By Alison Durkee
Add some culture to your next night out with our picks for the best after-hours museum events coming up for summer.
This year's Museum Mile Festival will take place on Tuesday, June 14, from 6-9pm, with music in the streets and free admission to El Museo del Barrio, the Museum of the City of New York, The Jewish Museum, Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, and Neue Galerie New York. On June 21, museums in Lower Manhattan will keep their doors open for Night at the Museums. Sites from the National Museum of the American Indian to the 9/11 Tribute Center will extend their hours, many offering special events and activities as part of the festivities. China Institute presents live music, calligraphy lessons, and ice cream from the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, while the Fraunces Tavern Museum will offer tastings of Samuel Fraunces Ale and special presentations of colonial music and dance. (Also taking place in the area on June 21 is Make Music New York, a full day of free concerts on streets, sidewalks, and parks throughout the city.)
Image: Ralph Hockens/Flickr
Of course, for many museums, special late-night events are a regular occurrence. Dance the night away at the American Museum of Natural History’s recurring One Step Beyond parties, which feature drinks and music at the Rose Center for Earth and Space. The next party will take place on June 10, with DJ sets by DâM-FunK, Waajeed, and Shawn Dub. Head over to the Rubin Museum of Art for K2 Friday Nights, with free museum admission from 6-10pm, a DJ, special programs, Happy Hour specials, Cabaret Cinema screenings, and pan-Asian tapas. (The Rubin also regularly offers evening music performances and screenings on other nights of the week.) On the night of June 3, catch a free Artists on Art talk. The Met's MetFridays series include concerts and special activities. New this summer, MetFridays will be extended to The Met Breuer and the Cloisters. Every month the Frick dedicates a Friday night to a free evening of gallery talks, performances, sketching and more. The next one up is June 24. The Jewish Museum's monthly after-hours event is The Wind Up, held on Thursdays. On June 30, catch an experimental comedic performance by host Dynasty Handbag, plus an open bar, Dance-Y-Oke, and the chance to check out the current exhibitions on Isaac Misrahi and landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx. The Morgan Library & Museum offers free admission Friday nights. On June 3, Per Rumberg, Curator, The Royal Academy of Arts, gives an illustrated talk in celebration of the new exhibition Rembrandt’s First Masterpiece; the painting in question is Judas Returning the Thirty Pieces of Silver, showing in the U.S. for the very first time. On July 15, head to the Guggenheim Museum for their next Art After Dark event with music and a cash bar after hours (get your tickets early, as these nights always sell out).
Outside of Manhattan, celebrate the summer at MoMA PS1 with their just-announced 2016 Warm Up music series, every Saturday June 11–August 27. Held in the museum’s courtyard, the series features both established and emerging experimental musicians and DJs, along with rotating stage environments designed by young designers. Over in Brooklyn, enjoy the Brooklyn Museum during their monthly Target First Saturday nights, which include free museum admission, concerts, workshops, and other activities. The next event takes place June 4, with events during the evening ranging from a movement workshop and a dialogue on female artist-activists to pop-up gallery talks and music by DJ Mursi Layne and the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus.
Image Nicholas Ruiz/Flickr © 2013 Scott Rudd
From high-class galas to free Friday nights, these museum events are sure to give every New Yorker a way to see the city’s museums after the sun goes down this summer.
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