NYC events in April 2024

Art nerds can’t wait until the Whitney Biennial, which happens every two years. It’s always a gigantic showcase of some of the coolest, newest, and most provocative art at a big New York City museum. It’s the Whitney Museum of American Art’s landmark exhibition series and the longest-running survey of American Art, on view through August 11.

This year, the Biennial is themed “Even Better Than The Real Thing” and features the work of 71 artists and collectives. It does a lot in this iteration. The survey examines rapidly advancing technologies and machine learning tools; the body and subjectivity as it pertains to queer identity, body sovereignty, motherhood, the aging body, and the trans body; material agency and the use of unstable media; and lots more.

Overarching is the focus on “the real,” an extremely present topic these days with the onslaught of incorrect ChatGPT answers, horrifying deep fakes and art made by AI. 

With their vibrant colors, delicate ruffles, and dramatic shapes, orchids love to show off their looks. This spring, the New York Botanical Garden is giving the divas of the plant world their moment in the spotlight as part of “The Orchid Show: Florals in Fashion.”

Three up-and-coming designers created massive installations inspired by these fashionable flowers. In one, you'll see orchids turned into avant-garde clothing. Another features a regal orchid queen. The final section draws upon AI to create anthropomorphic creatures who don floral outfits. Florals in Fashion is on view through April 21 at NYBG in the Bronx; adult tickets cost $35.

There’s nothing like a day of worshipping our planet to put an optimistic spin on dwindling resources, rising sea levels and the alarming acceleration of climate change. Head to Earth Day Initiative's annual festival at Union Square on April 14 (12-6pm) to meet dozens of environmental non-profits and green businesses, learn about climate campaigns, hear speeches, and take part in interative workshops. Leave with a plan to up your eco-friendly game.

Looking for a visually-appealing adventure on this contemporary holiday? We know just the places to elevate your roll. If you're feeling inspired from watching the best stoner movies, head to these excellent comedy shows, dazzling concerts and trippy museum exhibitions to keep the buzz going. 

A garden oasis hidden away on the Upper West Side promises an ideal spot to soak in all that spring has to offer. 

Thousands of tulips in pink, yellow, red, purple, and orange fill the West Side Community Garden, and this Tulip Festival is free to visit daily from dawn til dusk through early May. While tulips steal the show, other spring scenes get the spotlight, too. Pastel pink cherry blossom petals float down from the branches above, birds flit from tree to tree, and the fragrance of hyacinths perfumes the air. 

You can find the tucked-away garden at 123 West 89th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Columbus Avenue. Though it's free to visit, you can make a donation to keep the volunteer-run garden beautiful year after year. Garden volunteers will be on site on 20-21 from 10am-6pm so you can learn more about the plantings and ask questions.

A massive art installation has just popped up at Damrosch Park outside of Lincoln Center. "Daedalum" is basically a giant inflatable labyrinth stationed at park now through April 21. Folks are encouraged to walk inside of it (shoes off, though!) for free to explore all its different pieces.

“Daedalum” is made of 19 egg-shaped domes connected by a bunch of tunnels—a setup that gives birth to a sort of maze in which two original features are hidden, including “an incredibly intricate rainbow-colored tree and a cavernous dome,” according to a press release.

Think of the entire project as a massive immersive experience filled with rainbow-hued lights and bouncy castle-like vibes that you can walk into and experience on your own for free daily from 11am to 6pm. 

One of the surest signs of spring: Beloved amusement park Luna Park in Coney Island reopens! Amusement park staples will still entertain you this summer, but new rides and upgrades are also in the works.

First off: Electric Eden Raceway, a completely new attraction featuring sustainable, electric-powered Go-Karts, will open later this season. Plus, the park's restaurants and concession stands "will be elevating their menus with even more delicious food and beverage options," park officials said.

Set your boats against the current and prepare to be borne back into the Jazz Age as F. Scott Fitzgerald's quintessentially American novel comes to Broadway. 

