free things to do in New York City
Free events for Wednesday, 10/20/21
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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 October 20, 2021?

28 free events take place on Wednesday, October 20 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 October 20 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 October . 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!

28 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Wednesday, October 20, 2021

All events are free unless otherwise noted.
        

Workshop | Drawing Nature in a Park


Practice your art at a beautiful place with views of the river and gardens. Bring your own art supplies: drawing boards, paints, water. Paper will be offered.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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11:00 am
Free

Book Discussion | Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer Discusses His Book The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics (online)


The 83-year-old justice makes a plea for Americans not to lose faith in the United States Supreme Court.
   New York City, NY; NYC
11:00 am
Free

Museums | Folk Art: Diverse and Rich


The museum's collection includes more than eight thousand works of art from four centuries and nearly every continent--from compelling portraits and dazzling quilts to powerful works by living artists in a variety of mediums. Proof of vaccination, ID, masks are required. Museum is open Wednesday - Sunday, 11:30 am - 6:00 pm.
   New York City, NY; NYC
11:30 am
Free

Discussion | Curating and Conserving New Media Work (online)


A discussion with Sara Tucker, Director of Information Technology at Dia Art Foundation, and Tim Murray, Curator of the Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art at Cornell University
   New York City, NY; NYC
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12:00 pm
Free

Workshop | Pilates Outdoors


Join Janessa for a fun 45-minute Pilates Mat class in the great outdoors. You will strengthen, lengthen, tone and align your body while also boosting your energy, your mood, and your wellbeing. Bring your own mat. Proof of full vaccination and masks are required.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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12:00 pm
Free

Conference | The Cities Summit: An Exploration of the Future of American Cities in a Post-Pandemic World (online)


The pandemic has forever changed our cities, making our vision for them both urgent and open to new possibilities. Key players from the worlds of architecture, urban planning, design, the arts and more convene to explore what makes a city great and what is needed to achieve that. The summit explores the New York City of the future, the renewal of America's cities and how to make them more equitable, the role of architecture in social change, new ideas for public transportation, parks and open spaces, the potential for arts as engines of renewal, the psychology of design and more.
   New York City, NY; NYC
12:00 pm
Free

Workshop | Lunchtime Meditation (livestream)


Connect with your core self and nourish your soul with a meditation. Kundalini Yoga breathing technique will help you reduce stress, increase your focus, and balance your emotion. All levels are welcome. Each Wed through December 15, 2021.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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12:30 pm
Free

Discussion | QAnon and Antisemitism: A Dangerous Nexus (online)


QAnon began in 2017, when a mysterious figure named "Q" started posting on the online message board 4chan, claiming to have inside access to government secrets. Since then, QAnon has grown into a conspiracy movement that claims Satan-worshipping pedophiles secretly rule the world. Many of the antisemitic beliefs that lie at the core of the conspiracy echo the dangerous lies espoused in Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This is a program exploring the echoes of antisemitism in QAnon with CNN Senior Political Analyst and Anchor John Avlon, whose new digital series examines history behind the rise of QAnon and other recent conspiracies in the United States. Avlon will be joined by Dr. Mia Bloom and Dr. Sophia Moskalenko, the authors of Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon; and Paul Salmons, a Holocaust education specialist, curator of Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away, chief curator of Seeing Auschwitz, and consultant to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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2:00 pm
Free

Discussion | The Year of Uncertainty at the Queens Museum (online)


This year, the Queens Museum embraces the “intolerable uncertainty” of our time by embarking on a process of institutional self-exploration, while strengthening connections between the museum and its communities to create new possibilities for culture, kinship, and mutual support. Join Queens Museum President and Executive Director Sally Tallant, Public Programs Manager Catherine Grau, Director of Education Kimaada Le Gendre, and artist-in-residence Julian Louis Phillips to explore how a new kind of institution can embrace the unknown.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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2:00 pm
Free

Workshop | Art Class Outdoors: Public Art, Architectural Forms, Landscape and More


