free things to do in New York City
Free events for Friday, 05/05/23
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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 5, 2023?

37 free events take place on Friday, May 5 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 5 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.
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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!

37 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Friday, May 5, 2023

All events are free unless otherwise noted.

Editor's Picks

free events nyc The Arrangement: The Lies We Tell Ourselves
free events nyc Concert in the Park: Pop, Jazz, Country, R&B, and More
free events nyc Works by Robert Schumann and More for Viola and Piano
free events nyc K-Pop Dance Night
free events nyc LIVESTREAM at an in-door public place: New York Philharmonic performs Shostakovich, Respighi, and More
More Editor's Picks for 05/05/23
        

Tour | 13 Tours, All City Neighborhoods, Any Time Of The Day, Choose One Tour Or Many


These free tours take place at various times during the day, all day long. You can make reservations 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
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10:00 am
Free

Festival | First Friday: Exhibitions, Tours, Workshops, Performances


Explore the museum's exhibitions and attend a tour, workshop, performance, or activity throughout the day. Here's the day's entire lineup of activities: 1-8pm MKC Threads Heatpatch Totes 3pm The Chinese Red Envelope as an Artistic Gift 5pm  Community Care through Art with Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya objects and artifacts that hold special significance to them. Questions strongly encouraged. 7pm Choy Lay Fut Lion Dance 7:30pm Happy Hour  
   New York City, NY; NYC
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10:00 am
Free

Lecture | Making Materials Strange: Gold, Wood, and Bronze (online)


Leading minds and rising voices of their fields explore new avenues of research in art history, visual culture, education, and cultural heritage preservation. The Met’s fellows present cross-cultural and transhistorical connections throughout The Met collection that go beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries, bridging the visual arts and other areas of the humanities, social sciences, performing arts, and fine arts.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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10:00 am
Free

Workshop | Juggling in the Park


Jugglers use the park throughout the year to provide free classes to the public. Stop by for a quick lesson, stay for the whole time, or just enjoy watching them 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

Slide Lecture | MTA Arts and Design (in-person and online)


With art historian and lecturer Sylvia Laudien-Meo.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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12:00 pm
Free

Classical Music | Bach at Noon (In Person and Online)


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

Gallery Talk | Claude Gillot: Satire in the Age of Reason: Exhibition Tour (online)


A session on 18th century French artist Claude Gillot, the innovative, brilliant outlier of his age whose work inspired so many artists who followed. We'll explore his diverse talents in the context of his time, and look closely at a few of his most engaging works.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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12:30 pm
Free

Concert | Piano in the Park


Come on by and tap your toes to The Big Apple's finest ragtime, stride, and jazz pianists around! Featuring special events and performances by distinguished musicians. Today's pianist: Todd Robbins.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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12:30 pm
Free

Film | Krush Groove (1985): musical comedy-drama


Russell Walker has signed all of the hottest acts to his Krush Groove record label, including Run-D.M.C., Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, and Kurtis Blow. Rick Rubin produces their records. When Run-D.M.C. has a hit record and Russell doesn't have the money to press records, he borrows money from a street hustler. At the same time, Russell and his brother Run are both competing for the heart of R&B singer-percussionist Sheila E. Director: Michael Schultz Cast: Sheila E., Run-D.M.C., The Fat Boys, Kurtis Blow, Blair Underwood, New Edition, LL Cool J
   New York City, NY; NYC
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1:00 pm
Free

Talk | Artist Talk: Work in Glass (online)


Meet Ghanaian artist Anthony Amoako-Attah, whose work in glass uses the language of Kente cloth to explore themes of personal and tribal identity, migration, integration, and globalization.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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1:00 pm
Free

Lecture | Music, Monks, and Monasteries: Perspectives from India, China, and Beyond (online)


Leading minds and rising voices of their fields explore new avenues of research in art history, visual culture, education, and cultural heritage preservation. The Met’s fellows present cross-cultural and transhistorical connections throughout The Met collection that go beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries, bridging the visual arts and other areas of the humanities, social sciences, performing arts, and fine arts.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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1:00 pm
Free

