August is here. In New York that means lazy afternoon and warm humid nights- the perfect NYC formula for a good time. We have great events indoors and out and many are free! Here are a few of the many events happening in the city that never sleeps, guaranteed to keep you Out and About.
Mundos Alternos: Art and Science Fiction in the Americas at the Queens Museum until Sunday, August 18. This survey brings together Hispanic artists from Latin America and the U.S.A. who use motifs borrowed from science fiction to explore the historical impact of colonialism—putting the alien, as it were, into the alienating consequences of European expansionism.
African Spirits at the Yossi Milo Gallery, 245 Tenth Ave , August 12- August 23: From the 1950s through the 1980s, commercial studio portrait photography in Africa developed into an artistic genre that went well beyond the prosaic task of capturing a subject’s likeness. Photographers such as Samuel Fosso, Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé employed minimal sets to maximal advantage by draping boldly patterned fabrics behind the sitter to make him or her pop dynamically from the background. This show presents their work alongside those by contemporary artists they have influenced.
Music Is The Message- 20th Century Paintings And Drawings at ACA Galleries, 529 West 20th Street, 5th Floor New York, now through October 5. Explore Music is the Message: 20th Century Paintings and Drawings. Artwork that reflects music and musicians featuring the work of Romare Bearden, Earl H. Brewster, Philip Evergood, Francis Luis Mora and Faith Ringgold.
Pierre Cardin: Future Fashion through January 5, 2020 in the Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing and Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Gallery, 5th Floor: The exhibition presents over 170 objects drawn from his atelier and archive, including historical and contemporary haute couture, prêt-à-porter, trademark accessories, “couture” furniture, lighting, fashion sketches, personal photographs, and excerpts from television, documentaries, and feature films. The objects are displayed in an immersive environment inspired by Cardin’s unique atelier designs, showrooms, and homes.
Art on the Farm offers unique family art projects inspired by nature and farm life. The free event takes place at the Urban Farm, Randall’s Island Park every weekend from 2-4pm on Sunday and Saturday through 10/20/2019.
The photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, who died in 1989, at the age of forty-two, cast a classicizing eye on subjects both conventional (calla lilies) and controversial (the underground S & M scene). As his muse and friend Patti Smith has written, “He will be condemned and adored. His excesses damned or romanticized. In the end, truth will be found in his work, the corporeal body of the artist.” The Guggenheim opens its yearlong two-part exhibition “Implicit Tensions: Robert Mapplethorpe Now.”
Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything: The Jewish Museum (1109 5th Ave at 92nd St New York) April 12 – September 8, 2019. A world-renowned novelist, poet, and singer/songwriter who inspired generations of writers, musicians, and artists, Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) was an extraordinary poet of the imperfection of the human condition, giving voice to what it means to be fully alert to the complexities and desires of both body and soul. Featuring 12 artists and 18 musicians from 10 countries, this exhibition offers a deep and rich exploration of the beloved global icon through the lens of contemporary art.
Alicja Kwade, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art through October 27, a Polish artist who lives and works in Berlin is this year’s recipient of The Met’s annual commission to create an installation for the museum’s roof garden. These projects are perennial crowd-pleasers, as they add a touch of artistic enhancement to the rooftop’s spectacular views of Central Park and the Midtown skyline. Kwade’s approach seems tailor-made for the site, as it usually entails minimalist sculptural ensembles made of glass, stone and metal—materials that give her efforts a luxurious gloss. Kwade often plays perceptual tricks on the viewer as part of her overall interest in deconstructing the philosophical and scientific teachings we rely on to make sense of the world. At The Met, she reaches for the cosmos with a pair of pieces that evoke the Solar System.
Nedjemankh and His Gilded Coffin at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Ever since Howard Carter uncovered the tomb of King Tut in 1922, people have been fascinated by Ancient Egyptian treasures. The Met recently acquired one such object—a gold-leafed covered coffin for a High Priest from Egypt’s Ptolemaic period. It’s on display, along with 70 other Egyptian artifacts from the Met’s collection.
Maze at The Shed, 545 West 30th Street Wednesday through Saturday 7:30pm: In Maze, a powerful new production from street dance pioneer Reggie ‘Regg Roc’ Gray co-directed by Kaneza Schaal, masters of flexn, a form of street dance with roots in Jamaican bruk up, perform in an architectural maze of light. Maze explores the puzzles and poetry of human coexistence, and the visible and invisible forces that guide our lives, taking on such social issues as the school-to-prison pipeline and systemic racism in the justice system. Live singing and drumming accompanies the performers, responding to their movements as they dance—at times face to face with the audience. This is the last week to see Maze Wednesday August 14 through Saturday August 17.
