Your budget is busted from the holidays. But fear not, because NYC is filled with FREE things to do every month, and the firt month of 2020 is no different.
Put these FREE and cheap events on your calendar in January and save your money for the next holiday.
January also is special for the annual Broadway Week BOGO tickets for top shows, which is really three weeks, not one.
Some FREE events require registration to ensure space, so do that now for guaranteed admission and avoid standing in the cold for standby admission.
Free Museum Admission
Admission to many NYC museums is FREE the first weekend of the month.
See the list here.
SEE ALSO
Get FREE museum admission with your library card
Get FREE museum admission with your IDNYC card
Census 2020
To make sure NYC communities are best supported by the 2020 Census, the NY Public Library is hosting a series of town hall events inviting community partners and civic-minded patrons to learn about the process, ask questions and share concerns.
There also are events to educate New Yorkers on how to get a paying job with the Census powers-that-be, to make sure all of us New Yorkers are counted.
You can apply if you are (or will be) at least 18 years of age at the time of the Census; have work authorization, including a valid Social Security number; are registered with the Selective Service System or have a qualifying exemption (if you are male and were born after Dec. 31, 1959); and have a valid e-mail address.
Compensation ranges from $20-27.50/hr in NYC.
The Census helps determine how much money New York State and New York City get from the federal government for programs such as SNAP, better known as Food Stamps, and even how many seats New York City gets in Congress. So it is extremely important for all New Yorkers to be counted, no matter what their immigration status is.
These three events are in Manhattan. NYPL is planning more in other NYC boroughs.
U.S. Census Bureau: Recruitment Event
Friday, January 17, 2 p.m., Read More
U.S. Census Bureau: Recruitment Event
Thursday, January 23, 2:30 – 6:30 p.m., Read More
2020 Census Job Session
BROOKLYN: The Once and Future City
In Brooklyn: The Once and Future City, Tom Campanella unearths long-lost threads of the borough’s past. He recounts the creation of places familiar and forgotten, built and never realized, bringing life to the individuals whose dreams, visions, rackets, and schemes forged the city we know today.
in this FREE discussion, Campanella takes you through Brooklyn’s history as homeland of the Lenape and its transformation by Dutch colonists into “a dense slaveholding region,” how Frederick Law Olmsted created Prospect Park, Brooklyn’s emergence as a playland of racetracks and amusement parks celebrated around the world, and more.
Thomas J. Campanella is an urbanist and historian who teaches at Cornell University where he directs the Urban and Regional Studies Program. He also serves as Historian in Residence at the New York City Parks Department. Among his many publications are the books The Concrete Dragon: China’s Urban Revolution and What it Means for the World and Cities From the Sky: An Aerial Portrait of America.
- FREE, 6:30 to 8pm on Tuesday, Jan. 14.
- At the Skyscraper Museum in Battery Park
- To assure admittance, guests must RSVP to programs@skyscraper.org with the name of the program
Black Comic Book Festival
The Eighth Black Comic Book Festival returns in January, again as a two-day FREE event, celebrating the rich tradition of Black comix with FREE panel discussions, film screenings, exhibit tables with top comic creators, comic book giveaways for kids, a cospay show, and more.
Discussion topics include diversity and social justice in comics, black comics in digital spaces, black masculinity in comic books, and more, including the festival memorabilia.
Black Comic Book Festival participants are encouraged to wear their favorite cosplay costumes and to register on-site for the annual cosplay show.
Participants are also invited to contribute to the Schomburg Center’s growing collection of Black independent comic books by bringing single copies of old or new titles from their home collection.
All donations become a part of the Schomburg’s unique and growing archive documenting Black comix and the Black speculative arts movement.
All programs will be live-streamed at Livestream.com/SchomburgCenter and on at Facebook.com/SchomburgCenter.
- Friday, January 17 from 10 AM – 8 PM and on Saturday, January 18 from 10 AM to 8:00 PM.
- Registration for both days is free.
