free things to do in New York City
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Free Events, Free Things to Do in New York City! Read More
New York attracts world's best minds to its shores: they come here to interact with each other at conferences and seminars, and while they are here they are often invited to give a talk, a lecture, to be a part of a public discussion. We at Club Free Time give you an opportunity to be a part of it: to watch how those best minds in the world work! Don't miss the opportunities that only New York City (NYC) provides!
Join the Club!
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!
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!
144 free talks, lectures, discussions in New York City (NYC) Thu, 11/06/2025 - and on...
In New York City, you can talk with and listen to the best minds in the world without spending a dime! Just take a look at free talks, lectures, discussion, seminars, conferences listed on this page below!
Talk | Strategies for Workforce Development in Public Spaces (Online!)
Explore community-centered approaches to workforce development in the design and construction of public spaces. This virtual launch features a panel discussion with practitioners and program alums who will share insights from multi-city pilot programs, followed by best practices for creating living-wage careers, youth employment initiatives, and scalable workforce models.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 6
2:30 pm
Free
2:30 pm
Free
Symposium | Climate Scientist Discusses Trends & Projections in Climate Change & Hurricanes (In Person AND Online!)
The Ph.D. Program in Earth and Environmental Sciences at the CUNY Graduate Center presents a colloquium with Dr. Suzana Camargo on the Current Understanding of the Influence of Climate Change and Hurricanes: Trends and Future Projections. Dr. Camargo is Columbia's Professor of Climate at the Climate School and a Co-director of the Climate School Postdoctoral Program.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 6
4:15 pm
Free
4:15 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Fashion, Fascism, and Italy's Global Influence
Eugenia Paulicelli presents her book Fashion under Fascism: Beyond the Black Shirt in conversation with Valerie Steele. Explore how 1930s Italian dress shaped politics and continues to influence fashion worldwide. A book signing follows.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 6
5:30 pm
Free
5:30 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Learn about Indigenous North African Film from Experts
Habiba Boumlik and Lucy McNair discuss their recent work, Amazigh Cinema. Join Co-editor Lucy McNair and contributor and Festival founder Habiba Boumlik to learn about Amazigh film expression and this first edited collection in English on Indigenous North African Film, an outgrowth of the yearly New York Forum of Amazigh Film/NYFAF.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 6
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Understanding the Shared Idea of Progrees through the New Book, Progress & Regression
Rahel Jaeggi will be joined by Michele Moody-Adams (Columbia University), Jay Bernstein (The New School), and Jeff Flynn (Fordham University), for a panel discussion to celebrate the English translation of Jaeggi’s award-winning book, Progress and Regression. Progress and Regression: “argues that we are lost without a shared idea of progress. In the tradition of critical theory, Rahel Jaeggi defends a vision of progress that avoids Eurocentric and teleological distortions. Progress here is not an inevitable developmental trend but a kind of compass directing society’s never-ending journey toward emancipation. A nimble practitioner of dialectical reasoning, Jaeggi revitalizes progress by confronting its opposite: regression. Her analysis—sober and thoughtful, but urgent—reckons with the myriad signs of regression today, including growing inequality, ecological destruction, and above all the assault on educational institutions, critical thinking, and reason itself.”
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 6
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Talk | Hear from a Sculptor about Her Recent Public Project in NYC
Artist Torkwase Dyson and scholar Daphne A. Brooks discuss Akua, the artist’s first public project in New York City, and the sound research that bridges their respective crafts. Together, they will discuss Dyson’s architectural pavilion, on view in Brooklyn Bridge Park, as a porous encounter between sound, place, and history. The speakers will connect Brooks’s academic chronicling of Black female musicians to the seismic sonic landscapes found in Dyson’s compositions for Akua. Seating is first come, first served, so please arrive early. Your registration does not guarantee a seat. Doors will close at 6:45pm.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 6
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Book Discussion | The War of Art: Artists and Activism in America
Writer and editor Lauren O'Neill-Butler discusses her new book The War of Art: A History of Artists' Protest in America, an investigation into how artists have mobilized for political and social change from the 1960s to today. In conversation with artist Carrie Moyer, O'Neill-Butler reflects on artist-led movements addressing feminism, civil rights, LGBTQ+ visibility, Indigenous justice, and more. Through oral histories and archival research, the book highlights artists' collective power to shape culture and challenge institutions.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 6
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Experts Discuss How the Internet Affects the Economy
The legal scholar and former White House official Tim Wu examines how today’s tech giants extract wealth from ordinary citizens and deepen America’s class divide. In his new book, The Age of Extraction, Tim Wu explores how the internet has instead fueled the rise of new economic hierarchies and widened the wealth gap and deepened inequality. Wu, who famously coined the term “net neutrality,” charts the ascent of dominant tech platforms, the extraordinary power they wield, and the unprecedented ways they extract wealth, data, and attention from us all—reshaping both our economy and our society. Wu will be in conversation with Lina Khan, former Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, to discuss how society can reclaim control of our digital lives to build a fairer, more balanced economy.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 6
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Talk | Photographer Stephen Wilkes Explores His Personal Artistic Journey
Speaker Stephen Wilkes is a photographer, filmmaker, and National Geographic Explorer acclaimed for his ground-breaking work that bridges documentary storytelling and fine art. Since founding his New York City studio in 1983, Wilkes has built a distinguished career spanning editorial, commercial, and fine art photography, earning recognition as one of America's foremost visual artists.This talk traces a personal journey through his five decades as a photographer. Throughout each period, a unifying thread endures: a profound fascination with the passage of time and the nature of memory. Wilkes seeks to illuminate how we perceive and experience a place. Each body of work captures personal narratives while bearing witness to history, revealing the emotional essence of lived experience.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 6
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Conference | Experts Discuss Issues in Modern Philosophy: from Descartes, to Spinosa, to Kant
Attend the 20th aniversary of NYU's Conference on Issues in Modern Philosophy. This conference's theme is "intentionality." Program: 9:30-9:55 Check-in 9:55 Welcome 10:00-12:00 "Descartes on Intentionality, Attention, and Bringing an Object to Mind," Speaker: Amy Schmitter (University of Alberta) 12:00-2:00 Lunch Break 2:00-4:00 "Expression, Conception, and Thought in Spinoza," Speaker: Karolina Hubner (University of California, Los Angeles) 4:00-4:30 Coffee Break 4:30-6:30 Kant on the Intentionality of Feelings: The Principle of the Power of Judgment as the A Priori Principle of Feeling," Speaker: Alix Cohen (University of Notre Dame) 6:30-7:30 Reception
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 7
9:30 am
Free
9:30 am
Free
Conference | Exploring Eating Disorders & Life Writing, featuring Author Leslie Jamison
A conference exploring the questions that eating disorders pose for practitioners and theorists of life writing—that genre so concerned with the inscription and unraveling of individual identity. With a keynote from author and writing professor Leslie Jamison.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 7
10:00 am
Free
10:00 am
Free
Lecture | Expert Explores the Cognitive Benefits of Language Learning in Older Adults (In Person AND Online!)
Neurocognitive processes of language, cognition, and aging expert in Dr. Ladan Ghazi Saidi presents a talk on the Plastic Aging Brain: Language Learning as Cognitive Intervention in Older Adults. While the cognitive benefits of lifelong bilingualism are well-documented, the impact of acquiring a new language in later life remains relatively underexplored. Over the past five years, Dr. Saidi's team has conducted multiple behavioral and neuroimaging studies investigating the cognitive and neural outcomes of language learning in monolingual older adults as a non-pharmacological intervention for healthy cognitive aging. Behavioral and neuroimaging findings consistently demonstrate that new language learning in older adults leads to measurable improvements in cognitive control, including enhanced performance on global cognition, as well as executive function tasks and is associated with neuroplasticity in prefrontal and other cortical regions implicated in executive processing. The cognitive benefits appear to be moderated by factors such as intervention engagement and engagement time.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 7
12:30 pm
Free
12:30 pm
Free
Lecture | Anthropologist Discusses Islamic Ethics in Postwar Iran
Hear a talk from Farzad Amoozegar on Islamic ethics and the politics of care in postwar Iran. Farzad Amoozegar is a medical/psychological anthropologist and an ethnomusicologist. He is an assistant Professor in the Music Department at Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Farzad’s research examines the intersections of Islamic philosophy—particularly its theological and mystical dimensions—with anthropological approaches to death, disability and veteran studies, grief and loss, phenomenology and intersubjectivity, the ethics of care, political violence, health, and sound and sensory studies.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 7
4:15 pm
Free
4:15 pm
Free
Lecture | The German Occupation of Eastern Europe During World War I (In Person AND Online!)
Professor David Hamlin explores Germany’s occupation of Eastern Europe between 1914 and 1918, examining how military rule, economic policy, and cultural influence shaped the region during World War I. Drawing on his scholarship in imperial and financial history, Hamlin discusses how the occupation redefined Germany’s foreign policy and laid the groundwork for its future ambitions. There will be a Q&A session with Hamlin at the end of the lecture. Note: If planning to attend in person, business casual dress is required
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 7
5:00 pm
Free
5:00 pm
Free
Discussion | Exploring Light, Myth, and Memory in Contemporary Painting
In conjunction with the exhibition Spotlight: Srijon Chowdhury, a conversation brings together the artist, a leading cultural critic, and a curator to discuss the evocative symbolism, intimacy, and spirituality that animate Chowdhury’s work. The discussion will consider his approach to narrative and form within the broader landscape of contemporary painting.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 7
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion |
Exploring Reality and Surrealism: NYTimes critic, models, and gallery director discuss the photographer's work.
