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Standing in Anne Frank’s tiny room in The Annex where she and her family hid from the Nazis for two years, personalizes the Holocaust. This immersion into a full-scale re-creation of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam is part of a landmark “Anne Frank The Exhibition,” now on view at the Center for Jewish History in New York City © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com.

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

It is surreal, extraordinarily intimate, overwhelmingly emotional to find yourself standing in Anne Frank’s tiny room exactly as she had lived in it, in secret hiding for two years, just before she was taken away by Nazis to the concentration camp where she died just a few months before she would have been saved.

There are the photos she clipped from newspapers to put on her wall, to preserve some connection to a normal life, her life before the Nazis took over Germany, then invaded the Netherlands, where her family had sought refuge. You see the plaid-cloth covered diary she began to write the day she received it, on her 13^th birthday, who she sometimes wrote to as “Dear Kitty” and treated as her closest friend and confidant, revealing things her father later admitted he never knew about his daughter despite being close and living in such constant proximity.

As you stand in this space, the tiny bedroom where she sat at this desk to write, you hear her words, “When I write, I can shake off my cares, my sorrow… my spirits soar…. But will I ever be able to write something great? Will I ever be able to be a journalist or writer? Oh, I hope so.” And then, “Writing allows me to record everything – thoughts, ideals, fantasies.”

The landmark “Anne Frank The Exhibition,” now on view at the Center for Jewish History in New York City, lets you know her story in a new, more personal way © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

This is the remarkable Anne Frank The Exhibition, opening at the Center for Jewish History in New York City on January 27, coinciding with International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 80^th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp where one million Jews were exterminated.

For the first time, visitors outside of Amsterdam will be able to experience the Anne Frank House, one of the most visited historical sites in Europe, but in a very different way: whereas in Amsterdam, the rooms are empty as they were after the Nazis left it, here, visitors are immersed in a full-scale re-creation of the complete Annex, furnished as it would have been when Anne and her family and four other Jews spent two years hiding to evade Nazi capture.

You see the pictures clipped from newspapers she put on her wall – a semblance of normalcy of a teenager. You hear her words from her diary as you walk through those rooms.

But there is another important difference: before and after you roam through this meticulously re-created Annex, you are immersed in her life and the lives of millions of others as you see the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, how the Holocaust was set into motion and what it was like to live with such terror– giving a broader context and meaning to Anne Frank’s story, resonating with chilling effect today.

The landmark “Anne Frank The Exhibition,” now on view at the Center for Jewish History in New York City, puts her story into context of the rise of Hitler, Nazism and the Holocaust© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Created in partnership between the Anne Frank House and the Center for Jewish History, this astonishing, Anne Frank: The Exhibition kicks off the Center‘s 25^th anniversary season.

“We are absolutely thrilled to partner with the Anne Frank House on this landmark exhibition,” said Dr. Gavriel Rosenfeld, President of the Center for Jewish History. “As we approach the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in January, Anne Frank’s story becomes more urgent than ever. In a time of rising antisemitism, her diary serves as both a warning and a call to action, reminding us of the devastating impact of hatred. This exhibition challenges us to confront these dangers head-on and honor the memory of those lost in the Holocaust.”

The exhibition, he said, “dovetails with CJH’s mission. We don’t just preserve Jewish history, we mobilize to address today’s challenges. Public programs foster understanding in a world that needs it more than ever.”

*Anne Frank in 1935 in her kindergarten class. Of the 32 students, 15 were Jewish Holocaust © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com.*

“When students learn to identify hate, learn to confront with empathy, critical thinking, they will champion justice and equality,” Ronald Leopold, the director of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, said at the press preview. “An exhibition like this serves as powerful reminder of the importance of confronting hate through education and understanding.

“The exhibition is a beacon of remembrance, of education, of awareness. It arrives at a very critical moment. We are living in a time when antisemitism and other forms of group hatred are on the rise, not only in this country, but my country, the Netherlands, and around the globe.” He referred to terrible incidents as recently as the day before, in Sydney, Australia.

“Anne Frank’s story is known to many but what you will experience at this exhibition goes beyond her tragic fate. The exhibition hopefully will also offer a deeper, multifaceted view of who Anne Frank was- not just a victim of the Holocaust, but just a girl, a teenager, a writer, and an enduring symbol of resilience and strength.”

The Anne Frank House, was established in 1957 in cooperation with Otto Frank, Anne Frank’s father, as an independent nonprofit organization entrusted with the preservation of the Annex and bringing Anne’s life story to world audiences in order to serve as a place for teaching and learning about the Holocaust. Each year, the Anne Frank House, welcomes 1.2 million visitors, but many are turned away (you have to reserve tickets weeks, even months in advance), and requires visitors to come to Amsterdam.

“This exhibition is not just about the past,” Leopold said at a press preview. “It is important to learn about the past, but more important to learn from the past. That is the educational mission Anne’s father, the only one of the 8 Jews in hiding at the Annex who survived, gave us when Anne Frank House opened to the public in 1960.”

Ronald Leopold, the director of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, holds up a photo of Anne Frank, whose story is known because of her diary, with a boy was born on the same day as Anne, who lived a block away, but except for his name, David Spanyeur, birthday and the day he was murdered, February 12, 1943 in Auschwitz, nothing is known. They are among the 1.2 million Jewish children killed in the Holocaust © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com.

Leopold held up two photos, side by side. One is easily recognizable: Anne Frank. Next to her on the page is a photo a boy no one has heard of. He was born June 12, 1929, the same day as Anne, lived one block from where she lived, a 3 minutes walk. Their paths might have crossed – we don’t know. We know everything about this little girl, Anne Frank, we think, but there is no one in the world today who knows anything about this young boy except for his name, David Spanyeur, his date of birth, address and when and where he was murdered, on February 12, 1943 in Auschwitz.”

“If we bring Anne Frank to New York, and we go to remember her on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we also bring, David Spanyeur to New York, and remember him, as we will remember 1.5 million Jewish children’s lives cut short by human beings for the single reason they were Jewish. This is the message we try to bring, that goes beyond Anne Frank.

“We will remember David Sponyeur, we will remember Anne Frank, may their memories be a blessing. As we stand in presence of Anne’s legacy, we are reminded of our shared responsibility to carry this message forward.”

Philanthropic support has made it possible for the Anne Frank House to subsidize visits for students from New York City public schools and all Title 1 public schools throughout the United States. A special curriculum has been created for distribution to 500,000 children, and there is a 28-minute film at the center that is geared to school children.

So far, tens of thousands of already purchased tickets in advance of the opening; 150 schools have already scheduled visits from as far as California.

A Normal Teenager

Anne Frank was one of 1.5 million children murdered in the Holocaust – who, like Anne, had dreams, talents, hopes that were snuffed out. Anne is the one who is most and best known because of the sheer miracle of her keeping the diary and her journals being saved, Miep Gies, one of the people who protected the Franks in the Annex, finding it after the Nazis had ransacked their rooms, and keeping Anne’s writings safe because she knew how much writing meant to her, then reconnecting with Otto Frank, who was determined to fulfill his daughter’s dream of becoming a published writer, then a publisher recognizing how important the diary was because too many did not see the commercial value, or perhaps, the political correctness.

There is so much that is astonishing about this exhibit – certainly being able to stand in this exact, full-scale re-creation of Anne Frank’s secret hiding place furnished as if they had just left, before the Nazis stripped everything out. Indeed, that is how you experience The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, totally empty. (The people from Anne Frank House in Amsterdam remarked how strange it was to see the rooms they know so well as empty, now furnished. “But we have the original diary, you have a facsimile!”) Also, it is what the exhibit is wrapped around with – the context surrounding Anne Frank’s experience and the experience of the 6 million Jews, including 1.5 million children exterminated in the Holocaust.

The landmark “Anne Frank The Exhibition,” now on view at the Center for Jewish History in New York City, includes 100 artifacts rarely if ever shown in public that put Anne’s life into context © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com.

The exhibit features some 100 artifacts – some rarely if ever viewed in public – including an extraordinary exhibit of the family’s personal effects from their comfortable life in Frankfurt where Otto was a banker, before the Nazis and the Holocaust – even their china, a wooden desk from 1796, and Anne’s first photo album (1929-1942). You see family photos and photos of a normal life, a playful child with a fetching smile. There is even a video of a wedding couple leaving their apartment building that happened to capture Anne peering out from a second-story window.

The landmark “Anne Frank The Exhibition,” now on view at the Center for Jewish History in New York City, includes 100 artifacts and family photos rarely if ever shown in public that put Anne’s life into context © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com.

This exhibit wraps Anne Frank’s personal story with context: the rise of Hitler, democratically elected Chancellor, and the Nazi domination of Germany, the invasion of the Netherlands, France and Belgium, and the implementation of the Final Solution – systemic genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust.

Walk through the bookcase into the Annex, the secret place where Anne Frank hid with her mother, father, sister, and four others for two years hoping to escape the Nazis © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com.

We walk through the bookcase, and are in the hiding place in the Annex. Throughout the exhibit, you have an audio guide that you can activate, but here, in the hiding place, is where what you hear is most affecting – not just the description of the place and what their lives were like for the two years they hid away, but Anne’s own words from her diary.

“When I write, I can shake off my cares, my sorrow… my spirits soar…. But will I ever be able to write something great? Will I ever be able to be a journalist or writer? Oh, I hope so.” And then, “Writing allows me to record everything – thoughts, ideals, fantasies.”

Striving for some normalcy, Anne Frank decorated her tiny room with pictures of Hollywood celebrities and royalty; on her desk is the plaid-covered diary which immortalized her experience hiding away in The Annex for two years © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com.

Anne decorated her tiny cramped room with pictures – Hollywood and Royalty, like any 13-year old. But by the time she was 15, her interests shifted and deepened -she favored art and history and more serious things.

We visit all their rooms – you feel you are intruding, actually – even the bathroom, where you hear that at the stroke of 8:30, there could be no running water, flushing toilet, walking around, no noise whatsoever.

The kitchen, where the Pels slept, served as the communal kitchen and living room, and is where they played games at night and celebrated holidays like Yom Kippur and Chanukah.

Anne describes how one moment they are laughing at the comical side of their hiding, the next, feeling frightened. “Fear, tension and despair can be read on our face.”

Then, on a fateful day, the audio guide relates, a man came up the stairs with a revolver and told them to “pack their bags, you have to leave.” They were taken to prison and on to the camps.

In the next rooms, you see how the Holocaust unfolded – photos of Jews pulled from their homes, crowded into the streets and loaded onto cattle cars, deported to labor, concentration and death camps. You see soldiers shooting masses of Jews in pits dug by the victims themselves.

*Photos depict the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust as you stand over a map of Europe demarking the places of Jewish genocide © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com.*

This room has a glass floor over a map of Europe with red flags denoting where the death camps and places of genocide were and hear names recited. As you come to the end, most affecting of all, is a projection of the 1935 photo of Anne Frank in her kindergarten class of 32 students, of whom 15 were Jews, which you saw in the first gallery. As you hear their names ticked off, one by one these adorable, innocent faces are disappeared from the photo and you hear their age when their lives were snuffed out: 12, 13, 14, 15. Only 5 of the 15 survived – by going into hiding or escaping. Anne was 15.

*The photo of Anne Frank in her kindergarten class, as one by one, she and her Jewish classmates are eradicated © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com.*

The next part follows Otto’s improbable journey from the camp when it was liberated in January 1945. Otto was the only one to survive of the eight who hid in the Annex, though he had yet to learn the fate of his family. All of his worldly possession fit into a tiny canvas bag the size of a book.

For Otto, it was just 10 months after being arrested that he returned – all of those who helped them in the Annex survived, though two men were arrested and sent to concentration camps but survived.

Miep Gies in a video explains how she found and protected Anne Frank’s diary and notebooks, and presented them to Otto Frank upon his return to Amsterdam, the only one of the eight Jews she protected in The Annex to survive © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

You actually see a video of Miep Gies, one of the Dutch citizens who hid and protected the Franks in the Annex (she lived to 100 years old), relating how she went into it after the Nazis ransacked it and found Anne’s diary and notebooks, keeping them safe because she knew how important her writing was to her. She re-creates how she reached into her desk and presented Otto with Anne’s volumes.

In an interview, Otto related that at first it was difficult for him to read the diary because of his grief, but when he started reading, he couldn’t stop. To honor her wishes of becoming a published writer, he set out to find a publisher – you see his letters and the replies from editors.

“Anne Frank’s diary, ‘Untergetaucht,’ [The Annex] impressed me deeply,” one editor writes back, “a monument to the sufferings of all people in Holland during the war…. If conditions were more nearly normal, I would recommend that we undertake an English translation…”

The first U.S. edition of “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.” Otto Frank was determined to realize his daughter’s dream of becoming a published writer © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

But ultimately Anne’s diary was published in English, “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” – you see the first edition which includes a forward by Eleanor Roosevelt – and translated into 70 languages, selling 35 million copies – and made into a play and movie (winning Shelly Winter’s an Oscar for her performance as Auguste van Pels).

The exhibition closes quoting Anne Frank, “I’ll make my voice heard, I’ll go out into the world and work for mankind!”

*“Anne Frank: The Exhibition: at the Center for Jewish History features copies of her book translated into 70 different languages © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Otto Frank is quoted saying in 1973, “Anne’s Diary made you think about the cruel persecution of the Jews during the Nazi regime, but I want to stress that even now there is in our world a lot of prejudice leading to discrimination and everyone of us should fight against it in his own circle.”

Michael S. Glickman, CEO of jMUSE, a former director of the center, said, “This institution, one of the great Jewish archives and libraries in the world, will house singularly the most important Jewish exhibition presented in this country. It is such a privilege, honor to be involved in this exhibition that carries the memory, legacy, and future of the Jewish people in such a powerful and poignant way…. As we open, we do so in memory of 6 million Jews and the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered.”

The exhibition is designed for children (ages 10 and older) and adults. All general admission tickets include the exhibition audio guide. Plan to spend two hours.

Individual tickets: Timed entry tickets, Monday through Friday: $21 (17 and under, $16); Sunday and holidays: $27 (17 and under, $22); Flex tickets, Monday through Friday: $34; Sunday and holidays: $48

Family tickets (2 adults + 2 children under 17 years): Timed entry tickets, Monday through Friday: $68 (additional 17 and under ticket, $16); Sunday and holidays: $90 (additional 17 and under ticket, $22) Flex tickets, Monday through Friday: $95 (additional 17 and under ticket, $18); Sunday and holidays: $135 (additional 17 and under ticket, $25).

Hours: Sunday through Thursday: 9:30 am-7:30 pm, Friday: 9:30 am-3:30 pm; closed Saturday.

