The best things to do in NYC this weekend

The Oculus, the giant skeletal transportation hub and shopping center, is about to become a light sculpture for the very first time! A projection will bring the white metal-clad ribs and facade to life with a fantastical artwork across three nights.

The glow-up is part of IlluminationNYC, a free, large-scale outdoor light show across two Lower Manhattan locations over three nights from May 2 to 4. 

The festival will create a dreamy oasis of light artists, live performers and DJs at Battery Park City in Belvedere Plaza, located on the elevated northwest corner above North Cove Marina. DJs will perform and local and international light artists will show off their work across three nights.

Turns out, pickleball was not just a passing fad.

Doubling down on the popularity of the sport, CityPickle's 14-court pickleball installation is back at Central Park's Wollman Rink. The experience offers players of all skill levels the chance to reserve courts or partake in open play sessions between 8am and 9pm daily. 

Take your movie-going experience to the next level this summer at Rooftop Cinema Club. The experience offers a chance to watch a movie on a Midtown rooftop with vegan popcorn, classic theater candy, and craft cocktails.

This season's rooftop movie schedule includes classics like When Harry Met Sally, Dirty Dancing, Grease, Mean Girls, Clueless, and so much more. Also expect special programming for Star Wars day, AAPI Heritage Month, Black Music Month, and Pride Month. Plus, it’s adding a Saturday Cereal Club and Mimosas & Muffins Sundays. Get tickets here.

One of the most anticipated events at the Met is their annual Roof Garden Commission, an art series in which the New York institution chooses one artist to use the coveted space as their canvas. 

This year’s commission, which was just unveiled today, sends a playful yet extremely poignant and timely message about children who find themselves in war zones. The exhibition, titled Abetare, is on view through October 27; it's included with general admission.

The artist, Petrit Halilaj, was born in war-torn Kosovo in 1986 and had to flee his home during the Yugoslav Wars in 1998. He lived with his family in a refugee camp in Serbia for a year, where he drew pictures of war scenes that he had witnessed back home. The sculptures on the roof were inspired by doodles Halilaj found at the school he attended in Runk, Kosovo before it was demolished in 2010.

Screaming and crying girls. Innumerable hotel rooms. Nonstop camera flashes. A group of four Liverpudlian guys in the middle of it all. Beatlemania made an indelible mark on history and on our lives.

Sir Paul McCartney, the group’s bassist and one of two lead singers, is showcasing more than 250 of his own photographs that illustrate the intensity of this historical moment, but also the quiet, personal moments unseen by millions of fans in “Paul McCartney Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm” at the Brooklyn Museum. The show opens on May 3 and runs through August 18.

A celebration of the First People of the New York City region is coming to the Museum of the City of New York the first weekend of May, in collaboration with the Eenda-Lunaapeewahkiing (Land of the Lunaapeew) Project. On Saturday, May 4, to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Dutch settlers' arrival in NYC in 1624, "We Are Still Here!" pays homage both to the resilience of the Lenape people and to the creativity of Indigenous communities, while honoring their fundamental role in shaping both the city and the country.

The event will invite attendees to experience the diversity of Lunaapeew/Lenape culture through musical and dance performances from We Are Seeds; Lenape language workshops with Kristin Jacobs; interactive craft workshops; and panel discussions led by indigenous speakers and artists. Admission is included with museum entry. 

In celebration of not only Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you!), The Drunk Texts—a boozy twist on classical theater—is putting on three performances of Shakespearean Star Wars. The force is strong with this lineup: on Friday, May 3, see Andrew Sanford’s A Hope Renew’d; on May 4, Sanford’s The Empire Doth Protest; and on Sunday, May 5, a brunch edition of Mike Gregorek and Jen Sandella's The Prequels. There will be drinking games with Yoda, shots-taking with Darth Vader and more. Plus, your $15 ticket includes your first drink!

The events celebrate Star Wars, of course, but also the group's new permanent home at The RAT (that's Random Access Theater in DUMBO).

It’s been eight years since the world lost the musical genius that was Prince, but you can celebrate all that the icon created, championed, and inspired on Saturday, May 4, with an all-day marathon of free, Prince-related programming at Symphony Space on the Upper West Side.

From 3pm to 5pm, explore the artist’s spiritual side with a sing-along, original choreography and an exclusive conversation with the team bringing Purple Rain to Broadway. Then delve into the women who inspired and were inspired by Prince, with deep-cuts and spoken word performed by Kendra Foster, Felice Belle and Nia Drummond from 5pm to 7pm. Prince's extensive catalog will be reimagined by the likes of brass bands and dance troupes from 7pm to 9pm, and finishing the festivities off will be an all-out celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Purple Rain album. 

Summer on the Hudson, a program run by the Riverside Park Conservancy and NYC Parks for the past two decades, will be back starting May 1, this time bigger than ever before, with new programming and more than 300 free events, including some in West Harlem and Washington Heights for the first time ever. 

As usual, expect a ton of artists and musicians to participate in the extravaganza, which is free to the public and hinges heavily on all things wellness. Plus, silent disco sessions, movies under the stars, sunset yoga classes, and a Black Birders Week.

This year, Silent Disco sessions at Pier I in Riverside Park South, the Irish Dance Festival, the West Side County Fair and Movies Under the Stars will make a comeback while the uptown expansion will bring with it novel events. These include movie screenings on the Hudson waterfront at 145th Street every Thursday in August, sunset yoga classes and a Black Birders Week hosted alongside NYC Audubon.

There’s only one constant in New York City: Change. A new exhibit at the New-York Historical Society explores the rapid development of the city and what’s been left behind. 

The exhibit, titled Lost New York, transports viewers to a time when pigs roamed the streets, shopping was a radical act, and New Yorkers used to brave polluted waters for a swim. The exhibition also documents long-gone landmarks like the original Penn Station, Met Opera House, Chinese Theater, and Croton Reservoir. See it at the Upper West Side museum now through September 29. 

Lost New York is included with museum admission ($24/adult). Or check it on during pay-as-you-wish Friday evenings, which will expand 5-8pm with live vintage music and specialty "lost" cocktails during the spring and summer months. Friday night activities begin on May 3 and continue through early summer. 

Smorgasburg, the food bazaar spectacular, is back for 2024 with dozens of great local vendors across three locations.

In fact, with more than 70 vendors, it's the largest Smorgasburg lineup since 2018! Vendors this year will serve up fragrant Ethiopian stews, Hawaii-style street comforts, explosive pani puri, potato puff poutine, and lots more.

Smorgasburg WTC runs on Fridays; Williamsburg is on Saturdays; and Prospect Park is on Sundays. Each location is open from 11am-6pm and operates weekly through October. 

One hundred years ago, The Morgan Library & Museum was established with its expansive collection of historic books in a jaw-droppingly beautiful building. Over the last century, the museum developed into a beloved cultural institution showcasing rare books, drawings, photographs and important research. 

In honor of this landmark anniversary, the museum announced a slate of programming including a free public celebration day on Sunday, May 5. Activities include live music, exhibition tours, artmaking, scavenger hunts, and more; here's the full schedule.

Are you a preservationist nerd? (Guilty!) Then head to the Museum of the City of New York’s new exhibition, which offers a behind-the-scenes look at the conservation of one of the museum’s prized possessions: Samuel Bell Waugh’s monumental, 170-year-old painting, The Bay and Harbor of New York.