Listen as journalist Arthur Lubow moderates a discussion with models and the Staley-Wise Gallery director about the new book, Rodney Smith: Photography between Real and Surreal. The talk will explore working with Rodney and viewing art as an act of faith. Afterward, there will be a book signing. Note: Seating is limited and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 5:30 pm.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 7
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | Learn about the Art of F. Edwin Church
Enjoy an illustrated talk about the life and art of F. Edwin Church (1876–1975), presented by Janice L. Wiley, director of the F. Edwin Church Catalogue Raisonné Project. Despite sharing a name with the famous American landscape painter, Church became a celebrated artist in his own right. He chose to sign his paintings “F. Edwin Church” to distinguish himself professionally as he endeavored to create his own artistic identity. Rooted in the traditions of Impressionism and Japonisme, Church’s work nevertheless reflects modern life in the 20th century. Critics praised his opulent portraits of women in contemporary fashions blended with elements of Japanese art and design. He also found inspiration in the world around him, filling his canvases with vibrant flowers, birds, and urban and natural landscapes he encountered abroad and on Long Island.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 7
6:00 pm
$5, RSVP required
6:00 pm
$5, RSVP required
Conference | Experts Discuss Issues in Modern Philosophy
Attend the 20th aniversary of NYU's Conference on Issues in Modern Philosophy. This conference's theme is "intentionality." Program: 9:00–10:00 Check–in 10:00–12:00 “Brentano, Intentionality and the Marks of the Mental,” Speaker: Mark Textor (King’s College London) 12:00–2:00 Lunch Break 2:00–4:00 “Minds in the World: Collective Intentionality and the Problem of Internalism,” Speaker: Dan Zahavi (University of Copenhagen) 4:00–4:30 Coffee Break 4:30–6:30 “Conscious Intentionality: What Vision and Mood Teach Us,” Speaker: Uriah Kriegel (Rice University) 6:30–7:30 Reception
New York City, NY; NYC
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Sat, Nov 8
9:00 am
Free
9:00 am
Free
Discussion | From Street Theater to the Gig Economy
Artist Camille Henrot talks about her upcoming work Commedia dell’Arte with curator RoseLee Goldberg. The conversation looks at Henrot’s inspirations, from sixteenth-century Italian street theater to 1990s sitcoms, animated cartoons, and the rhythms of contemporary gig economy life, showing how the hybrid performance combines humor, chaos, and social commentary.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Sat, Nov 8
4:00 pm
Free
4:00 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | Insights Into Buffalo-Hide Painting and Indigenous Art
Poet and artist Layli Long Soldier discusses the practice of buffalo-hide painting through interviews with artists Daniel Long Soldier and Sonya Holy Eagle, exploring the intersections of visual art, storytelling, and cultural memory. Long Soldier, author of Whereas, a finalist for the National Book Award, often addresses the histories, languages, and lived experiences of Indigenous peoples in her work.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Sat, Nov 8
4:00 pm
Free
4:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Global Holocaust Studies: Voices and Memories Across Continents (In Person AND Online!)
Co-editors Mark Celinscak and Mehnaz Afridi explore Holocaust studies from a worldwide perspective in Global Approaches to the Holocaust. Essays examine memory and impact across Africa, Asia, the Americas, Australia, and the Middle East, expanding the conversation beyond traditional European narratives.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Sun, Nov 9
3:00 pm
Free
3:00 pm
Free
Symposium | Curatorial Conference Exploring Cultural Questions behind National Exhibition Formats (In Person AND Online!)
LAAAAAND: Curating Another Nation is a symposium gathering a diverse assembly of curators and artists. It is a panel discussion that will explore how art and curatorship can respond to this new and hazardous cultural context. Introduced by Peter N. Miller, President of the American Academy in Rome, a panel of curators and artists is invited to respond to a series of interconnected questions. The discussion is moderated by art critic and curator Nikki Columbus. In the first session of the panel, Jenny Lin and Dare Turner will draw from their research to explore how artists and curators can engage with the symbols of national identity. In the second session, Francesco Urbano Ragazzi will examine how to curate a national exhibition without falling into nationalist rhetoric. In the third and final section of LAAAAAND, Anton Vidokle and Claire Tancons will reflect on the role of the national dimension, positioned between the global ambition of art and its need to take root within specific territorial contexts. Ultimately, is it possible to conceive of national exhibition formats as instruments of resistance, or does their original mission compromise them from the start? In an era when nationalist worldviews are dangerously on the rise, LAAAAAND: Curating Another Nation is an effort to reclaim a conversation about the possible forms of human coexistence.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Nov 10
4:00 pm
Free
4:00 pm
Free
Lecture | Philosophy Expert Discusses the Misunderstood Legacy of Descartes
This lecture by philosopher expert Christia Mercer asks (and answers) the question, "If Descartes is not the father of modern philosophy, then what is he?" For generations, students have been told that Descartes invented the modern subjective individual and that his pivot to subjectivity was made possible by his innovative use of an evil deceiver whose powers can make false beliefs seem true. Descartes' doubter despairs until he grasps an indubitable truth: he is “a thinking thing.” The modern subjective individual seems miraculously born with a deceiving demon as its midwife. Professor Mercer argues in her lecture that this thrilling story is false, an invention of so-called enlightenment figures, who turned Descartes into a harbinger of their insights. She discusses the late medieval women who were the source of Descartes’ demon strategy, before asking “well, then, what is the significance of Descartes?” Christia Mercer is the Gustave M. Berne Professor of Philosophy, Director of Just Ideas, editor of Oxford Philosophical Concepts, co-editor of Oxford New Histories of Philosophy, and former chair of Lit Hum.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Nov 10
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Authors & Translators Discuss Works of Prominent Jewish Writers, Philip Roth & Hayim Nahman Bialik (In Person AND Online!)
Philip Roth and Hayim Nahman Bialik are some of the most celebrated writers in contemporary Jewish literature. Enjoy a conversation with Steven J. Zipperstein and Peter Cole about the enduring legacies of Roth and Bialik, led by Edward Hirsch. In his newly published biography of Roth (1933-2018), Philip Roth: Stung by Life, Zipperstein explores the complex life and astonishing work of one of America's most celebrated novelists. Roth wrote with relentless ambition, producing a wide-ranging body of work--from Goodbye, Columbus to American Pastoral--that grappled with sex, identity, and American Jewishness. In On the Slaughter, translated and introduced by MacArthur-winning poet Peter Cole, the poetry of Hayim Nahman Bialik (1873-1934) emerges with renewed force. Bialik transformed Hebrew literature, bridging traditional Jewish thought with modern humanism. This compact collection reveals a poet far more politically and psychologically unsettling than his image as a national icon suggests.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Nov 10
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Lecture | Risk and Revelation: Eleven Contemporary Jewish Artists (Online!)
Artist and writer Richard McBee explores the work of eleven contemporary Jewish artists who push boundaries with religious and secular themes, opening new ways of thinking about and creating Jewish art.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Nov 10
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Artist Career Roundtable on Process-Based Practices
This event is an artist career roundtable discussion held in conjunction with the group exhibition “Wavelengths," which takes particular interest in process-based practices and pursuing joy amidst adversity. Featuring exhibiting artists: Gabrielle Benak Alex Cassetti Vanessa Powers Carra Seals
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 11
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Talk | Conceptual Artist Discusses Her Hybrid Video Works
This event features a presentation by conceptual artist Jillian McDonald, whose hybrid video works combine live action and generative AI to imagine uncanny worlds shaped by eco-horror and speculative fiction. Jillian will be in conversation with School of Visual Arts faculty member Natasha Chuk about the aesthetics and expressive power of the moving image in an era where cinema, AI, and ecological imagination converge. A Q&A with the audience will follow.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 11
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Discussion | Experts Explore Architectural & Structual Innovation Possibilities (In Person AND Online!)
The event will examine how a consistent pursuit of blue-sky research by designers can advance technologies that result in new, substantive architecture. The program begins with a presentation by structural engineer Bill Baker. Mr. Baker’s presentation will be followed by a conversation with Sigrid Adriaenssens and Thorsten Helbig, exploring the role of research in advancing architectural and structural innovation, and examining how engineering inquiry shapes the creation of new spatial and material possibilities. The conversation will be moderated by Elizabeth O’Donnell.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 11
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Tue, Nov 11
6:30 pm
Regular: $45
Member: $0
6:30 pm
Regular: $45
Member: $0
Join the Club!
Discussion | Experts Talk about Immigration & Presidential Power
Attend a discussion with Mira Siegelberg (Zolberg Institute), Adam Cox (NYU Law), and Noah Rosenblum (NYU Law) on the history and legal basis of presidential power over immigration regulation and enforcement.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 12
10:00 am
Free
10:00 am
Free
Gallery Talk | Learn How a Historic Mansion Turned into a Museum
Join a museum educator for a brief gallery talk tracing how a Gilded Age mansion was transformed into a world-class art museum.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 12
3:30 pm
Free
3:30 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Discuss Gwendolyn Brooks' Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poem, "The Anniad"
For this poetry discussion meeting, the group will discuss Gwendolyn Brooks’ Pulitzer Prize winning 1949 poem, "The Anniad." This long form poem was originally published within Brooks’ second poetry collection, Annie Allen. “The Anniad” plays with the form of the ancient epic, transposing it to working-class Black Chicago. By subverting the traits of the heroes of ancient epic, Brooks stakes a claim that the form can apply to Black women’s lives. Brooks was the first African American to win the Pulitzer prize, and she also held the title of U.S. Poet Laureate. You can also find a PDF copy at the link provided. Please bring a printed copy to the discussion; the group will be doing close readings and analysis of the poem.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 12
4:30 pm
Free
4:30 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | The Art of Elegance: A Closer Look at Sèvres Porcelain
Join a museum educator for a brief talk exploring the artistry and craftsmanship of this celebrated work. Its refined forms, vivid colors, and intricate gilding, Sèvres porcelain reflects the sophistication of 18th-century French design and royal patronage. This focused gallery talk highlights the historical and artistic significance of a single masterpiece from the collection.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 12
4:30 pm
Free
4:30 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Brooklyn Museum-Featured Photographer Shares Her New Book, Enchanting Nature (+ Signing)
Enjoy a conversation with photographer and artist Sandy Skoglund to celebrate the publication of her new book, Enchanting Nature, a playful and enthralling collection of the artist's signature unconventional dreamlike scenes and images. She will be in conversation with curator René Paul Barilleaux, followed by a signing.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 12
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Quiet Reading Meet Up
Bring a book or check one out of the library to read to yourself for one hour. After that, spend an hour socializing with those around you!
