free things to do in New York City
Free events for Friday, 05/03/24
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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 3, 2024?

39 free events take place on Friday, May 3 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 3 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!

39 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Friday, May 3, 2024

All events are free unless otherwise noted.

Editor's Picks

free events nyc Walk NYC Festival: Walks Across the Five Boroughs
free events nyc October 7th, 06:29AM: An Immersive Exhibition on Nova Music Festival Massacre
free events nyc Grand Art Fair: Over 130 Artists from Around the World Showcase their Work
More Editor's Picks for 05/03/24
        

Conference | Vienna 1900: Birth of a Visionary Movement


The opening panel of a two-day conference with renowned experts from Austria, the US and Great Britain. Vienna 1900 has become a hallmark for the city's outstanding innovative capacities in formulating modern thought and highlighting the paradoxes of modernity. Renowned experts from Austria, the US and Great Britain will present the latest research on this topic and reflect on potentialities for cultural and societal innovation in the 2020s.
   New York City, NY; NYC
9:00 am
Free

City Walk | Walk NYC Festival: Walks Across the Five Boroughs


The annual Walk NYC festival presents dozens of free walks exploring NYC history, culture, advocacy, and more. This volunteer-led celebration of city life has always been a time to come together and share our love for New York City. During the festival weekend, explore a new part of town or learn more about your neighborhood.
   New York City, NY; NYC
9:00 am
Free

Symposium | The Future of Press Freedom: Democracy, Law, and the News (in-person and online)


An interdisciplinary group of scholars gather for a symposium aimed at identifying and protecting core press functions amid a changing news landscape.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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9:15 am
Free

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
10:00 am
Free

Fair | October 7th, 06:29AM: An Immersive Exhibition on Nova Music Festival Massacre


To celebrate the end of his two years of service as a medic in the Israel Defense Forces' paratrooper division, Tomer Meir joined 13 of his friends at the Nova Musica Festival on the weekend of October 6 in Re'im in southern Israel. It was his first ever music festival. "It was the best moments of my life. I can't explain the state we were in," the 21-year-old told the New York Jewish Week. "It was pure love -- people dancing, laughing, smiling. All the good stuff that we're living for." Until 6:29 a.m. on Saturday morning. The red alerts, the rockets and the running. "The music stopped. The rockets started. We started running for our lives," Meir said. Meir is a survivor of the Nova Music Festival Massacre, where Hamas militants killed 364 festival-goers and took at least 40 hotstages on the morning of Oct. 7. Six months after the attack, Meir is in New York sharing his story as part of an interactive exhibit about that day, which he says is helping him heal. The Nova Musical Festival exhibition, titled October 7th, 06:29AM, is an immersive step into what it was like to be at the festival when it was attacked. Screens show clips from the attack on Nova are displayed next to personal and camping items taken from the festival recreating the festival layout. The exhibit, which debuted in Tel Aviv for 10 weeks in December, was created by Israeli designers and cultural producers, many of whom were producers with the Nova Music Festival itself. It was brought to New York with the help of Scooter Braun, the Jewish-American music producer and philanthropist. The exhibit recreates the visuals and sounds of the Nova Music Festival massacre. But the New York version is in some ways "more intense," according to Yael Finkelstein, a volunteer who collected items from the Nova site and helped set up both the Tel Aviv and New York exhibit. New elements at the New York exhibit include dozens of video testimonies from survivors, Zaka volunteers and family members, as well as graphic raw footage taken on Oct. 7 from both festival-goers and Hamas militants. In addition, survivors of the massacre such as Meir and Sassi will be at the exhibit every day to share their stories and answer questions. Their goal, Meir said, is to show New Yorkers that the horror they experienced could happen to anyone.
   New York City, NY; NYC
10:00 am
$3

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


Explore the museum's exhibitions and attend a tour, workshop, performance, or activity throughout the day.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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10:00 am
Free

Master Class | Percussion Demonstration


Percussion Demonstration with Jakob Weber.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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10:00 am
Free

Symposium | Institutional Psychotherapy: Legacy and Constellations of Francesc Tosquelles (online)


Situated at the intersection of art and psychiatry, the exhibition Francesc Tosquelles: Avant-Garde Psychiatry and the Birth of Art Brut explores for the first time in the United States the legacy of Catalan psychiatrist Francesc Tosquelles. After fleeing the Nationalist government of Franco amidst the Spanish Civil War, Tosquelles arrived in 1940 at the Saint-Alban psychiatric hospital in Southern France, where he devised a series of revolutionary psychiatric practices. This symposium will draw from the themes and contributions featured in the multi-author English accompanying publication (edited by AFAM’s exhibition co-curators Carles Guerra, Joana Masó, Valérie Rousseau and Edward Dioguardi), as well as by Joana Masó’s English anthology on Tosquelles.  Conceived as an interdisciplinary dialogue, this online symposium will chart the history of the Saint-Alban “asylum-village,” while studying past and present significance of “institutional psychotherapy”. Akin to Tosquelles’ methodologies and epistemologies, the symposium will not offer a doctrinal survey about pioneering psychiatry and occupational therapy. Instead, the presentations will guide us through experiences, artworks and archival materials to reexamine mental health history and reconsider it in a larger political, social, and cultural context.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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11:00 am
Free

