NYC events in December 2023

GingerBread Lane—the world's largest gingerbread village—will return to Manhattan with NYC-inspired designs. Artist Jon Lovitch has been working on the detailed gingerbread display all year long. 

Year after year, Lovitch whips up thousands of pounds of icing and bakes hundreds of pounds of gingerbread to create massive gingerbread towns. Expect to see about 1,000 gingerbread houses, stores, breweries, dance studios, pizzerias, bakeries, ice cream parlors and more at the display. Look for pink nutcrackers drawn from the decor at Essex House, an ice rink as a nod to Rockefeller Center, a few homes that resemble those in Forest Hills, Queens, and lots of other NYC-inspired details. 

Find GingerBread Lane at Chelsea Market in Manhattan through January 7 near the hallway with the twinkling lights. It'll be on view during market hours, 8am-9am daily.

Rockefeller Center, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Bronx Zoo, the Apollo Theater and more iconic New York City landmarks have been shrunken down and sugar-fied into gingerbread re-creations. Twenty-three gingerbread houses comprise this year's "Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off" at the Museum of the City of New York.

The display is now on view through January 15 at the museum on the Upper East Side. The exhibition is included with general admission, which costs $20/person. Local judges awarded honors to the top-placing entries, but everyone can vote on their favorite for the People's Choice award.

You’ll get a kick out of this holiday stalwart, which still features Santa, wooden soldiers and the dazzling Rockettes. In recent years, new music, more eye-catching costumes and advanced technology have been introduced to bring audience members closer to the performance.

In the signature kick line that finds its way into most of the big dance numbers, the Rockettes’ 36 pairs of legs rise and fall like the batting of an eyelash, their perfect unison a testament to the disciplined human form. This is precision dancing on a massive scale—a Busby Berkeley number come to glorious life—and it takes your breath away.

The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree (NYC’s pride and joy) is a beaming and brilliant symbol of the holiday season. Tourists and native New Yorkers alike sure do love this towering tree.

The tree will be lit daily from 5am to midnight. On Christmas Day, the tree is lit for 24 hours and on New Year’s Eve it is lit from 5am to 9pm. The tree goes dark for the season at 10pm on January 13.

More than 50,000 multi-colored LED lights wrap around the branches. It's topped with a three-dimensional Swarovski star that weighs 900 pounds and sparkles in 3 million crystals. Architect Daniel Libeskind designed the stunning star in 2018.

The Winter Village at Bryant Park is back in all its holiday glory. On the grounds you can peruse more than 180 shopping and food kiosks—all at one of the best NYC parks. Expect loads of handmade, unique and New York City-specific gifts for your family and friends. Work up an appetite at the 17,000-square-foot ice-skating rink and then fill up at the rinkside pop-up restaurant called The Lodge for festive cocktails and hearty food.

Don't miss the Small Business Spotlight booth, which features local minority-owned businesses. 

The Winter Village will be open through March 3, 2024.

An institution housing a colossal blue whale, massive dinosaur skeletons and thousands of glittering gemstones couldn't display just any ordinary holiday decor, of course. Instead, the American Museum of Natural History proudly presents a spectacular origami holiday tree each year.

About 2,000 colorful origami animals decorate the 13-foot-tall tree, a tradition dating back more than 50 years. Volunteers from around the world carefully fold the intricate ornaments, focusing on a theme that relates to the museum. This year's theme, "Proboscideans on Parade," was inspired by the new exhibit "The Secret World of Elephants." 

A cast of characters joins the elephants, including woolly mammoths, dinosaurs, blue whales, butterflies, zebras, birds and many others representing iconic museum exhibits. 

Find the tree in the Ellen V. Futter Gallery on the first floor. Visiting the tree is included with museum admission.

Framed perfectly inside the park's famous arch, Washington Square Park's beautiful tree is a sight to behold. It officially lights up on Wednesday, December 6 (6-7pm), and you can watch in person or online. The tree lighting ceremony includes carols by the Rob Susman Brass Quartet and vocalist Linseigh Green. Santa Claus himself has promised to appear, candy canes in hand, to lead the illumination countdown. 

If you miss the tree lighting, you can see the beautifully lit 45-foot tree throughout the holiday season, lit from 4pm-1am daily.

Also mark your calendar for Christmas Eve caroling on Friday, December 24 at 5pm. 