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 12
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Lecture | Understanding Fictional Encyclopedism in Modern & Postmodern Literature
Enjoy an explanation of fictional encyclopedism by researcher, professor, and author Pierpaolo Antonello. Critics have observed that an "encyclopedic complex" or "encyclopedic impulse," frequently marked by irony and satire, has informed both modernist and postmodernist literature, from Joyce to Pynchon. While usually linked to the vast architecture of maximalist novels or opere-mondo, this lineage also runs through short, fragmentary, and eccentric texts that resist clear generic classification. In such works, the encyclopedic is refracted through epigrammatic form, with flashes of taxonomic excess, where the discursive frameworks of the sciences are repurposed for arbitrary, imaginary, and parodic schemes of classifications. This lecture examines this genealogy through intermedial instances of fictional encyclopedism, concentrating on Leo Lionni's Parallel Botany (1976) and Luigi Serafini's Codex Seraphinianus (1981). Both works conjoin scientific discourse, visual art, and imaginary taxonomy, and interrogate the fantastic through parodic and satirical registers. They exemplify not only the ekphrastic tendencies of contemporary encyclopedism but also a form of "rational fantastic" that exceeds Tzvetan Todorov's genre definition, reconfiguring encyclopedism as an open, generative aesthetic: a combinatory mechanism for the invention of possible worlds.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 12
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Lecture | Understanding Humanity during the Rise of AI
Drawing on preliminary fieldwork in AI ethics spaces in Europe and the U.S., alongside speculative AI designs that challenge dominant norms, this talk explores the potential of redescribing the human as a foundation for confronting the exclusion of marginalized worldviews from modernity. The question of what it means to be human is at the center of public discourse surrounding our interactions with so-called artificial intelligence, presenting a critical opportunity for feminist and anti-racist anthropology. This talk engages with the current moment of meaning-making in the face of emerging technologies to revisit postcolonial, decolonial, and Black studies critiques of the human and of post-Enlightenment reason. These fields have long worked to recover submerged, silenced, or otherwise erased histories of the colonized, offering alternative accounts of who counts as a subject and what forms of life are possible.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 12
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Discussion | Election Results Breakdown: What Does New Leadership Mean for New Yorkers? (In Person AND Online!)
Just after the municipal election, an expert panel sheds light on the results and what they mean for New Yorkers, discussing how new leadership will shape the direction of government policies, the future of the political parties, and the sense of belonging for different groups around the five boroughs. How will the coalitions and divisions revealed by this election change the city’s political landscape? Featuring Sayu Bhojwani, former NYC commissioner for immigrant affairs, TED speaker, and author of People Like Us: The New Wave of Candidates Knocking at Democracy’s Door; New York State Senator John Liu, chairman of the New York City Education Committee; Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran of political campaigns in New York City and beyond, who is an alumnus of the CUNY Graduate Center’s Ph.D. Program in Political Science; NYC Council Member Nantasha Williams, an alumna of the CUNY Graduate Center’s Ph.D. Program in Social Welfare who represents District 27 in Southeast Queens; and others. John Mollenkopf, distinguished professor of Political Science and Sociology and director of the Center for Urban Research at the CUNY Graduate Center, moderates.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 12
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Lecture | Expert Explores Belle Glade Archaeological Culture of South Florida
Returning lecturer and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Professor Jerald T. Milanich discusses the extraordinary Belle Glade Archaeological Culture of South Florida, which began approximately 1000 BCE. In the 1960s, Florida Atlantic University archaeologist William Sears excavated Fort Center—named for a 19th century U.S. military outpost on the west side of Lake Okeechobee. Recently, archaeologists have utilized LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to locate and interpret the many mounds, embankments, canals, and other earthworks of the Belle Glade region.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 12
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Lecture | Exploring Race, Gender, and Social Commentary Through Art With Renowned Artist
Visual artist, filmmaker, and curator Tiona Nekkia McClodden discusses her interdisciplinary practice, which spans documentary film, experimental video, sculpture, and sound installations. Her work critically explores race, gender, sexuality, and social issues, and she has exhibited at institutions including the Whitney Museum, White Cube London, Kunsthalle Basel, and the Guggenheim Museum. This program offers insight into her creative process and conceptual approaches.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 12
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Learn about the Schuyler Sisters & Their Roles in the American Revolution (In Person AND Online!)
Enjoy a discussion on the historic Schuyler Sisters with the author Megan Marshall, author of Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in the Age of Revolution, with Pulitzer Prize-Winning author Megan Marshall. This nonfiction account by Amanda Vaill (Everbody Was So Young) follows Angelica and Elizabeth Schuyler, born to wealth and privilege in New York’s Hudson Valley during the latter half of the eighteenth century. The sisters were raised to make good marriages and supervise substantial households. Instead they became embroiled in the turmoil of America’s insurrection against Great Britain—and rebelled themselves, in ways as different as each was from the other, against the destiny mapped out for them.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 12
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Wed, Nov 12
6:30 pm
Regular: $30
Member: $0
6:30 pm
Regular: $30
Member: $0
Join the Club!
Book Discussion | Women of War: Spies, Couriers, and Resistance in Nazi-Occupied Italy (Online!)
Historian Suzanne Cope uncovers the hidden stories of women who risked their lives to resist the Nazi occupation in Italy, working as spies, couriers, combatants, and rescuers of Jewish friends and family. Drawing on primary sources and new scholarship, Women of War illuminates their courage and ingenuity in the face of extreme danger. Cope will be in conversation with New York Times bestselling author, Olivia Campbell.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 12
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Talk | Interdisciplinary Artist Duo Discuss Their Craft
Malik Gaines and Alexandro Segade are interdisciplinary artists whose collaborations span performance, video, music, theatre, installation, and writing. Gaines and Segade co-founded the performance art collective My Barbarian in 2000 with performer Jade Gordon. Exhibiting internationally for over two decades, My Barbarian’s multi-media survey, curated by Adrienne Edwards, was presented at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. My Barbarian has received awards from the Foundation For Contemporary Art, United States Artists and Creative Capital. Gaines and Segade have individually published numerous articles and essays on contemporary art in magazines and catalogs. Gaines’s book, Black Performance on the Outskirts of the Left: A History of the Impossible, illustrates the black political ideas that radicalized the artistic endeavors of musicians, playwrights, and actors beginning in the 1960s. Segade is the artist and writer of the graphic novel, The Context, a queer parable of belonging; and recently presented his short film, Anoche, at the 15th Havana Biennial in Cuba.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 12
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Symposium | International Textile History Conference (In Person AND Online!)
Experience a symposium on the Interdisciplinary Approaches to Textile History. What is the place of textile history scholarship today? What does it mean to use textiles to write history, and which methodologies are most effective in this form of writing history? How do textile objects speak to us and what can they tell us? Program:
9:00 am - 9:15 am Registration & Coffee
9:15 am - 9:20 am Welcome Remarks
9:20 am -10:45 am Panel 1. Byzantine Textiles: Iconography & Attribution (Elizabeth Dospěl Williams, Jennifer Ball, Warren Woodfin)
10:45 am -10:55 am Coffee Break
10:55 am -12:20 pm Panel 2. Asian Textiles: Iconography & Circulation (Mariachiara Gasparini, Eiren Shea, Debarati Sarkar, Molly Aitken)
12:20 pm - 1:05 pm Lunch Break
1:05 pm - 2:35 pm Panel 3. Asian Textiles: Markets & Meaning (Amanda Phillips, Rachel Silberstein, Nazanin Hedayat Munroe)
2:35 pm - 2:45 pm Coffee Break
2:45 pm - 4:15 pm Panel 4. Spanish Textiles: Embodying the Nation (Jackie Edwards, Amanda Wunder, Inés Corujo Martín)
4:15 pm - 5:00 pm Closing: Textile Study in Museums (Carol Bier, Eva Labson)
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 13
9:00 am
Free
9:00 am
Free
Gallery Talk | Treasures of the Griffin Warrior: Discovering Mycenaean Secrets
Join archaeologists Sharon Stocker and Jack L. Davis, co-investigators of the Griffin Warrior grave in Pylos, as they reveal their extraordinary discoveries of gold, silver, bronze, and precious gems. Learn how these finds are reshaping our understanding of the Mycenaean civilization and the rise of Europe’s first states around 1450 BCE, and explore the ongoing story of archaeological work in Pylos since 2015.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 13
11:00 am
Free
11:00 am
Free
Lecture | Learn about Electronics in Classical Music: Interactive Lesson
Enjoy the inaugural lecture of a brand-new Chamber Music Lecture Series, being offered by our faculty member Dr. Levy Lorenzo. Over the past century, repertoire and performance practice in classical music have evolved alongside the development of modern technology. This performance-lecture focuses on electronics in classical music, tracing their impact from early analog experiments to today’s digital sound manipulation techniques. Drawn from Dr. Lorenzo’s internationally recognized work as a percussionist, sound designer, electronic musician, and instrument inventor, he will perform custom-built instruments and present works for acoustic instruments and electronics that highlight live performance in conversation with computers. The presentation will also feature interactive pieces with electronics, illustrating how classical chamber instruments can engage dynamically with digital systems.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 13
3:00 pm
Free
3:00 pm
Free
Talk | Learn about Writing & Literature in Contemporary Russia (In Person AND Online!)
This talk will be given by the co-founders of The School of Literary Practices is an independent, avant-garde, Russian-language creative writing program. Award-winning novelist Evgenia Nekrasova will discuss Russia’s younger generation of literary authors and emergent trends in their writing today, while professor and curator Tatiana Novoselova will speak on the broader topic of how the book industry is managing as a whole in contemporary Russia.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 13
4:00 pm
Free
4:00 pm
Free
Lecture | Expert Discusses Abolitionist Education (In Person AND Online!)
Urban planning researcher and professor Dr. Akira Rodriguez speaks on "'Teachers Care': Student Walkouts, the Teachers' Strike, and Schools as Collectivized Plots of Abolitionist Education in Los Angeles."