Educational visits to the exhibition, as well as Individual and Family ticket purchases, can be scheduled by visiting AnneFrankExhibit.org.

Anne Frank The Exhibition is a limited engagement, scheduled to close on April 30, 2025. For a list of upcoming programs, visit https://www.cjh.org/.

Genealogy, Holocaust Records at the Center

The Center for Jewish History also has Geneology Research Center, with genealogists on hand who can help you trace your family’s history, has formed a new-multiyear partnership with Ancestry® to open the Ancestry Research & Reflection Room, a new space and initiative to collect, preserve and share family histories of Jewish communities worldwide.

Ancestry®, which is committed to preserving the memories of Holocaust victims and survivors and ensuring that these records are freely accessible to future generations, together with the Arolsen Archives, one of the world’s leading institutions for Holocaust documentation, expanded its Holocaust-related resources by adding 7.5 million more documents to its resources, including Germany, Incarceration Records, 1933–1945.

Ancestry enables free searches of Holocaust documents. These records can be searched for free at a newly opened Ancestry Research & Reflection Room at the Center for Jewish History – a new space and initiative to collect, preserve and share the family histories of Jewish communities worldwide. (Photo provided by Ancestry)

These records can be searched for free at a newly opened Ancestry Research & Reflection Room at the center – a new space and initiative to collect, preserve and share the family histories of Jewish communities worldwide. It is opening to the public on January 27, coinciding with the opening of the Anne Frank exhibition, International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Center for Jewish History 15 West 16th Street, New York, 212.294.8301, cjh.org, [email protected].

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Arts & Entertainment, Attractions, Cultural travel, Culture, Museums and Exhibits, New York City travel

Anne Frank House Coming to New York City Headlines Fall Culture Calendar

October 23, 2024 krubin723

De Boekenkast: bookcase in front of Secret Annex. New Yorkers will have the opportunity to actually tour a re-creation of Anne Frank’s hiding place, never before seen outside Amsterdam (© Anne Frank House, photographer Cris Toala Olivares)

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

New York is one of the premier cultural capitals of the world and fall is when the culture calendar gets into gear. But here’s a heads-up: the blockbuster exhibit of the year – the opportunity to tour a full-scale re-creation of Anne Frank’s Annex as it stands in Amsterdam – opens January 27, 2025, and tickets are on sale now. Here are highlights of what’s ahead on the culture calendar:

Groundbreaking Full-Scale Re-Creation of Anne Frank’s Annex

Amsterdam and New York – The Anne Frank House, one of the most visited historical sites in Europe, is presenting a pioneering experience: the opportunity to walk through an exact replica of Anne Frank’s hiding place where she wrote her famous diary. Anne Frank The Exhibition opens in New York City on January 27, 2025. Considering that tickets to visit the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam book up three months in advance, tickets for this exhibit are now available at AnneFrankExhibit.org.

This is the first time the Anne Frank House will present this opportunity for visitors outside of Amsterdam to be immersed in a full-scale recreation of the rooms where Anne Frank, her parents and sister, and four other Jews spent two years hiding to evade Nazi capture.

As a nonprofit organization helping to shape global understanding of the Holocaust and its contemporary relevance, including lessons on modern day antisemitism, racism, and discrimination, the Anne Frank House is entrusted with the preservation of the Annex where Anne Frank and her family hid during World War II. This exhibition, presented in New York City in partnership with the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan, opens on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, 2025, to mark the 80th commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Anne Frank The Exhibition is a first-of-its-kind, full-scale recreation of the complete Annex, furnished as it would have been when Anne and her family were forced into hiding. Moving through the exhibition, visitors will be able to immerse themselves in the context that shaped Anne’s life—from her early years in Frankfurt, Germany through the rise of the Nazi regime and the family’s 1934 move to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where Anne lived for ten years until her 1944 arrest and deportation to Westerbork, a large transit camp in the Netherlands, then to Auschwitz-Birkenau, a concentration camp and killing center in Nazi-occupied Poland, and eventually to her death at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany when she was 15 years old.

Designed for audiences who may not have the opportunity to visit the Netherlands, the new exhibition in New York City is anticipated to draw massive attendance for what will be among the most important presentations of Jewish historical content on view in the United States. Through the recreated Annex; exhibition galleries immersing visitors in place and history through video, sound, photography, and animation; and more than 100 original collection items from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, Anne Frank The Exhibition will provide an opportunity to learn about Anne Frank not as a victim but through the multifaceted lens of her life—as a girl, a writer, and a symbol of resilience and strength. This is a story inspired by one of the most translated books in the world.

The New York City exhibition will occupy over 7,500 square feet of gallery space in the heart of Union Square. This marks the first time dozens of artifacts will be seen in the United States—many have never been seen in public.

Artifacts in the exhibition include:

Anne Frank’s first photo album (1929-1942);
Anne Frank’s typed and handwritten invitation to her friend for a film screening in her home (by 1942, anti-Jewish measures prohibited Jews from attending the cinema); and
Handwritten verses by Anne Frank in her friends’ poetry albums.

“Anne Frank’s words resonate and inspire today, a voice we carry to all corners of the world, nearly eight decades later,” Ronald Leopold, Executive Director of the Anne Frank House, said. “As a custodian of Anne’s legacy, we have an obligation to help world audiences understand the historical roots and evolution of antisemitism, including how it fueled Nazi ideology that led to the Holocaust. Anne’s legacy is remarkable, as represented in the diary she left us, and as one of the 1.5 million Jewish children who were murdered at the hands of Nazi officials and their collaborators. Through this exhibition, the Anne Frank House offers insights into how this could have happened and what it means for us today.

“The exhibition provides perspectives, geared toward younger generations, that are certain to deepen our collective understanding of Anne Frank and hopefully provide a better understanding of ourselves. By bringing this exhibition to New York—a place with many ties to Anne’s story— the Anne Frank House is expanding the reach of our work to encourage more people to remember Anne Frank, reflect on her life story, and respond by standing against antisemitism and hatred in their own communities.”

Anne Frank The Exhibition is a limited engagement, scheduled to close on April 30, 2025. Public programming and educational initiatives tied to the exhibition will be announced when the exhibition opens to the public.

Timed entry individual and family tickets are available at AnneFrankExhibit.org. The exhibition is designed for children (ages 10 and older) and adults. All general admission tickets include the exhibition audio guide. Visitors should plan to spend approximately one hour at the exhibition. Last entry is one hour before closing.

Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, N.Y. between 5th and 6th Avenues

Edges of Ailey at Whitney Museum of American Art

*Edges of Ailey* (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, September 25, 2024-February 9, 2025). Courtesy of Whitney Museum of American Art; Photo by Natasha Moustache.

Edges of Ailey at the Whitney Museum of American Art through February 9, 2025, is the first large-scale museum exhibition to celebrate the life, dances, influences, and enduring legacy of visionary artist and choreographer Alvin Ailey. This dynamic showcase brings together visual art, live performance, music, a range of archival materials, and a multi-screen video installation drawn from recordings of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) repertory to explore the full range of Ailey’s personal and creative life. Described as an “extravganza” by curator Adrienne Edwards, Edges of Ailey is the must-see event of the NYC fall/winter season. The landmark exhibition is on view only in NYC.

Presented at the Museum in multiple parts, Edges of Ailey consists of an immersive exhibition in the Museum’s 18,000 square-foot fifth-floor galleries that includes artworks by over 80 artists and never-before-seen archival materials. Artists featured in the exhibition include Jean-Michel Basquiat, Faith Ringgold, Alma Thomas, Jacob Lawrence, Kara Walker, and many others. A recent acquisition of Eldren Bailey and new works by Karon Davis, Jennifer Packer, Mickalene Thomas, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye will be presented for the first time in honor of this landmark exhibition.

Edges of Ailey is part of a ‘Season of Ailey’ in New York City, which includes the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater company’s annual engagement at New York City Center, December 4-January 5.

Also at the Whitney:

Opening November 1, Shifting Landscapes explores how evolving political, ecological, and social issues motivate artists’ representations of the world around them. The 120 works by more than 80 artists—including Firelei Báez, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jane Dickson, Gordon Matta-Clark, Amalia Mesa-Bains, andPurvis Young—depict the effects of industrialization on the environment, grapple with the impact of geopolitical borders, and give shape to imagined spaces as a way of destabilizing the concept of a “natural” world.

On view through January 5, 2025, Survival Piece #5: Portable Orchard marks the first standalone museum presentation of the fully realized indoor citrus grove conceived and designed in 1972 by artists Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison. Stretching across the Museum’s eighth-floor gallery, this installation of 18 live citrus trees explores the need for a productive and sustainable food system in an imagined future where natural farming practices are obsolete and cannot be taken for granted.

More information at whitney.org/exhibitions.

Inaugural Perelman Performing Arts Center NYC Icons of Culture Festival

This fall, the Perelman Performing Arts Center [PAC NYC] is staging its inaugural PAC NYC ICONS OF CULTURE FESTIVAL presented by BNY from Tuesday, October 29 – Saturday, November 2, 2024.

PAC NYC ICONS OF CULTURE FESTIVAL will bring audiences into the room with trailblazers in art, music, comedy, film, sports, and more to talk about pushing boundaries, making a mark, and elevating the everyday to the iconic.

Icons to appear in conversation at the festival include Misty Copeland, The Dogist, Alex Edelman, Renée Fleming, Michael Imperioli, Baaba Maal, Philippe Petit, Questlove, Marcus Samuelsson, Kathleen Turner, Serena Williams, and Vanity Fair’s Little Gold Men Live!

A calendar of events is available at www.pacnyc.org

Rich Calendar of Cultural Events

*The Museum of the City of New York is the premier repository of the city’s 400-plus year story © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com*

Art Deco City: New York Postcards from the Leonard A. Lauder Collection at Museum of the City of New York, East Harlem, through February 17, 2025: Featuring over 250 postcards alongside decorative arts, fashion, and architectural models, the exhibition highlights the role postcards played in popularizing Art Deco landmarks like the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center.

Make Way for Berthe Weill: Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-Garde at Grey Art Museum, Noho, Manhattan, through March 1, 2025: Berthe Weill, the first woman modern art dealer, championed artists like Picasso, Matisse and Modigliani. This survey features around 110 works shown at her gallery in the early 20th century and highlights her work as a gallerist and advocate.

Pets and the City at The New-York Historical Society, Upper West Side, Manhattan, October 25, 2024—April 20, 2025: Featuring a diverse range of art, objects, memorabilia and media clips, this exhibition highlights pets’ lives in NYC, from early Indigenous cultures to today’s pampered companions. It also examines the growing pet population and addresses topics such as pet adoption and the importance of service animals. Also:

Most people think of Paul Revere solely as a silversmith, but his work as a printer and an artist was key to his role as a patriot seeking to break with Great Britain. His print of the Boston Massacre was significant to organize public opinion against the British. Paul Revere, ***The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated on King Street****, Boston. Hand colored engraving, 1770. American Antiquarian Society. Gift of Nathaniel Paine.*

From Paul Revere to Edward Hopper: Treasures from the Leonard L. Milberg Collection of American Prints, Drawings, and Watercolors, through October 27, 2024, showcases more than 140 prints, drawings, and watercolors from one of the most admired collections of historical American works on paper

Scenes of New York City: Selections from the Elie and Sarah Hirschfeld Collection, through October 27, 2024: The inaugural display in the new Hirschfeld Gallery and Hall presents a selection of artworks from an extraordinary promised gift to New-York Historical by prominent philanthropists and art collectors Elie and Sarah Hirschfeld, who have amassed a stunning collection honoring their hometown. The collection features renowned artists—both national and international—and presents vivid snapshots of Gotham and its streetscapes.

Enchanting Imagination: The Objets d’Art of André Chervin and Carvin French Jewelers, through January 5, 2025: This dazzling exhibition of meticulously created objets d’art is on view to the public for the very first time. André Chervin (born 1927 in Paris), with his New York atelier, Carvin French, is one of the most acclaimed makers of handcrafted fine jewelry in the world.

A Billion Dollar Dream: The 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair on its 60th Anniversary at Queens Museum, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, November 3, 2024—March 9, 2025: A Billion Dollar Dream celebrates the 60th anniversary of the 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair by examining its legacy through social, political and environmental lenses. Featuring materials from the Queens Museum’s collection, the exhibition highlights the Fair’s promotion of progress and nationhood while reflecting contemporary issues, including civil rights and the women’s liberation movement.

Solid Gold at The Brooklyn Museum, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, November 16, 2024—July 6, 2025: Solid Gold celebrates the allure of gold, presenting over 500 works that explore the color and material’s significance in art, fashion, film and design throughout history. Opening for the Brooklyn Museum’s 200th anniversary, the exhibition features stunning pieces from renowned designers like Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent, alongside gold-ground paintings, sculptures and jewelry by notable artists such as Alexander Calder and Bulgari.

*The Metropolitan Museum of Art is featuring “Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876-Now” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–Now at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Upper East Side, Manhattan, November 17, 2024—February 17, 2025: Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–Now examines how Black artists and cultural figures have engaged with ancient Egypt through art, literature and performance over nearly 150 years. Featuring 200 works, the exhibition explores themes like the creation of a unifying identity and the contributions of Black scholars. It also includes a dedicated gallery for performance art, featuring live performances on select days.

Lillie P. Bliss and the Birth of the Modern at The Museum of Modern Art, Midtown Manhattan, November 17, 2024—March 29, 2025: The Museum of Modern Art will host this exhibition in celebration of one of its founders and her crucial role in promoting modern art in the US. The exhibit marks 90 years since Bliss’s contributions to MoMA and will feature about 40 works. The exhibition will also display archival materials, highlighting her lasting impact on the museum and the acceptance of modern art in America.

Ceremonies Out of the Air: Ralph Lemon at MoMA PS1, Long Island City, Queens, November 14, 2024—March 25, 2025: Showcasing over 60 works by Ralph Lemon, this exhibition presents dance, sculpture, video and more. Ceremonies Out of the Air will highlight his storytelling through movement and features the central installation Rant redux (2020–24). It will also include a series of live performances that enhance the immersive experience.

Magazine Fever: Gen X Asian American Periodicals at The Museum of Chinese in America, Nolita, Manhattan, through March 30, 2025: Magazine Fever: Gen X Asian American Periodicals examines the impact of Asian American magazines in shaping identity during the 1980s and ’90s. Featuring over 80 rare issues from notable publications like A. Magazine and Hyphen, the exhibition showcases how these magazines provided a platform for Asian Americans to assert their narratives and portray their identities.

FUTURA 2000: BREAKING OUT at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, South Bronx, Through March 30, 2025: FUTURA 2000: BREAKING OUT is a retrospective of the legendary NYC artist’s career. Running through winter 2025, it showcases five decades of his work, including sculptures, drawings, prints and new installations. The exhibition highlights his signature techniques, science-fiction motifs and the iconic 1980 graffiti piece, Break, which cemented his influence in the art world.