The exhibition explores the piece’s significance as one of the earliest depictions of immigration to the United States and welcomes the public to witness the preservation firsthand, gaining insight into the care and techniques needed to safeguard such a historical artifact. Conservator Gary McGowan will be on site, actively working on the painting in the gallery on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and visitors themselves will get the chance to interact with a variety of hands-on activities. It's on view through October 13.

Watermark Bar has transformed into the tropically-themed Watermark Beach. Expect a full season of fun at Watermark Beach, which will be gussied up for the warm weather with Instagram-ready tiki decor, seasonal drinks and twinkling lights for when the party stretches into the nighttime hours.

And this summer, the al fresco experience will introduce new cabanas and a curated new cocktail program, in addition to large-format Cooler Packages, which will allow guests to have their canned and bottled drinks ready on ice as they visit. 

Stories help us understand and connect with one other—and this new storytelling festival will do exactly that when it premieres in May. 

The Chinatown Storytelling Festival, a new initiative from Think!Chinatown, highlights and celebrates stories from within the Chinatown community. In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the festival spotlights the complex stories of immigration journeys, the birth of the Asian American movement, and the everyday lives of Chinatown community members. See this collection of short films during the Chinatown Storytelling Festival from May 5-7 at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema; tickets cost $16 with discounted group admission.

New York City’s culinary scene would be nothing without its street vendors, many of whom serve some of the most delicious food across the five boroughs but rarely get the flowers they deserve. 

To spread more love to these small independent businesses, the Street Vendor Project is organizing a giant, citywide scavenger hunt that will encourage New Yorkers to learn more about the street vending community and put some new spots on their foodie radars.

The multi-part scavenger hunt is taking place across Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens from May 4-17. To play the game, you’ll form a team of up to 10 friends via their registration page. Registered teams will be able to download an app that will give them different missions to complete by answering trivia questions, meeting vendors, and trying their food. 

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo weekend, Astral Tequila is bringing MargaritaCon to the East Village on Saturday, May 4. Join the tequila brand from 4pm to 8pm on May 4 for complimentary samples of Astral-splashed margaritas while supplies last at local spots like Onieals, Virginia's, The Hidden Tiger and The Blind Barber.

Other NYC spots like Mood Ring, Golden Wuish, Boske, Hold Fast Kitchen and Spirits, Asset, Monarch Rooftop and Blinky's Bar will also be pouring Astral margaritas as part of the campaign. (You can check out the full map of participating bars nationwide at the Astral Tequila website.)

Average New Yorkers who can't get into the Met Gala or, perhaps, refuse to condone all that the event of the season stands for should pay attention to an eclectic yet honorable alternative: the Debt Gala. Proceeds help people facing debts, including medical bills.

The inclusive fest is returning to Brooklyn’s Bell House on May 5, the day before the Met Gala takes over the Met. Tickets to the event are currently on sale right here.

Just like its celebrity-filled counterpart, the Debt Gala features an annual theme. This year, it will be “Sleeping Baddies: Slumber Party,” where guests are encouraged to transform sleep-related materials and garments into edgy and exciting fashion statements.

Despite announcing that the Bronx Night Market would close for good, this popular market is coming back for 2024 just in a new location. Find it in Fordham Plaza as of April 6, then will run on the first Saturday of each month through October.

Expect a new-and-improved Bronx Night Market that feels like a community space, with new eatery Cafe Locale right at the center of it all.

Other activities include a pop-up bookstore curated by Bronx is Reading, which will host a bunch of literary activities for folks of all ages; a new general store filled with fresh products sourced locally called Fordham Farmers Market; Bronx Native's beloved Tiny Desk concert series; and a vegan bazaar that will promote the sort of healthy foods that the "traditional" market does not regularly pay attention to.

A Gowanus block will transform into a street festival on Saturday, May 4 to support Badass Animal Rescue, a non-profit that rehabilitates dogs that are coming from high kill shelters. The festival will include food, pup meet-ups, dog magicians, raffles, and many other forms of entertainment for canines and their humans. It's free to attend and promises fun for all — canine and human.

The Mayday Festival of Resistance is back for the first time since 2022 on Sunday, May 4, at Maria Hernandez Park. Events include a free outdoor concert, party, and community celebration held in honor of International Workers Day.

Show up for Rueda de Oro, Escuela Popular de Arte Sonoro, Material Support, Las Mariquitas and Discolocas. The volunteer-led event also features resource tables from an array of community organizations and art-making activities for kids. Cultural workers and grassroots groups will inform residents about their rights as tenants, immigrants, and workers. Speakers will highlight recent wins by workers on the frontlines and other ongoing labor struggles across NYC. It’s a day of music, art, and joyful resistance, where neighbors come together to build solidarity, mutual aid and people power.

The Lower East Side Film Festival is back for its 14th annual fest this weekend with exclusive feature film premieres, specialty short showcases, industry panels and parties. Running from Thursday, May 2 through Monday, May 6 at the Village East Cinema and DCTV Firehouse Cinema, this year's lineup includes special 25th anniversary screenings of classic 1999 films like Cruel Intentions (with a Q&A with director Roger Kumble) and But I’m A Cheerleader (with a Q&A with director Jamie Babbit).

Opening night kicks off with Your Monster, starring Melissa Barrera, while dark comedy Puddysticks will close the festival. High-profile folks like Lizzy Caplan, Beanie Feldstein, Brittany Snow and Julio Torres, among others, will join the festival as celebrity judges. 

Expect "a night of ridiculous and thought-provoking sex trivia—Bushwick style" at this event on Saturday, May 4. Sex educator extraordinaire Niki Davis-Fainbloom will be lead an evening of trivia questions on everything from STI myths, the physiology of pleasure to the kinkiest sex you can think of.

The fun's happening at Pine Box Rock Shop. Winning teams will receive sexy prizes sponsored by Babeland and a newfound understanding of how ridiculous being a human with genitals is.  

The Rooftop at Pier 17 is planning a packed summer of musical performances with more than 60 outdoor shows. The panoramic views, the chill vibe, and the stellar acoustics make it a truly special spot to see a show. 

The sixth Summer Concert Series on The Rooftop at Pier 17 features more than 60 artists in genres from rap (Isaiah Rashad) to rock (Social Distortion) to electronic (Electric Callboy) and more. Plus, there are several bands on the roster that will make Millennials swoon with nostalgia (like Taking Back Sunday, Something Corporate, Two Door Cinema Club, and Mayday Parade). Get tickets here.  

Forget the $7 Hallmark card. Make Mom a handmade card—for free. 

Head to Bowne & Co. at the Seaport on Saturday, May 4 at noon to make a festive card using 19th century historical printing equipment. In this two-hour workshop, you'll get hands-on throughout the printing process while seeing how the designers at Bowne use the Seaport Museum’s working collection. 

Advance registration is required for this ages 12+ workshop but walkups will be accommodated if possible. 

After a five-year hiatus, Lorimoto Gallery has organized another rendition of Ridgewood Open Studios, a community-based art event featuring the works of over 80 participating artists—including Becky Yazdan, Fernando Pena, Leda Brittenham, Nikki Shapiro, Terra Supp and more—from Friday, May 3 through Sunday, May 5.

The exhibition will kick off with four group shows opening simultaneously on Friday at 6pm, followed by an after-party at Pan with wood-fired pizzas, cocktails and a live jazz set by Ridgewood Jazz All Stars. 

