39 venues · 307 upcoming events
Things to do in Manhattan: free events and every venue
Every place we list events for, grouped by neighbourhood. Each venue page shows what’s coming up (recurring shows on their next date), what we’ve listed there before, the address, the subway and what’s nearby — checked by a person, not a crawler.
Free in Manhattan this week
79 free events in the next seven days, soonest first. Free means the venue prints it as free; a few still ask you to register.
- MoMA
THRU SAT, OCT 24Family Gallery Talks: People and CharactersMoMAIncluded with Museum admission (free for kids 16 and under); registration requiredDetails → - Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
DAILY · 5–6 PMPay What You Wish admissionCooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design MuseumPay what you wish, 5–6 p.m. dailyDetails → - Bryant Park
FreeTUE–SAT · SEE TIMESGamesBryant ParkFreeDetails → - Museum of the City of New York
WEDNESDAYS · 5–9 PM · UNTIL 2 SEPLate-Night Summer WednesdaysMuseum of the City of New YorkFree until 9 p.m.Details → - Museum of Arts and Design
THRU WED, OCT 21Sneakky Klean: Fresh Kicks in the GalleryMuseum of Arts and DesignFree with Museum admissionDetails → - Museum of Arts and DesignTHRU WED, OCT 21Sneaker Cleaning and Customising NightMuseum of Arts and DesignFree with Museum admissionDetails →
- Oct21Bryant Park Picnic Performances presented by Bank of AmericaMOST EVENINGS · UNTIL 11 SEP · Bryant ParkFree
- Oct22Birding ToursTUE 8 AM · THU & FRI 5 PM · 1 SEP–10 OCT · Bryant ParkFree
- Oct22Ice Skating at Winter VillageDAILY · 8 AM–10 PM · 28 OCT–28 FEB · Bryant ParkAdmission: Free · Skate rentals $18.72–$64.48 (includes $.72–$2.48 administrative fee) · Bag check $6.24
- Oct22New Dendrology at the Arsenal GalleryTHU, OCT 22 · Central ParkFree
- Oct22Storytime at The MetTUE & THU · 10:15 & 11 AM · The Metropolitan Museum of ArtFree with Museum admission
- Oct22Reading RoomDAILY · 11 AM–7 PM · Bryant ParkFree
Lower Manhattan
- Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book LibraryAndrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library2 upcomingFlatironSee what's on →
- BKLYN CLAY TribecaBKLYN CLAY Tribeca0 pastTribecaSee what's on →
- CultureHub
CultureHub2 upcomingNoHoSee what's on → - Earth Matter
Earth Matter NY Compost Learning Center2 upcomingGovernors IslandA compost farm on Governors Island — chickens, windrows and several tons of the city's food scraps — where volunteers sort organics twice a week and leave with a bag of finished compost if they want one.See what's on → - Governors Island
Governors Island3 upcomingGovernors IslandThe 172-acre island off the tip of Manhattan, reached by ferry, where Billion Oyster Project keeps its shell piles and reef nurseries alongside public art and gardens.See what's on → - Greenwich House
Greenwich House Pottery17 upcomingWest VillageA community pottery school running since 1909 in a West Village townhouse, with a gallery, a lecture series and some of the longest-established ceramics teaching in the city. Term courses fill fast; the one-day workshops are the way in.See what's on → - Greenwich House Pottery Chelsea
Greenwich House Pottery Chelsea14 upcomingChelseaSee what's on → - Hudson River Park
Hudson River Park1 upcomingHudson SquareFour miles of piers and planting along the west side of Manhattan, with a research wetlab at Pier 40 and free catch-and-release fishing off Pier 51 every Saturday. The estuary it sits in is a protected sanctuary with more than two hundred fish species.See what's on → - KraftStories
KraftStories NYC13 upcomingFinancial DistrictThe Financial District room of the studio this site's editor owns, on the fourth floor at 93 Pearl St. Air-dry clay, woodburning, perfume blending, mosaic lamps and tufting, booked for any day rather than run on a timetable.See what's on → - La Mano
La Mano Pottery2 upcomingChelseaA Chelsea studio running eight-week wheel and handbuilding courses plus weekend workshops, in a basement space that has been there since the 1990s.See what's on → - LES Ecology Center
Lower East Side Ecology Center4 upcomingLower East SideThe organisation that has run community composting and street-tree care on the Lower East Side since 1987. Saturday stewardship mornings rotate between Tompkins Square Park and the East River waterfront at Pier 42; all tools and guidance are provided.See what's on → - Poster House
Poster House2 upcomingChelseaThe only museum in the United States devoted entirely to posters — graphic design treated as public art. Free all day every Friday and on the third Sunday of each month.See what's on → - Cooper Union
The Cooper Union18 upcomingEast VillageThe college on Cooper Square whose Great Hall has hosted public speeches since 1859, Lincoln's 1860 address among them. Its art, architecture and engineering schools open most lectures, screenings and gallery shows to the public for free, while Type@Cooper and Continuing Education run paid evening and weekend classes at 41 Cooper Square across the street.See what's on → - Tompkins GreenmarketTompkins Square Greenmarket1 pastEast VillageSee what's on →
- Union Square Greenmarket
Union Square Greenmarket8 upcomingUnion SquareSee what's on → - Washington SquareWashington Square Park4 upcomingGreenwich VillageThe Village's front garden, and the home of Park Open Studio — a free drop-in artmaking session run by the Washington Square Park Conservancy under the trees at the northwest corner, Thursday to Saturday through the season.See what's on →