The cast of New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players with NYGASP Founder Albert Bergeret taking bows at last season’s ‘Mikado.” NYGASP celebrates its 50^th anniversary and honors 150 years of Gilbert of Sullivan in its 2024-25 season © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players Celebrates 50th Anniversary Season: New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players (NYGASP), America’s preeminent professional Gilbert & Sullivan repertory company, announces a Golden Jubilee, celebrating its 50th anniversary season and honoring 150 years of the wit and wonder of Gilbert & Sullivan. The celebrated full company and orchestra will perform “Ruddigore” on Nov. 23– 24, 2024; “The Pirates of Penzance” on Jan. 4– 12, 2025; and “Iolanthe” on April 5^–6, 2025 at the Gerald Lynch Theatre at John Jay College. Info and tickets at www.nygasp.org.

And on Long Island:

Billy Joel attends the opening of the first exhibit dedicated exclusively to LIMEHOF Inductee and Legendary Long Island Musician. Due to popular demand, the exhibit is being extended through Spring 2025 © Karen Rubin/going-placesfarandnear.com

‘Billy Joel – My Life, A Piano Man’s Journey’ Exhibit at LIMEHOF Extended: The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHOF) has is extending the run of the first ever exhibit dedicated exclusively to LIMEHOF Inductee and Legendary Long Island Musician Billy Joel through spring 2025. Billy Joel- My Life, A Piano Man’s Journey spans Joel’s life and career from growing up in Hicksville to his legendary run at Madison Square Garden. It includes over 50 years of Billy Joel’s most cherished items including rare memorabilia, behind-the-scenes video, dozens of awards, rare audio and video recordings, vintage instruments and historic photos, many donated by Billy Joel himself. Timed entry and VIP tickets and special holiday packages and gift cards are available at www.TheBillyExhibit.com (LIMEHOF, 97 Main Street, Stony Brook, Long Island, www.limusichalloffame.org).

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© 2024 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to [email protected]. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Camping/Glamping/RVs, Ecotourism, Historic Places, National Parks, New York City travel, Places of History

Governors Island: a Destination, a Getaway, a Retreat from/in New York City

June 16, 2024 krubin723

*Enjoy biking or pedaling around Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Governors Island has become a destination all its own, where just 8 minute ferry ride away from Battery Park or Brooklyn, New Yorkers can feel as if they have traveled far, far away in both time and place.Just 800 yards off the southern tip of Manhattan, the 172-acre island is a world away.

*Governors Island, a short ferry ride from Manhattan or Brooklyn, affords the best views of Manhattan © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

You can rent bikes, pedal coaches, visit the 200-year old Castle Williams, a 22-acre National Monument managed by the National Park Service and learn its history (it helped save New York from British Invasion during the War of 1812 and was used as a prison during the Civil War and Fort Jay. The island had been a military base – my father was based there during World War II, and now is a Coast Guard headquarters). Biking around the island, you have the best view of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline.

*Tour the 200-year old Castle Williams, a 22-acre National Monument managed by the National Park Service and learn its history on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Governors Island was originally an egg-shaped rock covered in nut trees, utilized as a fishing and ground for the Lenape tribe and early New York settlers. Governors Island’s long military history began when the colonial militia constructed an earthen-work fort, later to become Fort Jay, in 1775. Castle Williams, the second of three historic forts on the Island, was built in 1811, and with the other two forts that defended New York’s Harbor, successfully discouraged the British from invading during the War of 1812.

The island is in the midst of a transformation from an abandoned former military base to a year-round destination for recreation, culture and innovation.

*Volunteers maintain the gardens on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Today, Governors Island has been revitalized as an award-winning park and laboratory for sustainability and cultural enrichment, with year-round educational and cultural facilities and programming.

A key area is The Hills, rising 70 feet above sea-level, offering breathtaking – and never-before-seen – views of the Statue of Liberty and New York Harbor.

*Governors Island, just off the tip of Manhattan, affords the best views of the Statue of Liberty © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Slide Hill, rising 40 feet, has four slides, including New York City’s longest slide at 57 feet. Grassy Hill, rising 25 feet, offers gentle slopes and views overlooking 30 acres of the new park. Discovery Hill, rising 40 feet, features ornamental trees and shrubs, as well as Cabin, a permanent site-specific installation by acclaimed British artist Rachel Whiteread, commissioned through Governors Island Arts. Outlook Hill, rising 70 feet, offers both a winding, accessible path to a plaza at its summit, and a granite ‘scramble’ for those who seek a quicker ascent, and be rewarded with 360-degree views of the Statue of Liberty, New York harbor, Verrazano-Narrows bridge and city skyline.

Collective Retreats Glamping on Governors Island

And now you can even stay on the island and turn the adventure into a real getaway.

*Collective Retreats offers a variety of luxury glamping accommodations on Governors Island including tents and tiny houses © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Collective Retreats, based in Colorado, operates a luxury glamping retreat with tents and tiny-home-style accommodations, enhanced with morning yoga; spa offerings at QC NY (located adjacent to Retreat); live music every evening; cocktail hour on the sunset terrace; chef-driven farm-to-table dining; and Historic Governor’s island adventuring by bike.

Accommodations have everything you’d expect from a five-star hotel: from plush beds with high thread count linens to bathrooms with luxury bath amenities. Daily continental breakfast baskets, filled with yogurt, fresh fruit, pastries, juice, and protein bar is delivered to your tent, and farm-to-table, wood-fired dinners are available every evening at its Three Peaks restaurant.

The retreat features a variety of accommodations: Summit Tents, with king-size bed or two single beds made up with high-thread-count linens, private en-suite bathrooms, plush towels, boutique bathroom amenities, and private decks with Adirondack chairs; smaller Journey Tents with king or two twin configuration, fine linens, plush towels, various in-tent amenities and communal bathrooms; Outlook Shelters, which are like tiny homes fully sheltered from the elements with climate control, with bedroom, en suite bathroom with luxury spa soaking tub, a living/lounge space with coffee table, as well as mini bar / mini fridge and two private decks with Adirondack chairs.

Both overnight and non-overnight guests are invited to enjoy its Wood-Fire Grill menu and a la carte menus in addition to an extensive selection of specialty beer, classic cocktails, and wine offerings. Walk-ins are welcomed for dinner. Pair any dining option with a classic cocktail, wine, or beer from The Sunset Terrace Bar.

More info: https://www.collectiveretreats.com/governors-island/

You can see massive restoration going on all around the island, with a goal to expand year-round public access by enlivening it with transformative public art and culture, extraordinary recreational and open space, and research and education dedicated to addressing the global climate crisis.

*Once lodgings for military officers, Governors Island houses are being restored to house art , cultural and educational programs © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Governors Island is open to the public daily year-round (pay attention to the ferry schedule). From Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend, the Island is open from 7am-10pm Sunday through Thursday and 7am-11pm Friday and Saturday, with the South Island Park (including Picnic Point, the Hills, Hammock Grove, and the Play Lawns) closing at 6pm every day. All other times, the Island is open daily from 7am-6pm.

From Manhattan: Ferries operated by the Trust for Governors Island run daily from the Battery Maritime Building, located at 10 South Street in Lower Manhattan. Click here for schedules and tickets. Evening ferries are available for Governors Island tenants and guests, which includes visitors to QC NY, Island Oyster, Taco Vista, and Gitano. Tickets to evening ferries can only be purchased in person at the Battery Maritime Building.

From Brooklyn: Seasonal ferries operated by the Trust for Governors Island run Saturdays, Sundays, and Holiday Mondays from May 25-September 2, 2024 from two Brooklyn locations: Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park and Red Hook/Atlantic Basin. Click here for schedules and tickets.

The Trust for Governors Island operates theseferries, and you can purchase tickets on the Governors Island website https://www.govisland.com/plan-your-visit/ferry.

NYC Ferry, the City’s public ferry service, also serves Governors Island daily year-round,with stops on the Lower East Side, Wall Street, and along the Brooklyn waterfront..For to the NYC NYC Ferry site (click here) for NYC Ferry information, ticketing, and schedules.

For more information, www.govisland.com, [email protected].

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Arts & Entertainment, Festivals and Events, New York City travel

Summer in the City: Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island is Escape Back to Roaring ‘20s

June 16, 2024 krubin723

Ann Votaw shows why she was the winner of the Charleston dance contest at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, hosted by Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Hop the ferry and within 10 minutes, you are transported in time and place. It’s the Gatsby era,with 1920s hot-jazz, flappers and sheiks. It’s the 19^th Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island. The first took place June 8-9, but if you missed it, you have another chance at this delightful escape back to the zeitgeist of the Roaring ‘20s on August 10-11.

*Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra host the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Michael Arenella and His Dreamland Orchestra sets the mood with music Arenella has transcribed from original recordings of the Jazz era. Arenella re-creates the role of a Big Band leader, taking on the inflection and look, and telling anecdotes about the music and the musicians as if it were happening today, when this music was all the rage and radio was a new (and dangerous) cultural phenomenon. Within moments, you are transported back to the romance and joie de vive of that time, leaving behind for these precious hours the hubbub of modern times. The only piercing of the illusion are the ubiquitous cell phones.

*Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, hosted by Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The entertainment throughout the day is topnotch: Roddy Caravella & The Canarsie Wobblers consistently wow with fanciful costumes and choreography; Queen Esther, an award-winning vocalist sets her own standard of Jazz Great while paying tribute to jazz royalty of yore with her jazz quintet The Hot Five (Queen-Esther.com); Peter Mintun, “world’s greatest piano man,” Charlie Roman Casteluzzo, specializing in hot jazz guitar from the 1930s, featuring his rare collection of popular music from the golden years of jazz, and Charlie Roman and the Glad Rags Orchestra (charlieromanjazz.com).

*Roddy Caravella’s Canarsie Wobblers entertain at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

There are special attractions, as well, starting with lessons in Charleston or the Peabody by Roddy Caravella and his wife, Gretchen (who is also the costumer for the Canarsie Wobblers); dance competition (in Charleston or Peabody (this year, an actual prize of two tickets to the “Gatsby” show on Broadway!); a “High Court of Pie” contest (pre-register at [email protected]) ; Bathing Beauties and Beaus Promenade (Sundays, to enter email: [email protected]), and some Kidland carnival games.

*Roddy Caravella and his wife Gretchen demonstrate the Charleston during the dance lesson that kicks off the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Scores of vintage vendors add to the atmosphere – if you didn’t have your own vintage outfit, you can rent or buy, and if you didn’t have your own picnic blanket, you could purchase from the General Store. You can have your portrait taken with vintage cameras or sitting on a Paper Moon, or with a 1920s motor car.

*Governors Island is transformed back to the 1920s for the jazz Age Lawn Party © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Taste France Magazine offers VIP picnic baskets and a pop-up French market, featuring Centre-Loire wines, Citadelle gin, Lactalis cheeses, and many more gastronomic delights. A selection of refreshing, ice cold cocktails is on offer from Brooklyn’s very own Social Hour – a line of canned craft cocktails founded by bartending veterans Julie Reiner and Tom Macy.

Sip on the delightfully fizzy G&T made with New York Distilling Company’s Dorothy Parker Gin, or the Pacific Spritz made with a combination of house made Italian aperitivo and Rosé wine; for whiskey lovers the fiery Whiskey Mule made with New York Distilling Company’s Ragtime Rye will be sure to please.

There are also a selection of food trucks featuring picnicking fare, sweet treats, ice cream and old-time snacks.

Ferry is Magic Carpet to Bygone Era

The enchantment begins as you board the ferry from South Street, Manhattan (next door to the Staten Island ferry terminal) or from Brooklyn for the short ride to Governors Island. You think you have stepped back to the 1920s – crowds of giddy people cram the ferry, dressed in flapper dresses and linen suits, caps and suspender, and dancing shoes, hauling elaborate picnic baskets and paraphernalia..

*Corrine Hart-Rood and Carl Rood from Massapequa Park, Long Island, get into the spirit of the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We are back in the Jazz Age, and the setting is perfect, a vast lawn set off by an arbor of trees, surrounded by historic buildings and forts that date back to the War of 1812, the Civil War and World War II when Governors Island was used as a military base and prison.

People come and set out sprawling picnics – some with elaborate fixings like candelabras and crystal wine glasses.

*Dancing to Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The atmosphere is infectious. Fellows seem more civilized. Gals seem more sassy. And the good feeling just percolates to the beat from Michael Arenella’s Dreamland Orchestra, as this fantastical community defying time forms.

The unquestioned star of the day long festival is Michael Arenella and His Dreamland Orchestra, one of the world’s great Jazz Age dance bands, specializing in the Hot-Jazz of the 1920s. “Conductor, composer, musician and singer Michael Arenella presents a personally transcribed songbook for your listening and dancing pleasure.” (Michael Arenalla also can be heard at the Clover Club, Smith Street in Brooklyn and at the Red Room, 85 E 4^th St, NYC, see www.dreamlandorchestra.com)

***Queen Esther*** performs her own standard of Jazz Great while paying tribute to jazz royalty of yore with her jazz quintet The Hot Five at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Arenella sits in with his trombone with Queen Esther, and with the really excellent Charlie Roman and the Glad Rags Orchestra, playing at a second dance floor

*Michael Arenella sits in with Charlie Roman and the Glad Rags Orchestra at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

It isn’t hard to believe you have returned to the Jazz Age because of the authenticity and attention to detail. Arenella “transcribes by hand their entire repertoire from period recordings. Their delivery, as well as their instruments, attire, and equipment — are faithfully accurate. Arenella’s strong yet vulnerable baritone lacks pretense or sarcasm. He treasures each lyric, and has faith in the songs he sings. Even the most optimistic Tin Pan Alley tune has a disarming quality in his hands.”

*Dancing to Charlie Roman and the Glad Rags Orchestra at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Now in its 19^th year (there is a gofundme project to raise money for a 20^th anniversary book), the Jazz Age Lawn Party has built a history of its own. It started in 2005 as a small gathering of about 50 friends and fans of Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra and their version of prohibition-era music and fun. Not too many years after, it was drawing thousands of fans who revel in the music and zeitgeist of the 1920s and 1930s and has become what is arguably the world’s largest outdoor musical celebration of the Jazz Age, but is undoubtedly one of the highlights in a crammed calendar of summer happenings in New York City.

There are also plans for a week-long transatlantic cruise from Southampton to NYC on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, Sept 25, 2025 with Michael Arenella & His Dreamland Orchestra, with1920s and 30s village dress, dance, danceclasses,and a pre-voyage trip to the birthplace ofArt Deco, Paris, hosted bytheArt Deco Society of Paris; Ahoy Vintage Cruises, www.ahoyvintagecruises.com, 214-761-1968.)