"In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY," New York City’s premiere festival of Italian theater, is back. Held in all five boroughs of NYC now through Monday, May 13, the festival features full—and free!—productions that have already toured around their native Italy, as well as readings of Italian plays in translation, lectures, and exchanges between Italian and International artists. (Yes, the bulk of events are in Italian, but with English subtitles.)

Among the calendar of shows, you’ll find SCIARA – PRIMA C’AGGHIORNA (the story of Francesca Serio, the first woman to denounce the mafia); THE GREAT MAGIC (a three-actor adaptation of the Eduardo De Filippo play); and THE VISIT (a tragicomic show inspired by the admission system for weekly meetings with inmates at the Poggioreale prison in Naples.)

The 11th anniversary season of the festival is hosted by The New York City-based Kairos Italy Theater along with Italy’s KIT Italia and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at NYU.  

Hear comics around comics at this comedy show held in a comic book shop. The event's hosted on Saturday, May 4 — known as Free Comic Book Day — at Everyone Comics & Collectibles in Long Island City. Be sure to arrive early for a chance to snag some free comic books.

Hear from comedians including Brett Singer, Ngoc Bui, Mac O'Hara, Amha Umoja, Jessie Lee, and Brian Rabadeau, with host Alice Song. Snacks and refreshments will be available on-site and and BYOB is welcome. There will also be some trivia with giveaways during the show.

A garden oasis hidden away on the Upper West Side promises an ideal spot to soak in all that spring has to offer. 

Thousands of tulips in pink, yellow, red, purple, and orange fill the West Side Community Garden, and this Tulip Festival is free to visit daily from dawn til dusk through early May. While tulips steal the show, other spring scenes get the spotlight, too. Pastel pink cherry blossom petals float down from the branches above, birds flit from tree to tree, and the fragrance of hyacinths perfumes the air. 

You can find the tucked-away garden at 123 West 89th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Columbus Avenue. Though it's free to visit, you can make a donation to keep the volunteer-run garden beautiful year after year. 

Poster House, the country's first museum dedicated entirely to the global history of posters, turns its lens on its hometown for its latest exhibit. "Wonder City of the World: New York City Travel Posters," highlights 80 works that capture NYC's landmarks in vibrant color and detail. 

The exhibit explores how New York City was represented to thousands of travelers, immigrants, and tourists during the 20th century. A 19th century marketing strategy coined the phrase "Wonder City," and it appeared in dozens of newspaper and magazine advertisements, as well as articles, postcards and souvenir booklets. New York’s massive growth during this time ultimately led to the creation of more travel posters than were designed for any other city in the world. The images included scenes of the city as seen from the water, from the ground, and, eventually, from the air. 

The show was curated by Nicholas D. Lowry, and it's on view through September 8.

Shop 'til you drop at FAD Market, a curated fashion, art and design pop-up marketplace, which is back for 2024. Expect to see your favorite makers plus brand new creatives to help you live smarter, gift better and support local businesses. 

FAD—which stands for Fashion, Art and Design—takes over different venues with a horde of independent vendors and creators. Admission is free and dogs are welcome!

This weekend, May 4-5, head to the Brooklyn Brewery Market.

Eat your way through Japan without ever leaving New York City at JAPAN Fes, the massive foodie festival, which is back and bigger than ever for 2024. The organization is hosting 30 outdoor events this year stretching through November in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. Event organizers say it's the largest Japanese food festival in the world, attracting 300,000 visitors and featuring 1,000 vendors every year.

Expect dishes including takoyaki, ramen, matcha sweets, yakisoba, karaage, okonomiyaki, and lots more. They're even hosting a ramen contest and a konamon contest this year to crown the best of the bunch. Vendors hail from New York City, as well as other states and other countries. 

Here's the full list of dates and neighborhoods.

Grand Bazaar is one of NYC’s oldest and largest marketplaces where you can buy vintage treasures, antiques, clothing and more goodies from more than 100 local merchants. Photographers, jewelers and furniture designers sell their best on Sundays between 10am and 5pm on the Upper West Side (77th Street at Columbus Avenue). 

Each week offers a different theme, from featuring women-owned businesses to focusing on handmade items to spotlighting international wares. The market runs both indoors and outdoors each week all year long.

Think bugs are creepy? Think again. That's the message of IMAGINARI, an immersive art and science experience that opened today in Manhattan. 

The year-long exhibition called The Insect World shows just how cool—and important—bugs actually are. You’ll get to walk through fields of 6-foot flowers, come face-to-face with Picasso bug artwork, and see a mantis partying under a disco ball. Larger-than-life ladybug sculptures dot the floor, and 200 faux monarch butterflies perch on a 12-foot cherry blossom tree. It all adds up to an important message of environmental stewardship. Tickets are on sale now for $36; the all-ages exhibition will be on view for one year.

Frieze returns this spring with over 65 leading galleries from New York City and around the world. This major show will transform The Shed into an international destination for the visual art community from May 1 to 5, 2024. 

This year takes on a performance focus. Featured events include projects at Performance Space, Artists Space, the High Line and Rockefeller Center ice rink, with Matty Davis, Sharif Farrag, Ellen Fullman and Chella Man. 

This quirky fair that considers itself a hybrid between an art fair and a piece of conceptual performance art returns for its 10th edition May 1-5 in the Seaport. As the event celebrates 10 years, this year's theme is The Big Birthday Party: Swans of the Seaport. 

See it at the 33 Seaport Hotel (33 Peck Slip). Expect an eclectic range of works in varied media, including painting, sculpture, photography, mixed media, and video installations. Events kick off with a birthday bash on May 1, including a parade, bobbing for apples, pin-the-tail on Fridge, and birthday surprises. 

Tickets are free, but be sure to RSVP here.

The event happens during NYC's Frieze Week, and the event's title is a play on the that name.  Every year, event organizers strive to live up the the tagline, "Can you fit into the Fridge?" by accepting numerous and diverse exhibitors.

This approachable art fair is geared toward young professionals dipping their toes into the art market, but seasoned collectors will find much to love, too. Show up to browse a curated selection of contemporary artworks at various price points, plus catch art talks and live demonstrations. Superfine boasts accessible pricing and representation of LBGTQ+ artists, artists of color, and other traditionally underrepresented groups. 

In celebration of the show's 30th art fair, they're taking over an entire floor of a Times Square skyscraper for the show, which runs May 2-5. This year's festivities feature a "Future Wonderland" theme prioritizing artists and their stories.

Here are a few important numbers to note: You'll see 130 artists from NYC and around the world. About 90% of the artworks sell for $100-$3,000 — and 100% of those sales go to the artists.

Need a laugh? The Second City—the renowned comedy club with locations in Chicago and Toronto—just opened in Brooklyn, and you will definitely laugh out loud there. The New York City venue, which opened on the legendary club’s 65th anniversary, offers hilarious live comedy every single night of the week.

As of this week, starting on April 18, the club is debuting "The Second City Presents The Mainstage Revue 1: Ruthless Acts of Kindness," a completely original NYC revue, which has been created in conversation with the audience over the last ten-weeks.

Some of the funniest names in comedy got their start at Second City. Just a few Second City alumni include: Bill Murray, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Amber Ruffin, Keegan-Michael Key, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, and Aidy Bryant. You might just see the next comedy star on this stage.