Master Class | Adult Community Choir


Come and experience the joy of singing! This beginner, non-auditioned group welcomes all who love to sing. You will learn healthy singing habits, warmups, and how to find your own voice as you sing with a group. The class will sing and study music of many styles and genres like jazz, Latin, soul, choral, gospel, folk, and music from around the world. Everyone is welcome; no experience necessary!  The class will culminate with a final public performance.  Classes will meet Fridays, March 1st - May 10th from 12pm-1:15pm. The final performance date is May 17th at 12pm. Registration is required, and class size is limited. Participants should plan to attend all sessions. 
   New York City, NY; NYC
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12:00 pm
Free

Workshop | Learn Juggling in the Park


Get in 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

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 | Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature: Exhibition Tour (online)


Explore the fascinating life of Beatrix Potter through a virtual docent-led discussion of Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature. Best known as the author and artist of classic children’s books, Potter’s most beloved characters and settings were inspired by real-life places and animals. This program looks at her accomplishments as an artist, scientist, farmer, and conservationist.
   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: Terry Waldo.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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12:30 pm
Free

Film | Strays (2023) with Will Ferrell, Isla Fisher, Jamie Foxx, and Sofia Vergara


Abandoned on the mean city streets by his lowlife owner, Doug, a naive but lovable dog named Reggie falls in with a fast-talking, foul-mouthed Boston Terrier and his gang of strays. Determined to seek revenge, Reggie and his new canine pals embark on an epic adventure to get him home and make Doug pay for his dirty deed. Director: Josh Greenbaum Cast: Will Ferrell, Isla Fisher, Jamie Foxx, Sofia Vergara Will Ferrell is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. Ferrell first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where he performed from 1995 to 2002, and has subsequently starred in comedy films such as Elf (2003), Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Kicking & Screaming (2005), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), Semi-Pro (2008), Step Brothers (2008), and Land of the Lost (2009). Isla Fisher is an Australian actress. She has starred in films such as Wedding Crashers (2005), Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009), Bachelorette (2012), The Great Gatsby (2013), and more. Jamie Foxx is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He received acclaim for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the film Ray (2004), winning the Academy Award, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. That same year, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the crime film Collateral. Sof?a Vergara is a Colombian and American actress and television personality. She is known for her role as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in the ABC sitcom Modern Family (2009-2020) and drug lord Griselda Blanco in the miniseries Griselda (2024). For the former, she was nominated for four Golden Globe Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards. The role established her as one of the highest-paid actresses in America.
   New York City, NY; NYC
1:00 pm
Free

Film | Poor Things (2023) with Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, and Willem Dafoe


Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, a young woman runs off with a lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation. Director: Yorgos Lanthimos Cast: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef. Christopher Abbott, Jerrod Carmichael Emma Stone is an American actress and producer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. In 2017, she was the world's highest-paid actress and named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Mark Ruffalo is an American actor. He starred in the romantic comedies 13 Going on 30 (2004), Just like Heaven (2005) and the thrillers In the Cut (2003), Zodiac (2007), and Shutter Island (2010). He received a Tony Award nomination for his supporting role in the Broadway revival of Awake and Sing! in 2006. Ruffalo gained international recognition for playing Bruce Banner / Hulk since 2012 in the superhero franchise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Willem Dafoe is an American actor. Known for his prolific career portraying diverse roles in both mainstream and arthouse films, he is the recipient of various accolades, including nominations for four Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and four Golden Globe Awards.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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2:00 pm
Free

Symposium | The Performance and Politics of Truth (in-person and online)


This half-day symposium puts Foucault into contact with performance and performance theory. As Tony Fisher and Kélina Gotman observe in Foucault’s Theatres (2020), although Foucault's work has been keenly influential for many scholars of performance, direct engagement of his work that starts with performance practice and theory has been surprisingly scant. Participants in this event will take up this challenge, asking: What would it mean to take seriously the art in Foucault’s famous analysis of the “art of government”? What does an analysis of and from performance and the performative bring to our understanding of the contemporary politics of truth-telling? This symposium is part of the World Congress, Foucault: 40 Years After.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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2:00 pm
Free

Fair | Grand Art Fair: Over 130 Artists from Around the World Showcase their Work


The 3-day art fair (May 3-5) presents cutting-edge works by over 130 artists from New York City and around the world. Expect hands-on live art demos, performances, panel discussions and soundtrack of tunes from Byrne to Bossa to Bowie (and everything in between).
   New York City, NY; NYC
3:00 pm
$23...