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 13
4:15 pm
Free
4:15 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Experts Celebrate Primo Levi's Classic Short Story Collection, Periodic Table
On the 50th anniversary of Primo Levi's short story collection, Periodic Table, enjoy a celebration of the book from many perspectives. Scientists, translators, and writers come together to address the impact of this influential memoir/collection of stories. "The triumph of human identity and worth over the pathology of human destruction glows virtually everywhere in Levi's writing," said Toni Morrison. Levi (1919-1987) observed his life--his Italian Jewish community, his time as a chemist and as a partisan, and then his imprisonment in Auschwitz--with wry humor, compassion, and the lucidity of a scientist doing a lab report.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 13
5:00 pm
Free
5:00 pm
Free
Discussion | Experts Talk about Freedom of the Press & Censorship
Attend a panel discussion that features scholars and writers offering perspectives on news media and investigative journalism as a global authoritarian turn erodes norms of press freedom. The varied playbook of intimidation includes the use of laws on libel to sanction commercial print media outlets, withdrawal of funding, surveillance and physical attacks on journalists, and the criminalization of dissent under vague national security and defamation laws. Panelists will discuss how regimes of India, China, the United States, and the UK have tried to restrict if not control what journalists and writers produce, as well as coping strategies that deployed in response.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 13
5:00 pm
Free
5:00 pm
Free
Talk | Artist & Theorist Discusses Her "Dark Play" Creative Process
In this talk, artist and theorist Aliza Shvarts will discuss the broader arc of her practice, and explore how "dark play" can offer an aesthetic and political strategy to navigate increasing forms of censorship. Performance theorist Richard Schechner describes “dark play” as the condition when the performer knows they are performing, but the audience does not. The term also invokes the “dark arts” or clandestine powers attributed to witches as reproductive criminals: women who, as described by Marxist feminist Silvia Federici, not only often helped others manage their reproductive health, but whose speech—insofar as they possessed the power to cast spells or curses—possessed the power to act. The talk with be followed by a Q&A led by NYU Performance Studies Department Chair and Professor Ann Pellegrini and a reception.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 13
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Learn about Pioneering Mexican Writer, Elena Garro
At this event, María Julia Rossi (John Jay) will speak with author Jazmina Barrera about her new book on Mexican author Elena Garro, The Queen of Swords, recently longlisted for the National Book Award. A limited number of books will be available for give-away at the event.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 13
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Talk | Learn about Recent German Right-Wing Fiction with Experts
As a genre, the novel seems ill-suited to the whims of the 21st century. What once made writers praise the novel as quintessentially modern—its discursive capaciousness, its ability to incorporate other genres within itself—appears less impressive in the digital age, where new forms are constantly being produced and character-limits reign king. As many a cultural critic has lamented, no one has the attention span to finish a novel anymore. Even if we set aside our current obsession with AI and social media, the novel still seems constitutionally ill-suited to political messaging. The very act of reading a novel stagnates political action: reading takes time, of course, but also demands isolation and a retreat from collective life. And yet, even today, writers are still turning to the novel as a tool for political persuasion. What do these novels understand themselves to be doing? How do they work? By investigating recent political novels in German, especially from the far right, this talk argues that the contemporary political novel is preoccupied with the question of its own efficacy. With Sophie Salvo, Assistant Professor in Germanic Studies and the College at the University of Chicago
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 13
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Discussion | Prize-Winning Author Discusses Enlightenment Philosophy & Death
This lecture explores the question: What would the Enlightenment look like if we viewed it through the eyes of the philosophers as they were facing death? In The Rest Is Silence: Enlightenment Philosophers Facing Death, Professor of French and prize-winning author Joanna Stalnaker discusses works written at the end of the Old Regime and at the end of their authors’ lives. These works, all written before the French Revolution, cast a retrospective glance over the intellectual movement their authors participated in, and over the authors’ own lives and works. Stalnaker shows that the beauty of these works stem from their authors’ efforts to give literary form to the fragility of their dying bodies. As they reflected on writing as a means of reaching posterity, Enlightenment philosophers embraced the possibility that neither their names nor their writings would survive long beyond the decomposition of their bodies. They inscribed the silence and nothingness of death into their last works, capturing their sense of an ending rather than the confidence in a glowing future so often attributed to them.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 13
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Theater Historian Shares Her New Book, History Hiding around Broadway (+ Signing)
Enjoy a conversation with theater historian Teale Dvornik to celebrate her book, History Hiding around Broadway, the illustrated guide to the need-to-know and never-known-before of New York's theater district. She will be in conversation with Jonathan Merritt, followed by a signing.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 13
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Lecture | Award Winning Architect Explores Design, Subjectivity, & Labor in Architecture (In Person AND Online!)
Hear from Peggy Deamer, Professor Emerita of Yale University's School of Architecture and principal in the firm of Deamer, Studio. Her theory work explores the relationship between subjectivity, design, and labor in the current economy. She received the Architectural Record 2018 Women in Architecture Activist Award and the 2021 John Q. Hejduk Award. Dr. Deamer is a founding member of the Architecture Lobby, a group advocating for the value of architectural design and labor. She is the editor of Architecture and Capitalism: 1845 to the Present and The Architect as Worker: Immaterial Labor, the Creative Class, and the Politics of Design and the author of Architecture and Labor. The lecture will be followed by a Q&A moderated by Dila Koksal.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 13
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Discussion | Exploring the Boundaries of Performance and Image
Artist Will Rawls joins curators in conversation to discuss a project that blends photography, cinema, and performance to question the line between the living, the rehearsed, and the recorded. In a world saturated with images and mediated identities, this work invites audiences to consider how Black performance resists capture and redefines storytelling through movement, language, and collective imagination.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 13
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Discussion | Music Jam & Conversation Blending Art, Music, & Technology
Enjoy a musical jam and conversation between Jaron Lanier, often referred to as the "father of virtual reality"; multiple GRAMMY Award winner Will Calhoun; theoretical physicist Stephon Alexander; composer, musician, and writer Melvin Gibbs; multi-instrumentalist, educator, composer, and electro-acoustic adventurer LaFrae Sci; and moderated by the one and only Nona Hendryx. There are two ways to access this event: 1. General Admission, first-come first-served. Just show up! 2. Fast Track opening the Monday before the event at noon
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 13
7:30 pm
Free
7:30 pm
Free
Conference | Learn about Visual Arts & the Figure of "The Worm"
Worms for Brains is a graduate student conference that takes up “the worm” as a subject and paradigm for studying visual arts. Like a compost pile, where heterogeneous materials intermingle and decompose into nutrient-rich soil, the conference will combine varied perspectives from Art History, Arts Education, Film and Media Studies, Musicology, and Performance Studies. Panels will examine place-making through participation, the worm's-eye view, and critical methodologies as grunt. Presentations will wiggle between sonic, visual, and textual elements of worms both as a subject and as a theoretical springboard.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 14
5:00 am
Free
5:00 am
Free
Forum | Experts Discuss Economic Security in New York City
Attend a half-day forum with leaders from government, academia, and advocacy engaged in dynamic discussion regarding New York City's rising costs. Featured speakers include:
Jennifer Jones Austin, Co-Chair of the National True Cost of Living Coalition and CEO of FPWA
Darrick Hamilton, Founding Director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School
Brad Lander, New York City Comptroller
Lauren Melodia, Director of Economic and Fiscal Policy at the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School
Joyce McMillan, Founder and Executive Director of Just Making A Change for Families
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 14
9:30 am
Free
9:30 am
Free
Book Discussion | Author Talks about Sounds, Movement, & Migration through His book, Black Sounds of Switzerland
The Zolberg Institute and the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York will host a discussion with Jessie Cox (Harvard University), author of Black Sounds of Switzerland, moderated by Mia White (New School). Jessie Cox is a composer, drummer, and scholar who works on critical theory, Black studies, and music. His talk will explore questions of sound, movement, and migration. His recent book, Sounds of Black Switzerland, affirms the value of Black life through sound and explores the Blackness in relation to citizenship, immigration laws, gender, kinship, and belonging.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 14
4:30 pm
Free
4:30 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Art Historian & Curator Shares her New Book, Women Artists in Their Own Words (+ Signing)
Art historian, curator, and writer Jennifer Samet celebrates her new book, Women Artists in Their Own Words, a collection of introspective words from 95 of the most prominent women artists of the past 150 years, shown alongside their most notable artworks. She will be in conversation with Christian Levett, followed by a signing.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 14
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | Art in Focus: Slow Observance and Conversation
Take a moment to slow down and connect with a single work of art through guided observation and group discussion. No background in art is needed--just curiosity and openness. This relaxed, welcoming program invites all adult learners to engage deeply with one piece at a time. Note: Space is limited; first-come, first-served. Stickers are distributed 15 minutes before the program starts.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 14
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | Learn about Artist Lotty Rosenfeld's Work with Curators
Curators Natalia Brizuela and Julia Bryan-Wilson offer new insights about artist Lotty Rosenfeld drawn from their extensive archival research for the development of the exhibition Lotty Rosenfeld: Disobedient Spaces. Their conversation will highlight key works on view and consider Rosenfeld's enduring artistic influence in Chile and beyond. Lotty Rosenfeld: Disobedient Spaces is the first solo retrospective of Rosenfeld's practice in the U.S. and illuminates her many contributions to critical dialogues about public space, from large-scale video projections to her iconic street intervention One Mile of Crosses on the Pavement (1979), in which she crossed the white directional lines of roads.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Sat, Nov 15
1:00 pm
Free
1:00 pm
Free
Talk | Learn the History of the New York Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument
Akela Reason, art historian and professor of history at the University of Georgia, will discuss the complex history of the New York Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in Riverside Park. Her talk derives from her recent book, Politics and Memory: Civil War Monuments in Gilded Age New York. The book illuminates the historical context of Civil War soldiers’ monuments in New York City, exploring the fascinating intersection of art, politics, and memory within these works, while also highlighting the ever-changing ways different constituencies have engaged with them in symbolic and physical terms.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Sat, Nov 15
2:00 pm
Free
2:00 pm
Free
Discussion | Death Cafe Discussion Group
An informal, group-directed discussion of death with no agenda, objectives or themes. The purpose of Death Cafe is "to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives." This is a discussion group rather than a grief support or counseling session.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Sat, Nov 15
3:30 pm
Free
3:30 pm
Free
Slide Lecture | Collaboration and Creativity in 1920s Paris
Dive into the world of Man Ray and his collaborators through a series of lectures exploring the lives and work of Berenice Abbott, Kiki de Montparnasse, and Lee Miller. Exhibition curators provide an overview of Man Ray: When Objects Dream, followed by insights from experts on these artists’ creative partnerships and contributions to the international avant-garde of the 1920s.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Sun, Nov 16
2:00 pm
Free
2:00 pm
Free
Discussion | Exploring the Universe: Astro Live (Online!)
