10/27/12 Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead Celebration @ National Museum of the American Indian

Saturday, October 27, 2012 from 1pm to 4pm (Museum hours: 10am-5pm)

National Museum of the American Indian

1 Bowling Green (Bowling Green/Whitehall St) 

Diker Pavilion and First Floor Lobby

Manhattan, NY 10004
(212) 514-3700

Cost: Free
For all ages

Though Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) isn't officially until November 1, you can commemorate the Mexican holiday early at the National Museum of the American Indian. This colorful, family-friendly celebration features live music and dance performances as well as hands-on workshops. Create special Day of the Dead crafts like vibrant papier-mâché calaveras (skulls), and make your own version of acalaca—a smiling, ornately decorated white skull mask usually worn to symbolize revival after death. Later, visit the altar de muertos, designed to honor deceased ancestors with ofrendas (offerings). This specific altar will be decorated with ceramic skulls, masses of marigold flowers and calaveritas de azúcar (sugar skulls), customarily eaten by friends and relatives. The event runs from 1 to 4pm in the Diker Pavilion and first-floor lobby of the museum. During the annual Day of the Dead celebration, some believe that souls of the deceased return to visit living relatives, and festivities like this help welcome them.

http://nmai.si.edu/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=date%3D20121026#/?i=1

10/24/12 Big Apple Crunch: Set a World Record with GrowNYC @ Various NYC Locations

Wednesday, October 24, 2012 at 12:00 noon

Cost: Free apple slices for participants

For all ages

On October 24th, join GrowNYC and thousands of other New Yorkers in the Big Apple Crunch, as we try to set the world record for Most Participants in an Apple-Crunching Event.

Individuals and groups can register their crunching teams at bigapplecrunch.com, and at 12pm on Wednesday, October 24th, we’ll all take a bite together, making the crunch heard ’round the world!

Group crunches can take place at schools, classrooms, workplaces, hospitals, and anywhere else! GrowNYC will also be hosting group crunches – with free apple slices! – at the following Wednesday Greenmarkets:

Manhattan

West 57th Street

Dag Hammarskjold Plaza

Mount Sinai

Tribeca

Union Square

Bronx

New York Botanical Garden

Learn It, Grow It, Eat It Youthmarket

Roberto Clemente Plaza Youthmarket

Brooklyn

Bartel-Pritchard Sq

Queens

Astoria

http://www.grownyc.org/blog/big-apple-crunch-takes-new-york/

10/14/12 Harmony on the Hudson: The Family Festival @ Battery Park City

Sunday, October  14, 2012 from 1:00 to 5:00pm

Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park (Wagner Park)

Battery Place (at West Street)
New York, NY 10280
(212) 267-9700
Subway: 4, 5 to Bowling Green, or 1 to Rector Street and walk down Greenwich. Walk west along Battery Place until you pass historic Battery Park.
Cost: Free
For all ages

Music! Performances! Art-Making! Games! Fun for the Entire Family! Free!

Celebrate the 11th annual Battery Park City Family Festival with a great line up of performances:
* Bread & Puppet Theater performs Circus of the Possibilitarians and Dire Circumstances Jubilation Ensemble with spectacular puppets and improvisational dance.
* Performances by Grammy-Award winning musicians Tom Chapin & Friends, and high-energy, inventive music by Hazmat Modine.
* In addition to puppetry and music, there will be rope jumping by the Double Dutch Divas, lawn and street games, fun art activities, face painting, and family-friendly food and beverages.

http://bpcparks.org/bpcp/events/events.php#specialeventsharmonyont

10/14/12 Odes to Autumn Poetry Walk: Fall Drawing Workshop @ Rockefeller Park House (Rockefeller Park)

Sunday, October 14, 2012 at 2:00pm

Rockefeller Park House at Rockefeller Park
located at the corners of River Terrace & Warren Streets (the north end of Battery Park City)
New York, NY
(212) 242-0800
Cost: Free
For all ages

Observe the splendor of the park’s autumn palette of Rockefeller Park while listening to poetry. Join poet and naturalist Dr. Jonathan Curley for “Odes to Autumn,” a poetry walk celebrating the arrival of fall with poems, revels, songs, and ballads among the fallen leaves. Colorful lyrics will be recited throughout the journey, from John Keats to Ella Fitzgerald, ending by the Lily Pond near engraved poems by Mark Strand and Seamus Heaney. 

