NYC Free & Cheap Weekend March 15-17

Your weekend plans begin here, with a couple of dozen FREE and cheap things to do this weekend, including the St. Patrick’s Day parade on Fifth Ave, and another one in Brooklyn, and Super Sabado, a FREE event-filled day at El Museo del Barrio.

As always, everything NYC on the Cheap suggests is $25 or less, and most things are FREE, so you can enjoy more NYC for less money.

So much to see and do and so little time.

Let’s hope the weather cooperates with outdoor events.

And if it doesn’t, here are some rainy and snowy day activities in NYC, besides re-arranging your sock drawer.

Know before you go:

Weekend street and bridge closures

Last Chance to See

Voice of My City: Jerome Robbins and New York

Enjoy the exuberance and brilliance of dancer, choreographer, artist and poet – and native New Yorker – Jerome Robbins in this FREE exhibit celebrating the 100th year of his birth, and his hometown, where the Bronx is up and the Battery’s down, and the people ride in a hole in the ground, as we learned in On the Town.

Jerome Robbins was an inveterate observer, seeker, and creator. In diaries, drawings, watercolors, paintings, story scenarios, poems—and, especially, in dance—he reimagined the world around him. And New York dominated that world, where he was born one-hundred years ago and where he lived his entire adult life.

Ideas of New York have long inspired artists but often the city serves as a backdrop in an artwork rather than the basis for plot, theme, and meaning. Robbins put the city at the center of his artistic imaginings. From Fancy Free—his breakout hit ballet in 1944—to the musical West Side Story on stage (1957) and screen (1961) and the ballets N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz (1958) and Glass Pieces (1983), Robbins explored the joys, struggles, grooves, routines, and aspirations of New York. And in recreating the city around him on stage, Robbins found a place for himself.

Voice of My City traces Robbins’ life and dances alongside the history of New York, inspiring viewers to see the city as both a muse and a home.

Open through March 30th, 2019.
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.

St. Patrick’s Day Parades

Sat., March 16

The 258th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade is the city’s oldest, and one of the city’s largest, with more than 10,000 marching bands, including from the NYPD and NYFD, and more than one million spectators. The parade marches north on Fifth Avenue, from 44th St. to 79th St., starting at 11am.

Sun., March 17

44th Annual Brooklyn Saint Patrick’s Parade

Prospect Park West and 15th St to Seventh Ave, starting at 1pm

SUPER SÁBADO: Voces Latinx

The annual all-day FREE celebration of all things Latino in New York City, at El Museo del Barrio. This year’s theme celebrate and honor the contributions of women with a fun-filled family day of art making and movement workshops, storytelling, and a live performance by Puerto Rican artist iLe, in partnership with Carnegie Hall Citywide.

11am to 5pm. El Museo del Barrio is at Fifth Ave. and 103rd St.

Here’s the full schedule, and it’s all FREE

Exhibition

Lucio Fontana: Spatial Environment (1968)

11:00am – 6:00pm | Las Galerías

Built under the guidance of the Fondazione Lucio Fontana, El Museo will display a reconstruction of Argentinian-Italian artist Lucio Fontana’s 1968 Ambiente Spaziale [Spatial Environment], a labyrinthine total environment, that visitors can enter and navigate.

Accessibility

El Museo Early Birds

11:00am – 12:00pm | Las Galerías

We invite families with children on the autism spectrum to comfortably explore El Museo’s galleries before they open to the public, through friendly sensory-guided visits and hands-on art making workshops. Recommended for children ages 5 to 12 years old. Siblings’ welcomed

Art Making Workshop

Judy Baca by E Museo’s Artist Educators

12:00 – 2:30pm | Los Talleres (3rd Floor)

Inspired by Judy Baca’s mural Las Tres Marías, artist educators invite participants to reflect on strong female figures in their families and create a collage to celebrate their fashion, expressions and spirit. Painter, muralist, monument builder and scholar, Judy Baca has stood for art in the service of equity for all people and the integration of one’s ethics with creative expression.

Baca was the founder of the first City of Los Angeles Mural Program in 1974, which evolved into a community arts organization known as the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) which was has been creating sites of public memory since 1976. She continues to serve as its artistic director and focuses her creative energy in the UCLA@SPARC Digital/Mural Lab, employing digital technology to create social justice art.

Movement Workshop

Eugenia Ramos by Julia Gutiérrez-Rivera from Los Pleneros de la 21

12:15 – 1:00pm & 1:15 – 2:00pm | El Café

Performer, teaching artist, and member of the bomba & plena group Los Pleneros de la 21 (LP21), Julia Gutiérrez-Rivera, along with drummers Nelson “Mateo” Gonzalez and Nicky “Caja Dura” Laboy (of Redobles de Cultura), celebrate the legacy of Eugenia Ramos – the first female member of Los Pleneros de la 21, mother of Kako Bastar and one of Julia’s first teachers.