Jeremy Jordan (Newsies) and Eva Noblezada (Hadestown) headline this musical adaptation by Kait Kerrigan, Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen, directed by Marc Bruni (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) and choreographed by Dominique Kelley. 

Eat your way through Japan without ever leaving New York City at JAPAN Fes, the massive foodie festival, which is back and bigger than ever for 2024. The organization is hosting 30 outdoor events this year stretching from March through November in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. Event organizers say it's the largest Japanese food festival in the world, attracting 300,000 visitors and featuring 1,000 vendors every year.

Expect dishes including takoyaki, ramen, matcha sweets, yakisoba, karaage, okonomiyaki, and lots more. They're even hosting a ramen contest and a konamon contest this year to crown the best of the bunch. Vendors hail from New York City, as well as other states and other countries. 

Here's the full list of dates and neighborhoods.

Celebrate the rich and diverse musical heritage of Syria with this two-concert series presented by the Syrian Music Preservation Initiative (SMPI).

Taking place on Saturday, April 13 at City Lore and two weeks later on April 27 at Hungarian House, these intimate performances will feature a stellar lineup of musicians led by Artistic Director Samer Ali, including the internationally renowned MQ Dalal, who will perform traditional, acoustic chamber music from the Syrian and Arab repertoire. The sounds of the genre will be presented as they were originally performed: in a home-like setting with interaction welcome and the audience surrounding the group of musicians.

Last year's best play is now moving to Broadway. David Adjmi's behind-the-music studio drama Stereophonic, which earned rave reviews Off Broadway last year, will move to Broadway's John Golden Theatre this month.

This is terrific news for fans of theater and rock alike. Although the show is not a musical, its intimate depiction of one band's creative journey includes a great deal of live music in its three engrossing hours. The show's inspired by the notoriously disharmonious recording process that led to Fleetwood Mac’s classic 1977 LP Rumours. 

Stereophonic begins performances at the Golden on April 3 and opens officially on April 19. Buy tickets here.

In the TV show "The Masked Singer," celebrity contestants disguise themselves head to toe in elaborate costumes to shield their identities. The concept has captivated audiences of all ages for 11 seasons, and now you can see the incredible costumes up-close and in-person. 

The Paley Center for Media will present " Spotlighting the Costumes That Captivated America" at its midtown museum from through Sunday, May 19. 

The costumes on display, which helped the show win two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Costume Design, merge fashion, fantasy, and artistry. Each is a fantastical creation, extraordinary in its intricacy, originality, and scale. Some of the fan-favorite costumes include Miss Monster, Flamingo, Chameleon, and Gazelle.

Board the gigantic aircraft carrier docked along the Hudson River for a trip to space this spring. The Intrepid Museum will soon host "Apollo: When We Went to the Moon," the largest temporary exhibition in its four-decade history. 

The exhibit, which runs from March 26 through September 2, blasts off into an exploration of the space race, both as a scientific feat and as an inspiration for millions. The new exhibit is included with museum admission.

Visitors can climb aboard a lunar rover model, leave footprints on the Moon via a virtual moonwalk, and see Apollo artifacts. "Apollo: When We Went to the Moon" spans 9,000 square feet in the museum’s Space Shuttle Pavilion where it'll join the Space Shuttle Enterprise. 

Don your sequins and tease your hair for an evening in a Smoky Mountain fairytale. Twenty ukulele virtuosos will strum their hearts out as they cover Dolly Parton's timeless tunes for Night of 1,000 Dollys. 

The event on Saturday, April 20, will transform Brooklyn’s Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse into a slice of Dollywood. It’s free to attend (RSVP here), but donations are welcome to support the Dredgers' mission of increasing waterfront access and education about shoreline neighborhoods.

Hosted by Ukulele Cabaret, the event is part of the The Creekers Jamboree series. For more than a decade, Ukulele Cabaret has provided a stage for musicians, artists, and performers from New York's underground ukulele scene. Despite their many performances over the years, this is the group's first Dolly-themed cabaret.  

Poster House, the country's first museum dedicated entirely to the global history of posters, turns its lens on its hometown for its latest exhibit. "Wonder City of the World: New York City Travel Posters," highlights 80 works that capture NYC's landmarks in vibrant color and detail. 