The venue offers sketch shows and improv performances, along with a great restaurant and no drink minimums in a beautiful venue. Tickets start at $39.

One of New York City's largest celebrations of Chinese food, culture and heritage is back, and it's firing up an even bigger calendar of events for 2024. After Dragon Fest’s successful run in 2023, where it attracted 200,000 attendees across five events, the festival is back with an expanded lineup of 16 events across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. 

Attendees can explore culinary traditions from nearly every province of China, with over 100 different Chinese dishes on offer, from slurp-ready soup dumplings to sugar-coated chestnuts, lotus root sandwiches to grilled cold noodles. Among the 2024 food vendors are Haidilao, Maobao, Na Tart, Jixiang BBQ, and dim sum classic Nom Wah.

Check all the dates and locations here.

Check out the Bronx Brewery's free ongoing artist series at Hudson Yards, which is bringing the works of world renowned artist Shiro to Manhattan for two months. The works on display explore New York's urban history through an aesthetic technique that mixes Japanese artistry with New York graffitti styles to create something completely unique. 

See the free exhibit from April 25 through June 21. 

“06:29 am: The Moment Music Stood Still” is a new exhibition about the Nova Music Festival massacre that happened in Re’im, Israel on October 7, 2023, and it just debuted inside a 50,000-square-foot space at 35 Wall Street.

Following a 10-week run in Tel Aviv, the exhibit, which record executive Scooter Braun and others organized, basically recreates the grounds of the festival, where Hamas terrorists killed over 360 attendees and took 44 people hostage. The exhibition retells the horrific acts through gathered objects from the festival, such as empty liquor bottles, camping tents, bullet-pocked portable toilets, charred cars, sneakers, jewelry pieces, T-shirts and more.

The exhibition will be on view through May 23; reserve tickets here. 

Check out a three-week contemporary art event that's bringing together 61 artists and 125 works that celebrate and explore the possibilities of textile art. The exihibition will occupy four floors of 207 Front Street, an 18th century warehouse in the Seaport that is opening to the public for the first time; it was once used to store cotton and fabrics. Among the artists who will exhibit their works: Tania Alvarez, Lisha Bai, Orly Cogan, Alexandria Deters, Angelo Filomeno, David Kramer, and many others.

The exhibition, which runs April 26-May 12, is free and open to all.

New York City just rolled a D20 in performance!

A new Dungeons & Dragons theatrical experience is heading to NYC this spring from Curious Hedgehog, Showpath Entertainment, Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro.

Starting previews on April 19 at Stage 42, Dungeons & Dragons The Twenty-Sided Tavern will make the audience vote on decisions, therefore becoming a sort of “fourth player” by influencing and changing the course of the plot, including what characters appear, what experiences they explore and more.

The rumors are true: David Adjmi's behind-the-music studio drama Stereophonic, which earned rave reviews Off Broadway last year, will move to Broadway's John Golden Theatre this April.

This is terrific news for fans of theater and rock alike. Although the show is not a musical, its intimate depiction of one band's creative journey includes a great deal of live music in its three engrossing hours.

Stereophonic performances have begun, with an official opening on on April 19. Buy tickets here. Visit the production's website for more information.

From now until mid-May, the Asia Society is hosting educational and community events in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month. Among them will be a talk in April 30 by acclaimed author Amy Tan, who is celebrating the release of her new book The Backyard Bird Chronicles; A talk about mental health in Asian-American communities by U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and Dr. Sue Varma on May 1; a business summit on May 15; and much more. You can check out their full programming and get tickets on the Asia Society's website.

You might not be-leaf it, but you can get a free tree in NYC!

Now through May, the New York Restoration Project—a local non-profit that plants trees, renovates gardens and takes care of green spaces around town—is giving out 3,500 free trees to New Yorkers across all five boroughs.

To get your hands on one of the 3,500 free trees, you’ll have to register in advance on this website. Trees will be given away on Saturdays and Sundays through May.

“We choose to go to the Moon,” President John F. Kennedy’s voice booms through speakers welcoming visitors to the massive new Space Race-themed exhibit at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. With archival speeches, historic documents, and incredible space equipment, the exhibit whisks visitors back to the 1960s, an era when humanity first ventured into the unknown. 

"Apollo: When We Went to the Moon" is now open at the Intrepid Museum (that's the gigantic aircraft carrier in Hell's Kitchen along the Hudson River) through September 2. At 9,000 square feet, it's the largest temporary exhibit in the museum's history. Tickets are inlcluded with museum admission.

It's another election year, and once again, women's rights are on the ballot. What would the suffragists who fought for women's right to vote say to us now, a century later?

Shaina Taub, the powerhouse writer of Suffs, a musical coming to Broadway this spring, answers that question with a lyric: “Keep marching. Keep marching on.” It’s a line from the finale of the show, which she produced with support from former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai. The show has now made its Broadway Debut at the Music Box Theatre.

Fourteen international artists have come together for Fotografiska New York’s current exhibition Human / Nature: Encountering Ourselves in the Natural World, a mix of photographs, sculptures, and immersive video installations. These works from the likes of David Ụzọchukwu, Lewis Miller, Ori Gerscht, and more “explore the complex relationship between Earth and its human inhabitants," per a press release.

Though the show is open through Saturday, May 18, you’ll want to stop by the museum on Sunday, April 21 for a workshop on ikebana, the Japanese art of floral design, by instructor Paula Tam of the Ikenobo school, the oldest and largest school of ikebana. A ticket to the workshop ($110 for members, $125 for non-members) includes admission to Human / Nature, as well as the other world-class exhibitions on view at Fotografiska.

Digital art and poetry will combine for a dive into Afrocentricity and Afrofuturism at this new immersive exhibit in Chelsea. "Aṣẹ: Afro Frequencies" is now open at ARTECHOUSE and runs all summer.

The digital art exhibition promises a "vibrant reflection upon the past, present, and future of the Black experience." It's told through the perspective of London-based Afro-surrealist digital artist Vince Fraser alongside evocative poetry by ursula rucker.

Both artists worked to honor the legacy, struggles, and complexities of the Black experience in their work. Even the exhibition's title, "Aṣẹ" stems from a powerful mantra, affirmation, and philosophical belief held by the Yoruba people of West Africa, meaning "so will it be." (By the way, that's pronounced as AH-shay.)

Art nerds can’t wait until the Whitney Biennial, which happens every two years. It’s always a gigantic showcase of some of the coolest, newest, and most provocative art at a big New York City museum. It’s the Whitney Museum of American Art’s landmark exhibition series and the longest-running survey of American Art, on view through August 11.

This year, the Biennial is themed “Even Better Than The Real Thing” and features the work of 71 artists and collectives. It does a lot in this iteration. The survey examines rapidly advancing technologies and machine learning tools; the body and subjectivity as it pertains to queer identity, body sovereignty, motherhood, the aging body, and the trans body; material agency and the use of unstable media; and lots more.

Overarching is the focus on “the real,” an extremely present topic these days with the onslaught of incorrect ChatGPT answers, horrifying deep fakes and art made by AI. 

The Brooklyn Museum isn’t just a world-class spot to experience art—it’s also a great place to shop, thanks to its partnership with Brooklyn Pop-Up. Every month, the museum plays host to a weekend artisan market stocked with local vendors offering one-of-a-kind, handmade artwork, contemporary and upcycled fashion, wellness and apothecary goods, homewares and more.