Concurrently, artist Elise Engler will be distributing colored pencils, oil pastels and drawing pencils for participants who want to sketch. The workshop will call attention to the dramatic changes of colors in nature, particularly at this time of year. All ages welcome.

http://bpcparks.org/bpcp/events/events.php#allagesodestoautumnpoet

10/13/12 Fall Kids Fest 2012 @ Madison Square Park

Saturday, October 13, 2012 from 11am to 2pm

Madison Square Park

23rd Street between Madison Ave. & Fifth Ave.

New York, NY
Cost: Free
For all ages

Join Madison Square Park’s annual Fall Kids Fest in celebration of the Conservancy’s 10-year anniversary! Bring your young ones for a free fall-festive day especially dedicated to them and have the whole family enjoy live music, arts and crafts, face painting, pumpkin decorating, games, snacks, and much much more!

Parents, the Costume Swap is back! Head to the Costume Swap tent and bring outgrown and clean children’s costumes and swap them out for “new” garb. This is a really cost effective solution for our ever-growing children!

Make sure to check out a new addition and Kids Fest first, the Games section located on the east lawn! Children of all ages can enjoy board games presented by the New York Department of Parks and Recreation, throw a pie-in-the-face of our earnest sponsor Hill Country Chicken, and dash through an obstacle course, sponsored and designed by Deer Mountain Day Camp!

Don’t forget to venture to the Crafts tent located on the northern lawn. Make tube monsters with MSPC, egg shakers with The Little Orchestra Society, table top activities with Appleseeds and much more! Visit the Marimekko booth during Fall Kids Fest to make a colorful and fun Marimekko fabric pumpkin using their fun prints and patterns!

Neighboring the Crafts tent on the north western side of the park is the Pumpkin Patch! Check in with our pumpkin patch team to receive a ticket for a free pumpkin and then head over to our decorating station! Pumpkins will be given out to children who are present at the Fest and are on a first come first serve basis.

Check out our Kids Fest park map for layout details!

Fall Kids Fest is rain or shine and takes place in beautiful Madison Square Park at 23rd Street between Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenues. This free event is presented by World Class Learning Academy, NY, an international school for children ages 2-11, and Time Out Kids.

http://www.madisonsquarepark.org/things-to-do/calendar/fall-kids-fest-2012

10/15/12 Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Is Hosting a Teen Design Fair: Register by 10/12/12

Monday, October 15, 2012 from 4:00pm to 6:00pm

The Altman Building
135 West 18th Street btwn 6th and 7th Avenue
New York, NY
Cost: Free, but online registration is required. See website for instructions and you'll need to get a parent/legal guardian consent form that needs to be submitted by 10/12/12.
For all NYC high school students

An annual event held in New York City and Washington, D.C., the Teen Design Fair is a special opportunity for teens who want to learn about design careers from National Design Award winners and others working at the top fields in fashion, interaction, communications, architecture, and more. See website to check out a video from last year's event.

Open to all NYC high school students. Registration is required, however, and space is limited. Please ensure that all fields are completed in order to process your registration request. Incomplete registration forms will result in delay and/or rejection. If you have any questions please contact the Education Department at cheducation@si.edu

Designer guests from previous years have included: Tim Gunn, Chief Creative Officer for Liz Claiborne and host of Project Runway; Cynthia Rowley, acclaimed American fashion designer; Dennis Hwang, chief Google webmaster and logo designer; Maira Kalman, illustrator for The New Yorker, The New York Times, and National Design Award finalist for communication; Stephen Doyle, winner of communication National Design Award whose clients include Wired magazine; Jeff Hahn, creator of the interactive graphics wall for CNN and founder of Perceptive Pixel; Phil Jimenez, comic book illustrator for Marvel Comics, and many, many more!

http://www.cooperhewitt.org/events/teen-design-fair

10/13/12 Public Theater Free Block Party + Open House

Saturday, October 13 from 12:00 Noon to 5:00pm

At Astor Place - Rain or shine!

