edge repertoire. Guest artists and collaborators also make periodic appearances. ETHEL is Ralph Farris (viola), Kip Jones (violin), Dorothy Lawson (cello), and Corin Lee (violin).
   New York City, NY; NYC
5:00 pm
Free

Concert | (IN-PERSON, outdoors) Bossa Nova Live


Visit the courtyard for a socially distanced evening of live Brazilian music, featuring Bossa Nova band Rio 3-0: bassist Leonardo Lucini, drummer Arnaldo Buzack, and guitarist Billy Newman. Take a seat in the courtyard and enjoy the show. Food and drinks are available for purchase.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
6:00 pm
Free

Concert | (IN-PERSON, outdoors) Latin Music


Enjoy live salsa music with Cuarteto Guatac.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
6:00 pm
Free

Workshop | (IN-PERSON, outdoors) Sunset Singing Circle


Singer/songwriter Terre Roche leads this weekly singing program with the beautiful backdrop of the setting sun in NY Harbor. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned crooner, the singing circle is perfect for mellow melodies and healthy harmonizing. Participants are expected to bring their own equipment: blankets, instruments, water, etc. o Masks and contact information required upon arrival. o Participants must maintain six feet of physical distance between households. o All programs will be held in accordance with New York State reopening guidance.
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
Free

Jazz | Jazz Quintet: Rest in the Arms of Motherlands (virtual)


Composer/arranger Jihye Lee presents her all-female Korean jazz quintet. They will perform original compositions as well as arrangements of well-known songs. The Band: Jihye Lee - Composer, Arranger and Voice Hayoung Lyou - Keys Haeun Joo - Piano Jeonglim Yang - Bass Dayeon Seok - Drums
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
7:00 pm
Free

Opera | Met Opera: Verdi’s Nabucco (virtual, streaming for 23 hours)


Legendary superstar Plácido Domingo and Met Music Director Emeritus James Levine partner in this performance of the opera that first made composer Giuseppe Verdi famous. Domingo portrays Nabucco, the King of Babylon, who is supernaturally driven mad when he proclaims himself God, then restored to health when he repents. Liudmyla Monastyrska is the cruel and treacherous Abigaille, supposedly Nabucco’s oldest daughter but actually a slave, who seizes the crown and plots the death of her sister Fenena (Jamie Barton), who loves Ismaele (Russell Thomas), as does Abigaille. With Dmitry Belosselskiy as the High Priest of Jerusalem, Zaccaria. From January 7, 2017.
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
7:30 pm
Free

Jazz | Hayes Greenfield & Dean Johnson Duo: Live Jazz (virtual)


Hayes Greenfield has been working and living in New York City since the late 1970s. Hayes has earned awards in all of his endeavors, has released 10 critically acclaimed CD's under his own name, and traveled throughout the US, Canada, and Europe performing at international festivals, concerts, and clubs with his own bands. Dean Johnson, originally from Seattle WA, has been an active bassist in New York City for since 1980. Dean has also appeared on over 75 recordings with a variety of artists.  
   New York City, NY; NYC
Join the Club!
Go!
8:00 pm
Pay-what-you-can

Movie in a Park | (IN-PERSON, outdoors) Back To The Future (1985): Iconic American Film


Michael J. Fox stars as Marty McFly, a California teen sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, scientist Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd). Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Face masks are required. Bring a chair or a blanket.
   New York City, NY; NYC
8:15 pm
Free
Complimentary Tickets

to shows, concerts ... (CFT Deals!)

Theater | Family Theater Showcase

Regular Price: $49.50
CFT Member Price: $0.00

Dance Performance | High-Energy Dance by Acclaimed Choreographer

Regular Price: $49
CFT Member Price: $0.00
Join the Club!

Go!