If you missed the June 8 & 9 event, there’s still time to purchase tickets for August 10 and 11.

Ticket sales are live at https://jazzagelawnparty.com and available exclusively through Fever, a global live-entertainment discovery platform. (Book your ferry ticket, https://www.govisland.com/plan-your-visit/ferry)

For more information, visit: JazzAgeLawnParty.com.

Here are more photo highlights:

*The Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island has become a family affair © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Enthusiastic participation in the Charleston dance lesson at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Getting into the spirit of the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, hosted by Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Michael Arenella revives the music and spirit of the Roaring 20s at the 19^th Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Roddy Caravella judges the Charleston contest at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Posing for a portrait on a Paper Moon at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Votes for Women! at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Queen Esther poses with her band at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

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Arts & Entertainment, Cultural travel, Festivals and Events, New York City travel

Summer in the City: New York Philharmonic Free Concerts in the Parks is Cherished Summer Tradition

June 14, 2024 krubin723

*The New York Philharmonic is conducted by Thomas Wilkins in this summer’s Concerts in the Parks Presented by Didi and Oscar Schaefer series © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

The New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks Presented by Didi and Oscar Schaefer is an extraordinary gift to New Yorkers and visitors. For almost 60 years, this world-famous orchestra has presented these free performances in parks in all five boroughs bringing “priceless music, absolutely free” to communities and reinforcing the bond that exists between New York’s hometown orchestra and its people. In the process, the orchestra brings people together in shared joy.

*The New York Philharmonic is conducted by Thomas Wilkins in this summer’s Concerts in the Parks series which featured violin soloist Randall Goosby © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The world renowned orchestra has offered these free summer concerts in the parks since 1965 – since 2007, presented by Didi and Oscar Schaefer – and over that time, have brought “priceless music, absolutely free” to 15 million music lovers.

This year’s program included Beethoven’s Egmont Overture; Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, featuring Randall Goosby — who made his NY Phil debut on a Young People’s Concert at age 13 — as soloist; Elgar’s Wand of Youth Overture; the New York Premiere of Carlos Simon’s Four Black American Dances; Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol.

*Conductor Thomas Wilkins gives fascinating, folksy notes for the musical selections in this summer’s Concerts in the Parks series © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Conductor Thomas Wilkins, who is the principal conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, introduced the pieces. About Mendelssohn’s exquisite Concerto in E minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 64 (1844), with the virtuoso violinist Randall Goosby who so exquisitely brought out the melodic sweetness, Wilkins said, “it is so magical – one of the few where the movements are all connected. At the end of the first, there is one B-Natural hanging in the air – the bassoonist is not done – that says ‘follow me into the second.’ There is more impact between the second and third movements – no break but one note of silence, like a ball in the air that hangs until the soloist enters.”

Violin soloist Randall Goosby, an alum of the Lincoln Center Young People’s Orchestra program, performs the exquisite Mendelssohn Concerto in E minor for Violin and Orchestra © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Wilkins loves to engage with the audience, and makes the music so accessible with his folksy anecdotes that make your ears perk up at key portions with new appreciation. We get to preview Carlos Simon’s “Four Black American Dances” (2023), which will be part of the orchestra’s fall repertoire, in the concerts he returns to the NY Phil to conduct, October 17 and 19,and learn how the four dances span Black American heritage – the first, recasting a traditional dance of enslaved Blacks into the voice of the orchestra including shuffling feet and clapping hands; the second, a waltz depicting how young Black girls in the 1930s would have their “coming out” parties, then a tap dance, and finally, we are taken to church for a “holy dance” with the instruments evoking the murmurings and exultations of a church service. And then, we get to meet the composer who comes on stage.

*“Four Black American Dances composer Carlos Simon joins Conductor Thomas Wilkins on stage. The piece will also be featured in October © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

For the past several years, the concerts have also provided a platform and a showcase for young composers who absolutely astonish with their talent (most astonishing: they not only compose the piece but do the orchestration). It is like seeing a young Mozart, or Elgar, whose Overture from the Wand of Youth (Music to a Child’s Play) Suite No.1, Op.1a, written when Elgar was just eight years old (he later expanded it), and imagining where these prodigies will be in 20 years.

This year, 16-year old Dalya Shaman’s “Floating in the Stars” and 10-year old David Wright’s “Tarzan’s Rage” dazzled the audience.

*16-year old Dalya Shaman’s stunning tone-poem, “Floating in the Stars,” is performed as part of the Young Composers* *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Dalya Shaman, a tenth grader at NEST+m High School, has been composing music for six years and plays the cello. She described the inspiration for her tone-poem, “Floating in the Stars” which uses harp and orchestra bells to evoke the whimsy and wonder of star gazing and the sensation of drifting among the stars, as the artwork of VYC students Vivian and Odette Iannetta.

*Conductor Thomas Wilkins congratulates 10-year old composer David Wright after performing his “Tarzan’s Rage.”© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

David Wright, a fifth grader at PS 11 in Brooklyn who is also an accomplished baseball player, said his work, “Tarzan’s Rage” also was inspired by the Iannettas art, and seeing a man jumping which he imagined as Tarzan and the contrast of dark and light colors as a war, which is how he came to “Tarzan’s Rage.” The music is thrilling, and one can imagine David composing movie scores.

*Conductor Thomas Wilkins leads the New York Philharmonic in this summer’s Concerts in the Parks series © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Wilkins’ conducting style is very relaxed, with minimal movement and theatrics. He is a joy to watch. He likes the music to be well punctuated, defined, the complex seemingly more simple and elemental than it is, so it is more accessible and can be better appreciated in such an open setting. You immediately appreciate why he is also the Boston Symphony’s artistic adviser for Education and Community Engagement, professor of orchestral conducting at Indiana University, and is actively engaged with the NY Phil’s Young People’s Concerts, begun 100 years ago and popularized by Leonard Bernstein.

Violin soloist Randall Goosby with conductor Thomas Wilkins and concertmaster Frank Huang and the New York Philharmonic performing Mendelssohn’s Concerto in E Minor © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

“At this stage of my life,” Wilkins reflects in the festival program, “I just want to invite the orchestra that is in front of me to experience what it means to be in love with music.”

“He remains devout in his belief in assuring access to the infinitely renewable power of music,” Mark Burford reports. ‘Who else deserves to experience beauty for the first time? Who else needs to find wonder?’”

The evening concludes with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol Op. 34, which flows immediately into Santore’s World Famous Fireworks display, putting just the right crescendo on the evening.

The span and diversity of the pieces is enlightening and exciting, especially with such a focus on Simon’s 2023 composition and the young composers.

The New York Philharmonic is performing these summer concerts in all five boroughs: Central Park, Cunningham Park concert in Queens, Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, and Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Then, musicians from NY Phil perform a free Indoor Concert, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer,on Sunday, June 16, 2024, at 4:00 p.m., at St. George Theatre in Staten Island; the program includes Clarke’s Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale for clarinet and viola; Mozart’s Oboe Quartet; and Prokofiev’s Quintet (tickets need to be reserved).

“It is a joy to see tens of thousands of New Yorkers turn out to enjoy free concerts under the stars, creating a sense of community and shared experience that is rare and vital,” said New York Philharmonic President & CEO Gary Ginstling. *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

“The New York Philharmonic’s annual Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, are always a highlight of our year,” New York Philharmonic President & CEO Gary Ginstling said. “It is a joy to see tens of thousands of New Yorkers turn out to enjoy free concerts under the stars, creating a sense of community and shared experience that is rare and vital. We are deeply grateful to Didi and Oscar, the visionary and generous couple whose love of music and of New York City’s parks is essential to making possible the ambitious tour of our hometown.”

*Fireworks provide a crescendo to the New York Philharmonic’s concert in Central Park © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The free summer concerts provide a wonderful taste of the cultural treasure that awaits at the Philharmonic’s concert venue, Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, that makes you want more.

The New York Philharmonic has announced updates to its 2024–25 season:

Updates to the Orchestra’s concerts:

• Augusta Read Thomas’s new work, commissioned by the NY Phil, is titled Bebop Kaleidoscope — Homage to Duke Ellington. Ken-David Masur, in his NY Phil subscription debut, will conduct its World Premiere on September 19 and 21, 2024, part of the program curated by NY Phil musicians — who serve as the first of the 2024–25 season’s Artistic Partners — that explores the Orchestra’s past and future.

• The Opening Gala concert on September 24, 2024 — conducted by Manfred Honeck — will include Suppé’s Light Cavalry Overture and Puccini’s Turandot Suite, and will feature vocalist Cynthia Erivo making her NY Phil debut in selections from Broadway and the popular songbook.

*In October, Thomas Wilkins will conduct NY Phil’s exploration of Afromodernism* *when Carlos Simon’s “Four Black American Dances” (2003) will be presented* *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

• Nathalie Joachim’s new work is titled Had To Be and receives its New York Premiere on October 17 and 18, 2024 — on concerts that are part of the NY Phil’s exploration of Afromodernism — conducted by Thomas Wilkins, with cellist Seth Parker Woods (NY Phil debut) as soloist. The piece is co-commissioned by the NY Phil, Spoleto Festival USA, Orchestre Métropolitain, and Chautauqua Institution.

• Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten has been added as the opening work in the November 14 and 16, 2024, subscription concerts, conducted by John Adams, one of the 2024–25 season’s Artistic Partners.

• Tenor Kieran White will make his NY Phil debut in Handel’s Messiah, Presented by Gary W. Parr, December 11–14, 2024. Ton Koopman conducts.

• Baritone Leon Košavić (NY Phil debut) will perform J.S. Bach’s Cantata BWV 56, Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, and soprano Talise Trevigne (NY Phil debut) will perform the same composer’s Cantata BWV 51, Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landen, on the Free Concert at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, January 17, 2025, joining conductor and 2024–25 season Artistic Partner Nathalie Stutzmann and Members of the New York Philharmonic. Additional repertoire will be announced at a later date.

• Justin Jay Hines will co-host the Young People’s Concerts for Schools on February 5–7, 2025, as well as the Young People’s Concert: The Future Is Innovation, on February 8, 2025, alongside Jerry Hou, who also conducts.

• The Lunar New Year Gala concert on February 11, 2025 — conducted by Tianyi Lu (NY Phil debut) — will include Li Huanzhi’s Spring Festival Overture; Unsuk Chin’s The Mad Tea Party, from Alice in Wonderland; Casella’s La donna serpente, Suite No. 1; Chen Yi’s Chinese Folk Dance Suite, featuring violinist Inmo Yang (NY Phil debut) as soloist; and Bizet’s Carmen Suite No. 1.

• The performances of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in Concert, June 11–14, 2025 — part of The Art of the Score — will be conducted by Sarah Hicks (NY Phil conducting debut).

Updates to NY Phil presentations:

• Details of the season’s Kravis Nightcap series — featuring New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck as dancer and choreographer, as well as Musicians from the NY Phil — are announced. In the first, on September 21, 2024, Peck will collaborate with NY Phil Musicians, the first of the season’s Artistic Partners; on January 25, 2025, Peck will be joined by pianist Yuja Wang, the 2024–25 season Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence; and on February 27, 2025, Peck will reunite with violinist Hilary Hahn, with whom she performed on a Kravis Nightcap in January 2024. All three performances will take place at the Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall.

• The season’s six New York Philharmonic Ensembles at Merkin Hall concerts, featuring Musicians from the NY Phil, will take place on September 29, November 3, and November 24, 2024, and January 12, February 16, and May 4, 2025.

• The Sound On presentation Composing While Black, Volume II, featuring Artistic Partner International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) — part of the NY Phil’s exploration of Afromodernism — will now take place on October 25, 2024. The location and time will be announced at a later date.

• The Sound On presentation on November 17, 2024 — curated and conducted by Artistic Partner John Adams and featuring Members of the NY Phil — will take place at The Museum of Modern Art, and will include Dylan Mattingly’s Sunt Lacrimae Rerum and Gabriella Smith’s Maré. Additional repertoire will be announced at a later date.

• The season’s series of Very Young People’s Concerts (VYPCs) — titled Philharmonic Playground — will be held in Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center, and will take place on February 22, 2025 (“Allegro and Adagio”); March 22, 2025 (“Forte and Piano”); and June 7, 2025 (“Treble and Bass”). The series will feature Associate Principal Viola Rebecca Young as host and Musicians from the New York Philharmonic.

New York Philharmonic, David Geffen Hall, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-6970, 212) 875-5656, www.nyphil.org.

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Arts & Entertainment, Attractions, Cultural travel, Culture, Festivals and Events, New York City travel, Summer Vacations

Summer in the City Opens with Museum Mile Festival, Finishes with US Open

May 28, 2024 krubin723

*The Guggenheim Museum is one of eight major institutions that are free to explore during the annual Museum Mile Festival © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

New York City’s summer cultural season kicks off with the 46^th Annual Museum Mile Festival – the Big Apple’s “biggest block party” –on Tuesday, June 18, from 6 to 9 pm, rain or shine. Walk the mile on Fifth Avenue between 82nd Street and 104th Street while visiting eight of New York City’s finest cultural institutions, open free during these extended hours: The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Neue Galerie New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; The Jewish Museum; Museum of the City of New York; El Museo del Barrio; and The Africa Center. Several neighborhood partners, including the New York Academy of Medicine, the Church of the Heavenly Rest, Asia Society, and AKC Museum of the Dog will also join in this celebration.

*The Museum Mile Festival is the Big Apple’s biggest block party, with street entertainment and free admissions to museums © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

It’s an electric, eclectic festive atmosphere, with live music and street performers all along the avenue, plus special exhibitions, works from permanent collections and special family-oriented activities inside.

One of our favorite stops is the Museum of the City of New York (celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year), where you can visit its newest exhibition Changing the Face of Democracy: Shirley Chisolm at 100 and the send off of its centennial exhibition This is New York: 100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture . Grab a Kids’ Activity Guide for the little ones.

*Dancing to the 1920s Hot Jazz of Michael Arenella and His Dreamland Orchestra at the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island (June 8-9 and August 10-11, 2024, 11 am-5 pm), starts with a magical ferry ride from Battery Park or the Brooklyn Navy Yard. People come dressed to the 9s in 1920s/Gatsby-style outfits, bringing picnics and take part in the music and zeitgeist of the 1920s. With music and dancing led by festival founder and host Michael Arenella & His Dreamland Orchestra, the merriment continues with a score of other entertainers: the bedazzling Dreamland Follies, a 10-lady Art Deco dance spectacle evoking the Great Ziegfeld, the fantastic Queen Esther paying tribute to jazz royalty of yore, Peter Mintun tickling the ivories with his incredible piano skills and the Gelber & Manning band. Enjoy the renowned and fun-loving dance troupe, Roddy Caravella and The Canarsie Wobblers with their scandalous Charleston numbers and rebellious and exuberant spirit of the Roaring ‘20s. Entertainments are interspersed with fun events like dance lessons and a period bathing suit contest. This isn’t free – it’s a ticketed event. Tickets and info at www.jazzagelawnparty.com. (Reserve a ferry ride to access the location.)