Cost: Free

For all ages

Join the Public Theater as they celebrate the rededication of their Downtown home.

Featuring...

SNEAK PEEKS FROM NEW MUSICALS

* Giant

* Fun Home
* Here Lies Love
* The Total Bent

LIVE OUTDOOR PERFORMANCES
* Jessy Carolina & The Hot Mess, the jazz and blues band specializing in American music reminiscent of The Ziegfeld Follies

* Sasha Allen of the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival HAIR
* Tony Trischka, critically acclaimed five-string banjo player
* M.A.K.U. SoundSystem, an eight-member band from Colombia

GOURMET FOOD TRUCKS* Go Burger
* Gorilla Cheese
* Korilla BBQ
* Rickshaw Dumplings
* The Treats Truck
* Solber Pupusas Truck
* Valducci’s PizzaINSIDE - TASTES OF OUR NEW MENU BY ANDREW CARMELLINI
* Kielbasa Sandwiches on a Soft Pretzel Roll with Whole Grain Mustard and Sauerkraut
* Pizza Popcorn

The Public’s new lounge, The Library at The Public, along with the bars at Joe’s Pub and in the revitalized lobby, will also be open, serving their new selection of specialty cocktails, wine, and draft beer.

Lafayette Street between Astor Place and East 4th Street will be partially closed to traffic. A physical expression of our core mission to increase accessibility and foster public engagement with the theater, the project opens up our landmark building to the street, creating a community gathering point where all are welcome.

For more information about events celebrating The Public Theater's rededication, go to: http://www.publictheater.org/content/view/27

Until 11/18/12 Tatzu Nishi: Discovering Columbus Free Exhibit @ Columbus Circle

September 20 through November 18, 2012

Columbus Circle
Central Park South at Central Park West
Manhattan, NY
Cost: Free, advance reservations required.
For all ages

Tatzu Nishi: Discovering Columbus, the latest in the Public Art Fund's 2012 installments, allows visitors to see the City through Columbus' eyes. The exhibit, which includes a modern living room six stories above Columbus Circle, features large windows that provide dramatic views of Central Park and Midtown Manhattan from Columbus's perspective. For complete details and reservations, visit publicartfund.org.


About the Artist

Tatzu Nishi is a Japanese artist living in Berlin, Germany and Tokyo, Japan. He has created unconventional, site-specific public art projects around the world, transforming historical monuments by placing them in domestic settings. His works remove traditional statues from their everyday contexts to create surprising, intimate encounters with familiar monuments, making them accessible to the public in new ways.

http://www.publicartfund.org/view/exhibitions/5495_discovering_columbus/

10/6/12 + 10/7/12 Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of openhousenewyork with a Weekend of Free Events in all 5 Boroughs

Saturday, October 6 + Sunday, October 7, 2012

at various New York City locations

OHNY Weekend is an unparalleled citywide cultural event that showcases hundreds of NYC’s most architecturally and culturally significant spaces and places, many not usually open to the public, in neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs. Experience unique opportunities to learn about, explore and experience NYC’s built environment.

Free openhousenewyork events are taking place throughout the five boroughs. Enjoy free admission all day at The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx when you mention OHNY weekend at the box office; in Brooklyn, you can take a tour of the Old Stone House during the Kings County Fiber Festival; in Queens, The Noguchi Museum will comp admission; and in Staten Island, you can visit the Judge Jacob Tysen House in Historic Richmond Town for a look at early Greek revival architecture.

See the full list places to visit and more info at the website. Reservations may be necessary for some places.

http://new.ohny.org/