Turns out, the North Pole knows how to throw quite a party. Join in on the fun at Santa's Secret, a seductive speakeasy and immersive wonderland hosted on the fifth floor of The Shops at Hudson Yards. 

Here's what's on tap: Eight different immersive installations, each one featuring spicy holiday-themed characters, like gingerbread girls and rugged lumberjacks. Plus, experience life-sized snow globes, incredible burlesque acts and holiday cocktails. Just don't let Santa party too hard—or how will he deliver all the presents with a hangover?!

The show runs until December 31. Tickets range in price from $55 to $75.

This magical 1954 production, set to Tchaikovsky's incredible score, includes the full New York City Ballet company and two casts of School of American Ballet students, as well as an onstage blizzard and a Christmas tree that grows from 12 to 40 feet. In the end, however, Balanchine's choreography is what holds it all together. It's enchanting.

Turns out, getting to the North Pole isn't so tough after all. "The Santa Clauses' Winter Wonderland," a portal to Santa Claus' hometown, has opened at The Rooftop at Pier 17 in the Seaport. 

Typically a concert venue, the rooftop has been transformed into an immersive holiday experience inspired by Disney's "The Santa Clauses." Expect hot cocoa, skating and plenty of fun photo opps.

Find all the fun at 89 South Street through January 7, 2024. Tickets start at $25/person. Most activities are hosted outdoors, so be sure to bundle up in your coziest winter attire. 

The Oculus is getting into the holiday spirit with a new activation called Christmas House NYC. Visitors can walk through more than a dozen themed rooms featuring snow, holiday movies, karaoke and more. 

This all-ages walk-through experience has tickets available through January 2 priced at $40/adult and $35/child. 

Interactive activities include The Snowball Fight Room, where visitors can revel in snowfall and even toss snowballs. Inside the Snow Lodge Movie Theater, Elf plays on repeat on a 25-foot screen. The Blockbuster Video Room stirs nostalgia with its lifelike movie counter and VHS tapes. Other rooms include the Christmas Karaoke Party Room and The Holidays Inn Hotel, all decorated in Christmas splendor. 

This production interprets the classic with hip-hop choreography and an updated version of the holiday story; directed and choreographed by Jennifer Weber and adapted by Mike Fitelson, the production features onstage DJs, an amped-up version of the Tchaikovsky score and a short opening act by rap pioneer Kurtis Blow. 

A holiday tradition returns to the historic Apollo Theater on December 30: the annual Kwanzaa Celebration is back with an uplifting performance from Forces of Nature Dance Theatre, helmed by critically acclaimed choreographer Abdel Salaam. The dances will blend traditional West African and neo-African disciplines as well as hip hop, ballet, contemporary  modern dance and martial arts, as well as music and spoken word from across the African Diaspora.

"It’s a powerful homage to the ancestors—an invitation to connect—and a vibrant way to honor the holiday with the entire family," reads a press release.

This year, the Harlem-based dance troupe will be joined by more than a dozen young hip-hop dancers from the Harlem Children’s Zone. 

The holiday decor experts at American Christmas have opened their doors to the public for a holiday extravaganza featuring 100,000 lights, 100 captivating animatronics and figurines in nine uniquely themed areas. This larger-than-life display is sure to dazzle. Tickets are on sale here for the experience just outside of NYC in Mt. Vernon.

This is the third year that American Christmas has hosted its public Holiday Lane event, and this year promises to be bigger and brighter than ever. Twice the size of last year's display, this iteration of Holiday Lane at American Christmas begins with a chance to write a note to Santa. Then, meet some reindeer, visit a land of sugar plum fairies, peek into the elves' quarters and explore the icy beauty of the Arctic.

Finally, end the trip at an area called Santa's Take Off where Santa's sleigh gets ready for its journey around the world. Santa himself will even be there on select days.

Austin McCormick and his risqué neo-Baroque dance-theater group Company XIV present a lavish erotic reimagining of the classic holiday tale, complete with circus performers, operatic singers and partial nudity. The word nutcracker has customarily conjured innocent wonder; now be ready to add glitter pasties, stripper poles and comically large stuffed penises to the toys in wonderland. Definitely leave the kids at home.

The New York Pops, the largest independent pops orchestra in the United States and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music, is back for the holiday season with a spirited slate of programming.