The market's outdoor season is now underway. Plus, every Saturday, you can find Brooklyn Pop-Up’s artisans bazaar in Fort Greene along DeKalb Avenue between South Oxford and Washington Avenue, a neighborhood favorite boasting 30-plus local designers, makers and artisans weekly.

For more than a century, the Statue of Liberty has offered inspiration as a beacon of freedom, equality, and democracy. And for just as long, she has also served as an inspiration for tattoo artists. 

A new exhibit at City Reliquary, a jewel box of a museum in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, features vintage State of Liberty tattoos. As the first show devoted to Lady Liberty ink, it also traces tattooing history in NYC since the 1800s. "Liberty the Tattooed Lady: The Great Bartholdi Statue as Depicted in Tattooing" is now open through January 12, 2025.

The exhibition spotlights antique flash, vintage photographs, drawings, and other ephemera that show how Lady Liberty has been a popular subject in tattooing for as long as she’s stood in New York Harbor. You'll even get to see vintage tattoo art that's never been on display before.

In the TV show "The Masked Singer," celebrity contestants disguise themselves head to toe in elaborate costumes to shield their identities. The concept has captivated audiences of all ages for 11 seasons, and now you can see the incredible costumes up-close and in-person. 

The Paley Center for Media will present " Spotlighting the Costumes That Captivated America" at its midtown museum through Sunday, May 19. 

The costumes on display, which helped the show win two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Costume Design, merge fashion, fantasy, and artistry. Each is a fantastical creation, extraordinary in its intricacy, originality, and scale. Some of the fan-favorite costumes include Miss Monster, Flamingo, Chameleon, and Gazelle.

See some of Broadway's most famous shows through fresh eyes at this new exhibit at the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. The exhibition showcases lenticular prints, which appear to animate as you move around. 

"Reanimating Theater: The Photography of Friedman-Abeles," runs through September 25, 2024. It brings to life photographs by Friedman-Abeles Studio of some of Broadway's most beloved productions from 1954-1970, like West Side Story, Camelot, and Bye, Bye Birdie. 

The Rubin Museum, that legendary building in Chelsea that has housed the largest collection of Himalayan art in the world for two decades, is permanently closing its physical space later this year. As sad as this is for New York’s culture scene, New Yorkers at least get to enjoy the museum until October, and you should definitely plan to make the most of it until then. 

The museum’s last exhibit, “Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now,” will be an appropriate, forward-looking nod to 32 contemporary artists from the Himalayas and the Asian diaspora whose work will be shown in dialogue with objects from the museum’s existing collection.

The will continue all the way through the museum's physical closing on October 6. Expect to see 32 new commissions and work across mediums, including painting, sculpture, sound, video, performance and more.

Featuring 60 works from The Met's collection, this exhibition traces the history and transformation of product photography, and delves into the techniques and messaging that brands have used throughout time. The photos include an ad for Panama hats in 1916, lipstick from the 1940s, shoes from the 1950s, and so much more.

"The Real Thing: Unpackaging Product Photography" is on view through August 4.

The author and illustrator who ignited our childhood imaginations with tales of cuddly bunnies, mischievous squirrels and daring ducks is getting a well-deserved spotlight in NYC.

The wholesome and beautiful works of beloved children’s author and land conservationist Beatrix Potter are now on view at The Morgan Library & Museum through June 9.

“Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature” is the most darling show in the city right now. The exhibition even features a delightful recreation of Potter’s home that you can actually sit and read in. 

At a time when only 11% of acquisitions at U.S. museums are created by female-identifying artists, the Brooklyn Museum's Center for Feminist Art is displaying 48 emerging and established women photographers. 

The exhibit showcases photographs from artists born in or working from Europe, including Vanessa Beecroft, Carolle Bénitah, and Silvia Rosi. Everything in the exhibit was made after the year 2000 and focuses on issues of migration, the legacies of nationalism in Europe, and the male gaze as a patriarchal power structure. See it through July 7.

The Harlem Renaissance had an indisputable impact on American culture, but chances are that you probably didn’t spend much time learning about it in school. That’s because, even though it shaped global literature, music, and art, Black Americans’ historical contributions have been systematically erased or gone unacknowledged for centuries.

A groundbreaking exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art hopes to be a part of rectifying the erasure and celebrating Black artists and intellectuals.

"The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism" presents 160 works by Black artists from the Harlem Renaissance and delves into many different aspects of the movement, mostly through the lens of paintings and sculpture. You can get your tickets here. 

Puttery is a new, adults-only mini-golf and nightlife destination that just opened at 446 West 14th Street by Washington Street in the Meatpacking District and is backed by, among others, Irish professional golfer Rory McIlroy.

The first location of its kind in New York, Puttery spans 24,000 square feet over five levels that feature an underground lounge and a total of three bars, including a rooftop one that will be open year-round (yes, there will be heat lamps on site). 

There’s a lot of good to see at this Manhattan subway stop. 

Two years after opening the subterranean bar Nothing Really Matters, hospitality professional Adrien Gallo continues building his subway station empire, opening See No Evil Pizza last week on the concourse level of the downtown-bound 1 train station at 50th Street and Broadway—a space that once housed a Dunkin’. It joins his Tiny Dancer Coffee on the same concourse.

“I basically transformed a subway station that was super neglected to a destination spot in the middle of Times Square,” Gallo tells Time Out New York.  

Find See No Evil Pizza is located on the concourse level of the downtown-bound 1 train station at 50th Street and Broadway. It is open for pop-ins and Resy reservations Monday-Saturday from 5pm-midnight. 

Deep-dive into the works of American ceramist and painter Toshiko Takaezu with this retrospective and monograph at the Noguchi Museum in Queens through July 28, 2024.

The first nationally touring retrospective of Takaezu’s work in twenty years, Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within will feature about 200 pieces from private and public collections around the country, including her rarely-seen acrylic paintings and weavings, ceramic sculptures including her signature “closed forms,” Moons, Garden Seats, Trees, and select works from her late masterpiece, the Star Series. 

Following its presentation at The Noguchi Museum, the exhibition—which is organized with assistance from the Toshiko Takaezu Foundation and the Takaezu family—will travel to several additional venues across the United States.

This is more than your garden-variety art exhibition–None Whatsoever: Zen Paintings from the Gitter-Yelen Collection is, yes, a tranquil display of Zen Buddhist artwork. But it will also feature in-gallery activities like meditation sessions, calligraphy workshops, a tea ceremony demonstration and an ikebana (floral arrangement) workshop.

Spanning over 400 years and drawn from the Gitter-Yelen Collection, the exhibit explores the origins of Zen Buddhism through more than 50 works by Buddhist painter-monks, including the 18th-century master Hakuin Ekaku. You can check out the show now through Sunday, June 16 at the Japan Society. 

"Giants," the Brooklyn Museum's latest exhibition, fits its name in many facets. First of all, the show relies on the art collection of two titans in the music industry, Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean). Much of the artwork itself is massive, taking over major swaths of the museum. The exhibition features artists who have made and continue to make a significant impact on the art world and contemporary culture.

