By Tracy Zwick
October 9th through 12th
Central Park Conservancy Film Festival: Friday, October 9th; gates open at 5:30 p.m. with film beginning around 7 p.m.; between Sheep Meadow and Cherry Hill in Central Park; free
In partnership with National Geographic, the Central Park Conservancy has been screening free outdoor films all week as part of a festival that culminates Friday night with “Lion.” Bring a blanket and a few snacks to get yourself comfy for this Jon Favreau-directed film – the true story of a lion cub named Kio and his epic journey from vulnerable cub to powerful leader. Rated PG.
“Locating Girlhood: Place and Identity in Early American ‘Schoolgirl’ Art” at the American Folk Art Museum, opening Friday, October 9th and running through February 28, 2027; open Wednesday through Sunday from 11:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m.; 2 Lincoln Square (near West 66th Street and Columbus Avenue); free
This newly opened show looks back significantly further than many art historians have done previously, to question the beginnings of landscape art in America. It highlights the often neglected contributions of American girls and young women who worked in the genre before the big names that constitute what’s now known as the Hudson River School. Through needlework pictures, embroidered samplers, watercolor studies, drawn and stitched maps, painted furniture and more, these young women expressed their experience and sense of self. Over 100 objects are on view, including rarely seen works from the British American colonies and early United States created between the mid-1700s and mid-1800s.
“Gay American History at 50” at The New York Historical: Friday, October 9th from 6 to 8 p.m.; 170 Central Park West (at West 77th Street); free but RSVP here
Historian Jonathan Ned Katz will celebrate the 50-year anniversary of his 1976 book, Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A., on Friday night with Hugh Ryan, lead historian at the American LGBTQ+ Museum. Readings and conversations will take place at an event co-organized by The New York Historical, OutHistory, Lavender Literary Society and the American LGBTQ+ Museum.
“Martha Graham: The Mother of Psychological Dance” at NYPL for the Performing Arts: free tour on Saturday, October 10th at 11 a.m. (tickets here); exhibition on view through November 7th from Monday to Saturday, 10:30 to 6 p.m. (with late hours on Monday and Thursday, open till 8 p.m.); 40 Lincoln Center Plaza (entrance at 111 Amsterdam Avenue, between 64th and 65th streets); free
Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Martha Graham Dance Company, this exhibition explores Graham’s work and life as a pioneering modern dancer and choreographer. Through archival materials, costumes, photographs, set pieces by artists such as Isamu Noguchi, and more, the show probes how Graham used movement to express emotion, memory, and the unconscious, and draws attention to her enduring influence on the arts.
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