Midtown
- Bryant Park
Bryant Park20 upcomingMidtownThe lawn behind the main library, which runs one of the densest free programmes in the city — from lunchtime classes and games to films and the winter market.See what's on → - Center for Book Arts
Center for Book Arts24 upcomingFlatironA third-floor letterpress and bookbinding centre off Broadway, with working presses, exhibitions and classes from one-day binding to full typesetting courses.See what's on → - FlowerSchool NY
FlowerSchool New York32 upcomingChelseaA Chelsea floral school with a rooftop garden, running introduction days, multi-day series and the professional freelance track that supplies a good share of the city's event florists.See what's on → - KraftStories Midtown
KraftStories NYC — Midtown12 upcomingGarment DistrictThe Midtown room of the studio this site's editor owns, a block from the Port Authority side of the Garment District. Mosaic lamps, tufting, terrariums and candle pouring, booked for any day rather than run on a timetable.See what's on → - LES PrintshopLower East Side Printshop7 upcomingGarment DistrictA non-profit printmaking studio — screenprint, etching, lithography — with keyholder access for artists and short public classes that need no prior experience.See what's on →
- MoMA
MoMA14 upcomingMidtownThe Museum of Modern Art, whose UNIQLO Friday Nights make the whole building free to New York State residents from 5:30 to 8:30 every Friday — with drop-in drawing, talks and films inside that window.See what's on → - Mosaic Art StudioMosaic Art Studio0 pastGarment DistrictA Garment District workshop room doing Turkish mosaic lamps and candle holders, wheelchair accessible, minimum age eight. Booking only — they do not take walk-ins.See what's on →
- Mud Matters
Mud Matters2 upcomingHell's KitchenThe Hell's Kitchen half of a two-studio pottery school — La Mano in Chelsea is the other — running four-to-six-week wheel and handbuilding courses with three-hour sessions and open practice hours most days.See what's on → - MAD
Museum of Arts and Design6 upcomingColumbus CircleThe craft-and-design museum on Columbus Circle, with artist studios on the sixth floor where you can watch makers work, plus public workshops and pay-what-you-wish evenings.See what's on → - NYC Jewelry Lab
NYC Jewelry Lab4 upcomingManhattanA metalsmithing bench teaching lost-wax carving, hoop and cuff making and stone setting, mostly in two-day intensives and private sessions rather than on a term calendar.See what's on → - Blackburn Workshop
Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop14 upcomingGarment DistrictThe print shop Robert Blackburn founded in 1948 as a place where any artist could print regardless of who they were, now run by the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts. Lithography stones, etching presses, screenprint beds and a Risograph, taught in short courses at member and non-member rates.See what's on → - Sense 7
Sense 7 Tufting5 upcomingMidtownA Midtown handcraft studio running tufting, candle pouring, resin and bead sessions by the hour, booked rather than timetabled.See what's on →
Upper Manhattan
- 82nd Street Greenmarket
82nd Street Greenmarket2 upcomingUpper East SideSee what's on → - 92NY
92NY10 upcomingUpper East SideA cultural centre on Lexington with a full art school — ceramics, jewellery, printmaking, drawing — alongside the talks and concerts it is better known for.See what's on → - Central ParkCentral Park11 upcomingCentral ParkThe park every migrating bird in the Atlantic flyway seems to know about, which is why NYC Bird Alliance runs free walks here through the autumn.See what's on →
- Cooper HewittCooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum18 upcomingCarnegie HillThe Smithsonian's design museum, in Andrew Carnegie's old mansion on Fifth Avenue. Beyond the galleries it runs curator tours, drop-in sketching and hands-on HOW WE MAKE workshops — several of them free with admission, and admission itself is pay-what-you-wish for an hour every day.See what's on →
- Inwood Greenmarket
Inwood Greenmarket2 upcomingInwoodSee what's on → - Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center10 upcomingUpper West SideSee what's on →
- Loop of the Loom
Loop of the Loom5 upcomingUpper East SideA SAORI weaving studio where sessions are drop-in and improvisational rather than pattern-led — you sit at a floor loom and make something in two hours.See what's on → - MCNYMuseum of the City of New York7 upcomingEast HarlemThe city's own museum, at the top of Museum Mile opposite Central Park. Admission is pay-what-you-can at the counter, free on summer Wednesday evenings, and always free for children and for residents of the surrounding zip codes.See what's on →
- Randall's Island
Randall's Island Park6 upcomingRandall's IslandFour hundred acres of fields, salt marsh and an urban farm in the East River, reached on foot over the 103rd Street bridge. Volunteer sessions run twice a week from March to December and the public programming is almost entirely free.See what's on → - The CloistersThe Met Cloisters6 pastFort Tryon ParkSee what's on →
- The Met
The Metropolitan Museum of Art4 upcomingUpper East SideAdmission is pay-what-you-wish for New York State residents, which makes the weekend drop-in art-making here among the cheapest tutored making in the city.See what's on →