Your weekend plans begin here, with a couple of dozen FREE and cheap things to do this mid-May weekend that includes Mother’s Day.
Everything we suggest is $25 or less, and most are FREE and family-friendly, so you can enjoy more NYC for less money.
That just happens to be the NYC on the Cheap motto – get more NYC for less money.
There’s so much to see and do in NYC and never enough time to see and do it all.
Let’s hope the weather cooperates with outdoor events.
But if it doesn’t, here are some rainy day activities in NYC, besides re-arranging your sock drawer.
Know before you go:
Weekend street and bridge closures
Street closures for 5 Boro Bike Tour on Sunday
See also
FREE museum admission on weekends
Best way to get FREE tickets for The Vessel at Hudson Yards
Best places in NYC to enjoy cherry blossoms
Today, Friday
Stars in the Alley
Stars in the Alley features songs and sometimes dances from more than 25 current shows on the Great White Way in Broadway’s legendary Shubert Alley, in the heart of New York’s Theater District.
The annual FREE show marks the end of the 2018/2019 Broadway season and is part of the lead-up to the Tony Awards.
See the list of participating shows here.
Stars in the Alley is 1pm today.
Last Chance
‘FRIDA KAHLO: APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEIVING’
This blockbuster exhbition at the Brooklyn Museum closes on Sunday, May 12
It’s not exactly an exhibition of Kahlo’s art, since it includes just 11 of her paintings, from compelling self-portraits to ghastly New Age kitsch. Rather, this is a look at her artistic life through her clothing and other personality traits, from elegant Oaxacan blouses and skirts, colorful shawls and more, including to hide the spinal braces she wore after a crippling traffic accident.
There also are s gripping photographs of the artist by Carl Van Vechten, Imogen Cunningham, Manuel Álvarez Bravo and other great shutterbugs
- 718-638-5000, brooklynmuseum.org
What to do in NYC on Saturday
Frieze Sculpture
Frieze NY is the big annual art show on Randall’s Island, with over-the-top daily ticket prices starting at $57. Fuggedaboudit. Instead, see some of the best art from Frieze NY artists FREE in Rockefeller Center.
Frieze Sculpture is a major new public art initiative with significant sculptures across the Rockefeller Center campus by 14 international artists including Goshka Macuga, Ibrahim Mahama, Joan Miró, Paulo Nazareth, Sarah Sze and Hank Willis Thomas.
Frieze Sculpture is curated by Brett Littman of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum in Queens, and presented in partnership with world-leading galleries.
- Take a FREE docent-led tour of the sculptures at Noon.
- The sculptures are on site through June 28th.
Happy Birthday, Salvador Dali
“Each morning when I awake, I experience again a supreme pleasure – that of being Salvador Dali.” – Salvador Dali
To celebrate the artist’s 115th birthday, the Art Cart at Bryant Park is hosting a series of surrealist art and craft projects. Free mustaches (while supplies last).
- Part of the Art Cart Workshops program at Bryant Park
- FREE, Noon to 2pm.
What to do in NYC on Sunday
FREE Mother’s Day Concert
The Queens Symphony Orchestra is presenting a FREE concert that includes Verdi’s rousing Overture to La Forza del Destino, Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, S.124, featuring pianist Jeffrey Biegel and Tchaikovsky’s lush Symphony No. 5.
- FREE, at 3pm at Kupferberg Center for the Arts, LeFrak Concert Hall, 65-30 Kissena Boulevard
- Seating is first come, first served
- Reservations are recommended.
Friday through Sunday in NYC
Brooklyn Designs
This is Brooklyn’s premier design event showcasing furniture, lighting, accessories and technology, featuring the highest-caliber furnishings and home accessories from Brooklyn-based artisans, designers and manufacturers, including many companies that have received Brooklyn-Made certification by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.
Besides browsing, there’s a full schedule of workshops. Want to learn tapestry making? Want to learn new ways to use color? Or how to build a sustainable rooftop farm? There’s a workshop for that. Ditto a meditation workshop, a guided tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yards, where this massive design show is held.
- Friday to Sunday, May 10-12, at Brooklyn Navy Yards, Building 77
- Full schedule, transportation and ticket information here.
Open for the Season
The New Art Dealers Alliance returns to the Island for NADA House, an exhibition spanning three houses on Colonels Row featuring work by 45 artists from NADA’s international network of galleries and nonprofits. . More info here.
Fabulous food and beverage vendors include newcomers like Neapolitan Express and Perros Y Vainas and returning favorites like Little Eva’s and Taco Vista. Also returning are bike rentals from Blazing Saddles and Citi Bike and the thrilling zip line and other fun activities at Adventures at Governors Island.
Governor Island is open daily through Oct. 31.
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