They will lead an interactive, dynamic and highly engaging dance workshop and mini lecture on the Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba traditions. An ancestral tradition from Puerto Rico, dating back nearly 500 years, Bomba celebrates the voice, strength and resilience of individuals and the community. During this workshop, participants will be able to experience some of the rich movements of the Bomba traditions, but will also create some movements of their own.

Guided Tour

El Museo Around the Block Tours: Women of El Barrio

12:30 – 1:10pm & 2:00 – 2:40pm | El Barrio

Join our Artist Educators for a special walking tour around our neighborhood highlighting Women of El Barrio (East Harlem) through the murals and public art that celebrate them. Visitors will stop by murals dedicated to Cuban singer Celia Cruz, Lady Liberty, Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos and will see other public expressions such as Naomi Rag’s yarn bombing! Visitors will meet in the Lobby. Please note this tour is outdoors and will consist of walking.

Storytelling

Pachamama by Flor Bromley

1:00 – 2:00pm | Blackbox Theater (3rd Floor)

Flor Bromley, bilingual singer/songwriter, actress, storyteller and puppeteer, will take us on a bilingual journey of myths and legends that celebrate Pachamama, also known as Mother Earth. Meet interesting and fun characters, while you learn and sing along to chants and rituals such as a “Pago,” an offering to Pachamama.

Trunkshow

Matriarca

2:00 – 3:30pm | La Tienda

Working in different indigenous communities across South America with the objective of building sustainability, the collective Matriarca supports women entrepreneurship with the aim to develop a system of sustainable production and consumption. Stop by and meet them!

Poetry Workshop

Julia de Burgos by Caridad De La Luz, a.k.a. La Bruja

2:15 – 3:30pm | El Café

The famed Puerto Rican poet and civil rights activist Julia de Burgos serves an inspiration for this intergenerational poetry workshop led by poet, actress and activist Caridad De La Luz, a.k.a. La Bruja. At the end, participants will be encouraged to share their poem/writing.

Concert

iLe presented by Carnegie Hall

4:00 – 5:00pm | El Teatro

In partnership with Carnegie Hall Citywide, El Museo is delighted to host Grammy award winning singer, composer, and vocalist iLe. The Puerto Rican artist began her musical career as the sole female singer of Calle 13, a group she took part of for 10 years, along with her brothers René Pérez Joglar (Residente) and Eduardo Cabra Martínez(Visitante).

Her first solo production, entitled ‘iLevitable’ and launched in June 2016, won a Grammy in the category Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album in 2017, and for it iLe was also nominated for the Latin Grammy Awards as “Best New Artist”. Recently, she released her new song ‘Odio’, which will be part of her second solo album.

Things to do in NYC every Friday

Freebie Friday – FREE admission to NYC museums including MOMA. No passes or coupons needed. Just go.

FREE Friday morning admission to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, until Noon.

Get FREE admission to more than a dozen NYC museums with the IDNYC card. Enrollment is also FREE.

Freebie Friday: Family Fridays at MoMath – Solve puzzles, family-style, and learn how math affects everything, from music to space flight. 6:30pm, FREE The National Museum of Mathematics is at 11 E. 26th St.

Freebie Friday – Grand Central Neighborhood Tour. FREE every Friday at 12:30, docents from the Grand Central Partnership guide you through the history of the fabled Grand Central Terminal and some equally-fabled nearby landmarks including the Chrysler Building.

There are no tickets, no reservations. Just meet at Sculpture court at 120 Park Avenue (southwest corner of East 42nd Street). Tour is 90 minutes.

Things to do in NYC every Saturday

FREE Saturday admission at top NYC museums every Saturday all year includes the Jewish Museum

Things to do in NYC every Sunday

FREE Sunday admission at top NYC museums including Morgan Library and Museum.

FREE Flatiron Walking Tour – Join professional guides on a 90-minute journey through this vibrant neighborhood, viewing some of the City’s most notable landmarks, including the New York Life Insurance Building, the MetLife Clock Tower, the Appellate Courthouse and the famous Flatiron Building.

Getting Around NYC – Know Before You go

FREE apps on subway track work and schedulng delays – Know what trains are bypassing what stations so you aren’t late for one of these free and cheap weekend events.

NYC official street closures website – Know what streets are closed when for street fairs, parades, political protests and more.

2018 NYC parking calendar – Know when you have to move your car, or not.

Where to eat at LaGuardia Airport – Top NYC restaurants and cafes are replacing fast food joints.

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Enjoy your free and cheap NYC weekend.