Journey beyond our world in this monthly space science series. Meet astronauts, scientists, engineers, and space enthusiasts as they share insights into the mysteries of the cosmos. This interactive livestream brings together leading voices in astronomy and exploration for an afternoon of discovery and Q&A.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Sun, Nov 16
3:00 pm
Free
3:00 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | Fashion and the Unconscious: Nearly 100 Striking Garments Created by McQueen, Kawakubo, Westwood & More
This groundbreaking exhibition explores the cultural history of fashion through the lens of psychoanalysis. Nearly 100 striking garments by designers such as Alexander McQueen, Rei Kawakubo, Vivienne Westwood, and Rick Owens are reinterpreted through themes of the body, sexuality, and the unconscious. This five-year research project delves into how desire is stitched into the fabric of what we wear.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Nov 17
5:30 pm
Free
5:30 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | Chicago and the Rise of the Concrete Skyscraper
Architectural historian Thomas Leslie explores how postwar Chicago shaped the development of high-rise concrete construction. The talk highlights the city's innovations in engineering, materials production, and collaboration between research institutions and industry, showing how concrete, once a craft material, became an industrially engineered solution that challenged the steel industry.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Nov 17
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Prize-Winning Writer Shares His New Essay Collection, Wild Fictions (+ Signing)
2025 recipient of the Pak Kyongni Prize Amitav Ghosh celebrates his newest collection of essays, Wild Fictions: Essays on Literature, Empire, and the Environment, writings on subjects such as literature, climate change, travel, and discoveries thread together with reflections on the spaces that we inhabit and how we occupy them. He will be in conversation with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, followed by a signing.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Nov 17
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Lecture | Understanding the Food Painted in Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper
Enjoy a gastro-philosophical and socio-political angle of looking at The Last Supper. In 1494-98, Leonardo da Vinci painted what is arguably the most famous painting of all times, The Last Supper. And he graces the Lord's Table--inevitably a Jewish meal--with dishes of eels, a Renaissance delicacy but clearly a non-kosher food. Why? Italian essayist, editor, translator and award-winning poet Luigi Ballerini explores the context of real food beginning to be painted in Last Suppers in the second half of the 15th century, as a result of the liceity of pleasure, resurrected by Florentine Humanists' reading of Classical Texts (primarily Lucretius and Aristotle), which, in ever larger quantities and surprising varieties, remains a staple of that painterly subject throughout the 16th century. And a hypothesis is formulated about da Vinci's painting that transcends the painter's minimalistic gastronomic interests, as well as his incessant scientific curiosity.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Nov 17
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | Preserving Heritage in Fragile Times
Join archaeologist Dr. Nadine Panayot to explore how museums safeguard cultural heritage in challenging contexts. Learn about innovative conservation practices, emergency preparedness, and digital reconstruction techniques that help fragile objects transmit identity, memory, and continuity across generations.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
11:00 am
Free
11:00 am
Free
Book Discussion | Facebook Co-Founder Examines the Unseen Politics of American Capitalism (Online!)
Economist, writer, and co-founder Chris Hughes presents his new book Marketcrafters: The 100-Year Struggle to Shape the American Economy. For decades, policymakers have claimed that free markets thrive best when government stays out of the way. Hughes argues the opposite: that American leaders across the political spectrum have long been “marketcrafters,” intentionally shaping markets to serve social and political goals. Through vivid historical examples, he reveals how decisions about inflation, industry, innovation, and climate have all been guided by deliberate design rather than invisible forces. This program includes a discussion and audience Q&A. The first 100 registrants will receive a complimentary electronic copy of Marketcrafters.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
12:00 pm
Free
12:00 pm
Free
Book Club | Discuss James by Percival Everett
Participate with fellow readers for lively discussion and thoughtful socializing.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
1:00 pm
Free
1:00 pm
Free
Book Club | Discuss A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery. Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
4:00 pm
Free
4:00 pm
Free
Lecture | Economist Discusses Crypto's Impact on U.S. & Global Finance
Dr. Epstein from the Department of Economics and Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at UMASS/Amherst, will present his paper :" Too Much Crypto? The Political Economy of the Crypto Economy". Finance, especially in the United States, is entering a new era. It is becoming more deeply entwined with and perhaps even dominated by the “tech” industry. Of course, financial innovation has often occurred hand in hand with innovations in communications and now digitization. However, with the technological innovation and the political rise of crypto, AI, and high-tech billionaires, especially in the US under the Trump administration, we must consider whether there is now, or will soon become, “Too much ‘Crypto’”, where ‘crypto’ is a shorthand for the marriage of tech, finance, and fossil fuel. This paper explores the nature of this new form of high fossil-fueled finance. This talk analyzes its likely impact on growth and distribution in the US and the dangers it might pose for the rest of the world.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
4:00 pm
Free
4:00 pm
Free
Lecture | Learn about Women Documentarians in Stalinist Russia (In Person AND Online!)
This lecture, given by Cambridge Film Studies PhD candidate Kirill Goriachok, explores the complex dynamics behind the careers of first two generations of Soviet women documentarians: How did studio hierarchies and shifting political agendas shape their work? Why, despite the number of women at Soyuzkinochronika (the state documentary studio), did a distinct women’s documentary movement never take hold? And what does their experience tell us about gender, authorship, and professional identity in Stalinist cinema?
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
4:00 pm
Free
4:00 pm
Free
Lecture | Expert Explains Understanding Mobility across Borders (In Person AND Online!)
Filiz Garip, Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University whose research lies at the intersection of migration, economic sociology and inequality, presents a talk on Predictability of Human Mobility Across Borders. Between 1965 and 2015, over 12 million Mexicans have crossed the border into the United States. Experts use the largest survey data on this flow from the Mexican Migration Project, which covers 160,000 people observed over 50 years. They explore the predictability of about 20,000 documented and undocumented migration decisions with supervised machine learning. They consider how predictability varies across different decision windows, time periods, and geographic regions. They also explore what failures in predictions can teach us about migration behavior and migration policy.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
4:15 pm
Free
4:15 pm
Free
Book Club | Discuss Bestselling Author's Horror Novel, THe Buffalo Hunter Hunter
Enjoy a book discussion of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians. Often hailed as the Indigenous Stephen King, famed horror writer Stephen Graham Jones' chilling historical horror novel launches into a tailspin as a diary written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered inside a wall. What unfolds is a story of murder, monsters, and revenge that begins when 217 Blackfeet are found dead in the snow. Told through diary entries and transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet man named Good Stab, it follows the life of a vampire who haunted the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
4:30 pm
Free
4:30 pm
Free
Discussion | Learn about Challenges Faced by Higher Education
Experience a crucial conversation about the historic and current challenges immigrants face in higher education. This event will bring together scholars, students, and advocates to explore how immigrant communities are transforming academic spaces and to discuss possibilities for solidarity, policy change, and institutional transformation.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
4:30 pm
Free
4:30 pm
Free
Symposium | Conference on Critical Issues in Human Rights and Rule of Law
This symposium examines critical issues in human rights and the rule of law, including sentencing enforcement, correctional education, and recidivism prevention. It also explores how international judicial bodies interact with national legal systems, analyzing the intersection between global frameworks and domestic justice practices. The program features practical case studies demonstrating how human rights are implemented and managed in real-world contexts. The symposium will address fundamental questions: What do universal human rights mean in contemporary society? How do these principles benefit our communities? And what legal and institutional mechanisms exist to uphold justice and protect individual rights across different legal traditions?
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
5:00 pm
Free
5:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | The Wrigley Building: Chicago's Iconic Skyscraper
Celebrate the publication of The Wrigley Building: The Making of an Icon with a two-part program exploring Chicago's historic terra-cotta tower. The first session features the book's authors and photographer, who highlight archival research, new photography, and the intertwined stories of William Wrigley Jr. and architect Charles Gerhard Beersman. The second session brings together scholars and artists for a discussion comparing Chicago's Wrigley Building with New York's Woolworth Building, examining their architectural, cultural, and urban significance. Schedule: 5 pm - 6 pm: Session 1 Break 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm: Session 2 Reception
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
5:00 pm
Free
5:00 pm
Free
Discussion | Exploring Psychoanalysis in Music and Fashion
Moderator Jasmine Edwards leads a conversation with art therapist Ayde Rayas and violinist Njioma Chinyere Grevious, whose performance draws inspiration from Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis. This interdisciplinary event looks at psychoanalysis’s influence on contemporary music and culture.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
5:30 pm
Free
5:30 pm
Free
Lecture | Expert Discusses the Rise of Anti-Intelelctualism in the West & Its Consequences
Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies at the University of Paris, Eric Fassin, examines the trend of state anti-intellectualism in France, the U.S., and beyond, demonstrating that this tendency is not limited to ostensibly illiberal regimes such as Turkey, Hungary, and Brazil. He argues that today’s world requires an examination of this phenomenon beyond Cold War geopolitical divisions and highlights a global shift towards authoritarian neoliberalism, including attacks on universities, the media, and freedom of speech and thought. Fassin argues for the political urgency of intellectual work in a global moment of political anti-intellectualism.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Discussion | Experts Explore Artist Evelyn Beatrice Longman’s Role in Creating American Monuments
Pat Hoerth Batchelder, author of Evelyn Beatrice Longman: The Woman Who Sculpted Golden Boy, Thomas Edison, and Other Monuments speaks with and Diana Thompson, Director of Collections at the National Academy of Design. Together, the two will discuss the often-overlooked contributions of artist and National Academician Evelyn Beatrice Longman’s role in the creation of American monuments.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Fashion Designer Shares Her New Book, The Nature of Fashion
Fashion designer and sustainability expert Carry Somers celebrates her new book, The Nature of Fashion, which travels across landscapes and centuries, through myth and memory, tracing the roots of materials and dyes and revealing how the choices we once made shape the world around us today. She will be in conversation with lacemaker and historian Elena Kanagy-Loux, followed by a signing.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Street-Level Satire and Solidarity: Exploring Tsiang’s 1935 Novel (Online!)