Among the highlights is this annual holiday show held at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, consisting of classic carols, contemporary favorites, and a few festive surprises with Broadway baritone and Tony Award nominee Norm Lewis on Friday, December 22 and Saturday, December 23. You might recognize the Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and SAG Award nominee from his performance in the national tour of the Tony Award-winning production of A Soldier's Play, or his onscreen work like Spike Lee's critically acclaimed film, Da 5 Bloods, and the groundbreaking FX series Pose. 

The South Asian diaspora gets a spotlight at this winter solstice and holiday celebration with Ragini Ensemble, a gathering of artists from Reunion Island, Guyana, and Trinidad.

Held at Fotografiska on Sunday, December 17, the performance from bandleader and tabla player Roshni Samlal, Brooklyn-based artist Natie and ceremonial priestess and vocalizer Pratima Doobay will explore themes of nostalgia, separation, and communal memory through Surinamese baithak ghana chanting, Trinidadian Bhojpuri folk song. The pieces will be set "within the aesthetic framework defined by the 'Coolitude' movement, a term coined by poet and semiologist Khal Torabully, that draws from multiple mythologies and histories that reconcile the complex nature of Indo-Caribbean identity."

General admission, which is set at $40 for the public ($20 for members), includes the price of museum entry. 

New York City has plenty of on-the-reindeer’s-nose holiday pop-up bars to immerse yourself in the spirit of the season—with spirits—throughout the most wonderful time of the year. From a tropical tiki theme to a Hanukkah pop-up bar, get into the holiday spirit(s) at these spots.

Two million twinkling white lights adorn Hudson Yards for the shopping center’s annual Shine Bright event. The display includes 115 miles of string lights, 725 evergreen trees dressed to create a gleaming forest, 16-foot tall illuminated hot air balloon decorations and a massive 32-foot hot air balloon centerpiece suspended in The Great Room of The Shops & Restaurants.

In addition to the awe-inspiring light display, there are plenty of photo opportunities, chances to visit Santa and stores to shop for everyone on your list. 

Shine Bright runs through January 7, 2024.

Cruise around Manhattan on a yacht decked out for the holidays with Classic Harbor Line's themed cruises. The mahogany-trimmed 1920s-style Manhattan II and Northern Lights motor yachts are trimmed in seasonal decor and ready to sail.

Tour offerings include a holiday brunch cruise, a holiday lights tour, a holiday jazz cruise with a live band, and a carols cruise with traditional hymns. Prices range from $106-$148/adult, depending on the tour option.

No matter which cruise you pick, you'll be treated to spectacular skyline views within the glass observatory of the yachts. Don't worry, the boats are heated, so you can enjoy the view without the chill. If you want to brave the winter air, guests are welcome to venture to the open bow for truly sweeping city views. 

Each group gets their own elegant table where you can enjoy the cruise with your loved ones and take plenty of photos. A mug of hot chocolate is included with each ticket, spiked if desired, with additional beverages available for purchase.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden's gorgeous, after-dark illuminated spectacular is back through January 1, 2024.

Lightscape, an illuminated trail of art from local and international artists, features the iconic Winter Cathedral and a larger Fire Garden—all set to over a million lights, color and music. This year, it has been reimagined with a longer trail and new immersive experiences along the way, including “Supernova,” a 24-foot-high illuminated Moravian star, a sparkling new Chandelier Walk and a giant red poppy blossoms of Floraison that hover above the trail.   

Of course, there will be food concessions along the trail that will still offer seasonal treats like hot cocoa, hot cider, and mulled wine as well as light bites, cookies and sweets.

Tickets are now on sale for the event. This year’s show offers off-peak and peak pricing, ranging from $34-$39 for adults and $17 to $19 for kids.

Half the fun of holiday shopping in New York is ogling the tricked-out window displays along Fifth Avenue that pop up to coincide with the merriest, spendiest time of the year. 

Miracle on 9th Street and Sippin' Santa's decked-out editions are popping up with delectable drinks, holiday cheer and lots of fun.

In NYC, Miracle on 9th Street is now open at The Cabinet Mezcal Bar in the East Village, and Sippin’ Santa is at Lower East Side neighborhood bar Thief.

And as usual, the Miracle and Sippin' Santa holiday mug collections will also be making their return, with limited-edition glassware available for purchase exclusively at the pop-ups.

The Dyker Heights Christmas Lights display has definitely earned its stripes as one of the best New York attractions. What’s not to love about all that razzle-dazzle to get you in the Christmas spirit?