*The New York Philharmonic returns to Central Park for its free summer concert series © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, have become an iconic New York summer experience since they began in 1965, transforming parks throughout the city into a patchwork of picnickers enjoying friends, family, and priceless music under the stars, for free! This summer, Thomas Wilkins conducts the Orchestra in a program that ranges from classics by Beethoven, Elgar, and Rimsky-Korsakov to Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, with Randall Goosby as soloist, to new music by Carlos Simon and NY Phil Very Young Composers. All outdoor performances begin at 8 PM and conclude with fireworks! (The Free Indoor Concert in Staten Island begins at 4 PM.): June 11 Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx; June 12 Concerts in the Parks: Central Park, Manhattan; June 13, Concerts in the Parks: Cunningham Park, Queens; June 14, Concerts in the Parks: Prospect Park, Brooklyn; June 16 Free Indoor Concert: St. George Theatre, Staten Island.

*The New York Philharmonic Summer in the Parks performances finish with a dramatic fireworks display© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The cherished Shakespeare in the Park, traditionally held at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, this year is a traveling show while the Delacorte is undergoing its most significant revitalization of its 62-year history. Instead, this year the Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) is offering a “GO PUBLIC!” festival of of free summer programming taking place across all five boroughs. Its Mobile Unit is presenting a joyful, bilingual (English/Spanish) musical adaptation of “The Comedy of Errors,” May 28-June 2 – The New York Public Library and Bryant Park on the Fifth Avenue Terrace (Manhattan) June 6-9, June 13-14, June 20-21 – Hudson Yards (Manhattan). Also: A.R.R.O.W. Field House (Queens) J. Hood Wright Park (Manhattan) Maria Hernandez Park (Brooklyn) Roy Wilkins Park (Queens) St. John the Divine (Manhattan) St. Mary’s Park (Bronx) Sunset Park (Brooklyn) Wolfe’s Pond Park (Staten Island).

Next up is Movie in the Parks (July 11–September 6), bringing free screenings of Shakespeare in the Park’s version of Much Ado About Nothing to parks throughout the City. (Can’t make it to any of them? This recording and other Shakespeare favorites are available to stream for free.) Visit the website for specific dates and locations (https://publictheater.org/programs/shakespeare-in-the-park/summer-24/go-public/).

*In summer, all the city is a stage, and every lawn a picnic table © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Bryant Park is also hosting picnic performances of New York City Opera’s full production of the perennial favorite, Puccini’s Tosca on May 31, June 1, August 23 and 24, at 7 pm. (New York City Opera: Puccini Celebration) as part of a summer-long arts and culture festival, sponsored by Bank of America, from June 6 to September 13, featuring an amazing series of dance, music, theater, movies, plus eateries, shops and a carousel. (https://bryantpark.org/activities/picnic-performances for schedule).

The Hudson River Greenway is a whole destination in itself, and one of the best places to bike. In fact, it is part of the Empire State Trail Network, that goes from Lower Manhattan up to the Canadian border © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Hudson River Greenway is a whole destination in itself, with every imaginable sport (tennis, pickleball, basketball, kayaking), fabulous eateries, even a sand beach, plus along the way, historic and cultural places like the monument to the Irish famine, the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the Whitney Museum, Battery Park and ferry access to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, plus concerts such at two venues within the enchanting “Little Island.”

From June through September, Little Island presents a series of all new work across dance, music, theater and opera in the Amph ($25, tickets and schedule, https://www.littleislandtickets.com/). In addition, there are free concerts Wednesday-Sunday in the Glade.

Little Island is a unique green space unlike any other in New York City. The award-winning public park is located in Hudson River Park and features two performance venues where visitors can experience cultural events all summer long © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The newest experience on the Hudson River Greenway is Gansevoort Peninsula. Located in Hudson River Park between Gansevoort Street and Little West 12th Street, and opposite the Whitney Museum of American Art, which affords an actual sand beach (1200 tons of sand, beach umbrellas, Adirondack-style chairs, even misting stations, and boardwalk) for lounging. Also look for “Day’s End”, a public art installation by artist David Hammons, donated to Hudson River Park by the Whitney Museum of American Art. See the full events calendar, https://hudsonriverpark.org/, https://hudsonriverpark.org/the-park/piers-and-places/

New York City has been named the most cultural city in the USA. Here’s what’s of note happening this summer, compiled by the New York City Tourism + Conventions, the official destination marketing organization and convention and visitors bureau:

*NYC The Metropolitan Museum of Art is presenting “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism” through July 28 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Through July 28, The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism, an exhibition exploring how Black artists portrayed everyday modern life during the 1920s–40s in Harlem and across the United States amid the Great Migration. Featuring 160 works including painting, sculpture, photography, film and ephemera, it’s the first art museum survey of its kind in New York City since 1987.

The Whitney Museum of American Art has unveiled the roster for Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better Than the Real Thing, featuring 69 artists and two collectives. This edition marks the 81st installment of the museum’s esteemed exhibition series, the longest-running survey of American art. The program is now open and runs through August 11. Beginning September 25, The Whitney will unveil Edges of Ailey, a comprehensive exhibition celebrating the life and impact of American dancer Alvin Ailey, featuring daily performances, workshops and a diverse range of artworks and archival materials.

Experience a surreal journey inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland at the Bronx’s New York Botanical Garden, with Wonderland: Curious Nature, from May 18–October 27. Follow iconic characters through whimsical scenes in the garden and explore imaginative horticultural displays inside the Haupt Conservatory, featuring installations from renowned artists including Yoko Ono, Alyson Shotz and Abelardo Morell.

A tribute to Ming Dynasty architecture, the New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden at Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden in Staten Island—one of just two authentic classical outdoor Chinese gardens in the US—is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Crafted in Suzhou, China, its elements include roof tiles, pavilions and bridges. Inspired by ancient poetry and paintings, the garden features magnificent rock formations resembling mountains. Visitors can explore pavilions, a bamboo forest path, waterfalls and a koi-filled pond.

The Morgan Library & Museum, which is marking 100 years since its establishment as a public institution by Jack Morgan as a repository of fabulous documents, is exhibiting Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature and Walton Ford: Birds and Beasts of the Studio. The next exhibition in the campaign will be Liberty to the Imagination: Drawings from the Eveillard Gift, on view beginning June 7.

Since its inception in 1824, the Brooklyn Museum has become a global cultural center, driven by the innovative spirit of its borough. As it celebrates two centuries of groundbreaking initiatives, the museum invites audiences to explore special exhibitions and events showcasing its vibrant artistic community. Highlights include the launch of immersive exhibitions like Solid Gold and Brooklyn Made. Notably, the museum boasts an in-residence composer, Niles Luther, who scores music for various exhibitions and artwork on-site, making it the only museum in the United States to offer such an immersive experience. Visitors can expect a year of discovery and celebration in honor of its bicentennial—kicking off with a 200th Birthday Bash on October 5.

A destination that takes you to other worlds, Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History offers fabulous innovative exhibitions. Admission by timed entry, reserved online. Open daily, 10 am–5:30 pm. American Museum of Natural History,200 Central Park West, 212-769-5606, amnh.org.

*Be prepared to be dazzled and fascinated when you visit the American Museum of Natural History and the Gilder Center © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

New performing arts offerings are revitalizing New York City’s cultural landscape with the expansion of iconic venues and the emergence of new stages. The historic Apollo Theater recently debuted the Victoria Theater, its first expansion in 90 years, which introduced two new stages and created an arts campus in Harlem. The inaugural season promises a diverse lineup including Alex Harsley, Stefon Harris and David Hammons. Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, the newly restored Brooklyn Paramount, now a concert hall, hosts various shows featuring acclaimed acts like Sting, Liam Gallagher, St. Vincent, Orville Peck and many more in its 2024 lineup. Across the East River, the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC) stands as a beacon of artistic expression in Lower Manhattan, welcoming emerging and established artists across various disciplines since its launch in September 2023. The PAC’s inaugural 2023–24 season continues this summer with the opening of An American Soldier, The Survival, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”.

*One of New York City’s newest performing arts venues, the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center, in Lower Manhattan © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The Jackie Robinson Museum commemorates the groundbreaking contributions of Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play Major League Baseball and one of the most celebrated baseball players of all time. Robinson’s legacy extends far beyond the baseball diamond, as he also made significant strides in civil rights, economic empowerment and social justice. From now through December 31, the museum is offering a free self-guided walking tour, Jackie Robinson’s Harlem, for visitors looking to dive deeper into Robinson’s connection to the neighborhood.

*The Alice Austen House,Staten Island © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

New York City is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ movement. The Stonewall Inn, site of the historic 1969 riots, stands as a symbol of resilience and is soon to be complemented by a dedicated visitor center opening in June. Other cultural sites include theLeslie-Lohman Museum of Art, which celebrates LGBTQ+ identity through exhibitions and programs that showcase the ever-evolving queer experience, as well as the Alice Austen House Museum, which features the pioneering photographer’s work and has been a National Site of LGBTQ+ History since 2017. On the Upper West Side, the forthcoming American LGBTQ+ Museum at the New-York Historical Society, set to open its doors in 2026, will be the nation’s first museum dedicated to LGBTQ+ history.

One of the best parts of the US Open at the Billie Jean Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, is getting to see tennis greats like Rafael Nadal practice © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

If Summer in the City starts with the Museum Mile Festival, for me, the end of New York’s summer comes with the US Open Tennis Championships, the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament dates back to 1881, and since 1978, the tournament has found its home at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens’ Flushing Meadows Corona Park, a magnet for the best tennis talent worldwide such as reigning champions Coco Gauff, Novak Djokovic, Diede de Groot and Alfie Hewett. The tournament takes place August 26–September 8, 2024. Insiders tip: the week before, it is free to watch the thrilling play of the qualifiers’ tournament, and see the tennis stars practice.

New York City Borough Pass, Citywide: a new sightseeing pass designed to showcase the beauty of the neighborhoods and cultures across all five boroughs. The pass features a diverse roster of popular attractions, museums, performing arts venues, including the Alice Austen House Museum, MoMA PS1, New York Botanical Garden, Van Cortlandt House Museum, Staten Island Children’s Museum. (888-921-5333, https://www.nycboroughpass.com/)

The Go City Pass for New York City offers 100 different options in all five boroughs. For example, the two-day all inclusive pass, giving access to as much as you want/can do from among 105 attractions is $134 – regardless of how much the actual attractions charge (GoCity.com, 800 887 9103).

For all there is to do and see in New York City, visit nyctourism.com.

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Arts, Arts & Entertainment, Cultural travel, New York City travel

New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players Keep These Popular Masterpieces of Musical Theater Alive

February 4, 2024 krubin723

*New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players take their bow at the end of this season’s “The Mikado” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players company is one of New York City’s cultural treasures and fortunately, many outside the Big Apple will also have the opportunity to revel in the company’s artistry and talent as it finishes its stellar production of “The Mikado” and begins its annual road tour, this season featuring “The Pirates of Penzeance.”

Now in its 49^th year, this extremely talented and creative company NYGASP, which is based out of the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, has been hailed as “the leading custodian of the G&S classics” and has created its own special niche in the cultural mosaic of New York City and the nation. NYGASP’s mission is “giving vitality to the living legacy of Gilbert & Sullivan,” says the company’s Founder/Artistic Director/General Manager Albert Bergeret.

Bergeret typically hosts a preview and introduction during a series, typically before a performance geared to families.

The new/ updated NYGASP production of The Mikado premiered in NYC in late 2016, features an original prologue that introduces the audience to the real life characters of the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company who originated The Mikado in 1885 London. The production centers the fantastic elements of juxtaposing a Victorian world with an imagined Japanese setting allowing the opera to be a truly inclusive experience for all audiences and artists.

The show abounds with absurdity and astounding wit, clever wordplay, memorable tunes and endearing characters, performed to perfection by clever patter man David Macaluso as Sullivan and Ko-Ko (who brings extraordinary physical comedy and a sweet voice); blustering Matthew Wages who plays Richard D’Oyly Carte and pompous Pooh-Bah; creative David Auxier as author Gilbert and town leader Pish-Tush (who also authored the new Prologue and is the director, and choreographer); charming John Charles McLaughlin as romantic hero Nanki-Poo, rising star Hannah Holmes as lovelorn and overbearing Katisha; beautiful soprano Rebecca L. Hargrove as self-aware Yum Yum; Sarah Hutchison as maiden sister Peep-Bo; mellifluous mezzo Elisabeth Cernadas as adventurous Pitti-Sing; and dynamic bass David Wannen in the title role.

The brilliant ensemble is rounded out by Caitlin Borek, Camilo Estrada, Chris-Ian Sanchez, James Mills, Katie Hall, Abby Kurth, Lance Olds, Logan Pitts, Maurio Hines, Michael Galante, Michelle Seipel, Sabrina Lopez, Viet Vo and Alexandra Imbrosci-Viera.

To their artistry and talent they exude a joy of performance.

The production showcases gorgeous scenery designed by Anshuman Bhatia, clever and inventive costumes by Quinto Ott and lighting by Benjamin Weill. The Mikado is produced by NYGASP Executive Director David Wannen. Founder and Artistic Director Albert Bergeret,sharing the podium with Associate Conductor, Joseph Rubin conducting the 25-piece orchestra.

NYGASP’s brilliant re-creation of Gilbert & Sullivan’s classic, “Mikado,” was first introduced in 2016, aimed at exorcizing the production of offensive stereotypes that might offend Asians that were embedded in the 1885 original. “It is a balancing act to respect the original but take out what people considered offensive,” Bergeret says.

A specially created “prologue” and creative costuming ensure there is no confusion that “Mikado” represents Englishmen satirizing Victorian society and politics, capitalizing on British fascination with all things Japanese in the 1880s, to defuse the pointed references that might have gotten Gilbert & Sullivan (already under censorship of Lord Chamberlain) into trouble. And frankly, the depiction of The Mikado (who doesn’t even appear for the first 2 ½ hours of the three-hour show) as a cruel but ridiculous tyrant is reminiscent of how the Red Queen is depicted in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” (1865). If anything, the Mikado’s character may resonate in 2024 more than in 2015 or even 1885.

