NYC Free & Cheap This Week August 13-17

POSTED BY
Evelyn Kanter

So much to do, so little time.

Here are some of the best FREE events and cheap things to see and do this week in NYC, including an outdoor dance festival in the Battery and an outdoor film festival in Central Park.

Put these on your calendar for the week, and get more NYC for less money with NYC on the Cheap.

Let’s Dance

Battery Dance Festival – NYC’s longest-running FREE public outdoor dance festival, featuring local and international performers and dance styles from ballet to Bollywood is now underway, with daily performances through Saturday. More than 30 dance troupes include members of NYC’s Martha Graham School, and from countries including India, Canada, Botswana, Spain and Macedonia.

At Robert F. Wagner Park at Battery Park.

Uptown Bounce – The final Wednesdays of the FREE outdoor summer dance party series at the Museum of the City of New York features a Space Odyssey theme, with futuristic music from icons including David Bowie Grace Jones and Prince. The evening also celebrates the the film 2001: A Space Odyssey by renowned director Stanley Kubrick, subject of the current exhibition, Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs.

Wednesday, 6pm to 9pm, at MCNY, Fifth Ave. FREE with registration

Summer Salsa – Dance your way home from work every Thursday in August, starting this week, as the annual Downtown Brooklyn outdoor dance festival returns.

Thursday, with a FREE dance lesson at 5pm, and a DJ spins Latin music afterward.

Let’s Eat

NYC Restaurant Week – There’s still time to make a reservation and take advantage of this annual good deal for great dining, when nearly 400 top NYC restaurants serve specially priced three-course meals $26 at lunch and $42 at dinner. This is your chance to splurge on a gourmet meal in such top-rated locally owned restaurants as the 21 Club, Smith & Wolensky, Boulud Sud, and David Burke Kitchen.

Through Friday, Aug. 17th
Our recommendation is lunch, not because it’s cheaper, but because it’s easier to get a reservation at the restaurant and date you want.
TIP – Broadway Week, with half-price tickets to top shows, returns in September.

Let’s See

Central Park Film Festival – The annual outdoor treat of films with a connection to NYC, either because they are set here in NYC, have parts of the film set here in NYC, or because the director is a New Yorker. Screenings are FREE, of course. This year’s list:

August 14: Hair – 1979 (PG)
August 15: Crooklyn – 1994 (PG-13)
August 16: Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb – 1964 (PG)
August 17: The Muppets Take Manhattan – 1984 (G)

Let’s Laugh

Get Saturday Night Live Tickets – August is the only time all year to request tickets to a live taping of the hit show for the new season starting in September. Here’s how to score yours.

How to get tickets to other late-night TV shows.

Let’s Learn

Manhattan’s Little Secrets – Hear what the author of this book has to say about some of Manhattan’s best known, and least known, architectural gems, at this FREE author talk at the Skyscraper Museum. As a professor or architectural history at NYU, he’s one of the city’s top experts on the city’s architectural gems. And get there early, to see the brand new exhibit that traces the development of the NYC’s skyline from the days of the Dutch to today.

Tuesday, 6pm, at the Skyscraper Museum, a few blocks from Battery Park. Registration is required to ensure space. Email programs@skyscraper.org.
NOTE – The author talk is free. Museum admission before the talk is $5, still a bargain.

How to get FREE museum admission with your library card

Let’s Enjoy

Garden After Hours – Enjoy extended hours on Tuesdays in August at The Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Enter at any time and stay till 8:30 p.m. Enjoy an evening stroll through the Garden’s lush, fragrant grounds, treat yourself to specialty cocktails, snacks or dinner at the Yellow Magnolia Canteen, and sunset views.

Coming up in September

We’ll have more about these events later in August.

Metropolitan Opera Summer Outdoor HD Festival – Ten nights of opera shown on a super-sized screen that covers the front of the Met Opera House.

Space and Science Fest at the Intrepid Museum – The chance to meet NASA Astronauts and more.

Broadway Week – Ten days in September when tickets to top Broadway Shows are two-for-one.