The Brooklyn neighborhood is home to the most over-the-top Christmas light decorations with life-sized Santas, sleighs, snowmen and some houses even bump Christmas carols from loudspeakers. Crowds of all ages flock to the Kings County neighborhood to wander down the multiple blocks and avenues.

The beloved New York holiday train tradition at the New York Botanical Garden, going on for over 30 years, is back as of November 17 and bigger than ever.

Watch model trains zip past nearly 200 famous New York landmarks, like the Empire State Building, Radio City Music Hall, the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and Rockefeller Center—all made of natural materials such as leaves, cinnamon sticks, twigs, bark and berries. The garden meticulously maintains its collection of 25 G-scale model trains that’ll chug along a nearly half-mile track (which is also overhead) in the warmth of the Conservatory. 

Or head outside to the all-new, outdoor train display. Be sure to snap a holiday photos at the garden's brand new mountainscape. 

The train show is on view through January 15, 2024.

Let it GLOW at the New York Botanical Garden this year at its fourth annual NYBG Glow. The outdoor light experience will brighten up the grounds with thousands of energy-efficient LED lights and festive installations. After dark, you can walk through this 1.5-mile colorful pathway featuring whimsical, picture-perfect installations. The experience reflects the surrounding gardens and collections with the Haupt Conservatory and Mertz Library Building as glowing centerpieces. It's all an ideal backdrop for a family holiday photo opp.

Beverages and light fare will be available at NYBG’s outdoor bars or the Bronx Night Market Holiday Pop-Up.

GLOW is available on select dates through January 13. Tickets, which can be paired with Holiday Train Show tickets for a little bit more money, are on sale now. GLOW plus train show tickets cost $54/adult and $39/child ages 2-12.

For the first time since 2020, the New York Transit Museum is back with its beloved Holiday Train Show!

The exhibit features Lionel model trains traveling along a 34-foot-long, two-level, “O” gauge model train layout that winds its way through some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, including a mini Grand Central. 

It’s a fun display to show your kids or a sweet way to pass your time at Grand Central before you catch your train since it’s located at the New York Transit Museum Gallery & Store in Grand Central Terminal, Shuttle Passage.

Tickets are $5 per person and must be purchased in advance. Tickets become available three weeks in advance of a given date, on a rolling basis.

The 640 colorful lanterns created by the LAB at Rockwell Group are back at Brookfield Place for the season, ready to dance in a symphony of colors.

Open daily now through January 6, 2024, between 10am and 8pm, visitors will be able to send a motion-activated wish into the glowing lanterns up above. There’s something simply magical about sending holiday wishes into a light-filled display of beauty. 

The destination will also host light shows every hour set to holiday songs including "Winter Wonderland" by Michael Bublé, "Silver Bells" by Tony Bennett, "Carol of the Bells" by The Bird and The Bee and "Let It Snow" by Pentatonix. Here's the schedule of performances.

Expect to be amazed by a beautiful show of light and music when you visit this Lower Manhattan mall during the holiday season. It's free to attend. 

The Bronx Zoo’s sparkling seasonal outdoor celebration featuring animated lights and LED displays of animals from around the world is back this year.

Expect the zoo to dazzle with 400 wildlife lanterns representing 100 species spread across an expansive area of the zoo. This year, the display showcases the wildlife of New York's ocean waters and wetlands, plus a new interactive experience celebrating bioluminescent creatures. Sixty-four new lanterns representing nine new animal species will make their debut this year.

Holiday Lights will run at the Bronx Zoo on select dates through January 7. 

The mammoth Québécois neocirque troupe revives its first holiday-themed production, an extended riff on Clement Clarke Moore's 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas." Writer-director James Hadley's show follows a young girl who is yanked, on Christmas Eve, into a magical world where acrobatics and elaborate spectacle take the place of those boring old dancing sugar plums. 

During iHeartRadio’s annual touring holiday bash, Madison Square Garden becomes home to Z100’s Jingle Ball NYC. This year's blowout features Olivia Rodrigo, SZA, OneRepublic, and more on Friday, December 8.

Tickets start at $261 and tend to go fast.

Hordes dress up as Christmas characters from gingerbread cookies and reindeer, but of course, Kris Kringle is the most popular choice of those who attend this boozy bar crawl.

This is certainly one of the most controversial Christmas events in town, so try to avoid acting like a bad Santa. This year's SantaCon is on Saturday, December 9 throughout Midtown. 

For more information, visit SANTACON.NYC and RSVP on Facebook.