The exhibit explores how New York City was represented to thousands of travelers, immigrants, and tourists during the 20th century. A 19th century marketing strategy coined the phrase "Wonder City," and it appeared in dozens of newspaper and magazine advertisements, as well as articles, postcards and souvenir booklets. New York’s massive growth during this time ultimately led to the creation of more travel posters than were designed for any other city in the world. The images included scenes of the city as seen from the water, from the ground, and, eventually, from the air. 

The show was curated by Nicholas D. Lowry, and it's on view through September 8.

One of New York City's largest celebrations of Chinese food, culture and heritage is back, and it's firing up an even bigger calendar of events for 2024. After Dragon Fest’s successful run in 2023, where it attracted 200,000 attendees across five events, the festival is back with an expanded lineup of 16 events across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. 

Attendees can explore culinary traditions from nearly every province of China, with over 100 different Chinese dishes on offer, from slurp-ready soup dumplings to sugar-coated chestnuts, lotus root sandwiches to grilled cold noodles. Among the 2024 food vendors are Haidilao, Maobao, Na Tart, Jixiang BBQ, and dim sum classic Nom Wah.

Check all the dates and locations here.

Smorgasburg, the food bazaar spectacular, is back for 2024 with dozens of great local vendors across three locations.

In fact, with more than 70 vendors, it's the largest Smorgasburg lineup since 2018! Vendors this year will serve up fragrant Ethiopian stews, Hawaii-style street comforts, explosive pani puri, potato puff poutine, and lots more.

Smorgasburg WTC runs on Fridays; Williamsburg is on Saturdays; and Prospect Park is on Sundays. Each location is open from 11am-6pm and operates weekly through October. 

Deep-dive into the works of American ceramist and painter Toshiko Takaezu with this retrospective and monograph coming to the Noguchi Museum in Queens from March 20 to July 28, 2024.

The first nationally touring retrospective of Takaezu’s work in twenty years, Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within will feature about 200 pieces from private and public collections around the country, including her rarely-seen acrylic paintings and weavings, ceramic sculptures including her signature “closed forms,” Moons, Garden Seats, Trees, and select works from her late masterpiece, the Star Series. 

Following its presentation at The Noguchi Museum, the exhibition—which is organized with assistance from the Toshiko Takaezu Foundation and the Takaezu family—will travel to several additional venues across the United States.

The Rubin Museum, that legendary building in Chelsea that has housed the largest collection of Himalayan art in the world for two decades, is permanently closing its physical space later this year. As sad as this is for New York’s culture scene, New Yorkers at least get to enjoy the museum until October, and you should definitely plan to make the most of it until then. 

The museum’s last exhibit, “Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now,” will be an appropriate, forward-looking nod to 32 contemporary artists from the Himalayas and the Asian diaspora whose work will be shown in dialogue with objects from the museum’s existing collection.

The exhibit will open on March 15 and continue all the way through the museum's physical closing on October 6. Expect to see 32 new commissions and work across mediums, including painting, sculpture, sound, video, performance and more.

It's another election year, and once again, women's rights are on the ballot. What would the suffragists who fought for women's right to vote say to us now, a century later?

Shaina Taub, the powerhouse writer of Suffs, a musical coming to Broadway this spring, answers that question with a lyric: “Keep marching. Keep marching on.” It’s a line from the finale of the show, which she produced with support from former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai. Tickets are now on sale for the show, which opens on April 18 at the Music Box Theatre.

Six open-air night markets will pop up around town this summer, from the Bronx to Brooklyn and Manhattan to Queens. Plus, the Vegan Night Market and Latin Night Market are back! We've rounded up details on all six, so grab some cash and make plans to eat locally—and deliciously.

Guest curated by Valeri Larko, this mixed-media exhibition at Red Hook’s Basin Gallery & Studios spotlights the original works of four female artists: Rodriguez Calero, Airco Caravan, Daina Higgins and Arlene Rush.

