By Tracy Zwick
October 9th through 12th
Open House NY Weekend Festival: Friday, October 16th through Sunday, October 18th with events across NY, including several on on the UWS; check here for locations, times and tickets
Founded in the wake of 9/11, OHNY unlocks 300 destinations across all five boroughs for behind-the-scenes tours and special activities during its annual Weekend Festival. Some, like tours of the UWS’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine and American Folk Art Museum, are free and drop-in, with no advance registration needed. Others, like an urban farm tour in Harlem and a tour of the MTA’s Mother Hale Bus Depot, are ticketed. Check the website for a full listing of experiences offered.
Check out New Public Art in Riverside Park: Riverside Park South at West 61st Street and Riverside Park North at West 145th Street; free and open from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily
The Art Students League of New York, in partnership with Riverside Park Conservancy and NYC Art in the Parks, has unveiled a year-long installation of four new outdoor works in Riverside Park. Two of the works are at West 61st Street, and two are at West 145th Street. One (pictured above) incorporates a painted steel lemon, a reference to the lemon a Peruvian shaman once told sculptor Alicia Ehni she should carry in her purse because it would bring harmony in her interactions with others. In addition to Ehni, the site-specific sculptures are by Art Students League artists Clare Burson, Lindsey Frances Jones, and Robert Franca.
FDNY Open Houses: Saturday, October 17th and Sunday, October 18th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 1 to 3 p.m.; locations and times here; free
More than 200 Firehouses and EMS locations will open to the public this weekend – all ages are welcome. Visitors can tour the firehouses, engines, ladder trucks and EMS stations; meet the firefighters, EMTs and paramedics; and learn about fire safety and careers with the FDNY.
“The Anthology of Art Song by Black Composers” at the Kaufman Center, Friday, October 16th at 7:30 p.m., 129 West 67th Street; tickets start at $30
Part of the Kaufman Center’s “Great Vocalists” series, this collaboration with the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music will include Grammy-nominated baritone Joshua Conyers and other members of the school’s faculty, working with students in a performance of “In Plain Sight: The Black Anthology.” It’s a collection of works that celebrate how Black American composers adapted European art song tradition while incorporating influences from African American spirituals, folk music, poetry and cultural experiences.
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