By Tracy Zwick
June 26th through 28th
Bats of Riverside Park Guided Walk: Friday, June 26th from 8 to 9:30 p.m. at West 120th St. and Riverside Drive; free
Join experts from Gotham Bat Conservancy tonight starting at 8 p.m. to see nighttime wildlife including local bats. This event is part of Riverside Park Conservancy’s “Summer on the Hudson” series of free, unreserved, public events.
Laurie Anderson at Central Park’s SummerStage: Friday, June 26th from 8 to 10 p.m.; Rumsey Playfield in Central Park; free
City Parks Foundation’s SummerStage celebration is underway, marking its 40th anniversary by bringing an array of free shows to over a dozen parks across all five boroughs, including Central Park. Avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson will take the stage in Central Park tonight. Backed by the jazz quartet Sexmob, she’ll perform “Republic of Love” – a meditation on the state of the union, and a “celebration of freedom” that features the words and thoughts of many Americans such as Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, John Cage, Gertrude Stein, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. A DJ set from amita will kick off the evening.
Wallach Gallery at Columbia University’s “Children’s Art Carnival in Harlem: The Making of Contemporary Artists”: Opens Friday June 26th and open Wednesdays to Sundays from 12 to 6 p.m.; Lenfest Center for the Arts at 615 West 129th Street, 6th Floor; free
This show focuses on the Harlem Children’s Art Carnival that was an outgrowth of a MoMA educational initiative beginning in the late 1960s, and how it supported local contemporary artists. The exhibition includes archival materials tracing the CAC’s evolution along with personal photos and oral histories reflecting on the CAC’s community focus and impact. In related programming, there’ll be an artist-led demonstration on Saturday, a discussion from 2 to 3 p.m. with artists, and an art-making experience at which kids will be invited to make their own paper puppets.
Visit the Neighborhood’s Newest Farmer’s Market: Central Park Farmstand at 110th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard (at Farmers’ Gate entrance to Central Park); Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through October 31st.
We’ve got the Columbia Greenmarket on Thursdays outside the university’s gates on Broadway, the 97th Street edition on Fridays between Amsterdam and Columbus, the big Columbus Avenue market near the AMNH on the weekends, and now UWSers have another opportunity to gather around food, community and culture. Just inside Central Park and overlooking the Harlem Meer, you can buy fresh, locally-sourced produce, seasonal prepared food, household provisions and more. In addition there’ll be “educational and community programming” throughout the season. This is a partnership between Central Park Conservancy and Unity Market NY.
New Plaza Cinema’s Summer Residency at The Museum of Arts & Design: Every Saturday at 2 Columbus Circle; times and tickets, which are available online only, at this link
New Plaza, the UWS’s non-profit movie house, and the only independent cinema north of 14th Street in Manhattan, will be screening four films a day every Saturday through August 22nd this summer in the MAD’s 143-seat theater at the basement level. This Saturday’s offerings include “Peter Asher: Everywhere Man,” a 2025 documentary; “Silent Friend,” a 2025 “cerebral drama”; “Make Me Famous,” a 2021 documentary, and “Unidentified,” a 2025 Saudi Arabian thriller.
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The Columbia farmers’ market (Broadway, 114th-115th Streets) operates on Sundays as well as Thursdays, year-round.