- Note that space is first come, first served.
- Due to space constraints registration is recommended.
- Schomburg generally overbooks to ensure a full house.
- After the event starts all registered seats are released regardless of registration, so we recommend that you arrive early.
Broadway Week 2020
Stay tuned for the list of participating shows and the best way to get tickets.
Broadway Week 2-for-one tickets are twice a year – in Jan./Feb. and Aug./Sept
Get a preview of Broadway Week 2020 from what was offered during the last summer’s Broadway Week 2019
Porgy and Bess The AstroBlack Trapfish Row Variations
Join Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber for the FREE U.S. premiere of Porgy & Bess The AstroBlack Trapfish Row Variations–their “caramelization” of Gershwin’s gully but melancholic masterpiece.
With overt nods to Miles Davis and Gil Evans’s brassy and melodious 1966 distillation of Porgy & Bess, Burnt Sugar’s varied arrangers and conductors turn a dub wise, samba-licious, and ska-inflected ear towards the twerk-inducing cadences of latter-day Southern hip-hop and the cosmic jungle music of 1970s Miles Davis.
Founded by Village Voice icon Greg Tate and co-led with Dayton, Ohio monster bassist Jared Michael Nickerson since 1999, Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber is a sprawling band of musicians whose prodigious personnel allows them to freely juggle a wide swath of the experimental soul-jazz-hip hop spectrum.
Rolling Stone calls them “a multiracial jam army that freestyles with cool telekinesis between the lustrous menace of Miles Davis’s On the Corner, the slash-and-om of 1970s King Crimson, and Jimi Hendrix’s moonwalk across side three of Electric Ladyland.”
- FREE,
Under The Radar Festival
Films, concerts and discussions, featuring emerging artists, at the Public Theater, Japan Society, LaMama, and more.
Under The Radar 2020 is a festival celebrating new theater from all over the world, presented by The Public Theater.
See the full Under The Radar 2020 line up
- January 8 – 19
19th Annual Winter Art Show
Celebrate the arts in Queens at this annual art show at the historic Castle in Fort Totten Park. The show features work produced by Queens-based artists, primarily from northeast Queens.
Attendees can expect to find a variety of artistic styles and mediums, including representational painting, abstract painting, drawing, mixed media and photography.
Opening Reception Sunday, January 12 at 2pm with an Awards ceremony, gallery talk, and refreshments.
The exhibit and reception are open to the public. Viewing hours for the duration of the exhibit will be Thursday & Friday, 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm, and Saturday & Sunday, 12:00pm to 4:00 pm. Admission is $5.00 per person.Open Call to ArtistsIf you would like to exhibit your work in our show, please download the Open Call and Requirements form for full details and registration materials.
- At the Bayside Historical Society, Fort Totten, Queens
- Admission is $5
- Exhibit hours are Noon to 4pm, Thurs. to Sun.
Winter Open Rehearsal
Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre presents a Winter Open Rehearsal, a preview of their upcoming World Premiere of new production, Hindsight, which premieres in March.
The FREE rehearsal offers a behind-the-scenes view into the creative process, and will be followed by a wine and cheese reception.
- The Open Rehearsal is 6:30m on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at The Ailey Studios, 405 W. 55th
Exerskate
Work up a sweat on The Rink at Bryant Park with an on-ice circuit workout. Expect exercises used by figure and hockey skaters that will make you a better skater.
Classes are Thursday mornings in January, starting promptly at 8am.
We recommend that you arrive 10 minutes early to check-in, put on your skates, and stow your belongings in a locker. You may bring your own skates and lock; skate rental is $23 per person and locks are $12.Showers and towels are not provided.
This class is recommended for competent skaters.
- Bryant Park, 8am, Thursdays in January
Scene from West Side Story
Harold Prince Birthday Party, Sing Along Show and Tell
- 6pm, Thursday, Jan 30
- FREE but tickets are required to manage space
- New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Bruno Walter Auditorium
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