If SantaCon is a little too raucous for you, ElfCon has got you covered. This family-friendly hot cocoa crawl is made even sweeter by the fact that proceeds go to charity. 

On Sunday, December 10, kids and their families are invited to roam NYC in elf costumes as part of this fun event. Meet up to find the Chief Elf, then head with your fellow elves to participating cocoa locations. The start location will be announced closer to the event date.

Those who donate online will be eligible for a special Elf Passport to be stamped at each cocoa location, leading up to a special prize. Proceeds will go to The Trevor Project and the Making Headway Foundation. Get tickets here.

John Kevin Jones goes to the Dickens in this one-hour account of the novelist's classic holiday ghost story, adapted with director Rhonda Dodd. The Merchant's House Museum, formerly the home of a wealthy 19th-century family, provides an atmospheric candlelit setting for Jones's tenth annual engagement. Select performances include a preshow reception at which the audience sips mulled wine and Jones recites Clement Moore's “A Visit from St. Nicholas.”

For the first time ever, Luna Park in Coney Island will be open during the winter for a new event called Frost Fest.

The park will be open on select dates through January 7 with legendary rides on site, a skating rink, holiday lights, shopping and Santa.

Tickets for the experience—offered on select weekdays and holidays, plus Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays—are now available here.

NYC is packed with holiday markets every fall with holiday spirit and unique gifts. While fancy Christmas window displays may entice you, NYC's holiday markets offer a chance to shop local. With everything from clothing to holiday ornaments to artwork, there's something for everybody on your holiday shopping list.

Shopping for the perfect gift doesn't have to be stressful; make it fun at these holiday markets.

Elevate your movie experience—literally—this fall at the Empire State Building's brand-new fall film series. All the movies on the list feature the Empire State Building in their plot. Here's the line-up for December:

— Elf, Sundays, Dec. 3, 10, and 17: This 2003 Christmas comedy features Buddy the Elf, who adventures to find his father whose office is located inside the Empire State Building.

Tickets cost $130/person and include themed snacks and drinks, as well as access to the building's observation decks and museum.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. New York lights up into a winter wonderland each year with Christmas trees, holiday window displays and Christmas lights. Even the most tourist-averse New Yorkers have to admit that it’s a pretty spectacular sight. Get the most out of the holidays with our guide to the best holiday sales and holiday gift ideas, Christmas movies to watch with the family and plenty of festive things to do including Bryant Park ice skating, tree lightings and more.

Gear up for eight days of celebration! Time to nosh on latkes (and other delicious fried food). Or you can say l’chaim and warm up with winter cocktails. Check out our events celebrating the Festival of Lights.

The pressure is always immense to have a good time on New Year’s Eve—and have a good time you will. Ring in 2024 with a raucous amount of drinks and a good dinner with a champagne toast, or a New Year’s Eve fireworks display. You’ll find these celebrations and more with our essential guide to New Year’s Eve in New York. Keep checking back for ticket announcements—we’ll be updating this page with new events from now through December 31.

The McKittrick Hotel is home to the world-famous production of Sleep No More, a “site-specific, immersive experience” that blurs the line between audience and actor, stage and seating. It began previews in March 2011 and has been continuously extended over the past decade. 

But as the lights fade out on its 5,000th performance, in January 2024, Sleep No More will conclude its nearly 13-year run. The pioneering performance has hosted over two million guests and has a sister run still ongoing in Shanghai, China. 

Go see the show this month before it closes; here's our guide to making the most of the experience.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute’s fall 2023 exhibition will be a celebration of female designers and women-led fashion houses, curated from the museum’s permanent collection. 

On view at The Met from December 7, 2023, through March 3, 2024, the exhibit will showcase about 80 objects documenting the fashion work of more than 70 makers, tracing the history of influential women-led fashion houses from the 20th century until today.

Expect to learn about pioneering female designers and their more famous successors, with work from Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons, Adèle Henriette Nigrin Fortuny, Gabriela Hearst, Ann Lowe, Claire McCardell, Pia Davis and Autumn Randolph for No Sesso, Miuccia Prada, Madeleine Vionnet, Vivienne Westwood, and many more, on view. Iconic pieces by well-known designers will also be on display, including garments by Sarah Burton, Gabrielle Chanel, Ann Demeulemeester, Elizabeth Hawes, and Jeanne Lanvin.