The clever Prologue. authored by the director, choreographer David Auxier-Loyala takes place on June 6, 1884 – one day after their “Princess Ida” opened, brings together D’Oyly Carte, the actual producer, with Arthur Sullivan, the composer and W.S. Gilbert, the lyricist and author (played by David Auxier), and has them talking about the Japanese exhibition that is all the stir in London. D’Oyly Carte is pushing them to come up with their next musical, and in their verbal interplay, these fanciful interjections become the fanciful names for characters – Pish-Tush, Pooh-Bah – and suggest plot points. Gilbert “dreams” the performance of “Mikado” – he becomes Pish-Tush, a Noble Lord; Sullivan becomes Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner, and D’Oyly Carte becomes Pooh-Bah (“the Lord High Everything Else”).

Of course British audiences of 1885 could have cared less about “political correctness.” The object of Gilbert & Sullivan’s satire was British society

Before the “Family” performance of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Mikado,” Music Director/Conductor Albert Bergeret, who founded NYGASP 49 years ago, accompanied by David Macaluso (Ko-Ko) and Hannah Holmes (Katishaw) give a playful explanation of the show © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

We take advantage of seeing January 13 afternoon “Family performance”, which features a before-show talk introducing the plot and music presented by the esteemed Conductor and Musical Director Albert Bergeret, who founded the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players 49 years ago (and was the original Nanki-Poo), I learn that my comparison of “Mikado” for Gilbert & Sullivan to “Madame Butterfly” by Puccini is not entirely unfounded. While the music that Sullivan composed runs the gamut of British musical styles (ballad, madrigal, march), he incorporates the Japanese five-note scale and an actual Japanese folk song, Miya-sama (though for this production, new English lyrics are substituted for the Japanese) – music which Puccini also appropriates in “Madame Butterfly.” (Miya-sama was not used in this production.)

“We took out what’s incomprehensible or inappropriate,” Bergeret says, who adds that Sullivan was a brilliant, classically trained musician who was well versed in all genres of music and composers from around the world. In “Mikado” Sullivan demonstrates his virtuosity in writing in many different forms.

Just as Gilbert incorporated contemporaneous digs, so too does this Ko-Ko, a “cheap tailor” (which means he made clothes for common people) taken from the county jail where he was scheduled to be executed (for flirting), and elevated to Lord High Executioner, update his “List” of those who shan’t be missed, to be as current as yesterday’s tweet, sometimes changing it each performance, surprising even the rest of the cast.

New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players production of “The Mikado” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.comIn an earlier season, David Macaluso (Ko-Ko) hosts audience members on a backstage tour of the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, homebase for the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

During our performance, Ko-Ko, brilliantly played by David Macaluso, who is not only brilliant at patter but physical comedy, inserts digs at A.I. and the “plagiarist” that got him on the list, and natural gas which somehow puts the “environmentalist” also on that long, long list as the scroll unfurls.

And The Mikado’s updated long list of who to punish and how, includes the Instagrammer “made to endure a dungeon cell without not one cellular bar” and “political pundits, who must sail for weeks on a boat full of leaks on a sea of alternative facts.” (That gets tremendous laughs.)

But Bergeret notes they do not want to do too much contemporizing. “We are proud to share this production, which upholds The Mikado’s musical score, setting, characters, storytelling, themes, and most of all its universal satire of human nature.”

So, the Mikado looks to execute Ko-Ko (the Lord High Executioner), Pooh-Bah (the “Lord High Everything” and Pitti-Sing (one of the “three little maids from school” for carrying out the Mikado’s orders to execute Somebody and unwittingly execute the Mikado’s son and heir to the throne, Nanki-Poo. The Mikado appreciates their effort (he only wishes he could have witnessed the execution) but insists they still should be executed for, well, killing the heir and looks for the entertainment value in their lingering death.

The Mikado justifies executing the three because, after all, this is an unfair world where the virtuous suffer and the undeserving succeed. This leads to the song that probably best sums up the moral of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Mikado,” in which the three condemned sing, “See how the Fates their gifts allot/For A is happy, B is not/Yet B is worthy, I dare say/Of more prosperity than A…If I were Fortune which I’m not/B should enjoy A’s happy lot/And A should die in misery/That is, assuming I am B.”

In the end The Mikado is less a jab at all-powerful monarchal misrule, than a comic contemplation of what human beings do when in faced with existential situation. Their focus is on human nature and the human condition. In Mikado, we see self-preservation – even by Yum-Yum who is willing to marry Nanki-Poo who loves her so much he is willing to be executed after just a month, until she realizes that as the wife of an executed man, she would be buried alive.

This production makes another change at the end, stopping the show for a return to the Gilbert & Sullivan characters trying to figure out an ending that would not rely on a magical or fantastical device like the “magic lozenge” they used in their 1877 opera “The Sorcerer” and almost breaks up their collaboration. (Gilbert finally gets to use the device in “The Mountebanks,” written with Alfred Cellier in 1892). Instead, Gilbert comes up with an argument that actually makes sense given the circumstance: Any order by the Mikado must be carried out, so having given the order, it must have been carried out (not much more absurd than “Anything the President does is legal and immune from prosecution, even if he orders Seal 6 to kill his political opponent.”).

*New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players perform the joyful finale of “Mikado” © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

“The Mikado, or The Town of Titipu” – the ninth of Gilbert & Sullivan’s 14 collaborations – was immensely popular when it opened on March 14 1885 in London, running for 672 performances, the second longest run for any musical theater production. By the end of 1885, some 150 companies in Europe and America were performing the operetta. It even was widely performed in Japan (apparently they took no offense).

Indeed, “The Mikado” is one of the most popular productions of musical theater of all time. Performed for the last 135 years – by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, NYGASP and others including Joseph Papp’s Shakespeare in the Park festival – there were decades when “Mikado” was being performed somewhere in the English speaking world any day of the year. Some of its word inventions have entered the lexicon, such as “the grand Poo-Bah” and “Let the punishment fit the crime.” They have also been performed in languages including Yiddish and French, though Bergeret notes that the French don’t seem to get the jokes.

G&S were very popular in their own time – all their 14 shows were popular and “Mikado” was one of most popular written out of their 14 (one, “Thespis,” was lost). Their nods to classical and digs at British society and conventions and their union of witty lyrics and lyrical music, appealed to high and low class. Both wrote with others but were never so successful as when they collaborated together. “They were very different characters – Sullivan was a lady’s man” – aspects that come through in the specially written “Prologue” to Mikado.

“The only one who doesn’t like Gilbert was Queen Victoria, Bergeret tells us. “We are not amused,” Queen Victoria once commented. The Queen knighted Sullivan as the “savior of English classical music.” (Her son, King Edward VII, knighted Gilbert.)

Gilbert & Sullivan actually invented musical theater. At the time Gilbert & Sullivan were writing, there were opera, light opera and music hall theatricals, but nothing like a musical show with story – music that had both class and pop – with real story lines, music advanced the story, Bergeret tells us. This is where musical theater started,. Watching “Mikado” you see a straight line to Rogers & Hammerstein and Stephen Sondheim.

Since its founding in 1974, the company has presented over 3,000 performances of the G&S masterpieces throughout the United States, Canada, and the U.K. delighting audiences of all ages.

The company’s celebrated ensemble of G&S experts, developed by introducing new singers each year from New York’s immense pool of vocal and theatrical talent, has collaborated with such guest artists as world-renowned G&S exponent the late John Reed, O.B.E. in numerous comic baritone roles, Tony winner John Rubinstein and Frank Gorshin both as King Gama in Princess Ida, John Astin as Sir Joseph in H.M.S. Pinafore, Hal Linden and Noel Harrison as the Major General in The Pirates of Penzance, Pat Carroll as Little Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore, and Steve Allen as The Mikado.

The company’s repertory consists of 13 complete G&S operas (cast, orchestra and crew of 50-80 people), special versions of the most popular operas designed for children’s audiences, and a variety of charming sextet concert programs. The company has also produced a cabaret act. I’ve Got a Little Twist, created and directed by David Auxier, won a 2010 Bistro Award, has toured the country and appeared at Lincoln Center’s 2011 Atrium series.

NYGASP Founder/Artistic Director/General Manager, Albert Bergeret is a career-long professional specialist in the works of Gilbert & Sullivan, having performed, staged, conducted and designed every opera in the repertoire since the company’s founding in 1974. He has conducted and staged all 13 of the works in the G&S canon as well as the company’s smash hit production of George Gershwin’s Of Thee I Sing.

New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players are worthy of a Tony Award.

Coming up, NYGASP will present G&S’s “The Sorcerer” and “Trial by Jury” on April 6-7.

Also, NYGASP regularly tours its shows, and this year is featuring “Pirates of Penzance”:

Feb. 28: An Evening of G&S Favorites, Lincoln Center, Fort Collins, CO

Feb. 29: The Pirates of Penzance in One Act/Evening of G&S Favorites, Lone Tree Arts Center, Lone Tree, CO

Mar. 3, 2024, The Pirates of Penzance, Popejoy Hall, Albuquerque, NM

Mar. 5: The Pirates of Penzance, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ

Mar. 7: The Pirates of Penzance, Gallo Center for the Arts, Modesto, CA

Mar. 8: The Pirates of Penzance, Clark Center for the Performing Art, Arroyo Grande, CA

Mar. 9: The Pirates of Penzance, Torrance Cultural Arts Center, Torrance, CA

Mar. 10: The Pirates of Penzance, McCallum Theatre, Palm Desert, CA

Apr. 26: The Pirates of Penzance in One Act/Evening of G&S Favorites, Harry M. Cornell Arts & Entertainment Complex, Joplin, MO

May 10: The Pirates of Penzance, Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown, NJ

More information at www.NYGASP.org, 212-772-4448.

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© 2024 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to [email protected]. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Arts & Entertainment, Festivals and Events, New York City travel

NYC Village Halloween Parade Marks 50 Years with ‘Upside Down’: Photo Highlights

November 1, 2023 krubin723

*The Village Halloween Parade in New York City is celebrating 50 years with this year’s theme, UPSIDE/DOWN © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, www.goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Village Halloween Parade, celebrating 50 years since it began as a small neighborhood “promenade” and has become one of the largest Halloween events in the world, was themed UPSIDE/DOWN, reflecting the tumult of the last few years, and inviting self-reflection.

“The Halloween Parade has always been a night of transformation, but this topsy turvy year feels even more-so in terms of realizing a dream, being who you are most authentically in your imagination,” said Jeanne Fleming, Artistic and Producing Director.

*The Village Halloween Parade, celebrating 50 years, gives New Yorkers an opportunity to show off their creativity, artistry and humor © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Hundreds of thousands of spectators packed the streets along the mile-long parade route from Canal Street to 16^th Street along Sixth Avenue, to thrill at hundreds of puppets, 50 bands representing music from around the world, dancers, artists, and thousands of other New Yorkers in costumes of their own creation in the nation’s most wildly creative public participatory event in the greatest city in the world – the biggest crowds since 2019.

“I’m astonished by how many people are here,” said a justifiably proud and delighted Fleming. “We invite people to come out and they did!”

*Village Halloween Parade Director Jeanne Fleming was delighted with a huge turnout of costumed parade goers and spectators © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Spectators thrilled at seeing hundreds of puppets, 50 bands and dancers representing music from around the world and New York’s melting pot, and tens of thousands of New Yorkers in costumes of their own creation, in the nation’s most wildly creative public participatory event in the greatest city in the world.

Started by Greenwich Village mask maker and puppeteer Ralph Lee in 1973, the Parade began as a walk from house to house in his neighborhood for his children and their friends.

After the second year of this local promenade, Theater for the New City stepped in and produced the event on a larger scale as part of their City in the Streets program.

*Fogo Azul NYC, an all-women Brazilian drumline, is one of about 50 bands joining the Village Halloween Parade © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Today the Parade is the largest celebration of its kind in the world and has been picked by Festivals International as “The Best Event in the World” for October 31.

Now, 50 years later, the Parade draws more than 70,000 costumed participants and some 2 million spectators, including television-viewing audience, live on NY1 beginning at 8 pm.

*Parade marchers really interact with the spectators, to everyone’s delight © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

In 1994, the Mayor of the City of New York issued a Proclamation honoring the Village Halloween Parade for 20 years of bringing everyone in the City together in a joyful and creative way and being a boon to the economic life of the City. “New York is the world’s capital of creativity and entertainment. The Village Halloween Parade presents the single greatest opportunity for all New Yorkers to exhibit their creativity in an event that is one-of-a-kind, unique and memorable every year. New Yorkers of all ages love Halloween, and this delightful event enables them to enjoy it every year and join in with their own special contributions. The Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village is a true cultural treasure.”

The irony is that while Halloween is about taking on a completely different persona, at the Village Halloween Parade, we see New Yorkers’ true selves.

And that’s true to the Upside/Down-Inside/Out theme.

Here are more photo highlights:

*The Village Halloween Parade in New York City marks 50 years © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Giant puppets are a hallmark of the New York City’s Village Halloween Parade © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Village Halloween Parade marchers enjoy interacting with spectators much to their delight © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*All you need to march in the Village Halloween Parade – the people’s parade – is a costume © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Village Halloween Parade showcases the many cultures of New York’s melting pot © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Grand Marshal of the Village Halloween Parade Laurie Anderson © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*L Train Brass Band brings its joyful music to the Village Halloween Parade © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Thriller at the Village Halloween Parade* *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Village Halloween Parade features some of the best bands in New York City© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Music is in the air at the village Halloween Parade © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*Costumed Village Halloween Parade enjoy interacting with spectators much to their delight © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

*The Village Halloween Parade in New York City is celebrating 50 years with the theme, UPSIDE/DOWN © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

___________________________

© 2023 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com, www.huffingtonpost.com/author/karen-rubin, and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to [email protected]. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/KarenBRubin

Arts & Entertainment, Attractions, Cultural travel, Festivals and Events, New York City travel, Staycation, Summer Vacations

Summer in the City: Festivals! Events! Happenings! Make the City Hot, Hot, Hot and Cool Man, Cool

June 3, 2023 krubin723

The iconic Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the anchors of the annual Museum Mile Festival, this year, with eight major museums opening their doors for free admission and special programs, June 13 6-9 pm © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

New York City’s summer cultural season kicks off with the 45^th Annual Museum Mile Festival – the Big Apple’s “biggest block party” –on Tuesday, June 13, from 6 to 9 pm, rain or shine. Walk the mile on Fifth Avenue between 82nd Street and 104th Street while visiting eight of New York City’s finest cultural institutions, open free during these extended hours: The Africa Center, El Museo del Barrio, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, the Jewish Museum, Neue Galerie and the Museum of the City of New York (which is celebrating its 100^th Anniversary this year). It’s an electric, eclectic festive atmosphere, with live music and street performers all along the avenue, plus special exhibitions, works from permanent collections and special family-oriented activities inside.