Ballet Festival at the Joyce 175 Eighth Ave through August 18: The Joyce Theater Foundation presents a buffet of English dance in four programs, curated by the Royal Ballet’s Kevin O’Hare and three of his colleagues. The visiting RB dancers—including Lauren Cuthbertson, Edward Watson and Sarah Lamb—are joined by past and present members members of the National Ballet of Canada, American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet, including Robert Fairchild, Maria Kowroski and David Hallberg. The dances are by Kenneth MacMillan, Gemma Bond, Frederick Ashton, Wayne McGregor, Christopher Wheeldon and Javier de Frutos, among many others.
Battery Dance Festival at the Robert F. Wagner Park, Battery Park City through August 17: The 38th edition of this annual celebration—formerly known as the Downtown Dance Festival—welcomes artists from across the United States as well as India, Spain, Canada, Gabon, Botswana, Macedonia, Kazakhstan and Turkey. The splashy final event at Pace University costs $10 and requires reservations, but all other performances are free and take place outdoors at Robert F. Wagner Park, in front of the sparkling New York Harbor.
Sunday, August 11, 2019 \
Danuka Ariyawansa (Sri Lanka),
Leah Barsky and Cristian Correa (Argentina),
Mezopotamya Dans (Turkey)
Hussein Smko – Adel Euro Campaign for Dancers Seeking Refuge Fellow (Iraq)
Keerati Jinakunwiphat / DIVE
Battery Dance
Music from the Sole
Monday, August 12, 2019
Water Street Dance Milwaukee
Jon Ole Olstad
Mari Meade Dance Collective / MMDC
Laboration Art Company (France)
Pony Box Dance Theatre
Mezopotamya Dans (Turkey)
Emma Evelein Dance and Choreography (Netherlands)
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Laboration Art Company (France)
Janice Rosario & Company
Buglisi Dance Theatre
NVA & Guests
YYDC
Emma Evelein Dance and Choreography (Netherlands)
Ashlé Dawson – Breaking Conformity Productions
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Ballet Nepantla
B-E (Lithuania)
VIVO Ballet
Ballet Boy Productions
Konverjdans
Chloe London Dance
Vanaver Caravan
Thursday, August 15, 2019:
Day of Indian Dance on Indian Independence Day—Celebrating Manipuri Dance
Darshana Jhaveri & Drummers and Dancers of Munipur: Darshana Jhaveri, Sanjib Bhattacharya, Sinam Basu Singh, Surbala Devi Bachaspatimayum, Monika Devi Kongengbam. Brojen Kumar Singha Thingom, Angousana Singh Oinam, Premkumar Singh Lourembam,
Friday, August 16, 2019
Battery Dance
MATHETA Dance
SEAD’s Bodhi Project (Austria)
Reuel Rogers (Curaçao)
Annalee Traylor
Saturday, August 17, 2019
B-E (Lithuania)
Battery Dance
SEAD’s Bodhi Project (Austria)
Reuel Rogers (Curaçao)
Good Boys: After being invited to his first kissing party, 12-year-old Max (Room’s Jacob Tremblay) is panicking because he doesn’t know how to kiss. Eager for some pointers, Max and his best friends Thor (Brady Noon, HBO’s Boardwalk Empire) and Lucas (Keith L. Williams, Fox’s The Last Man On Earth) decide to use Max’s dad’s drone — which Max is forbidden to touch — to spy (they think) on a teenage couple making out next door. But when things go ridiculously wrong, the drone is destroyed. Desperate to replace it before Max’s dad (Will Forte, The Last Man on Earth) gets home, the boys skip school and set off on an odyssey of epically bad decisions involving some accidentally stolen drugs, frat-house paintball, and running from both the cops and terrifying teenage girls (Life of the Party’s Molly Gordon and Ocean’s Eight’s Midori Francis). Opens August 16
Blinded By The Light: 1987. When music fanatic Javed discovers the illustrious back catalogue of The Boss his world is turned upside down; already a creative soul his passion for music and writing is set alight by the songs of the working-class poet, whose lyrics feel all too familiar to the aspirational teenager. Yearning to escape his rundown hometown and the rules of his traditional Pakistani household, Javed finds himself caught in between two worlds and must discover if he too is Born to Run… Opens August 16
Based on the runaway bestseller, Where’d You Go, Bernadette is an inspiring comedy about Bernadette Fox (Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett), a loving mom who becomes compelled to reconnect with her creative passions after years of sacrificing herself for her family. Bernadette’s leap of faith takes her on an epic adventure that jump-starts her life and leads to her triumphant rediscovery. Opens August 16
If Beal Street Could Talk, Saturday 6pm – 10pm at St. Nicholas Park free outdoor viewing hosted by ImageNation Cinema Foundation- Harlem Week: This adaptation of the James Baldwin Novel, stars Academy Award winner Regina King, Coleman Domingo, Michael Beach, Teyonah Parris, Aunjanue Ellis and newcomer Kiki Layne. The film follows a pregnant woman in who Harlem desperately scrambles to prove her fiancé innocent of a crime he did not commit.