Inside a venue dating back 100 years into the past, a new art show explores a question of the future: How can human creativity and artificial intelligence coexist?

ARTECHOUSE, located inside an old boiler room at Chelsea Market, is set to debut its latest digital art exhibition, “World of AI·magination,” on December 1; tickets are on sale here starting at $21/person. To create the exhibition, ARTECHOUSE Studio developed original visual elements with generative AI systems. Designers hope to inspire visitors to consider AI as a "creative associate rather than a mere tool for innovation." 

World of AI·magination centers around a 20-minute cinematic experience with six scenes. One scene, called the Library of Magical Portals, features colossal books brimming with dreams and algorithms. Another scene called Symphony of Illusions constantly morphs, while the Infinite Maze immerses visitors into multiple parallels.

Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, two figures that all but defined the city's downtown art scene in the 1980s, are in the spotlight at this new gallery show. In 1984, the artists' collaboration officially kicked off, one that yielded close to 160 canvases. 

"Basquiat x Warhol," a traveling show from Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, France, focuses on the unique collaboration between the two. See it at Brant Foundation in the East Village (421 East 6th Street) November 1 through January 7, 2024. 

Tickets are now on sale right here.

Painter Marc Chagall's lusciously vibrant works of art come to life in a new immersive experience at Hall des Lumières. Titled "Chagall, Paris-New York," the exhibition explores the prolific painter who defied labels. 

His works are projected in a larger-than-life scale, taking over walls, ceilings and even the floor of the ornate bank-turned-exhibition hall located at 49 Chambers Street in Lower Manhattan. “Chagall, Paris-New York” is now on view through 2024 with adult tickets starting at $30. In addition to the Chagall works, Hall des Lumières is also displaying works by Wassily Kandinsky. 

Many museum-goers simply breeze through this brown room, barely giving a second thought to the unusual-looking walls around them. But if you go, take a moment to pause, to look more closely—and to even smell. Because this room is tiled entirely in chocolate. 

Ed Ruscha, an artist known for his Pop and conceptual works, first created “Chocolate Room” in 1970 as part of the Venice Biennale. He found local chocolate paste and screen printed it onto hundreds of sheets of paper. Then he hung each one like tiles or shingles from floor to ceiling. Ruscha was doing “immersive art” before that was even a buzzword.

In addition to Chocolate Room, don't miss the rest of Ruscha's work presented as part of MoMA's retrospective titled "ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN." The exhibition is the most comprehensive retrospective of the artist's work ever shown. It's on view through January 13, 2024. 

When Komal Shah starting collecting art more than a decade ago, she noticed something startling: "The art world does not treat women artists equally" compared to male artists. 

She decided to do something about that by founding the Shah Garg Foundation with her husband, Gaurav Garg. The organization champions artwork by women and seeks to remedy the imbalances facing marginalized artists. Nearly 100 pieces of art from their collection are now on view in a powerful and diverse show called "Making Their Mark: Art by Women in the Shah Garg Collection" in Chelsea (548 West 22nd Street). It's free to visit through January 27, 2024; hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-6pm.

The expansive exhibition fills two stories with stunning works by artists including Firelei Báez, Cecily Brown, Judy Chicago, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Mary Weatherford, Anicka Yi, and many others. The show features paintings, drawings, textile works, sculptures and mixed media pieces by significant artists from the last eight decades. 

Long before Pablo Picasso's works made it to major American museums, an art collector in Brooklyn identified the artist's talents and believed his works should be displayed. In fact, he wanted to hang Picasso's works on his very own walls. 

In 1910, Hamilton Easter Field commissioned Picasso to adorn a room in his Brooklyn Heights home with murals, but Picasso didn't finish the works before Field died. Now, for the first time, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is bringing together six paintings linked to the commission. "Picasso: A Cubist Commission in Brooklyn" is now open and runs through January 14, 2024.

"It's an important aspect of Picasso's work that has been not researched on that level, has been not known before we embarked on this project," The Met's director Max Hollein said. "I hope the exhibition will be as revelatory to our audience as it has been to us."

For three months in the summer of 1921, Pablo Picasso worked out of a makeshift garage studio in Fontainebleau, France, where he created both cubist and classical masterpieces. Now, for the first time since then, the works are reunited in a sprawling new exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. 

MoMA's "Picasso in Fontainebleau," on view through February 17, is the latest show in NYC presented as part of the international Picasso celebration marking 50 years since his death.