Workshop | Enjoy an afternoon of crafting and conversation


Bring your own project or choose something from a provided collection to work on during this freeform crafting workshop. The workshop will include materials for sewing, knitting, crochet, coloring, paper crafts, and puzzles.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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1:30 pm
Free

Play | The Arrangement: The Lies We Tell Ourselves


Longtime sweethearts Jonathan and Emily have made arrangements. Now in their thirties, they plan on buying a house in the suburbs and starting a family. Then why does Jonathan's boss suspect him for a cheat? An indictment of the lies we tell ourselves; Sam Kressner's The Arrangement is an evisceration of suburban upper middle-class morality and the compromises we make in order to keep up with the arrangements of others.
   New York City, NY; NYC
2:00 pm
Free

Book Discussion | The Costs of Completion: Student Success in Community College


In her book, Dr. Robin Isserles contextualizes the completion crisis as an artifact of the neoliberal thinking and practices that have shaped higher public education over the past 30 years. Drawing on more than twenty years of teaching, advising, and researching first-generation community college students, Dr. Isserles offers a deeper, more complex understanding of who community college students are, why and how they enroll, and what higher education institutions can do to better support them.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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3:00 pm
Free

Concert | Concert in the Park: Pop, Jazz, Country, R&B, and More


The Gramercy Street Band showcases a variety of well-known pop, folk, jazz, Motown, country, soft rock, and R&B music. The band is a New York City group of friends and music lovers who are inspired to bring entertainment and joy to communities.
   New York City, NY; NYC
3:00 pm
Free

Book Discussion | Remnants: Embodied Archives of the Armenian Genocide


Foremost among the images of the Armenian Genocide is the specter of tattooed Islamized Armenian women. Blue tribal tattoos that covered face and body signified assimilation into Muslim Bedouin and Kurdish households. Among Armenians, the tattooed survivor was seen as a living ethnomartyr or, alternatively, a national stain, and the bodies of women and children figured centrally within the Armenian communal memory and humanitarian imaginary. In Remnants, these tattooed and scar-bearing bodies reveal a larger history, as the lived trauma of genocide is understood through bodies, skin, and—in what remains of those lives a century afterward—bones. With this book, Elyse Semerdjian offers a feminist reading of the Armenian Genocide. She explores how the Ottoman Armenian communal body was dis-membered, disfigured, and later re-membered by the survivor community. Gathering individual memories and archival fragments, she writes a deeply personal history, and issues a call to break open the archival record in order to embrace affect and memory. Traces of women and children rescued during and after the war are reconstructed to center the quietest voices in the historical record. This daring work embraces physical and archival remnants, the imprinted negatives of once living bodies, as a space of radical possibility within Armenian prosthetic memory and a necessary way to recognize the absence that remains.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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5:00 pm
Free

Workshop | New Games Social


Curious about a board game or looking to try something new? Games Hosts will be teaching how to play a wide range of fun board games every Friday.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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5:00 pm
Free

Opera | 125th Anniversary Tribute to Jules Bledsoe, Baritone


Elisabeth Stevens, soprano; Krysty Swann, mezzo soprano; Charles Williamson, tenor; and Martin Fisher, baritone. The Harlem Opera Theater, under Artistic Director Gregory Hopkins, presents a live performance in tribute to Jules Bledsoe (late 1890 - 1943), an American baritone. An exceptionally accomplished singer of classical music, spirituals, and contemporary show tunes of his time, Jules Bledsoe's powerful baritone voice won the hearts of audiences and critics around the country. He was also an extraordinary composer of vocal music. Born and raised in Texas, he transcended racial discrimination for his unforgettable performance in the original Broadway production of Show Boat. In 1921, he appeared in Shuffle Along, a hit all-black musical revue starring Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake. He studied with several prominent classical vocal teachers in New York, leading to his formal debut there in 1924. He received excellent notices for his performance of classical vocal pieces and spirituals arranged for solo voice. He was often compared to baritone Paul Robeson. Bledsoe was in high demand to perform in many major operas because of his impressive vocal range and ability to sing in multiple languages. His role in Show Boat became his best-known role, and he popularized Ol' Man River, a song from the musical. Although Bledsoe's productivity as a composer has yet to be fully cataloged, his vocal work ranged from spiritual settings to popular songs to opera. Registration required.
   New York City, NY; NYC
6:00 pm
Free

