Best NYC Free & Cheap Events March 2018

Be a NYC cheapskate in March at these FREE and cheap events that won’t bust your budget.

As we always say here on NYCOTC, cheap is good, free is better, and there’s always plenty of both to tell you about, including events celebrating Women’s History Month and even gefilte fish. Nothing on this list is more than $25.

Girls in Science and Engineering Day – Educational organizations, students and professionals from all over NYC will offer hands-on activities, demonstrations and engaging discussions about science, technology, engineering and math. It’s FREE, part of the nationwide celebration of Women’s History Month, at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

Sat., March 10. Registration is required.

Gefilte Fish Goes Gourmet – Love it, hate it or tolerate it as long as it’s drowned in horseradish, gefilte fish is almost synonymous with American Jewish food, and despite its humble Eastern European beginnings, has become a staple in popular culture, especially at Passover. Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz, cofounders of Gefilteria and coauthors of The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods, are putting a modern spin on the old-fashioned dish, and tell you everything you ever wanted to know about gefilte fish, including taste samples, including of handmade artisanal gefilte fish. Serving as moderator will be Gabriella Gershenson, whose work, often revolving around Jewish food, has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Saveur Magazine.

6:30pm, Thursday, Mar. 15, at the Streicker Center at Temple Emanu-el. Ticketed event, $18, includes a tasting and book sales. Note that is the Temple Emanu-El member price. Walk-up price is $36.

Thunderbird American Indian Dancers Annual Spring Dance and Music Workshop – Learn Native American dances and songs, practice on musical instruments, and more, including the opportunity to shop for handmade jewelry and other crafts. The Thunderbirds are comprised of members of a number of tribes, who live and work in NYC.

FREE, Sat. March 17, 7p to 10pm at The Carriage House, 225 East 67th Street (between 2nd & 3rd Avenues).

David Bowie is – The blockbuster exhibit has been touring globally for the past five years and takes its final bow at the Brooklyn Museum. The just-opened multi-media showcase explores the creative process of a brilliant artist whose innovative collaborations, reinventions and bold characterizations revolutionized the way we see music. He inspired us all to shape our own identities while challenging social traditions. The exhibit includes costumes, sheet music and more.

Get $20 discount tickets here.

If you can’t get to the Brooklyn Museum exhibit, there’s also a FREE exhibit of photos of David Bowie, illustrating his many personnas over the years, at the Morrison Gallery Hotel Gallery, 116 Prince St. The exhibit includes the famous photo of Bowie in lightning-bolted face paint. The photo exhibit is through Sunday, Mar. 23, 11am to 7pm daily except Sunday, when it closes at

Free Fridays – Get FREE admission to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, next door to the Brooklyn Museum, on Friday mornings, 8am to Noon

SEE ALSO Our NYCOOTC list of FREE museum admission days and times

Get Wet: World Water Day -Submerge yourself in a wet & wild night of celebration for World Water Day, brought to you by + POOL, which designs water-filtering pools. Soak in the vibes, mingle with mermaids, swim in the dance floor sea, and more. Featuring VR swim-goggle preview of Plus Pool, undersea Visuals & sound meditation room, mermaids, swim toys, aquatic aerial extravaganzas, biodegradable glitter by BioGlitz, Heineken specials all night.

Thurs., Mar. 22 at the House of Yes in Brooklyn, starting at 10pm. Admission is $10, which is a donation to +POOL.

Downton Abbey: The Exhibition allows you to – literally – step into ‘Downton Abbey’ to wander through three exhibit floors of sumptuous family rooms, the kitchen and servants quarters below stairs, and to get right up close to many of the iconic costumes and props.

Get discount tickets from $20 for your choice of dates through April.

Art on Paper Fair – Get COMP tickets to this weekend’s exhibition. Despite the fair’s name, this innovative collection isn’t just works on paper, but also spotlights sculpture, photography and painting that incorporates and/or is somehow inspired by the medium. More than 80 galleries are set to sell works at this annual event, which is associated with the Brooklyn Museum and several other prestigious New York art entities.

At Pier 36, Friday through Sunday.

The Path Forward: Incarcerated America – A discussion between criminal justice reform advocates from the Left and Right about the tragedies of American incarceration, especially those faced by our youth, and what action is needed in order to correct them.Americans comprise about 5 percent of the world’s population but more than 20 percent of its prison population. The United States also leads the planet in its levels of incarcerated youth. And while the overall rate of youth incarceration in this country has declined more than 50 percent in the 21st century, the rate of Black youths put in prison has increased by 22 percent—of all young people in prison, 69 percent of them are people of color