Join Dr. Christopher Seiji Berardino for an illustrated discussion of H.T. Tsiang’s 1935 novel, recently reissued in the Penguin Classics series, The Hanging on Union Square. Tsiang, a refugee and political activist, blends experimental prose, street-level realism, and biting satire to capture life in Depression-era New York. His novel follows a restless worker navigating the streets, cafés, movie houses, and underground clubs around Union Square, a hub of radical politics and social movements. Offering humor, protest, and visions of collective solidarity.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Translator Discusses Classic German Book, Effingers
Translator Sophie Duvernoy will discuss Gabriele Tergit and her underrated masterpiece, Effingers—woefully underrated when it first appeared in 1951, and only recently rediscovered in Germany—with Noah Isenberg. Gabriele Tergit’s Effingers is a novel, at once epic and intimate, about the lives and fates of three generations of a German Jewish family. Beginning in 1878 and ending in 1948, readers follow the Effingers, a family of modest craftsmen from southern Germany, who soon rise to prominence as one of the most important German industrialist families in Berlin. With the outbreak of World War I, however, they fall on hard times and must navigate the tumultuous changes of the Weimar Republic. Full of parties and drama and delicious gossip, and featuring a kaleidoscopic cast of characters, Effingers is a keenly observed account of German Jewish life in all its richness and complexity. Tergit's precise and limpid prose dazzles in Sophie Duvernoy's elegant translation.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Tue, Nov 18
7:00 pm
Regular: $20
Member: $0
7:00 pm
Regular: $20
Member: $0
Join the Club!
Talk | Documentary & Portrait Photographer Discusses Her Craft
Enjoy a talk with documentary and portrait photographer Nicky Quamina-Woo, a Black and Native Hawaiian visual storyteller who divides her time between the African continent, Southeast Asia, and New York City. Woo has traveled to and lived in more than 22 countries within the Global South, mainly focusing on stories related to healthcare, social justice, and anything connected to the long shadows of trauma that often fall across marginalized communities. Her projects center on the complex realities that are precipitated by Western colonization, exploring how cultures survive in the wake of systemic rupture.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Lecture | Portraits That Speak Truth
What makes an image feel alive? This lecture series delves into the art of portraiture as a tool for empathy, exploring how photographers build trust and reveal humanity through the lens.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 18
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Experts Discuss Their New Books about Russia's Economic & Digital Trajectories (In Person AND Online!)
Attend a joint book talk featuring Françoise Daucé and Olessia Kirtchik, who both authored books on Russia’s economic and digital trajectories. Political sociologist Françoise Daucé will share her new book, Digital Authoritarianism in the Making: Repression and Resistance on the Russian Internet. This book reveals the policies regulating the Runet, resituating them within their historical context starting in the early 2010s and ending with the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022. It offers a political sociology of the Russian digital space, including the variety of actors who have sought to occupy it: access providers, developers, journalists, activists, web professionals, and mobilized citizens. Sociologist Olessia Kirtchik will share her new book, Economic Knowledge in Crisis: Economists and the State in the Late Soviet Union. This book aims to shed new light on the puzzle of the late Soviet conversion to the “market” and capitalism by revisiting the history of Soviet reform economics. Using a variety of sources, including interviews with economists, archival files, and published materials, it examines the social contexts in which economists employed in economic administration and research institutions could have played a crucial public and political role, the forms of their participation, and the social and political logic behind the selection of economic experts and their rise to power during perestroika and the “transition” period.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 19
12:30 pm
Free
12:30 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Psychologist Shares His New Book, Professor Irvin Schonfeld (In Person AND Online!)
Psychologist Dr. Irvin Schonfeld's book talk on his new book, Professor Irvin Schonfeld (co-authored by Renzo Bianchi). Burnout has become a popular indicator of the distress that individuals can experience at work. In Breaking Point: Job Stress, Occupational Depression, and the Myth of Burnout, the authors, in the context of more than a decade of research, show how the phenomenon hidden behind the label of burnout is, in fact, depressive in nature.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 19
2:00 pm
Free
2:00 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | Learn How a Historic Mansion Turned into a Museum
Join a museum educator for a brief gallery talk tracing how a Gilded Age mansion was transformed into a world-class art museum.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 19
3:30 pm
Free
3:30 pm
Free
Book Club | Discuss Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
For this book club meeting, the group will discuss Joseph Conrad's 1899 book, Heart of Darkness. The story tells of Charles Marlow, an Englishman who took a foreign assignment from a Belgian trading company as a ferry-boat captain in Africa. Heart of Darkness exposes the myth behind colonization while exploring the three levels of darkness that the protagonist, Marlow, encounters--the darkness of the Congo wilderness, the darkness of the European's cruel treatment of the natives, and the unfathomable darkness within every human being for committing heinous acts of evil.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 19
4:30 pm
Free
4:30 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | Romance and Rococo: Fragonard’s The Progress of Love
Join a museum educator for a focused gallery talk on a celebrated series capturing the playful elegance and emotional intensity of 18th-century French courtship. Through lush color and dynamic composition, Fragonard weaves a visual narrative of passion and refinement that epitomizes the Rococo spirit.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 19
4:30 pm
Free
4:30 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Experts Discuss the Culture of Early Modern Jewish Women
Drawing on untapped archival sources, Debra Kaplan and Elisheva Carlebach uncover the vibrant lives of early modern Jewish women through their new book, A Woman Is Responsible for Everything. A Woman Is Responsible for Everything uncovers the vibrant lives of Jewish women in early modern Europe, from bustling cities to rural villages. Drawing on untapped archival sources, Debra Kaplan and Elisheva Carlebach reveal women as economic agents, skilled creators, readers and authors, and custodians of faith within their communities. This richly illustrated work brings their voices to life, offering a groundbreaking look at the kehillah and the essential role women played in shaping Jewish communal life. Debra Kaplan is the Samuel Braun Chair for the History of the Jews in Germany at Bar-Ilan University. Her books include The Patrons and Their Poor: Jewish Community and Public Charity in Early Modern Germany. Elisheva Carlebach is the Salo Wittmayer Baron Professor of Jewish History, Culture, and Society at Columbia University. Her books include Palaces of Time: Jewish Calendar and Culture in Early Modern Europe.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 19
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | Exploring "Rembrandt’s Portraits" Through Conversation (Online!)
Join fellow art enthusiasts for an interactive online discussion centered on Rembrandt’s Nicolaes Ruts and Self-Portrait (1658). Led by educators, this live program invites participants to engage in thoughtful dialogue and close observation. Note: Space is limited to encourage active participation.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 19
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Quiet Reading Meet Up
Bring a book or check one out of the library to read to yourself for one hour. After that, spend an hour socializing with those around you!
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 19
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Forum | Reimagining Museums as Civic Spaces
Join leading architects for a conversation on the evolving role of museums as spaces that foster gathering, belonging, and connection. Learn about the philosophy and vision behind major projects, including new galleries, interactive spaces for children, revitalized entrances, and enhanced public areas. The discussion highlights how thoughtful architecture can shape the way people experience art, ideas, and community.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 19
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Sculptor Shares Her New Book, Superrealist Sculptures (+ Signing)
Enjoy a conversation with sculptor Carole Feuerman to celebrate her newest monograph detailing fifty years of the inspiration, creation, and transformation of her sculpture-making--Superrealist Sculptures. The conversation will be followed by a signing.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 19
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Discussion | Author & Filmmaker Talks the Psychological Effects of Third Reich Authoritarianism
Filmmaker Amanda Rubin will discuss Charlotte Beradt’s groundbreaking book The Third Reich of Dreams, which recounts the dreams of witnesses to the rise of Nazism and, ultimately, provided invaluable insight into the effects that authoritarianism has on the unconscious mind. Rubin is the force behind the republication of The Third Reich of Dreams, the lost rights of which she discovered while researching her forthcoming film about Beradt. She will be joined in conversation by Gal Beckerman, senior books editor of The Atlantic and author of the National Jewish Book Award-winning When They Come For Us We’ll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 19
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Writers Discuss James Baldwin's Life & Legacy (In Person AND Online!)
The author of a new biography of James Baldwin, Nicholas Boggs, speaks with New York Times columnist John McWhorter. Baldwin: A Love Story, the first major biography of James Baldwin in three decades, reveals how profoundly the writer's personal relationships shaped his life and work. Nicholas Boggs shows how Baldwin drew on the complex forces within these relationships -- cultural, political, artistic, and erotic -- and alchemized them into novels, essays, and plays that spoke truth to power, indelibly impacting the Civil Rights Movement and Black and queer literary history. Boggs speaks about the revealing new biography with John McWhorter, a columnist for The New York Times, author of the bestselling Nine Nasty Words and Woke Racism, and professor of linguistics at Columbia University.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 19
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Global Bestselling Author Daniel Kehlmann on The Director (Online!)