Film | Love and Death in Montmartre (2019): Documentary on Taiwanese Writer


Acclaimed filmmaker Evans Chan’s evocative documentary is a tribute to the life, work, love and death of Qiu Miaojin, the iconic, openly lesbian young writer and artist from Taiwan who took her own life in Paris in 1995. Weaving performance, interviews (including with her teacher Hélène Cixous and American poet Eileen Myles), and footage of Qiu’s short films, Chan’s deeply researched, and beautifully composed film places the self-exiled pioneer queer writer’s legacy in relation to Sinophone women literature as well as Taiwan’s gay rights movement that eventually led to the same-sex marriage law, the first in Asia, in Taiwan in 2019.    110 min. The post-screening panel features Evans Chan and Edwin Frank, joined remotely by Ari Larissa Heinrich and Shi-yan Chao.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Opening Reception | Machine Violence: Group Show


A show for this moment, a visually stunning exhibition of topical relevance. It will bring together works in all media from software to painting.  Several historic projects by digital pioneers (McCoys, Mattesses, Manetas) will be presented alongside current works of the new generation (Huntrezz, Damjanski).
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Opening Reception | Mark Handforth: Suggestive Sculptures


By employing elemental shapes, Handforth’s sculptures evoke a familiarity – not trees, not chimneys, not figures, and yet suggesting all of them at the same time. A twisting shank might be a ring, or a four, or any number of other recognizable shapes, bending where it will, where it can. Solid in their bearing but loose in their movement, the sculptures almost appear to be animate, to be simply making themselves. His sinuous, meandering forms draw directly from the lived landscape without ever directly picturing it; they situate themselves as things to be dealt with, dancers in your place and space, awkwardly beautiful. As at ease outside on the street as they are inside a room, the works exist in the world as part of one looping conversation.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Book Discussion | Sean Scully: Material World


Sean Scully in conversation with Raphy Sarkissian about the celebratory, exploratory materiality of Scully's abstract formalism to mark the publication of his monograph.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Screening | Native New York Film Festival


The Native New York Film Festival spotlights filmmakers, new films, fan favorites, and filmmaker discussions reflecting on what makes New York a Native place.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:30 pm
Free

Performance | I Am So Much Better Live: Today's Surreal World


Iconic TV, cinema, radio and theater actress Paola Minaccioni's characters appeared first on Italian media, offering an insight into our times. Her show is a surreal sequence of those characters that embody the doubts, fears and neuroses of today's world. Paola Minaccioni hides and reveals herself in these characters, guided by the notes of DJ Lady Coco. And yet, describing such a show is truly impossible as she is so much better in person. In Italian with English supertitles
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
Free

Screening | A Salute to the Copasetics: Tap Dance on Film


In honor of National Tap Dance Day, A Salute to the Copasetics presents on-line with rare footage, new work and other online content revisiting tap dance productions from the past direct from the archives.
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
$5

Classical Music | Works by Robert Schumann and More for Viola and Piano


Aundrey Mitchell, viola; and Judith Olson, piano. Program Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Marchenbilder (Pictures from Fairyland), Op. 113 Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), Morpheus Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), Chinese Puzzle Nino Rota (1911-1979), Intermezzo Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992), Le grand tango Seating is first come first serve.
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
Free

Opera | L'incoronazione di Poppea


Manhattan School of Music Graduate Opera; Jackson McKinnon, conductor; Chloe Treat, director. Music by Monteverdi (1567-1643). Libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello (1598-1659) Free tickets required.
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:30 pm
Free