Concert | Pop, Folk, Motown, Jazz and More in the Park


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

Play | Leo's Requiem: The Grief of the Young Black Man


Darius M. Buckley's play follows the story of a young black composer/conductor in residence at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra who's searching for words to set for his next commission. When he rediscovers a notebook of his late childhood friend’s poetry, he unearths a rainstorm of pain, memories and inspiration. This play with music, structured as a requiem mass itself, explores grief in young men of color, and the divine power of music that heals those wounds. A student production.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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3:30 pm
Free

Lecture | What is Buried in a Mass Grave? Earthen Transmutations and Capitalist Flows in Colombia


Speaker: Dr. Sebastian Ramirez, Princton University
   New York City, NY; NYC
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4:15 pm
Free

Book Discussion | Marxism and the Capitalist State: Authors' Roundtable


This event presents a panel of authors from an edited collection that builds on the recent revival of interest in Marx and Marxism, calling for a renewal and refinement of Marxist state theory. It aims to provoke and encourage new debates and critiques that build on the rich tradition of Marxist analyses of the capitalist state. The chapters share a commitment to an understanding of the specifically capitalist character of the modern state and its significance for any serious discussion of the causes of our current age of global catastrophe and the overcoming of capitalist social relations.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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4:30 pm
Free

Opening Reception | Silvester Hustito a.k.a. Sobé, Why Am I Alive Now?


The first New York solo exhibition by Silvester Hustito a.k.a. Sobé, a self-taught A:Shiwi (Zuni) artist born and raised in Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, a vibrant artists’ colony. 
   New York City, NY; NYC
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5:00 pm
Free

Birdwatching | Evening Birding Tour


Discover the surprising diversity of birds that call the park home during migratory season, with guided tours led by environmental educator and urban naturalist Gabriel Willow. The 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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5:00 pm
Free

Lecture | The Burning Beach and the Stumbling Stone: Glissant and Derrida’s Errant Landscapes


This talk stems from a larger project that seeks to offer a dialogical reading between the works of Édouard Glissant and Jacques Derrida. How, at the dawn of the 21st century, did Glissant and Derrida foreshadow the current reflection on what Achille Mbembe calls the conditions of our “planetary habitability.” Speaker Oana Panaïté is Ruth N. Halls Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Indiana University – Bloomington.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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5:00 pm
Free

Opening Reception | Gesture & Form: Women in Abstraction


This show brings together twenty modern and contemporary artists working within the mode of abstraction. In recent years, greater efforts have been made to remediate the imbalanced presence of women artists in the story of abstract painting, and this exhibition engages in that change by celebrating the formidable contributions of these painting giants, past and present.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Performance | Help Wanted: Single Feminist Mother of a Teenage Boy Looks for Support


Using the stand-up style, the protagonist tells her story and her challenges as a feminist and as a mother of her teenage son.  In Italian with English Supertitles
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Opening Reception | Lauren Quin: Logopanic


Lauren Quin's first solo exhibition in New York brings together new paintings by the Los Angeles-based artist. In Quin’s paintings, form occupies a fugue state. The artist builds her compositions methodically, layer by layer, only to scrape through them, carving channels that spiderweb across the picture. Both sedimentary and archaeological, Quin's works are as much excavated as painted.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Film | Past Lives (2023): Reunited After Twenty Years


Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrested apart after Nora's family emigrates from South Korea. Twenty years later, they are reunited for one fateful week as they confront notions of love and destiny. Director: Celine Song Stars: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro 105 min.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Book Discussion | The Alternatives by Caoilinn Hughes


Author Caoilinn Hughes discussed her new novel, The Alternatives, with fellow author Brandon Taylor. The Flattery sisters were plunged prematurely into adulthood when their parents died in tragic circumstances. Now in their thirties—all single, all with PhDs—they are each attempting to do meaningful work in a rapidly foundering world. The four lead disparate, distanced lives, from classrooms in Connecticut to ritzy catering gigs in London’s Notting Hill, until one day their oldest sister, a geologist haunted by a terrible awareness of the earth’s future, abruptly vanishes from her work and home. Together for the first time in years, the Flatterys descend on the Irish countryside in search of a sister who doesn’t want to be found. Sheltered in a derelict bungalow, they reach into their common past, confronting both old wounds and a desperately uncertain future. Warm, fiercely witty, and unexpectedly hopeful, The Alternatives is an unforgettable portrait of a family perched on our collective precipice, told by one of Ireland’s most gifted storytellers.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Jazz | Jazz Bass