In their own way, each of the creators addresses women’s rights and social justice issues throughout their art. For example, Calero’s acrollage paintings like “A Life Cut Short” and “Target of Prejudice” respond to hate crimes and acts of humanity against people of color, while Caravan comments on racism, sexism, misogyny and way through her bold, colorful series featuring humorous household products, like pest-spray bottles. The powerful art show runs through April 21, 2024.

The Harlem Renaissance changed the trajectory of American culture, and no other artist encapsulates the spirit of that era better than poet Langston Hughes. He wrote unapologetically about Black life at a time when segregation was law and few Black artists were allowed into the American cultural zeitgeist.

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is honoring Hughes and his friendship with photographer, filmmaker, and U.S. Foreign Service Officer Griffith J. Davis in its exhibit "The Ways of Langston Hughes." The free exhibit at the Schomburg Center's Latimer Gallery in Harlem includes photographs of Hughes and Davis, who met in Atlanta, as well as more of Hughes' friendships through letters, artwork and other memorabilia.

The Harlem Renaissance had an indisputable impact on American culture, but chances are that you probably didn’t spend much time learning about it in school. That’s because, even though it shaped global literature, music, and art, Black Americans’ historical contributions have been systematically erased or gone unacknowledged for centuries.

A groundbreaking exhibit opening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art hopes to be a part of rectifying the erasure and celebrating Black artists and intellectuals in its newest exhibit. "The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism." 

The exhibit presents 160 works by Black artists from the Harlem Renaissance and delves into many different aspects of the movement, mostly through the lens of paintings and sculpture. You can get your tickets here; the show's on view through July 28.

The author and illustrator who ignited our childhood imaginations with tales of cuddly bunnies, mischievous squirrels and daring ducks is getting a well-deserved spotlight in NYC.

The wholesome and beautiful works of beloved children’s author and land conservationist Beatrix Potter are now on view at The Morgan Library & Museum through June 9.

“Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature” is the most darling show in the city right now. The exhibition even features a delightful recreation of Potter’s home that you can actually sit and read in. 

Need a laugh? The Second City—the renowned comedy club with locations in Chicago and Toronto—just opened in Brooklyn, and you will definitely laugh out loud there. The New York City venue, which opened on the legendary club’s 65th anniversary, offers hilarious live comedy every single night of the week.

Some of the funniest names in comedy got their start at Second City. Just a few Second City alumni include: Bill Murray, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Amber Ruffin, Keegan-Michael Key, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, and Aidy Bryant. You might just see the next comedy star on this stage.

The venue offers sketch shows and improv performances, along with a great restaurant and no drink minimums in a beautiful venue. Tickets start at $39.

Taking over the Asia Society through August 11, 2024, this immersive photography and video exhibition will bring together the works of more than 50 photographers and video artists from China and around the world to visualize the causes and consequences of the climate crisis.

The show—which will take attendees from deep within coal mines to the melting glaciers of the greater Himalaya—is co-curated by photographer Susan Meiselas and international exhibition designer Jeroen de Vries, and led by Orville Schell, Asia Society Vice President and Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations.

Along with the artworks themselves, the exhibition will feature a series of speaker events, performances, films and more throughout the run of the exhibition. 

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz are more often associated with their musical artistry, but the NYC-native couple has also amassed an impressive visual art collection. This winter, you'll be able to see their collection at the Brooklyn Museum in a new exhibit called "Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys."

The exhibition will feature more than 100 major artworks by important Black American, African, and African diasporic artists including Gordon Parks, Kehinde Wiley, Hassan Hajjaj, Barkley L. Hendricks, Lorna Simpson, and Amy Sherald. The show featuring giants in the art world runs through July 7, 2024. 

Explore "The End of Fossil Fuel," the latest pop-up from the NYC Climate Museum. It's free to visit in Soho and offers a bevy of eye-opening activities for all ages.

Inside the gallery, a collection of maps will put climate change issues into perspective, alongside text panels about the history of the fossil fuel industry. The exhibits trace the origins of the climate and inequality crises and how we got to where we are today. Other activations include a sticker wall where visitors commit to specific climate actions and a kids' corner with books and drawing materials.