Film | Sherlock Jr. (1924): Buster Keaton Classic with New Livre Score (in-person and online)


A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch. Director: Buster Keaton Stars: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton 45 min. Under the baton of Mark Gould, the College of Performing Arts Theater Orchestra will perform a live score to the film.
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:30 pm
Free

Play | The Mountaintop


The Mountaintop By Katori Hall Directed by Meikayla Thomany The Actors Studio Drama School presents its annual Repertory Season; in six weeks (through May 13) of theatre designed to introduce its graduating students to the professional world and the public in fully-professional productions of the work they have created during their three years of study. You will witness a weekly series of scenes, one-act plays, and full-length plays.  Vaccination proof is required.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:30 pm
Free

Festival | Illumination Spring Showcase


Step into a magical world of light and wonder at the Illumination Light Art Spring Showcase.. Kick off your spring with Illumination Light Art's first-ever Spring Showcase. Seven talented light artists, live performers, and DJs will transform the plaza into a dreamlike oasis. Explore and interact with exciting pieces produced by local New York-based light artists featuring a mixture of projection mapping, interactive video art, UV light art, and more! Dance to a different DJ every night Tuesday night to Saturday night as you wander and explore Illumination's outdoor gallery. Don't forget to bring your own light garb to take part in the festivities or check out our light shop where we will be selling all types of light merchandise!
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:30 pm
Free

Dancing | K-Pop Dance Night


K-Pop music has already influenced every kind of contemporary sound, from the Billboard charts to the Broadway stage. Its unstoppable beats and powerful melodies take over for a dance party series designed for all fans of the genre. The evening begins with a short movement tutorial and a dazzling showcase presentation, so bring a friend or meet a new one on the dance floor and prepare to live out all your K-Pop dreams. DJ Chen curates a set of songs performed by Korea's amazing groups.
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:30 pm
Free

Opera | Opera Theater: L'incoronazione di Poppea


Jackson McKinnon, conductor; Chloe Treat, director.
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:30 pm
Free

Movie in a Park | Moana (2016): Animated Disney Adventure


In Ancient Polynesia, when a terrible curse incurred by the Demigod Maui reaches Moana's island, she answers the Ocean's call to seek out the Demigod to set things right. Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker, Don Hall Stars: Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House 107 min.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:45 pm
Free

Classical Music | LIVESTREAM at an in-door public place: New York Philharmonic performs Shostakovich, Respighi, and More


This live-streamed performance is presented on the 50-foot Digital Wall at an in-door public place. New York Philharmonic; Leonidas Kavakos, violin; and Gianandrea Noseda, conductor, perform works by Shostakovich, Respighi, and George Walker. Program Shostakovich (1906-1975), Violin Concerto No. 1 George Walker (1922-2018), Sinfonia No. 1 Respighi (1879-1936), Roman Festivals About the Performers The New York Philharmonic, one of the leading world orchestras, was founded in 1842 by the American conductor Ureli Corelli Hill, with the aid of the Irish composer William Vincent Wallace. The first concert of the Philharmonic Society took place on December 7, 1842 in the Apollo Rooms on lower Broadway before an audience of 600. It is the oldest major symphony orchestra in the United States in continual existence and one of the oldest in the world. Leonidas Kavakos is recognised across the world as a violinist and artist of rare quality, acclaimed for his matchless technique, his captivating artistry, and his superb musicianship He works with the world's greatest orchestras and conductors and plays as recitalist in the world's premier recital halls and festivals. Kavakos has performed with YoYo Ma at Carnegie Hall, with the Singapore Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, and many more. Gianandrea Noseda is one of the world's most sought-after conductors, equally recognized for his artistry in both the concert hall and opera house. The 2022-2023 season marks his sixth as Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra. This event is an in-person livestream of the concert.
   New York City, NY; NYC
8:00 pm
Free
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Broadway | Broadway Show!

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Concert | Christmas Concert

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