Finally, and most importantly, the exhibit encourages big conversations that celebrate Blackness, critique society, and imagine a collective future. "Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys" runs through July 7, 2024. The show features 98 artworks by Black American, African, and African diasporic artists including Gordon Parks, Kehinde Wiley, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Mickalene Thomas, Hassan Hajjaj, Barkley L. Hendricks, Lorna Simpson, and Amy Sherald. 

"The Deans consider all of the artists in the show as giants. They have these very strong relationships with the artists that they collect. It's not about transaction. It's about being stewards and advocates and supporters of these artists," Brooklyn Museum curator Kimberli Gant told Time Out New York.

Mercer Labs, Museum of Art and Technology, a new immersive museum is now open. It's the brainchild of Roy Nachum, the artist behind Rihanna’s famous 2016 “Anti” album cover, and his business partner Michael Cayre, a real estate developer. 

The 36,000-square-foot space is located at 21 Dey Street, inside the bank building that used to be part of the now-nextdoor Century 21. It's filled with room after room of immersive fun.

The first of 15 experiences, for example, will take you through a giant room equipped with 26-foot-high projectors that blast a series of images all around that will have you feel like you've just taken a swim inside the sorts of motifs that Nachum explores throughout his work. You will quite literally land inside his art pieces.

In another room, which is being branded as one of only three 4D sound studios in the world, guests are asked to wear a blindfold and lay on the floor to properly enjoy the sounds blasting out of the 36 speakers that are embedded under the elevated floor.

The Harlem Renaissance changed the trajectory of American culture, and no other artist encapsulates the spirit of that era better than poet Langston Hughes. He wrote unapologetically about Black life at a time when segregation was law and few Black artists were allowed into the American cultural zeitgeist.

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is honoring Hughes and his friendship with photographer, filmmaker, and U.S. Foreign Service Officer Griffith J. Davis in its exhibit "The Ways of Langston Hughes." The free exhibit at the Schomburg Center's Latimer Gallery in Harlem will include photographs of Hughes and Davis, who met in Atlanta, as well as more of Hughes' friendships through letters, artwork and other memorabilia.

Taking over the Asia Society through August 11, 2024, this immersive photography and video exhibition will bring together the works of more than 50 photographers and video artists from China and around the world to visualize the causes and consequences of the climate crisis.

The show—which will take attendees from deep within coal mines to the melting glaciers of the greater Himalaya—is co-curated by photographer Susan Meiselas and international exhibition designer Jeroen de Vries, and led by Orville Schell, Asia Society Vice President and Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations.

Along with the artworks themselves, the exhibition will feature a series of speaker events, performances, films and more throughout the run of the exhibition. 

Nicholas Sparks's bestselling 1996 novel, which inspired a popular 2004 movie, is now also the source of an original musical by indie singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson and playwright Bekah Brunstetter. The show charts a romance that begins in the 1940s, and the central is played—in different chapters of their story—by Maryann Plunkett, Dorian Harewood, Joy Woods, Ryan Vasquez, Jordan Tyson and John Cardoza; the supporting cast includes Andréa Burns.

The production, directed by Michael Greif and Schele Williams, arrives on Broadway after a well-received 2022 run at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Weaving is one of the oldest art forms in human history, dating back more than 10,000 years, but you can see the ancient craft from a news perspective in this new exhibition at the Met. Now through June 16, textiles from four modern practitioners—Anni Albers, Sheila Hicks, Lenore Tawney and Olga de Amaral—will be showcased alongside pieces by Andean artists from the first millennium BCE to the 16th century.

Weaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art will feature more than 50 works, curated by Iria Candela (Estrellita B. Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art) and Joanne Pillsbury (Andrall E.Pearson Curator of the Arts of the Ancient Americas in The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing).

Fans of RuPaul's Drag Race rejoice. Arlo Williamsburg is hosting 1,200+ person watch parties every Friday night from 7-10pm so you can experience this season the way it was meant to be experienced — around hundreds of screaming Drag Race fans.

Hosted by Drag Race alum Mirage, consider this your weekend pregame or it can be the main event, too — there will be cocktails, giant screens and drag queens with things to say.

Miranda Priestly once famously said, "Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking." But at Color Factory, florals for spring are actually groundbreaking as the interactive art experience in Soho takes flowery themes to immersive new levels. 

Color Factory's “Colors in Bloom” experience is now open—exactly at the time when we could all mercifully use a break from the gray landscapes and cold nights.

For example, there's the Central Park Confetti Room, complete with larger-than-life pink cherry blossoms inspired by the city's first sign of spring. Tickets start at $38/person for the experience, which runs through mid-May.

The International Center for Photography (ICP) in the Lower East Side is celebrating five decades of its existence with ICP at 50: From the Collection, an exhibit that will showcase photography from their archives dating back from 1845 till 2019. Notable names at the exhibit include Robert Mapplethorpe, Carrie Mae Weems, and Laurie Simmons. The show's on view through May 6. 

Along with the retrospective, the ICP is also celebrating the opening of David Seidner: Fragments, 1977-99, the first major exhibit highlighting Seidner's prolific fashion photography career before his passing in 1999. 

Head to a beloved West Village music shop for a banging musical comedy blowout every Friday night. This variety show mixes music, comedy, and characters with apperances by Stephen Sihelnik (NY Comedy Festival), Natan Badalov (Adult Swim), Alexander Payne (Netflix), and surprise guests.

Fun fact: The event's set in New York's oldest continually-run music and record store, Music Inn World Instruments. It's been in operation since 1958 and has been heavily featured in the first two seasons of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel."

Show up early, save a seat and BYOB: You're in for a party.

In her first solo museum exhibition, sculptor Auriea Harvey will bring her net-based interactives and augmented reality sculptures to the Museum of the Moving Image through June. Titled Auriea Harvey: My Veins Are the Wires, My Body Is Your Keyboard, the showcase will highlight a collection of more than 40 works from Harvey’s nearly four-decade career, including oversized playable projections of her video games, intricate 3D-printed pieces and even early works plucked from her handbound sketchbooks. 

Regina Harsanyi, the Museum’s Associate Curator of Media Arts who organized the exhibition, notes: “Auriea Harvey has persistently reimagined and redefined the creative boundaries of networked technologies for more than three decades. She possesses a remarkable sensitivity to how the digital revolution of the 1990s spawned a societal shift in the way humans connect.”

Inside a venue dating back 100 years into the past, a new art show explores a question of the future: How can human creativity and artificial intelligence coexist?

ARTECHOUSE, located inside an old boiler room at Chelsea Market, has debuted its latest digital art exhibition, “World of AI·magination;” tickets are on sale here starting at $21/person. To create the exhibition, ARTECHOUSE Studio developed original visual elements with generative AI systems. Designers hope to inspire visitors to consider AI as a "creative associate rather than a mere tool for innovation." 

World of AI·magination centers around a 20-minute cinematic experience with six scenes. One scene, called the Library of Magical Portals, features colossal books brimming with dreams and algorithms. Another scene called Symphony of Illusions constantly morphs, while the Infinite Maze immerses visitors into multiple parallels.

On Sunday mornings at 11am in Manhattan, GatherNYC creates the community and spiritual nourishment of a religious service, but the religion here is music. All are welcome at these hour-long performances of classical music by celebrated local artists. Coffee and pastries are available for free.

