Things to do in West Village: Local arts and culture

Veteran gallerist Mitchell Algus, famous for showing the work of outsider artists and New York natives, has teamed up with dealer Amy Greenspon, in a downtown space that opened in September 2010.

A Greenwich Village landmark, the Cherry Lane is New York’s longest continuously operating Off Broadway theater. On occasion, children's theater companies rent its space.

Setting the pace for campy, good-natured fun (though not classic glamour), the city’s oldest cabaret is still going strong at 55. A generous mix of regulars and tourists laugh and sing along with drag performers, comedians and rising stars in the cabaret room on the second floor. (Special showcases are still in the intimate game room, which is also upstairs and has a separate bar.) In the ground-floor piano bar, the merry singing waitstaff is entertaining enough to avoid charges of gimmickry.

Brown always has his finger on the pulse. The London native has given starts to such contemporary art stars as Elizabeth Peyton. This informal gallery also showcases the creative output of Rob Pruitt and Peter Doig, among others.

The long-darkened 1930s Waverly was once again illuminated in 2005 when it was reborn as a modern three-screen art house, showing the latest indie hits, choice midnight cult items and occasional foreign classics. Actors and directors often introduce their work here on opening night, and the high-toned café provides sweets, lattes and substantials.

Located in the former site of the Food and Maritime Trades High School, this center for the LGBT community was established in 1983 and is now the second-largest center of its kind wordwide. It hosts meetings and events for more than 300 groups and receives more than 6,000 visitors weekly.

The former Luhring Augustine director Michele Maccarone, an outspoken dealer and activist for artists, holds court in this 8,000-square-foot space, where she dedicates herself to representing artists such as Nate Lowman, Corey McCorkle and Christian Jankowski.

Having lost the lease on his Soho space in 2010, after nearly three decades there, Robert Lyons moves his indispensable theatrical crucible (home to the summer Ice Factory Festival and much more) to the landmarked Archive building that formerly housed the Wings Theater.