Ronan McKinnon, Bass.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Book Discussion | Loss, A Love Story: Imagined Histories and Brief Encounters


Part memoir, part imagined history, this unique personal essay depicts the intimate experience of childhood bereavement, lost love affairs, and the complicated realities of motherhood and marriage. Framed by an extended train journey, author Sophie Ratcliffe turns to the novels, novelists, and heroines who have shaped her emotional and romantic landscapes. She transports us with her to survey the messiness of everyday life, all while reflecting on steam propulsion and pop songs, handbags and honeymoons, Anna Karenina and Anthony Trollope, former lovers and forgotten muses. Frank, funny, tender, and transporting, Loss, A Love Story asks why we fall in, and out, of love—and how we might understand doing so amid the ongoing upheavals and unwritten futures of the twenty-first century.   
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:30 pm
$5

Concert | The Long Impact of Viennese Modernism: Children's Songs and Forbidden Songs from Persecuted Composers


A concert with soprano Lydia Rathkolb and pianist Thomas Lausmann and a pre-concert lecture by Professor Oliver Rathkolb.
   New York City, NY; NYC
6:30 pm
Free

Classical Music | CANCELLED: Works for Horn, Violin, and Piano


Lisa Pike, horn; Claudia Shaer, violin; Judith Olson, piano. All Benjamin Lees (1924-2010) Program Sonata for Horn and Piano Odyssey No. 3 Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free

Comedy Club | 5 Stand-Up Comics Take the Stage


When the photographer and filmmaker Marcus Russell Price is behind the lens, a picture often captures a thousand laughs. As an accomplished director for specials by Nimesh Patel and Seaton Smith, as well as a capturer of candid shots for Hollywood artists like Hannibal Buress, Amy Schumer and John Mulaney, Price's keen eye snaps the split second moments before and after a joke lands with laser precision. His personal relationships with luminaries such as Pete Davidson, Aziz Ansari, and Ronny Chieng have opened the door for him to craft uniquely casual portraits of performers at rest and at their best. Now, Price curates his own superb stand-up series, featuring Gavin Matts (Conan), Joyelle Nicole Johnson (Late Night with Seth Meyers), Jordan Rock (Def Comedy Jam), Joseph Dardano (Wild 'N Out), and Rosebud Baker (SNL). Get ready for an unforgettable evening of wit and wisdom from renowned favorites and rising stars brought to you by the insider's insider of comedy.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:30 pm
Free

Play | Phantasmagoria: A Work of Horror Theater


9 college students gather for an unforgettable evening under the guise of a group project. An apartment party ensues where shenanigans, witchcraft, and secrets unfold in unforeseen events. Phantasmagoria was the first practical iteration of “horror theater” where special lighting effects were used to scare the audience into thinking there were spirits in the room. Come join a night of debauchery and truth telling. Devised by Amelia Baker, Jack Cavanaugh-Gialloreto, Katty Gisselle Christian, Willa Falvey, Rachel Gerhard, Ryen Hilton, Annabel McConnachie, Mana Noda, and Allison Tichavsky Directed by Ana Marganieu Cast: Amelia Baker, Jack Cavanaugh-Gialloreto, Katty Gisselle Christian, Willa Falvey, Rachel Gerhard, Ryen Hilton, Annabel McConnachie, Mana Noda, and Allison Tichavsky
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:30 pm
Free

Festival | Illumination Light Art Festival


Immerse yourself in a one-of-a-kind outdoor light festival. See the neighborhood in a whole new light, interact with light-based creations, dance to DJs under the stars, and catch a surprise performance or two.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:30 pm
Free

Play | Leo's Requiem: The Grief of the Young Black Man


Darius M. Buckley's play follows the story of a young black composer/conductor in residence at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra who's searching for words to set for his next commission. When he rediscovers a notebook of his late childhood friend’s poetry, he unearths a rainstorm of pain, memories and inspiration. This play with music, structured as a requiem mass itself, explores grief in young men of color, and the divine power of music that heals those wounds. A student production.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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8:00 pm
Free

Performance | Sciara - Prima C'Agghiorna: Italian Mafia Drama


The compelling human and judicial story of Francesca Serio, the first woman to denounce the mafia and mother of Salvatore Carnevale, the trade unionist barbarously killed by the mafia on May 16 1955. Directed by Giovanni Carta 73 min. In Italian with English supertitles
   New York City, NY; NYC
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8:00 pm
Free

Jazz | Jazz Trumpet


Michael Golub, Trumpet.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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8:00 pm
Free
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