It is also an opportunity to see the major exhibits underway throughout the summer:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Van Gogh’s Cypresses, thru August 27: Vincent van Gogh’s most famous artworks, Wheat Field with Cypresses and The Starry Night, take center stage at Van Gogh’s Cypresses, the first exhibition to focus on the trees immortalized by one of the most beloved artists of our time. Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty thru July 16, highlighting the designer’s body of work spanning from the 1950s to his final collection in 2019, the show will have approximately 150 pieces on display.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: Sarah Sze: Timelapse thru September 10: For this solo exhibition, Sarah Sze created a series of site-specific installations that weave a trail of discovery through multiple spaces of the Guggenheim’s iconic Frank Lloyd Wright building.

100th Anniversary of The Museum of the City of New York: The museum has amassed a collection of over 750,000 objects including photographs, prints, costumes, paintings and more to celebrate, document and interpret the City’s past, present and soon-to-be-announced future. These major exhibits are on view: This Is New York: 100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture exhibit explores how the City has served as a muse for storytelling over the past century; through a variety of mediums such as film, music, literature and visual arts, the exhibit presents a diverse and engaging portrayal of NYC. Food in New York: Bigger Than the Plate, thru September 17, highlights the City’s raucous and diverse food culture all while examining the various challenges of NYC’s food systems. From sustainability to equitable access to food, the exhibition explores the ways artists and designers are creating solutions to address the global and local challenges we face when it comes to the food system.

El Museo del Barrio: Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección, thru March 10, 2024. One of El Museo del Barrio’s most ambitious presentations to date features a complex and culturally diverse permanent collection of 500 artworks, including artist commissions and acquisitions, focusing on the contributions of Amerindian, African and European cultures, through rotating displays over the course of a year.

The Museum Mile Festival is just the first of a whole series of festivals, special events, cultural happenings that make the city hot, hot, hot, or cool man, really cool. Here’s a roundup:

*New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks: priceless music for free © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks, presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, have become an iconic New York summer experience since they began in 1965, transforming parks throughout the city into a patchwork of picnickers enjoying friends, family, and music under the stars, for free! This summer Music Director Jaap van Zweden conducts two iconic masterpieces — Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man — plus a potpourri of overtures by Rossini and J. Strauss II, and works by NY Phil Very Young Composers. June 13, Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx; June 14, Central Park, Manhattan; June 15, Cunningham Park, Queens; June 16, Prospect Park, Brooklyn; – these concerts begin at 8 pm followed by fireworks. Also, June 18, Staten Island at 4 pm. For weather and updates, call Concert Info Hotline at 212-875-5709, https://nyphil.org/

*Picnicking in Central Park, a tradition before the start of the New York Philharmonic concert © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Shakespeare in the Park presents: Hamlet by The Public Theater, Delacorte Theater, Central Park, Manhattan, June 8–August 6, 2023 directed by Tony Award–winner Kenny Leon and featuring Tony Award–nominee Ato Blankson-Wood in the title role. Same-day tickets can be obtained by lining up (early) at The Delacorte or at a borough distribution site (2 tix pp), or by an in-person lottery in the lobby of The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street, or through a digital lottery via the TodayTix mobile app or website. A limited number of advance reservation tickets can be had by making a contribution in support of Free Shakespeare in the Park. Info at 212-967-7555 or visit publictheater.org.

More free Shakespeare! New York Classical theater company is performing Shakespeare’s Richard III, Tuesday through Sunday, 7-9 pm (Central Park West & 103 St., June 13-25); Brooklyn Commons (Myrtle Avenue & Bridge Streets, June 27-July 2) and Carl Schurz Park (East 87^th St., July 4-9). You can also watch the rehearsals taking place in Central Park, 10 am-3:30 pm Tuesdays through Sundays until June 9. (You can also watch the rehearsals taking place in Central Park, 10 am-3:30 pm Tuesdays through Sundays until June 9.) Make a FREE reservation and receive pre-show notice of weather cancellations at https://nyclassical.org/richardiii.

*Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, NYC with Michael Arenella and his Dreamland Orchestra © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Jazz Age Lawn Party, now celebrating its 18th year, is one of the world’s most authentic Prohibition-era-inspired gathering, taking place this year June 10-11 and August 12-13, on Governor’s Island. Hosted by Michael Arenella and His Dreamland Orchestra, one of the world’s premier Jazz Age dance orchestras, specializing in the Hot Jazz of the 1920s. Featuring Dreamland Follies, a ten-lady Art Deco dance spectacle evoking the great Ziegfeld; Queen Esther; Peter Mintun; Gelber & Manning band; Roddy Caravella and The Canarsie Wobblers, with their scandalous Charleston numbers and rebellious and exuberant spirit of Roaring ‘20s youth. Plus dance lessons, bathing beauty contest. Purchase tickets in advance. Governor’s Island (a getaway destination in itself), reached by ferry from Lower Manhattan (Battery Maritime Building located at 10 South Street, adjacent to the Staten Island Ferry)and Brooklyn. (https://jazzagelawnparty.com/)

Free Summer Programming at Little Island, Chelsea, Manhattan, June 7–September 3: The award-winning public park on the Hudson River Greenway, hosts an array of free programming including performances from Tony-, Grammy-, and Emmy Award–winners and nominees; drag bingo; DJs; dance parties; Teen Night; Broadway performances.

*Free concerts and programs are underway at Little Island, the award-winning oasis off the Hudson River Greenway © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!, Brooklyn, June 7–August 24, celebrates its 45th anniversary, with a lineup of artists from around the world honoring the diversity of Brooklyn and the broader BRIC community. This year’s lineup includes Corinne Bailey Rae, Kelela, Liv.e, Robert Glasper, NxWorries (Anderson .Paak & Knxwledge).

Bargemusic free concerts, Saturdays, 4 pm through August, Music in Motion” Series — a one hour performance (no intermission), including a Q & A session with the musicians. Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 1; close to the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn (https://www.bargemusic.org/admission-free-concerts/).

Forest Hills Stadium’s 100th Anniversary Concert Lineup, Forest Hills, Queens, thru September 30: music and comedy performances from some of the biggest names in music and entertainment, including The Strokes, Fall Out Boy, Kevin Hart, Steve Lacy, LL Cool J’s Rock The Bells Festival, Duran Duran, Maggie Rogers, Toro y Moi, Weezer, Arctic Monkeys, LCD Soundsystem, Dave Matthews Band.

Carnegie Hall Citywide, Citywide, June 9–August 4: Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the beloved free concert series highlights renowned local artists from an array of musical genres.

SummerStage 2023, Citywide, June 3–September 30: now in its 37th season, hosting free and benefit live performances in 13 parks across the five boroughs from a range of musical genres including salsa, jazz, country, opera, Afrobeats, hip hop. The annual concert series will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop with concerts featuring artists from NYC.

Blockbuster Exhibitions

*“Invisible Worlds” at the American Museum of Natural History’s new Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation puts you inside the body’s nerve system* *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History: The newly opened $465 million addition to the museum has been hailed internationally as a soaring architectural achievement, and houses world-class research facilities and scientific collections and innovative exhibitions. Admission by timed entry, reserved online. Open daily, 10 am–5:30 pm. American Museum of Natural History,200 Central Park West, 212-769-5606, amnh.org. (See: AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY’S NEW GILDER CENTER IS LIGHTYEARS FORWARD IN IMMERSING, ENGAGING UNDERSTANDING OF THE SECRETS OF LIFE )

*The imaginative architecture of the new Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History sets the tone for the experience that awaits within © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Harry Potter: The Exhibition, Herald Square, Manhattan, opened May 2023 for a limited time: Fans can celebrate Harry Potter and the entire Wizarding World with the most comprehensive touring exhibit in world. Featuring favorite moments, props, costumes, characters, and locations, the exhibition delights visitors with powerful storytelling married with interactive technology to explore iconic film scenes, creatures and characters from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films as well as the Tony Award–winning Broadway production Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Harry Potter™: Tickets (for timed entry, but you can stay as long as you want) start at $29 for adults. 50 W. 34^th Street (34^th Street and Broadway). www.harrypotterexhibition.com. (See: IMMERSIVE WORLD OF HARRY POTTER EXHIBITION ENCHANTS NEW YORK BUT ONLY FOR LIMITED TIME)

*Fans and superfans alike will be ecstatic to be immersed in the newly opened* ***Harry Potter: The Exhibition***, the most comprehensive touring exhibition ever presented on Harry Potter and the entire Wizarding World, is on view in Herald Square in midtown Manhattan but only for a limited time © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Africa Fashion at Brooklyn Museum, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, June 23–October 22 180 works celebrating the global impact of African fashions from the 1950s to present day; 180 works are presented.

Gardens & Works by Ebony G. Patterson at New York Botanical Garden, The Bronx, thru September 17: known for her lavishly detailed mixed media installations, this major site-specific exhibition showcases her breathtaking and provocative displays of art and nature.

Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch at National Museum of the American Indian, Lower Manhattan, through January 1, 2024, examines and celebrate more than 50 years of Shelley Niro’s paintings, photographs, films and more. Filled with humor and references to pop culture, the exhibition offers a glimpse into the artist’s timeless cultural knowledge and generational history of her Six Nations Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) community.

New Photography 2023: Kelani Abass, Akinbode Akinbiyi, Yagazie Emezi, Amanda Iheme, Abraham Oghobase, Karl Ohiri, Logo Oluwamuyiw at Museum of Modern Art, Midtown Manhattan, through September 16. The return of its beloved series, New Photography for the first time since 2018, the new exhibition will explore the photographic work of seven artists united by their critical use of photography and their ties to the artistic scene in Lagos, Nigeria. This is also the museum’s first group exhibition in its history engaging in the work of living West African photographers.

Hispanic Society of America,Washington Heights, Manhattan, reopens its Main Building June 2023 after six years of renovations and improvements. Since 1904, the museum has been the home to over 750,000 objects including rare books and masterpieces from Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries.

Armstrong Corona Campus (formerly the Louis Armstrong House),Corona, Queens, Summer 2023, after undergoing a physical and programmatic expansion debuts a new cultural center with an interactive exhibit, archival collections, a 75-seat performance venue and store, all dedicated to celebrating and preserving the life and legacy of the legendary jazz musician Louis Armstrong.

Ukrainian Institute of America, Upper East Side, Manhattan, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the art, music and literature of Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora, celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2023.

Malibu Barbie Café New York, The Seaport, Manhattan, thru September 15: Barbie fans will be transported to a 1970s Malibu California café filled with the beloved doll’s signature colors and casual, family-friendly fare including Pacific Paradise Pancakes, West Coast Wedge Salad and a California Dreamin’ Club Sandwich, all made by Master Chef finalist Chef Becky Brown. The pop-up will also be complete with photo ops inspired by Malibu Barbie including a life-size doll box, exclusive merchandise and more.

New York City is the epicenter of the art world and not just the famous, prominent, important museums but a plethora of galleries tucked into neighborhoods like The Lower East Side (who would have expected such magnificent art around the corner from the Bowery Mission, where you will also find the New Museum of Contemporary Art), Tribeca, Chelsea and the Meat Packing district under the High Line, and East and West Village. You get to experience the works of artists who should be displayed in the major museums, and perhaps will be. David Barnett’s “Collectomania” is on view at Ivy Brown Gallery through June 6 (artist talk on June 6, 6-8 pm) © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Under Cover: J.C. Leyendecker and American Masculinity at New-York Historical Society Museum & Library, Upper West Side, Manhattan, thru August 13 explores the work of J.C. Leyendecker, a prominent American illustrator, and his influence on shaping ideals of masculinity in the early 20th century. Through a collection of his iconic magazine covers, the exhibit examines Leyendecker’s depictions of stylish, confident and athletic men, highlighting their impact on shaping cultural perceptions of masculinity during that time.

Craft Front & Center: Exploring the Permanent Collection at Museum of Arts and Design, Columbus Circle, Manhattan, thru January 14, 2024, featuring a collection of over 3,500 objects, as well as a fresh installation of more than 60 historic works and new acquisitions dating from the golden age of the American Craft movement to the present day.

Yayoi Kusama: I Spend Each Day Embracing Flowers at David Zwirner Gallery, Chelsea, Manhattan, thru July 21: In one of her largest gallery exhibitions to date, celebrated contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama features new paintings, sculptures, flowers, and an Infinity Mirrored Room.

Collections of Culture: 50 Years of Hip Hop Inside Libraries, Museums and Archives at Queens Public Library, Flushing, Queens, thru August 21, a celebration hosting an array of in-person and lived-streamed programs.

Oceanic, Portal at Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, Soho, Manhattan, thru August 13, through various mediums and perspectives, the exhibit invites viewers to contemplate the fluidity, liberation and transformative power represented by the vastness of the ocean and its connection to LGBTQ+ identities.

Vulnerable Landscapes at Staten Island Museum, Randall Manor, Staten Island, thru December 30, highlights the Staten Island shorelines at the forefront of climate change in NYC, examining the past while navigating the route forward.

Darrel Ellis: Regeneration at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, South Bronx, thru September 10, the first comprehensive, scholarly survey of pioneering artist Darrel Ellis, the exhibition highlights Ellis’s body of work that combines painting, printmaking, photography and drawing before his untimely passing in 1992, co-organized by The Baltimore Museum of Art,

Uniquely NYC Tours

Brooklyn Chocolate Tour – A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours, Brooklyn: Enjoy chocolates from some of the finest traditional and artisanal chocolates out of Brooklyn on this recently resumed tour. Guests can learn more about the history of chocolate and watch demonstrations as they explore many of the borough’s most beloved chocolate shops, including the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, The Chocolate Room, Raaka Chocolate and Li-Lac Chocolates.

Sustainable Harlem – Like a Local Tours, Harlem, Manhattan: support hyper-local and community-based organizations in the historic neighborhood of Harlem with this socially impactful tour. Guests will learn about many of the sustainable movements within Harlem and the people behind them such as the New York Fair Trade Coalition at the Sustainable Fashion Community Center, Simone from Green and Blue Eco Care and more.

Culinary Tour in Washington Heights – MAD Tours & Events, Washington Heights, Manhattan: Explore this culturally rich neighborhood (featured in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights”) on a special food tour. Known as one of Manhattan’s Latino hubs, Washington Heights is home to some of the City’s best Dominican, Mexican, and Cuban food.

Food Cart Tour: Jackson Heights – Turnstile Tours, Jackson Heights, Queens: Explore many of the local flavors in one of the City’s most diverse neighborhoods right in the heart of Queens on a two-hour walking and tasting tour. Sample delicious favorites from around the world while learning more about the people and organizations helping the City’s street vendors continue to thrive.

Retail Store Tours, Brooklyn & Manhattan: Explore the driving forces changing the retail landscape and the best of retail innovation in this two-hour tour led by industry professionals.