You will take a short walk through the park to the location for the lesson. Supplies such as paper, stools will be provided. Bring your own drawing/painting media. Led by an art instructor.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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2:30 pm
Free

Tour | Bolivia: The Valley of The Souls (livestream)


Valle de las Animas (The Valley of The Souls) The name of the valley has two possible explanations: the first is the one referred by the local community members who affirm that in the sector the wind produces pitiful sounds when passing between the formations; the second is that the elongated shapes of the formations suggest the silhouettes of spirits. The valley contains geological formations that resemble gigantic needles and pointed watchtowers of castles 30 to 70 meters tall. The plateau and the 'Laguna de las Animas' are part of this landscape that offers an exceptional view of Illimani and the other snow-capped mountains of the Cordillera. This is a site that defies nature, due to the present morphology molded by natural factors.
   New York City, NY; NYC
3:00 pm
Free

Author Reading | Don't Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantanamo (online)


At the age of 18, Mansoor Adayfi left his home in Yemen for a cultural mission to Afghanistan. He never returned. Kidnapped by warlords and then sold to the US after 9/11, he was disappeared to Guantánamo Bay, where he spent the next 15 years as Detainee #441. His book tells two coming-of-age stories in parallel: a makeshift island outpost becoming the world's most notorious prison and an innocent young man emerging from its darkness. Arriving as a stubborn teenager, Mansoor survived the camp's infamous interrogation program and became a feared and hardened resistance fighter leading prison riots and hunger strikes.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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4:30 pm
Free

Author Reading | Chasing Ghosts: A Tour of Our Fascination with Spirits and the Supernatural (online)


Author Marc Hartzman, "one of America's leading connoisseurs of the bizarre" (ABC News), details how his passion for the unusual started with Ripley's Believe It Or Not and the annual Guinness World Records books during his youth.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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5:00 pm
$5

Workshop | Practice Your Yo Yo Skills and Learn New Ones!


Yo yo! Demonstration and hands-on learning experience. Immerse yourself in the art of diabolo, a juggling act using a special type of yo-yo. All levels are welcome to watch and try. Yo-yos will be available on-site to practice!
   New York City, NY; NYC
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5:00 pm
Free

Workshop | Sunset Yoga


Join a class with Thai James. Bring your own mat. Proof of vaccination required.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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5:30 pm
Free

Workshop | Zumba in the Park


Sweat it out, outdoors. Wednesdays, September 15 - October 27, 2021
   New York City, NY; NYC
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5:30 pm
Free

Opening Reception | Portraits: A Group Exhibition


This project represents the beginning of a long-running engagement with the Asian American Art Centre’s vast, enlightening, and idiosyncratic collection, founded in 1974.   
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Discussion | Dancers Protecting Their Labor (online)


This dialogue unpacks the workforce experiences of dancers across genres and those who work to champion livelihoods in dance. Bringing together dance workers and advocates, the conversation offers a range of perspectives from a labor standpoint that respond to ongoing economic scarcity and inequity across the dance field, and point to collective ways to redefine current practices.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Concert | From Swing to R&B to 80's Pop Hits


Join a rotating cast of musicians curated by ArBuzz and Sharla, as they play everything from swing to R&B to 80's pop hits. Take a seat in the courtyard and enjoy the show. Food and drinks are available for purchase.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Discussion | Indigenous Communities and Environmental Justice (online)


Explore the legacy and continuing environmental impact of White settlement on the physical and cultural landscape of the Elem Pomo tribal lands at Clear Lake in Northern California and other indigenous communities. Hear from sovereign people of the present-day Elem Indian Colony about their strategies to confront environmental catastrophes such as the toxic, now-abandoned Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Discussion | Moon Tent Celebration: Sculpture and Gathering 