These upcoming events are held at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in Columbus Circle. Shows are scheduled through May 2024. Here’s what’s on the calendar:

• April 28: Majel Connery + Felix Fan: Rivers are our Brothers
• May 12: Ocean Music Action: Megan Conley (harp) + friends
• May 26: Kristin Lee (violin) + friends 

Journey back in time to the Lower East Side at the turn of the century. A new exhibit at The Museum at Eldridge Street introduces the often-overlooked stories of 29 women who lived or worked in the neighborhood. 

The exhibition, titled "28 Remarkable Women...and One Scoundrel" features mixed media portraits by artist Adrienne Ottenberg, which are printed on silk and cotton banners. They're hung throughout the museum's gallery and historic sanctuary. Stories about the women highlight the work, life, and impact they made culturally, on social justice movements, and more.

Those featured in the exhibition include:

• Political activist Frances Perkins, who upon witnessing the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, took on an influential role in the worker's rights advocacy movement. That led her to eventually become President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor—the first-ever woman cabinet member.
• Suffragist and activist Mabel Ping-Hua Lee who campaigned for women’s rights to vote and was the first Chinese woman in the U.S. to earn her doctorate.
• Public healthcare worker Elizabeth Tyler, who was the first Black nurse hired at Henry Street Settlement. She went on later to establish the Stillman House Settlement on Manhattan's West Side, which provided health care and social services to the Black community in San Juan Hill.

See the show at the Lower East Side venue through May 5, 2024. The museum is open Sunday through Friday from 10am to 5pm. Admission is $15/adult; pay-what-you-wish admission is offered on Monday and Fridays. Reserve in advance here.

After two years of outdoor play, Carreau Club, the nation’s first pétanque bar has expanded with an indoor location with more space to get your game on while sipping a drink.

The new indoor venue is now open at Brooklyn's Industry City. For the uninitiated, pétanque (pronounced puh-TONK) is a bocce-ball style French boules sport gaining popularity in the U.S., starting here in NYC.

Carreau Club operates primarily as a walk-in pétanque club and reservations are not required. But you can book a court in advance for a single party or multiple courts for larger groups. Reservations cost $50/court/hour.

Plus, every Friday, there's a free petanque tournament for all levels called the Mix and Match Tournament. Just show up before sign-ups at 7 and bring your A-game. The winner gets a free T-shirt. 

As she donned the black robe for her role on the Supreme Court, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was known to adorn the traditional garment with a wide array of collars and necklaces. 

Now, her fashion is getting the spotlight in a new photography exhibit called "RBG Collars: Photographs by Elinor Carucci." See it at The Jewish Museum on the Upper East Side through May 27, 2024. 

The installation features two dozen photographs of the late justice’s collars and necklaces taken shortly after Ginsburg died in 2020. This is the first time the Carucci’s photographs are being shown at the Jewish Museum since the images were acquired in 2021.

A pastel-hued floral mural with a feminist message is the newest addition to the High Line. Titled “Thank You Darling,” this mural by Dutch artist Lily van der Stokker celebrates the playful, feminine realm often overlooked or derided in our culture. 

"Van der Stokker’s work, which she has referred to as 'feminist conceptual pop art,' is undeniably joyful and positive. However, it often simultaneously speaks to weighty themes—aging, health, and, more generally, the lived experience of being a woman within patriarchal structures," a press release from High Line Art explains.

Her installation for the High Line continues this practice for a wide public audience, offering a sweet expression of gratitude to the millions of passersby and inhabitants of nearby buildings. Find the words THANK YOU DARLiNG (with that capitalization) on the side of a building adjacent to the High Line at 22nd Street.

With the word "darling" styled in bright yellow bubble letters, the mural seems to reach out to personally thank every single person who sees it. Check it out through November 2024.

"What a pleasure to lift Lily van der Stokker's cheerful message to the New York City skyline," said Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen Director and Chief Curator of High Line Art. "We hope her work brings visitors and New Yorkers alike a feeling of joy and appreciation."

There's something unusual "blooming" among Bella Abzug Park's natural fauna.

Part of a solo exhibition by Korean American artist Sui Park, this outdoor installation in Hudson Yards features the artist's biomorphic sculptures, which are shockingly made using plastic materials like zip ties and fishing line.

For Park, who trained as both an architect and in the ancient art of Korean basketry, "nature is a sacred space that allows her to slow down, consider her surroundings, acknowledge her thoughts, and find inspiration," reads a press release. "With this exhibition, she captures that sentiment using humble materials and reconstructs them into whimsical forms, awakening one’s senses and encouraging others to connect with their thoughts as well as their surroundings."

See the artwork now through fall 2024.

The vibrant, ornate stained glass windows inside Manhattan's historic churches always create a dazzling spectacle. But now, a new long-term art display inspired by those rich colors has unfurled inside the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Morningside Heights—the world's largest Gothic cathedral. 

Titled "Divine Pathways," the monumental art installation is made up of more than 1,100 lengths of blue, red and gold fabric. Each ribbon measures 75 feet in length (approximately seven stories high). Combined, they are almost 16 miles long—that's longer than the island of Manhattan!  

St. John the Divine is open daily for self-guided sightseeing tours with a $15/adult admission fee; timed tickets are recommended. "Divine Pathways" will be on view through June 2024. 

Beautiful, buoyant, beguiling bubbles are coming back to the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) in Queens as of Friday, November 17. The beloved bubbles exhibit, which has been closed for five years, will return bigger, better and bubblier than ever.

The Big Bubble Experiment encourages kids of all ages to experiment and discover through the joy of playing with bubbles. That includes blowing, stretching, popping and looking closely to see what happens at each move. 

The exhibit features 10 stations, each one with different tools and methods for exploring bubble solution.

Majestic, incredible elephants are getting the spotlight in a new exhibit at The American Museum of Natural History. "The Secret World of Elephants" showcases both modern and ancient elephants, offering visitors a chance to see a full-scale model of a woolly mammoth, learn about what elephants eat, touch an elephant's tooth, listen to elephant calls and more.

The exhibition is now open in the museum’s LeFrak Family Gallery. An additional ticket is required to visit the exhibit; museum members can visit for free.

Explore "The End of Fossil Fuel," the latest pop-up from the NYC Climate Museum. It's free to visit in Soho and offers a bevy of eye-opening activities for all ages.

Inside the gallery, a collection of maps will put climate change issues into perspective, alongside text panels about the history of the fossil fuel industry. The exhibits trace the origins of the climate and inequality crises and how we got to where we are today. Other activations include a sticker wall where visitors commit to specific climate actions and a kids' corner with books and drawing materials.

In New York City, it can be hard to find an apartment with a nice bathtub you'd actually want to soak in. Heck, it can be hard to find an apartment where the shower isn't in a closet in the living room (ahem, this $1.25 million StreetEasy listing).

But now cosmetics company LUSH is solving that very New York problem with a new book-a-bath service just launched this week. In addition to indulgent baths, LUSH Spa Lexington also offers massage treatments and facials, creating a calming oasis near hectic midtown. Find the newly opened spa on the Upper East Side at Lexington Avenue and East 61st Street.

Given the fact that LUSH invented the bath bomb, they’re pros when it comes to bathing. For the book-a-bath experience, head through the store and climb the stairs to the spa. Inside a petite pink-and-white bathroom, a clawfoot tub beckons. Before your bath, a staff member will prepare the water with a Snow Fairy bath bomb, which creates glittery pastel pink water. Plus, they’ll offer a fresh face mask tailored for your skin, a curated playlist and a cup of vegan hot chocolate. 