Author Daniel Kehlmann explores art, power, and survival in The Director. The novel follows famed filmmaker G.W. Pabst as he navigates Hollywood fame, Nazi coercion, and the moral compromises of his return to Austria under the Third Reich.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 19
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Talk | Multidisciplinary Artist Discusses His Craft & How He Plays with Narrative & Truth
Vishal Jugdeo is a multidisciplinary artist. His work across video, installation, performance, sculpture and text experiments with narrative, blurring fiction and truth. His recent films emerge from amassments of intimately gathered video and sound, which chart the ebbs and flows of his friendships with interlocutors. In doing so, the works track broader political histories as they unfold often through a lens that is both queer and diasporic. He is engaged in long-term research projects in Guyana, India, and in Los Angeles, where he lives and works. Recent screenings and exhibitions have occurred at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CCA Berlin, Cinema Akil, Dubai, and Commonwealth and Council Gallery in LA. Jugdeo is a 2015 Guggenheim Foundation Fellow and a 2025 Creative Capital recipient.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 19
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Power, Politics, and the Making of Modern Conservatism
Journalist and biographer Sam Tanenhaus discusses his deeply researched new book on William F. Buckley, the influential founder of National Review, whose ideas helped define American conservatism. Drawing from exclusive access to private papers, Tanenhaus reveals both Buckley’s public brilliance and his hidden involvement in covert political operations. In conversation with New York Times critic and author Dwight Garner (The Upstairs Delicatessen), this talk offers a fascinating look at power, ideology, and the forces that shaped a movement. Note: RSVP does not guarantee entry; coat check is limited.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 19
8:00 pm
Free
8:00 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | Behind the Scenes with Ancient American Art
Join museum experts for an insider's look at a selection of objects from the Ancient Americas galleries. Curators, conservators, and scholars share new insights and untold stories, offering a closer look at the works of art and their histories. Visitors are encouraged to ask questions and engage directly with the experts in this interactive gallery experience.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 20
3:00 pm
Free
3:00 pm
Free
Lecture | Expert Discusses Societal Collapses in Ancient Spain & China (In Person AND Online!)
Dr. Harvey Weiss, Yale's Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology, Anthropology and the Environment, presents a talk on "Explaining the Abrupt Societal Collapses from Spain to China at the 4.2 Thousand Years Before Present Event."
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 20
4:15 pm
Free
4:15 pm
Free
Book Club | Discuss Anite Brookner's Making Things Better
At this discussion, the group will analyze and talk about Making Things Better by Anita Brookner. Facing life alone at an advanced age, Julius Herz cannot shake the sense that he should be elsewhere, doing other things. Walking through bustling streets that seem increasingly alien to him, he’s confronted by life’s pressing questions with an urgency he has never known before: what do we owe the people in our lives? How should we fill our days? Feeling fortified despite the growing ache in his heart, Herz finds himself also blessed with a stirring sense of exhilaration. After a lifetime of deferring to others’ stronger wills, he faces a future of possibility, the only constraint the deeply ingrained habits of his mind.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 20
4:30 pm
Free
4:30 pm
Free
Discussion | Live Podcast with Emmy-Winning Writer & MSNBC Chief Correpsondent
Experience a live podcast of Person, Place, Thing where writer and humorist Randy Cohen will interview MSNBC Senior Chief Correspondent and award-winning journalist Ali Velshi. Velshi has covered a wide range of breaking news events and global affairs throughout his career, including U.S. presidential elections, ISIL and the Syrian refugee crisis, the Iran nuclear deal from Tehran, the tensions between Russia and NATO from Eastern Europe and the High Arctic, the debt crisis in Greece, the funeral of Nelson Mandela, and the global financial crisis. Randy Cohen is an Emmy award winning writer who has worked with The New Yorker, Harpers, Late Night with David Letterman, The New York Times Magazine and more.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 20
4:30 pm
Free
4:30 pm
Free
Lecture | Expert Explores the "New War Regime"
In the context of a new war regime—defined by the erosion of boundaries between war and society—this lecture by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow Cristina Basili calls for a critical rethinking of war beyond the dominant legalistic and strategic paradigms of political theory. This generative stance opens new pathways for envisioning a politics grounded in vulnerability, responsibility, and a radical refusal of domination.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 20
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Learn about Italian Diasporic Identity
At this event, transcendent imagination scholar Donna Chirico (York College) will speak with author Anthony Tamburri about his new book, Expanding Diasporic Identity: A Multi-Directional Path to the New Italian Writer. A limited number of books will be available for give-away at the event.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 20
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Discussion | Mapping Native American Arts in the East Village (Online!)
Explore the sites and stories that have shaped the Native American arts community in New York City. This discussion highlights historic galleries, theaters, and performance spaces in the East Village that played pivotal roles in defining and advancing Native American artistic expression, from groundbreaking exhibitions to influential theater ensembles.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 20
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Discussion | Speak with Leading Literary Agents in the Publishing Industry
Join the CUNY Graduate Center Writers' Institute for a panel with leading literary agents. Ask questions and learn more about the publishing process. This panel offers unique insights into how agents shape literary careers, followed by time for audience questions.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 20
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Discussion | Understanding the Future of Labor with AI
D&S Labor Futures Program Director Aiha Nguyen leads a panel of esteemed researchers in conversation about the value of human labor in increasingly automated workplaces. As management and organizational leaders adopt AI across workplaces, the use of these systems raises questions about how companies are reshaping the quality of work, job security, and the value of human labor. How are workers’ lives impacted when AI is used to monitor performance, surveil output, or make intrusive management decisions? Will AI disrupt industries and business models? How can we make sure technology supports workers, rather than undermining them?
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 20
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Lecture | The San Remo, the Beresford, and Beyond: Emery Roth and the Making of Manhattan Elegance
Architectural historian and author Andrew Alpern explores the remarkable career of Emery Roth, the architect behind some of New York City’s most iconic apartment buildings, including the San Remo, the Beresford, and the Ritz Tower. Spanning from Beaux-Arts grandeur to Art Deco elegance, Roth’s work helped define urban luxury living in the early 20th century. This illustrated talk highlights both his celebrated landmarks and lesser-known projects, demolished or unrealized, that continue to shape the city’s architectural identity. Note: RSVP does not guarantee entry; coat check is limited.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Nov 20
7:30 pm
Free
7:30 pm
Free
Lecture | NYT Artist & Designer Explores His Craft & Career (In Person AND Online!)
Spanish designer and artist Pablo Delcan shares his insights into leading an artistic career. Delcan is the creator of Prompt-Brush 1.0, a project and forthcoming book exploring the first non-AI generative image model. He has designed many book covers for major publishers and authors and is a visual contributor to The New York Times, where he creates images for the Opinion section and The New York Times Magazine. His work has also appeared in Le Monde, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. Forbes included him in its “30 Under 30 in Art and Style,” and he joined the Alliance Graphique Internationale in 2019.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 21
8:30 am
Free
8:30 am
Free
Colloquium | Explore the Intersection of Democracy & Psychiatry (In Person AND Online!)
In what ways can the critics of psychiatry and psychiatric institutions teach us new ways of thinking about democracy today? This colloquium will attempt to answer this question by reflecting on both historical and contemporary approaches to the psychiatric institution. Speakers will discuss in particular the figure of Franco Basaglia, the prominent Italian psychiatrist who sought to revolutionize his own discipline and practice, and who inspired the so-called Legge Basaglia (1978), which ultimately led to the closure of psychiatric hospitals in Italy, long regarded as sites of socio-economic oppression. Basaglia also founded an association of psychiatrists— Psichiatria Democratica (Democratic Psychiatry)—whose very name signals the deep interconnection he envisioned between psychiatry and democracy. The colloquium will approach these complex issues from both inside and outside psychiatry: the parentheses around “(Anti)” in the title are meant to suggest precisely this ambiguity. Speakers: Mario Colucci, Psychiatrist - Dipartimento di salute mentale di Udine - Pierangelo Di Vittorio, Philosopher and writer - Fabian Freyenhagen, University of Essex - Silvia Lippi, Psychoanalyst - François Noudelmann, NYU Professor of French Literature, Thought, and Culture
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 21
10:00 am
Free
10:00 am
Free
Lecture | The Art of Tailoring: Inside the World of Paul Stuart
Participate in an evening celebrating the evolution, style, and craftsmanship of Paul Stuart. Known for its fusion of Savile Row precision, Old Hollywood glamour, and classic New York sophistication, this brand has defined timeless American elegance for generations. With over three decades in menswear, including a decade at Ralph Lauren, the Creative Director will share insights into the creative process behind Paul Stuart's tailored clothing, sportswear, footwear, and the Phineas Cole collection. Paul Stuart style is encouraged. Note: RSVP does not guarantee entry; coat check is limited.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Nov 21
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Japanese Literary Translator Talks about Her Career & Craft
Enjoy a special creator event featuring Yuki Tejima, the literary translator of Totto-chan, the Little Girl at the Window: The Sequel — the long-awaited follow-up to Japan's wildly successful bestseller Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window. She will be in attendance to talk to educators & librarians about the process of translating, as well as her acclaimed career.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Sat, Nov 22
11:30 am
Free
11:30 am
Free
Talk | Experts Discuss International Relations 10 Years after the Charlie Hebdo Shooting (In Person AND Online!)
At a time when the West is grappling with Islamism and the Middle East is undergoing a major transformation, two prominent Middle East experts, Prof. Bernard Haykel of Princeton and Dr. Hugo Micheron from Sciences Po Paris will share their expertise on important geopolitical issues and security questions. Ten years ago, the terrorists who killed twelve members of the satirical newspaper Charle Hebdo and four customers at a kosher supermarket declared their allegiance to Al-Qaeda. The attackers were part of a global jihadist movement consisting of a network of extremist organizations advocating violent attacks against the West and Jews. How has this movement evolved since 2015? What is its relationship to more mainstream Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood? Has the strategy of Islamists shifted towards infiltrating Western countries through religious schools, mosques, activist imams, growing participation in elective positions and effective internet propaganda?
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Nov 24
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Levain Bakery Founders Share Their New Book, Levain Bakery: A Story of Friendship, Community, and Cookies
Enjoy a conversation with best friends and founders of Levain Bakery, Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald, to celebrate the release of their new book, a collection of stories and personal accounts of how Levain Bakery became the success that it is today--Levain Bakery: A Story of Friendship, Community, and Cookies. They will be in conversation with celebrity chef Amanda Freitag, followed by a signing.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Nov 24
6:00 pm
Free
6:00 pm
Free
Discussion | Author & Theater Producer Talk about New Book, Champions for the Arts
Voza Rivers, executive producer and founding member of the New Heritage Theatre Group, joins author Donna Walker-Kuhne for a conversation based on her latest book, Champions for the Arts: Successful Strategies for Engaging Dynamic Communities in conjunction with the Library for the Performing Arts' new exhibition, Syncopated Stages: Black Disruptions to the Great White Way. Rivers and Walker-Kuhne discuss the importance of archival work and exhibitions like Syncopated Stages, their distinguished career histories, and community-engaged theater-making practices to celebrate the publication of Champions for the Arts.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Nov 24
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Talk | The Photo League: Jewish Photographers, Social Documentary, and Suppression (Online!)