A garage space measuring in at 20 by 10 feet served as Picasso's studio that summer. Using the exact dimensions, MoMA created a room with the garage's footprint, so museum-goers can step inside and imagine creating such large paintings in a small space. 

In that garage, Picasso created the cubist "Three Musicians" with colorful geometric shapes as well as the classical "Three Women at the Spring" with references to Greco-Roman antiquity. For the first time in more than a century, MoMA has reunited these works.

If scrolling through social media to see pictures of cute dogs and hilarious cats is a favorite pastime of yours, then this new exhibit at Fotografiska is a must-see. Titled "Best in Show," the exhibition explores the role of furry and feathered friends in our culture through more than 100 incredible photographs. 

Photos show dogs in a variety of situations, like getting baths, posing, partying, shaking their heads and even dressing up in fancy “cones of shame.” Cats, rats, bunnies, birds, reptiles, turtles and fish get their moment in the spotlight, too, at this exhibition on view in the Flatiron District through January 2024. 

The show showcases works by 25 renowned photographers. That includes William Wegman's famed Weimaraner portraits, pictures by Sophie Gamand of dogs taking baths and images by the world's first professional cat photographer Walter Chandoha. From candid photos of pets at home to posh portraits of pups at the Westminster Dog Show, each image explores the unbreakable bond between humans and their pets.

Following successful runs in Madrid, Milan, Paris and Rome, the Balloon Museum is officially set to take over Pier 36 in The Seaport this fall.

Set in and outside of the 80,000-square-foot space, the new cultural destination is making its debut with an exhibit titled “Let’s Fly,” scheduled to run through January 14, 2024. 

Visitors are encouraged to interact with the installation, touching and feeling the various pieces exhibited. In terms of actual pieces, you can expect a 4,000-square-foot ball pit, inflatable lava lamps and the sorts of infinity rooms that you'll itch to post about on Instagram.

Beneath the cobblestone streets of the Seaport, secrets hid underground for decades—until now, that is. A new walking tour led by the South Street Seaport Museum unearths the neighborhood's freaky and fascinating facts.

The museum's "Sinister Secrets of the Seaport" whisks visitors back in time for a 90-minute walking tour full of true crime tales about theft, organized crime, murder and even pirates. Tours are available on December 9, 10, 16, and 17 for $40/adult. Whether you're a true crime buff or you're just soaking up the Halloween spirit, these tours make for a memorable afternoon in a historic neighborhood.

Majestic, incredible elephants are getting the spotlight in a new exhibit at The American Museum of Natural History. "The Secret World of Elephants" showcases both modern and ancient elephants, offering visitors a chance to see a full-scale model of a woolly mammoth, learn about what elephants eat, touch an elephant's tooth, listen to elephant calls and more.

The exhibition is now open in the museum’s LeFrak Family Gallery. An additional ticket is required to visit the exhibit; museum members can visit for free.

For the first time, a New York museum will present a comprehensive survey of work by feminist artist Judy Chicago. "Judy Chicago: Herstory" will span the artist's 60-year career across painting, sculpture, installation, drawing, textiles, photography, stained glass, needlepoint, and printmaking.

"Herstory" will trace the entirety of Chicago’s practice from her 1960s experiments in Minimalism and her revolutionary feminist art of the 1970s to her narrative series of the 1980s and 1990s in which she expanded her focus to confront environmental disaster, birth and creation, masculinity, and mortality. Contextualizing her feminist methodology within the many art movements in which she participated—and from whose histories she has frequently been erased—"Herstory" will showcase Chicago’s tremendous impact on American art and highlight her critical role as a cultural historian claiming space for women artists previously omitted from the canon.

See the show from October 12-January 14, 2024.

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 this month:

• December 3: Dalí Quarte
• December 17: Project Trio

Party like it's 1999 at the Boy Band Brunch, which brings back the era of your favorite boy bands. Performers re-imagine the sound, movement and energy of NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Hanson, One Direction, 98 Degrees, O-town, BoyzIIMen, Jonas Brothers and more.

Whether you're a proud Millennial or a Millennial at heart, this show promises "boy bands, booty shaking, and brunch." Delivered with their own special mix of handsomeness, tongue-in-cheek humor and Broadway talent, The Boy Band Project transports all back to a time when the boy band phenomenon dominated pop culture and TRL was must-see TV.

The event runs regularly at City Winery NYC with dates coming up on October 21, December 16, and January 13.