As we tell you often here on NYC on the Cheap, cheap is good, free is better, and there always are lots of both in NYC. Here are the best FREE things to see and do this week, June 11-15, in the greatest city on the planet.
SEE ALSO
Best FREE things to do in NYC any week of the year
NYC Free Monday and Wednesday
Metropolitan Opera Summer Concert Series – Bring a blanket and a picnic and enjoy FREE opera under the stars with stars from the Met. Monday in Central Park, Wednesday in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
- Additional concerts next week in other NYC parks.
NYC Free Monday through Sunday
Democracy Lab – An inflatable bubble that can fit more than one hundred people is parked at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn to house week-long FREE workshops and talks on social justice and civic engagement. The lab is organized by the Brooklyn Public Library, in partnership with Prospect Park Alliance, Storefront for Art & Architecture, and visitBerlin, and will feature workshops and talks on social justice and civic engagement by established community members of Brooklyn and greater New York.
The dome, dubbed the Spacebuster, has a translucent membrane cover that allows passers-by to look into the events happening inside the billowing urban room. Images can be projected onto the membrane and can be viewed both from the outside and the inside.
Democracy Lab will feature workshops and talks by The New Yorker writer Rachel Aviv, The Simpsons show-runner and writer Mike Reiss and daily guided readings of The New York Times led by community leaders and writers such as the paper’s own critic Wesley Morris, among others.
- Full calendar of scheduled events on this link.
NYC Free Tuesday, June 12
The 40th Annual Museum Mile Festival turns Fifth Avenue between 82nd St. and 105th Streets into New York City’s biggest block party, with music, food, activities for the kids, and more. The street fair is FREE, and so is FREE museum admission to ten world-class museums that give Museum Mile its name, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Jewish Museum, Museum of the City of New York, the Guggenheim Museum and El Museo del Barrio.
- Full schedule of events here.
Want to avoid admission fees at top NYC museums? See our list of FREE museum admission days and times.
NYC Free Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks – A different park each night, and a different schedule of classical music performed FREE, each one ending with fireworks. Bring a blanket and a picnic and enjoy music under the stars by one of the best orchestras on the planet.
NYC Free Tuesday and Thursday
Bryant Park’s yoga classes, believed to be the largest regularly scheduled FREE outdoor series of its kind in the world, are now underway. The twice-weekly classes are Tuesday mornings on the Upper Terrace 10 AM-11 AM, and Thursday evenings on the Lawn 6 PM-7PM.
- Bring your own mat.
NYC Free Wednesday, June 13
Yiddish Under the Stars – A FREE concert of Klezmer music, performances of popular Broadway show tunes in Yiddish, liturgical music and more. Part of the SummerStage schedule of music and dance performances in NYC Parks. This one is in Central Park.
NYC Free Thursday, June 14
Sunset on the Hudson – Enjoy a FREE performance by the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra, and the sunset. They’ll be playing toe-tappin’ favorites such as Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” and “The Entertainer;” Noel Coward’s “Sail Away” and the 1930’s hit “Red Sails In The Sunset;” as well as traditional Scottish reels and Aaron Copland’s rousing “Hoe-Down from Rodeo.”
- Bring your friends and a blanket to Pier 45 at Christopher St., 7pm to 9pm.
NYC Freebie Friday, June 15
Broadway in the Boros – Enjoy Tony Award-winning songs and more Broadway show tunes at this special series of performances in boroughs that are not Manhattan. Today’s event, in Brooklyn, features songs from A Bronx Tale and Come From Away, on The Plaza @300 Ashland in Downtown Brooklyn.
- Noon to 2pm, rain or shine, so let’s hope for shine.
Daily through June 30
Meet 200 women who will change the way you see the world, at a special FREE interactive photo and video exhibit. The exhibit highlights diversity and equality through the stories of 200 women from around the world, who were asked five fundamental questions on the theme ‘what is most important to you’.
- The 200 Women exhibition is sponsored by BMW, and is at Pen + Brush, 29 East 22nd St., through June 30, then travels to Munich, Germany, BMW’s headquarters city.
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