Explore the legacy of the Photo League, founded in 1936 by idealistic Jewish photographers in New York, whose work spanned modernist photography, social documentary, and race relations, until it was suppressed by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Nov 24
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Talk | A Former UN Diplomat on Sri Lanka and the Southern Maritime Silk Route (Online!)
Dr. Palitha Kohona, a former Sri Lankan Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Ambassador to China, examines Sri Lanka’s pivotal role in the Chinese Silk Road. Positioned at the southern tip of India, where monsoon winds and ocean currents converge, Sri Lanka has long attracted sailors from both friendly and marauding naval powers. Archaeological evidence suggests that hundreds, possibly thousands, of Chinese ships visited the island, making it a central hub in the Southern Maritime Silk Route and a key link in regional trade networks.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 25
12:00 pm
Free
12:00 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | Exploring Music in Edo-Period Japanese Paintings
Join museum experts for an insider’s look at Edo-period Japanese paintings that reveal the musical dimensions of Japan’s visual culture. Curators, conservators, and scholars share new insights and untold stories, allowing visitors to examine the works closely and ask questions.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Nov 25
3:00 pm
Free
3:00 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | Learn How a Historic Mansion Turned into a Museum
Join a museum educator for a brief gallery talk tracing how a Gilded Age mansion was transformed into a world-class art museum.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 26
3:30 pm
Free
3:30 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | A Closer Look at Rembrandt’s Polish Rider
Join a museum educator for a short gallery talk exploring Rembrandt’s enigmatic Polish Rider, a rare full-length portrait that blends portraiture and historical narrative. Discover the mysteries surrounding the rider’s identity and the painting’s place within Rembrandt’s late career.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Nov 26
4:30 pm
Free
4:30 pm
Free
Talk | Documentary Photographer Discusses How He Conceptualizes & Realizes His Projects
From the arrangement and science linked to how we process various harmonies, documentary photographer Chris CHu will discuss his workflow, from conceptualizing projects to crafting printed collections and landing clients with his unique approach to the art. Photography is about a feeling and, although a visual medium, inspiration can many times come from our other senses. For Chris, music is the driving force behind his creative vision.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Dec 1
1:00 pm
Free
1:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Learn about Hirschfield's Sondheim & Hear Live Sondheim Works (+ Signing)
Author and curator David Leopold will be in conversation with book critic Bill Goldstein. Leopold, who serves as archivist of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation, has compiled the best of Hirschfeld in a new book of detachable posters, Hirschfeld’s Sondheim, that includes an introduction by Broadway star Bernadette Peters. Come hear Leopold as he talks about Hirschfeld’s passion and process for drawing scenes and characters from Sondheim’s many works. Tonight’s event also includes a performance of Sondheim songs by the cabaret couple, Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano, who will pair Sondheim’s Broadway compositions with Hirschfeld’s illustrations. A book signing follows the performance.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Dec 1
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Lecture | Bold Visions in Color and Commerce
Dive into a world of striking imagery where creativity meets commerce. This talk highlights how visual artists turn advertising into art through inventive use of color, form, and emotion.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Dec 2
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Discussion | Creative Experts Discuss NYC's Contribution to American Cultural Voice
As New York City celebrates its 400th birthday, a panel of creators, performers, and scholars explores the city’s contribution to the American cultural voice in the performing arts and in literature. The springboards for the conversation are three iconic instrumental works created in New York that have left an indelible mark on the U.S. musical landscape: a symphonic suite from the shore-leave musical On the Town by former NY Phil Music Director Leonard Bernstein; Gershwin’s Concerto in F, which the NY Phil commissioned in 1925; and Dvořák’s omnipresent New World Symphony, unveiled by the NY Phil in 1893. The discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A. There are two ways to access this event: 1. General Admission, first-come first-served. Just show up! 2. Fast Track opening the Monday before the event at noon.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Dec 2
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Talk | High-Impact Portrait Photographer Discusses His Creative Process & Its Nuances
Photographer and director Ben Franke discusses his creative process and the nuance of approaching photography at different speeds. In a world where photography has become so popular it can be a challenge to standout from the crowd, some photographers push through the sea of redundancy with a signature style that's as refreshing and authentic as it is engaging and unique. Franke is one such photographer. As comfortable capturing the excitement of parkour as he is crafting intimate portraiture, Ben's work is full of energy and passion.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Dec 3
5:00 pm
Free
5:00 pm
Free
Talk | Film Professor Breaks Down Psychoanalysis in Storytelling
Mark Voelpel, Associate Professor of Screenwriting and Film Production at Brooklyn College, explores how psychoanalysis informs storytelling--and how filmmakers use it to spark emotional breakthroughs on screen and within their audiences.. Through stories we process trauma, desire, conflict, and identity-much like in therapy. A powerful film allows us to step into the protagonist's world and face our own emotions within its imagined space. Far from mere entertainment, films can serve as psychological tools for healing, insight, and transformation-stories as the talking cure.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Wed, Dec 3
7:30 pm
Free
7:30 pm
Free
Discussion | World-Building Imagineers on Storytelling, Digital Narratives, & Implementation
Art, technology, science, and the humanities converge in Nona Hendryx's installation, where she hosts an expert panel of world-building imagineers including Amy Jupiter from Walt Disney; XR immersive strategist Kathleen Cohen; and Jalina Stewart, a visionary in the XR landscape. The panelists will share invaluable insight into the creative process of immersive world-building by discussing real-world applications for traditional storytelling, digital narratives, and implementation. There are two ways to access this event: 1. General Admission, first-come first-served. Just show up! 2. Fast Track opening the Monday before the event at noon.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Thu, Dec 4
7:30 pm
Free
7:30 pm
Free
Discussion | Learn about the Legacy of NYC's Famous Restaurant: Delmonico's
Max Tucci, author of The Delmonico Way and a third-generation partner, joins Carl Raymond of The Gilded Gentleman podcast to share stories of holiday feasts and the legacy of America's first great restaurant: Delmonico's. Welcome to Delmonico's--the legendary New York restaurant that once hosted presidents, celebrities, and the city's elite, including the Astors, Schermerhorns, and van Rensselaers. Known for its opulent "Patriarch Balls" and cuisine hailed by Harper's Weekly as "an agency of civilization," Delmonico's set the standard for fine dining. Make a reservation in the dining room to sample special Delmonico-themed dishes and cocktails.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Dec 5
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Discussion | NYTimes Best-Selling Author Clint Smith on Immigration and American History (Online!)
Join Clint Smith for a discussion on immigration, Black history, and the contested meaning of being American. Through personal stories and historical insight, the conversation will explore how immigrant, migrant, refugee, and Black communities have shaped the nation's identity. Smith's books will be available at a special price.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Dec 8
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Book Discussion | The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto: Five Young Women Who Led the Resistance (Online!)
Holocaust historian Elizabeth R. Hyman tells the untold story of five courageous young women who fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, sabotaging Nazis, aiding Jews in hiding, and leading the resistance. Known as “the girls” by fellow fighters and “bandits” by the Nazis, they were central to the Jewish resistance as fighters, commanders, couriers, and smugglers.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Mon, Dec 8
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Forum | Harvard Economist Insights on Fixing What’s Broken in Personal Finance (Online!)
Economist John Campbell discusses his new book Fixed: Why Personal Finance Is Broken and How to Make It Work for Everyone. Drawing on decades of research, Campbell reveals how today’s personal finance system favors the wealthy and well-educated while steering ordinary consumers toward costly mistakes. From student loans and mortgages to retirement savings and insurance, he explores how these inequities shape people’s lives and offers evidence-based solutions to restore fairness and trust in the financial system. This program includes a discussion and audience Q&A. The first 100 registrants will receive a complimentary electronic copy of the book.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Dec 9
12:00 pm
Free
12:00 pm
Free
Book Discussion | Maus and Mark Podwal’s Illustrated Book of Lamentations: Holocaust Memory in Graphic and Visual Art (Online!)
Explore two groundbreaking works of Holocaust testimony with artist and author Richard McBee. Art Spiegelman’s Maus presents survivor narratives through the lens of a second-generation adult child in a pioneering graphic novel format. Mark Podwal’s Illustrated Book of Lamentations (1974) pairs a complete English translation with 28 spare black-and-white reflections, blending illustration and spiritual reflection.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Tue, Dec 9
7:00 pm
Free
7:00 pm
Free
Gallery Talk | Art in Focus: Slow Observance and Conversation
Take a moment to slow down and connect with a single work of art through guided observation and group discussion. No background in art is needed--just curiosity and openness. This relaxed, welcoming program invites all adult learners to engage deeply with one piece at a time. Note: Space is limited; first-come, first-served. Stickers are distributed 15 minutes before the program starts.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Fri, Dec 12
6:30 pm
Free
6:30 pm
Free
Talk | DJ Pete Rock Speaks about His Craft & Performs a DJ Set
Experience a visit from one of the true living legends of the art, Soul Brother #1, DJ Pete Rock. After his sudden rise to fame in the early 1990s, Pete Rock has gone on to produce hit tracks for the biggest names in Hip-Hop, including Jay-Z, Nas, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Mac Miller, and Common. Pete Rock will be in conversation with curator Xavier “X” Jernigan as they get to the living heart of Pete’s most iconic beats. Following this spirited conversation, stick around for an hour-long DJ set by the legend himself. There are two ways to access this event: 1. General Admission, first-come first-served. Just show up! 2. Fast Track opening the Monday before the event at noon.
New York City, NY; NYC
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Sat, Dec 13
7:30 pm
Free
7:30 pm
Free
Complimentary Tickets
to shows, concerts ... (CFT Deals!)
Play | Broadway Actor in a Play About a Towering Figure in Media
Regular Price: $59CFT Member Price: $0.00
Play | Highly-Regarded Actor in a Critically Acclaimed Drama
Regular Price: $99CFT Member Price: $0.00
Play | Legendary Performer in a Thoughtful and Comedic Play
Regular Price: $69.50CFT Member Price: $0.00
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