Find the pop-up at 105 Wooster Street in Soho through April 30. The museum is free to visit and open to all. It's open Wednesdays-Sundays from 1-6pm. 

As the lights illuminate outside of Harlem’s Victoria Theater once again, a project that took more than two decades, is making its debut at last. Since the year 2000, a coalition of government officials, community leaders, artists, designers, and engineers have been working to bring the vacant theater just steps away from the iconic Apollo Theater back to life. 

Built in 1917 as the Loew's Victoria Theater, it hosted burlesque, vaudeville, and movies before being abandoned in 1997. The venue was "completely in disrepair" when the restoration project began, Kamilah Forbes, The Apollo's executive producer told Time Out New York. After more than 20 years of work and countless hurdles, the theater, now officially called The Apollo Stages at the Victoria Theater, is back in business. It's the first expansion in The Apollo's 90-year history.

For several years, anybody who has walked, run, or biked along the Hudson River trail in Hell’s Kitchen has had to squeeze past barriers and a shrouded fence. At last, the barriers are starting to come down as the park at Pier 97 progresses.

Though it's not complete yet, parts of the park are now open for visitors. The Pier 97 park, located across from West 57th Street, has been a long time coming. 

The park currently features a blue turf field where people can already be seen playing soccer. There’s also a shaded pergola area with benches, which looks like a perfect lunch break spot. At the end of the pier, a variety of chairs and loungers offer a chance to relax while gazing out at the water or with skyline views. Given the park’s western Manhattan location, it boasts excellent sunset views.  

Digital art and poetry will combine for a dive into Afrocentricity and Afrofuturism at this new immersive exhibit in Chelsea. "Aṣẹ: Afro Frequencies" opens at ARTECHOUSE on March 22 and runs all summer.

The digital art exhibition promises a "vibrant reflection upon the past, present, and future of the Black experience." It's told through the perspective of London-based Afro-surrealist digital artist Vince Fraser alongside evocative poetry by ursula rucker.

Both artists worked to honor the legacy, struggles, and complexities of the Black experience in their work. Even the exhibition's title, "Aṣẹ" stems from a powerful mantra, affirmation, and philosophical belief held by the Yoruba people of West Africa, meaning "so will it be." (By the way, that's pronounced as AH-shay.)

See some of Broadway's most famous shows through fresh eyes at this new exhibit at the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. The exhibition showcases lenticular prints, which appear to animate as you move around. 

"Reanimating Theater: The Photography of Friedman-Abeles," runs through September 25, 2024. It brings to life photographs by Friedman-Abeles Studio of some of Broadway's most beloved productions from 1954-1970, like West Side Story, Camelot, and Bye, Bye Birdie. 

Miranda Priestly once famously said, "Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking." But at Color Factory, florals for spring are actually groundbreaking as the interactive art experience in Soho takes flowery themes to immersive new levels. 

Color Factory's "Colors in Bloom" is now open—exactly at the time when we could all mercifully use a break from the gray landscapes and cold nights.

At this all-ages venue dedicated to the art and science of color, visitors can stroll through a variety of different rooms, all decked out for spring. For example, there's the Central Park Confetti Room, complete with larger-than-life pink cherry blossoms inspired by the city's first sign of spring.

Tickets start at $38/person for the experience, which runs through mid-May. 

On Sunday mornings at 11am in Manhattan, GatherNYC creates the community and spiritual nourishment of a religious service, but the religion here is music. All are welcome at these hour-long performances of classical music by celebrated local artists. Coffee and pastries are available for free.

These upcoming events are held at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in Columbus Circle. Shows are scheduled through May 2024. Here’s what’s on the calendar:

• April 14: Maeve Gilchrist (harp)
• April 28: Majel Connery + Felix Fan: Rivers are our Brothers
• May 12: Ocean Music Action: Megan Conley (harp) + friends
• May 26: Kristin Lee (violin) + friends