During US Open Fan Week, which takes lace the week before the US Open Tennis starts, you get to watch the qualifiers, as well as a front-row seat to watch tennis stars, like Nadel, working out © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The grand finale to New York’s summer sensations: US Open Tennis Championships, Corona, Queens, August 28–September 10: It begins with US Open Fan Week, August 23-28, when the grounds are open to the public with free admission, so you can watch the (thrilling) US Open Qualifying Tournament, watch open practices of the tennis stars, and additional scheduled exhibitions. This year, there is the first ever US Open Food Event Thursday August 25, 2022, 7pm-9pm; special appearances by athletes like former Top 5 ATP Player James Blake, and entertainment. (https://www.usopen.org/)

For more New York City visitor information, visit https://www.nycgo.com/

_______________

© 2023 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com, www.huffingtonpost.com/author/karen-rubin, and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to [email protected]. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/KarenBRubin

Arts, Arts & Entertainment, Cultural travel, Family Travel, Museums and Exhibits, New York City travel

American Museum of Natural History’s New Gilder Center is LightYears Forward in Immersing, Engaging Understanding of the Secrets of Life

May 25, 2023 krubin723

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

As I walk through a corridor lined with interactive displays on my way into seeing “Invisible Worlds” in the American Museum of Natural History’s new Gilder Center for Science, Education, Innovation, these are the lessons I learn:

All life is related through DNA.

All life is connected with an ecosystem.

All life is connected through food nets – the sun’s energy is in every bite.

Life requires energy.

All of life’s dramas play out in ecosystems as individuals cooperate and compete to survive.

In Nature, nothing exists alone.

And as you go through the iconic American Museum of Natural History, and especially the newly opened Gilder Center, what strikes you is this: the differences among all living creatures are intriguing but the similarities are even more edifying.

The new Gilder Center which opened in May, goes further than anything before in this iconic institution to engage, immerse, create interactions that make the transfer of knowledge, the act of active learning, the probing and understanding of the Secrets of Life absolutely thrilling.

The presentations are genius in the way they appeal to all ages and levels of understanding. From the dramatic architecture and physical space, to the state-of-the-art delivery to maximize immersion and engagement, to how smartly complex ideas are presented in simple terms without pandering, getting down to the essence, then inviting you to go deeper as you choose.

Why do we study? Why do we collect? What do we learn? These are some of the questions posed as you peer into the innovative displays of the Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Collections Core, an innovation of the new Gilder Center © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

For the first time, we have access to see so much more of the Museum’s collections with the innovative displays of the Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Collections Core, posing these basic questions:

Why do we study? Why do we collect? What do we learn? Why is it important? What can New York rocks tell us about the history of our continent? What can we learn from a pot? What can a footprint tell us that fossilized dinosaur bones cannot?

I watch as people are transfixed gazing into the spectacular displays, featuring more than 3,000 objects on three levels, representing every area of the Museum’s collections: vertebrate and invertebrate zoology, paleontology, geology, anthropology, and archaeology, with materials ranging from dinosaur tracks to astronomical instruments, and from antlers to pottery.

A series of digital exhibits feature stories about how scientists analyze various types of collections and introduce Museum researchers, while the glass-paneled exhibits, including those in the Macaulay Family Foundation Collection Galleries on the first and second floors, let us glimpse into working collections areas situated behind the displays. Together with the collections stored in the new Lepidoptera facility, which is also visible to visitors (located next to the Collections Core on the second floor), the Gilder Center houses more than 4 million scientific specimens

*The “pre-show” to “Invisible Worlds” makes these points: All life on earth is related. All life is connected. © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The Gilder Center is where you can see the astounding “Invisible Worlds,” an extraordinary 360-degree immersive science-and-art experience that represents the next generation in scientific visualization with interactive, immersive elements, stunning photography, graphics, sound and narration. It is visually exciting (you are flushed with the lights, the floor reacts to your movements) – highly instagrammable as you are bathed in color and pattern.

As you walk into “Invisible Worlds” (clever in that it is on a repeating 12-minute loop so you flow in and out on your own time, and don’t have to wait for start times and audiences to empty and fill an auditorium – I watched it twice), you first go through the Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Gallery, where you engage at stations that pose questions you get to choose an answer and learn from the correct answer. (This requires a separate admission ticket.) They make learning so incredibly exciting – I am even fascinated to review the list of acknowledgements of the scientists and institutions that contributed to creating “Invisible Worlds” posted as you exit. The experience was designed by the Berlin-based Tamschick Media+Space with the Seville-based Boris Micka Associates, who worked closely with data visualization specialists and scientists from the Museum and researchers from around the world.

*Find yourself in the Pacific Peoples’ exhibit, where you can see an Easter Island Moai ancestor statue © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The 230,000-square-foot $465 million, seven-story Gilder Center is brilliantly situated to create 33 connections among 10 Museum buildings, linking the entire campus. I go through one hall and find myself among Pacific Peoples (the Moai ancestor statue from Rapa Nui, better known as Easter Island, is a BIG hit). Through another doorway and into the Hall of Vertebrate Origins (how fossils explain evolution and show a family tree of life of who we are related to full of surprises).

*Take a turn from the Gilder Center and find yourself in the Pacific Peoples’ exhibit, © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

On the main floor, I find myself walking through an incomparable photo exhibit of mural-sized insects that are endangered or near instinct (photographer Levon Biss, took 1000 images of insects from AMNH’s collection under a microscope to achieve such extraordinary detail) with fascinating descriptions about the animals, then, go down a ramp into the Big Bang (I still can’t wrap my head around the concept that from the size of an atom, the universe burst out within seconds). From here, I walk along the ramp, where every step is 450 million years, through 13 billion years of the formation of the universe, expanding, expanding, expanding; then find myself in the Hall of Earth (still can’t fathom how the moon was formed in just 24 hours), then back in the Gilder Center in the new Insectarium, where you can conduct an insect orchestra, go inside a bee hive, and, as I find myself doing, watch two gigantic grasshoppers mating (fascinating).

*My goodness! Witnesses two grasshoppers mating in the Gilder Center’s new insectorium© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

“Pay attention to insects. Many pollinate plants. Some recycle plants and animal matter into the soil. They are food for countless other things – and even on another, often keeping pest populations in check. Whether beetles, bees or butterflies, insects help natural ecosystems stay healthy.”

For someone who doesn’t (didn’t) particularly care for insects, I have never been so delighted and fascinated to be amid them. The displays are INCREDIBLE.

The display of ants, coming from their nests, each hauling their leaf, traveling, down, up, across metal tubes above the walkway, then down and through a huge enclosure, then up, down, up, down a series of tubes – they work hard!

In the Gilder Center insectariums, follow ants from their nest on one wall, through a bridge above the walkway, and down into a huge tank, up and down tubes to appreciate their work ethic © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

The key message: insects are not “pests” but vital as the basis of the ecosystem that sustains all life.

Altogether, the exhibits show these critical themes: all life is connected. All life is related. There are very real threats to survival, to extinction and when you go through the Dinosaur exhibits, you appreciate just how real that is. The notion of extinction also becomes very real when you go through another favorite section, the Hall of Human Evolution (check out how many hominid species have already gone extinct before we homo sapiens came to be dominant).

*People of all ages are engaged by the various exhibits and interactive displays in the new Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

I love the reaction of the children, from the youngest toddlers, to the various experiences. And couples on a date (this is very date-worthy place).

The Gilder Center also houses a now-permanent Butterfly Vivarium (separate ticket required). The year-round, 2,500-square-foot Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium is where you can mingle with up to 1,000 free-flying butterflies (as many as 80 species) in various micro-environments along a meandering route. The Vivarium let’s you closely observe one of nature’s vital environmental barometers as well as a view into the pupae incubator, where you can learn about the butterfly life cycle and observe chrysalises (perhaps even see a butterfly emerge!). Staff also helps you view butterflies through a digital microscope.

The 230,000-square-foot $465 million, seven-story Gilder Center creates 33 connections among 10 Museum buildings to link the entire campus, with a new entrance on the Museum’s west side, at Columbus Avenue and 79th Street from the Theodore Roosevelt Park.

The Gilder Center’s undulating façade, with its inviting expanses of bird-safe fritted glass, is clad in Milford pink granite, the same stone used on the Central Park West entrance. The diagonal pattern of the stone panels evokes both the phenomenon of geological layering and the design of the richly textured, coursing surface of the masonry on the Museum’s 77th Street side.

The Gilder Center architecture – it was designed by Studio Gang, the international architecture and urban design practice led by Jeanne Gang – evokes the habitats of its subjects. Is this what an ant’s habitat would be like? Or where our cave dwelling ancestors would live? The shapes, patterns are so exciting, it invites instagrammable photos and selfies, as we saw. And so do the exhibits, especially Invisible Worlds, where the lights, lines, shapes wash over you and the entire room, getting everyone snapping and clicking.

*The Gilder Center’s exciting design invites photos © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Upon entering the Gilder Center, you find yourself in the five-story Kenneth C. Griffin Exploration Atrium, a grand space illuminated with natural light admitted through large-scale skylights. The building’s design is informed by the ways in which wind and water carve out landscapes that are exciting to explore, as well as the forms that hot water etches in blocks of ice.

The texture, color, and flowing forms of the Griffin Atrium were inspired by canyons in the southwestern U.S. and animate the Gilder Center’s grand entrance, evoking awe, excitement, and discovery. Its striking structure was created by spraying concrete directly onto rebar without traditional formwork in a technique known as “shotcrete,” invented in the early 1900s by Museum naturalist and taxidermy artist Carl Akeley. The bridges and openings in the hand-finished shotcrete connect visitors physically and visually to multiple levels housing new exhibition galleries, designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates with the Museum’s Exhibition Department, education spaces, and collections facilities, creating welcoming sightlines that encourage movement into and throughout the building. The verticality of the Griffin Atrium also acts as a key sustainability feature, providing natural light and air circulation to the heart of the building’s interior.

*The grand staircase in the Gilder Center’s atrium © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

A broad, grand staircase on the east side of the Griffin Atrium, on axis with the entrance, is designed with one side as seating steps, featuring deep, walnut-covered treads and high risers that is popular for visitors to gather for rest and conversation and programs.

*You are invited to visit the Museum’s David S. and Ruth L. Gottesman Research Library and Learning Center, which houses one of the largest and most important natural history libraries in the world.* *© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

I discover the Museum’s David S. and Ruth L. Gottesman Research Library and Learning Center, which houses one of the largest and most important natural history libraries in the world. An elegant new Reading Room on the fourth floor of the Gilder Center, with sweeping views to the west, is an oasis of tranquility with comfortable sofas, sitting areas and reading areas. With dedicated spaces for researchers and small meetings, as well as an alcove gallery for rotating exhibits, this new learning center serves as an intellectual hub for research, education, and convening, connecting visitors to its resources as never before. As part of expanded access to the Gottesman Library’s collections for visitors, the alcove gallery showcases materials from the Rare Book Collection and other holdings. The inaugural exhibit, What’s in a Name?, explores scientific nomenclature through rare books, art, and current research on insects.

“The Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation is a glorious new facility that fulfills a critical need at a critical time: to help visitors to understand the natural world more deeply, to appreciate that all life is interdependent, to trust science, and to be inspired to protect our precious planet and its myriad life forms,” said Ellen Futter, President Emerita of the American Museum of Natural History. “This opening represents a milestone moment for the Museum in its ongoing efforts to improve science literacy while highlighting for our visitors everything the Museum has to offer, and sparking wonder and curiosity.”

“The Gilder Center is designed to invite exploration and discovery that is not only emblematic of science, but also such a big part of being human. It aims to draw everyone in—all ages, backgrounds, and abilities—to share the excitement of learning about the natural world,” said Jeanne Gang, founding principal and partner of Studio Gang. “Stepping inside the large day-lit atrium, you are offered glimpses of the different exhibits on multiple levels. You can let your curiosity lead you. And with the many new connections that the architecture creates between buildings, it also improves your ability to navigate the Museum’s campus as a whole.”

Among its 33 connections, the Gilder Center links to some of the Museum’s most iconic Halls, including to the Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals, connected on the first floor through the dazzling Yurman Family Crystalline Pass, and to the Hall of Vertebrate Origins on the fourth floor.

The fifth and sixth floors of the Gilder Center house the Department of Ichthyology, including research spaces and specialized laboratories. These facilities complement the building’s new collections storage which houses the Museum’s ichthyology collection with more than 2.5 million research specimens, one of the world’s largest. The Museum’s Education Department is also located on these floors. (Its Richard Gilder Graduate School, the Museum offers two of the only free-standing, degree-granting programs of their kind at any museum in the U.S.: the Ph.D. program in Comparative Biology and the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Earth Science residency program.)

You can spend eons roaming about here, so it is good that there is also a new table-service restaurant within the Gilder serving contemporary American cuisine with regional and global influences, as well as beverages showcasing local breweries and vineyards (the main museum also has the lower level cafeteria). There are also two sensational gift shops in the Center.

For anyone who hasn’t been to a museum of the quality like AMNH in awhile and expect static, boring displays with complex notes, this is leaps, bounds and lightyears beyond. Even the iconic dinosaur displays have interactive, engaging elements and make key points that are most relevant to our lives. You really feel you are having a conversation with sheer genius. “State of the art” doesn’t begin to describe it.

The development of the Gilder Center facilities and exhibitions involved nearly every department in the Museum, from operations and exhibition to education and science. The core project team also includes Arup, Atelier Ten, Bergen Street Studio, BuroHappold Engineering, Davis Brody Bond (executive architect), Design & Production Museum Studio, Event Network, Hadley Exhibits, Langan Engineering, Ralph Applebaum Associates, Reed Hilderbrand, Tamschick Media+Space, AECOM Tishman, Venable LLP, and Zubatkin Owner Representation.

And when you think about it, what is so remarkable about AMNH is how what is contained here spans the entirety of history, culture, life, the natural world, the planet and even the known universe. And you get to explore it all.

All admission to the Museum is by timed entry and must be reserved online. Open daily, 10 am–5:30 pm. New York and New Jersey residents pay a suggested amount (all the attractions though are separately priced); standard pricing is Adults: $28 for general admission, $34 plus one, $39 plus all the attractions; Seniors and students are $22, $27, $31; Child 3-012 is $16, $20, $24.

The American Museum of Natural History, founded in 1869 with a dual mission of scientific research and science education, is one of the world’s preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The Museum encompasses more than 40 permanent exhibition halls, galleries for temporary exhibitions, the Rose Center for Earth and Space including the Hayden Planetarium, and the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. The Museum’s scientists draw on a world-class permanent collection of more than 34 million specimens and artifacts, some of which are billions of years old, and on one of the largest natural history libraries in the world.

American Museum of Natural History,200 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024, 212-769-5606. Visit amnh.org for more information.

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Going Places, Far & Near

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