Apollo Amateur Night, on Wednesday, August 14, Apollo Theater, 253 W. 125th St, New York:The winners of recent Amateur Night shows come together to show off their talent and compete for the chance to move on to the Finals on August 21st. Contestants who make it this far can compete for the title of Grand Finale Winner and a cash prize ($5,000 in the Child Star category and $20,000 in the Adult category) on November 27th!
Chance the Rapper Performs at 2019 GMA Summer Concert Series Tickets are free and not required unless specified for a particular event. Space is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Concerts air live from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on the “Good Morning America” show. Plan to arrive around 6:00 a.m. when the park opens to the public!
Black Woodstock 50th Anniversary, Saturday, August 17, 7 pm – 9 pm at Marcus Garvey Park, 18 Mt. Morris Park West, New York featuring Igmar Thomas, Talib Kweli, Keyon Harrold, Cory Henry, Alice Smith, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Special Guests. This concert celebrates the 50th year anniversary of the Harlem Cultural Festival. Taking place in the summer of 1969, the original festival held a series of concerts in Mount Morris Park (now known as Marcus Garvey Park), to celebrate black pride, empowerment, music, and culture, and featured the likes of Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, B.B. King, Sly & the Family Stone, Jesse Jackson, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, and others.
Peter and Will Anderson: Songbook Summit—The Andersons Play Ellington & Armstrong August 13- 15 and August 21- 23 at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway. Twin-brother saxophone players Peter and Will Anderson, masters of vintage jazz styles ranging from swing to hardbop, flip through four chapters of the Great American Songbook in this Symphony Space residency, devoting a week apiece to Duke Ellington (August 13–15) and Louis Armstrong (August 21–23). They are joined by vocalist Molly Ryan and musicians including bassist Vince Giordano.
Manilow Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater until Saturday, August 17. A Barry Manilow concert is a cheese-fondue set: a gift to those with a taste for music that is gooey, savory and strongly evocative of the ’70s. The Brooklyn-born singer’s voice remains pleasingly strong and familiar, and the songs have an elemental sentimental appeal that transcends kitsch. Dip your fork in and enjoy.
Songs For Marsha Again Songs For Marsha
King Kong at the Broadway Theatre, 1681 Broadway, an innovative mix of robotics, puppetry, music and stagecraft directed and choreographed by Olivier winner Drew McOnie. King Kong features an electrifying new score by Marius de Vries (La La Land) and Eddie Perfect (Beetlejuice The Musical), and a book by Jack Thorne, the Tony® and Olivier Award-winning writer of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Runs through August 28.
Ain’t Too Proud follows The Temptations’ journey from the streets of Detroit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. With their signature dance moves and unmistakable harmonies, they rose to the top of the charts creating an amazing 42 Top Ten Hits with 14 reaching number one. Through friendship and betrayal amid the civil unrest that tore America apart, their moving and personal story still resonates five decades later.
NYC Black Pride is an annual five day this year August 12 through August 21 cultural festival for the Black and Latino LGBTQ community. Many of the events are free including the Heritage Awards (Friday, August 16) Heritage Ball (Saturday, August 17) and Pride At The Beach (Sunday, August 18).
FrankieFridays is Brooklyn’s best kept house music secret! The party takes place every Friday at The Happiness Lounge, 1458 St. Johns Place (bet. Utica Avenue and Rochester Avenue). The party rocks the best dance classics and soulful house music masterfully mixed by New York City’s own DJ Frankie Paradise. The predominantly mature gay crowd are there to get down, and create a warm inviting atmosphere for all. Reasonably prices drinks and a small admission price (feels more like a donation) of $5 before midnight and $10 after makes this the don’t miss Friday night dance party.
Bollywood Beats @ Stage48 NYC – A Weekly Saturday Night DesiParty Saturday, August 17, 10pm- Sunday, August 18, 4am at Stage48, 605 West 48th Street, New York.Each & Every Saturday Night, come experience the Glamour & Glitz of Bollywood as you Mix, Mingle and Dance at New York City’s Hottest Saturday Night DesiParty. Ladies complimentary admission until 11pm.
We look forward to seeing you Out and About