When Jack Kliger, President & CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Battery Park City, and his team started working on a new kid-friendly exhibit about the Holocaust almost four years ago, they could not have imagined the chaotic world order that the show was eventually going to premiere in.

"Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark" tells the story of the Danish Rescue, when citizens of the European country came together to usher nearly 7,000 Jews to safety and away from concentration camps during World War II.

Check out the brand-new mural by Brooklyn-based artist Steffi Lynn Tsai at 25 Kent in Brooklyn. Wedged between Williamsburg and Greenpoint, the vibrant mural is a reflection of the creative community around it, with an appropriate and resounding message in tough times: "Enjoy the Process, It Starts Here."

Can cow manure be turned into casings for loudspeakers and lamps? MoMA’s latest exhibition says “yes.”

“Life Cycles: The Materials of Contemporary Design” is now open on the museum’s street-level gallery. The exhibit explores the ways designers can repurpose the materials around us to extend their life cycle and promote environmental preservation. Approximately 80 pieces will be on display, including bricks made from crop waste and fungi mycelium and panels made from corn husks. 

The exhibition, curated by Paola Antonelli, will be on display until July 7, 2024.

Wild Captives, the nation’s first female- and LGBTQ-owned archery studio, is now open. It's a place where everyone can "be their own superhero." The studio in Brooklyn’s Industry City offers empowering and fun hour-long introduction to archery classes every weekend for $45/person. 

Each intro class includes a chance to learn about different parts of the bow and safety requirements. After the lesson, each participant gets a chance to shoot the bow trying to pop a balloon pinned onto the bullseye. Intro-to-archery classes are available each Friday, Saturday and Sunday, bookable online for anyone over age 12.

America’s first Black popular music icon is getting his due with a massive new center that houses a 60,000-piece collection and a venue for live music, lectures and screenings.

NYC’s Louis Armstrong House Museum has now opened its new facility, the Louis Armstrong Center—and it’s a big deal!

The space acts as a permanent home for the 60,000-piece Louis Armstrong Archive (the world’s largest for a jazz musician containing photos, recordings, manuscripts, letters & mementos) and a 75-seat venue for performances, lectures, films, and educational experiences.

The Center and the historic house are now open to the public Thursdays through Saturdays. Tickets can be purchased at louisarmstronghouse.org. Tours have limited capacity, so book in advance.

The phrase “women’s work” is often used derisively to indicate labor that’s seen as “less than,” but a new exhibit at New-York Historical Society reclaims that phrase. Aptly titled "Women's Work," the show chronicles the history of women's contributions to labor and how those efforts are both inherently political and essential to American society. 

The exhibit features dozens of objects in the museum's collection from indenture documents to medical kits to military uniforms. With items ranging from the 1740s to today, the show celebrates the strides society has made in equality while not shying away from highlighting the gender-based inequalities that persist today.

It's on view thorugh August 18, 2024. 

If you're not a paint-and-sip kind of person, try Act & Sip, a beer-fueled acting workshop in an Off-Broadway Theater with expert instructors. They pair students off with partners and hand over the pages to a scene from a well-known iconic NYC sitcom or movie, offering tips along the way to help performers conquer stage fright and discover their inner actor.

This event is perfect for bachelorette parties, after-work outings, or just a fun night with friends to get on stage with a little help from liquid courage. You don't need any experience, but you must be 21 or older and BYOB.

Muggles, take note: You won’t need to travel through Platform 9¾ to get to Hogwarts. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is right here in New York City for a limited time.

The touring show, “Harry Potter: The Exhibition,” is now open in Herald Square, and it’s going transport you. Through the use of dramatic lighting, set design, interactive technology and even scent, the exhibit will make you feel like you are actually there—in Hagrid’s hut, in potions class, dining in the Great Hall, learning how to fight the dark arts, fighting the Battle of Hogwarts and more.

Tickets are on sale now, starting at $29 for adults.

On a typical visit to the Museum of Modern Art, crowds surround the most precious paintings, and it can be tough to squeeze your way in for a photo, let alone to admire the artwork’s brushstrokes. But now, thanks to these new exclusive tours by GetYourGuide, you can get in before the museum opens for a guided tour of amazing artwork. 

The new MoMA Before Hours Tour with Art Expert is available now; tickets are on sale here for $99/person. Few New York City experiences compare to the absolute thrill of gazing at famed works of art uninterrupted for as long as you like.  

With a full restaurant, craft cocktails, comfy reclining seats and even more bells and whistles, this new movie theater in Hell's Kitchen elevates the movie-going experience. LOOK Dine-in Cinemas is now open in VIA 57 West, the pyramid-shaped building located at West 57th Street and 11th Avenue. 

With a 15-year lease, LOOK's operating in a 25,000-square-foot venue that used to house Landmark cinema until it closed in 2020. This is the company's first New York City location. At this fancy theater, you can relax in a heated seat while ordering dinner directly to your seat in the theater. 

Many museums start with some kind of orientation, like a map or remarks from a docent. But not The House of Cannabis (a.k.a. THC NYC), the new weed museum now open in Soho. Instead, this museum starts, quite fittingly, with a trippy “Disorientation Room.”

While the museum boasts plenty of mind-bending multi-sensory bells and whistles, it also showcases art, highlights science and confronts the social justice issues baked into cannabis prosecution. The museum, the first of its kind at this scale, packs every inch of its four-story, 25,000-square-foot space at 427 Broadway with fascinating facts and delightful immersive experiences fit to entertain both tokers and non-smokers alike. Tickets ($35/adult) are on sale here.

Find your latest read at The Free Black Women’s Library, a new free library in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy neighborhood, which also serves as a social art project, a reading room, a co-working space and a community gathering center. The library "celebrates the brilliance, diversity and imagination of Black women and Black non-binary authors." All 5,000 books in the library's collection are written by Black women and non-binary authors.

Here's how it works: Anybody can visit the space to read, work or hang out. If you want to take a book home, simply bring a book written by a Black woman or Black non-binary author, and you can trade. Whether you decide to bring the book back after you're done reading or keep it for your collection is up to you.

The library is currently open four days per week (Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) at 226 Marcus Garvey Boulevard. In addition to offering a space to read or work, the library has also hosts a book club, art shows and workshops on topics like writing, drawing, poetry, painting and sewing. All are welcome. 

Peek inside this new, teeny-tiny shop in Harlem to find some fun gifts for someone on your list or for yourself.

MoonLab 42 measures in at just under 5 feet wide, but the store manages to house zines, books, records, incense, prints, candles, decorative objects, ceramics, jewelry, accessories, clothing and more. “It feels like a Mary Poppins bag,” Ruso Margishvili, the concept store’s co-owner tells us.

On a typical tour of Manhattan, the big tourist attractions—Times Square, the Empire State Building, Central Park—get all the attention. But on these new walking tours by a local author, you'll see fascinating historical sites that you won't find in a typical guidebook. 

K. Krombie's Purefinder tours, "Death in New York," "The Psychiatric History of New York" and "Hell Gate," explore the city's darker side through meticulously researched and theatrically presented historical narratives.

Each tour covers about 2.5 miles in about two-and-a-half hours. “Death in New York” and “The Psychiatric History of New York” are offered weekly, while “Hell Gate” is offered twice per month. Tours cost $32-$34 per person; you can book one here.