On October 2, 1982, artist Rosemary Mayer made a temporary monument named "Moon Tent" at the home of the art historian Robert Hobbs in Lansing, New York. There, she wrapped an existing rooftop gazebo with pale glassine paper and invited viewers to watch the full moon that night. The glow of the full moon was to light the paper, creating a temporary phenomenon that would disappear the next day. Mayer described it as a “ghost tent, proliferating ghosts and the ghosts of tents in changes of light.” Mayer made several drawings and posters for propositional "Moon Tents," including tents for New York rooftops. For this October full moon, SI invited New York based artist Olga Balema to modify the structure on the rooftop, and the artist has responded with a new sculpture that will be temporarily on view. As part of the celebration, artists Ei Arakawa and Sarah Chow will co-host a nighttime picnic for the reemergence of mingling. This return to socializing will include seasonal topics of conversation. "How is your new normal?" "What do we do now?" See link for COVID protocols.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:00 pm
Free

Workshop | Intro Class: Food for Thought: Eating for a Calm and Balanced Mind (online)


It is said that we are what we eat. The eastern science of Ayurveda embraces this concept by recognizing that the foods that we consume are intimately connected to the state of our minds. Intentional and conscious food choices can “feed” our mental well-being by bringing about calmness, groundedness and harmony. Similarly, unconscious consumption of food may create feelings of worry, anxiety, fear, depression, lethargy/dullness, agitation, anger and other mood swings. This program will empower us to make conscious and intentional food choices. Inspired by Ayurvedic principles, we will re-conceptualize the way we look and approach food. Rather than focusing on the mechanical composition (i.e., calories, fat, protein, etc.) of food, this event will focus on the properties (or “gunas”) and elements (ether, air, fire, water and earth) of food and their effects on the mind.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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6:30 pm
Free

Dance Performance | Cry: Alvin Ailey's Dance on Its 50th Anniversary (online; streaming through Nov. 2)


Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Alvin Ailey’s tour de force Cry with an encore streaming of a newly filmed performance featuring dancer Jacqueline Green. Mr. Ailey created the ballet as a birthday present for his mother and dedicated it to “all Black women, everywhere—especially our mothers.”
   New York City, NY; NYC
7:00 pm
Free

Performance | Live from Vietnam*: Honoring the Artist's Grandmother (online)


Dia Bui's performance leads to sacred ground to manifest ritual, word, and performance in honor of her ba ngoai (grandmother) and her bones in excavation. Bui will weave spoken word, choreography, improvisation, and even laughter into a co-experience.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free

Author Reading | North: A Novel of Intertwining Lives (livestream)


Critically acclaimed author Brad Kessler returns with a powerful new novel about the lives of a Vermont monk, a Somali refugee, and an Afghan war veteran.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free

Discussion | A Conversation with a Performance Artist


Betsy Damon (b. 1940) started doing performance with the Feminist Art Studio, which she founded at Cornell University in 1972. Activism and community-building have been central to her feminist practice. A leader among lesbian activists in New York, she co-edited the third issue of Heresies, Lesbian Art and Artists (1977), and participated in the first lesbian art show in the U.S., curated by Harmony Hammond (1978), and The Great American Lesbian Art Show at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles (1980).
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free

Discussion | Black History, Continued: Homecoming


As schools across the U.S. gear up for homecoming celebrations, whether in real life or virtually, this event explore homecoming at historically Black colleges and universities (known as HBCUs) with discussions about their legacy and Black girlhood, community and spirit. The New York Times’s Veronica Chambers and Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff will host Well-Read Black Girl founder Glory Edim; activist and author Jodie Patterson; managing director of the Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University, Christine Platt; media executive and founder of Native Son Emil Wilbekin; VICE correspondent Alzo Slade; and The Times’s Nikole Hannah-Jones. The evening will include inspiring music by Lucky Daye, Willard Hill and The Soul Rebels, and work from animation director Lyndon Barrois.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:00 pm
Free

Author Reading | A Time Outside This Time: A Novel About the Lies We Tell Ourselves (online)


Amitava Kumar's novel channels Orwell in a metafictional narrative that follows professor and author Satya in writing a new novel about the lies we tell ourselves and one another.
   New York City, NY; NYC
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7:30 pm
Free
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