CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS GROUP PRESENTS
SEVEN DAYS OF SUMMER
From events and exhibits, live and virtual, across all five boroughs, New Yorkers and tourists alike are invited to spend ‘seven days of summer’ engaging with culture and art as “NYC Reawakens”
NEW YORK, NY (July 12, 2021) – The Cultural Institutions Group is pleased to announce ‘7 Days of Summer,’ a collection of events, screenings, performances, exhibits, and educational programming taking place across the city, encouraging New Yorkers to explore their city as a tourist, and inviting tourists to explore NY like a local. #ItsTimeForNYC #NYCReawakens
By no means is this list exhaustive. If you have further questions, please reach out to CIG Communications Chair, Sheryl Victor Levy at svlevy@mcny.org, CIG coordinator, Cristina Coleman, ccoleman@wcs.org or the institutions themselves.
EVENTS
Beyond Sight: The Shadow of the Sun
Wave Hill
Tuesday, July 13
12:30-2pm, Virtual, free
“Beyond Sight” is an ongoing series of conversations between exhibiting artists and the curatorial team at Wave Hill that provides an opportunity to learn more about an artist’s creative process and the themes within their work through non-visual ways of experiencing art. Designed for visually impaired, blind and sighted guests, Beyond Sight: The Shadow of the Sun combines verbal descriptions and interpretation of select works currently on view in Glyndor Gallery. Organized by Curatorial Assistant Jesse Bandler Firestone, attendees can expect to hear about Logan’s process and learn about Bleckner and Logan’s collaborations. Participants will explore visual details of exhibited works through verbal descriptions and can take part in a conversation to deepen their engagement with Logan and the themes explored in The Shadow of The Sun.
Reopening School of the Arts
Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning
Tuesday, July 13
2-6pm, Free
An open house to celebrate relaunch of JCAL's School of the Arts; our summer semester kicks off July 17. Director of Education Juan Carlos Salinas and many of NYC's best teaching artists will greet parents and prospective students from SE Queens and beyond.
Boogie Woogie Wednesday - Russian Dance
Staten Island Children’s Museum
Wednesday, July 14
2-4pm, free with advance ticket
Enjoy a 2 hour session of free play and exploration PLUS a free interactive cultural dance performance. This week it is From Russia with love, songs, music and dance performed by dancers, singers, and musicians of Ensemble Barynya. The show will take place in front of the Museum. Blankets and low chairs are welcome for seating.
Louis Armstrong Legacy Virtual Jazz Jam (July 2021)
Flushing Town Hall
Wednesday, July 14
7pm, Free, Virtual
JULY THEME - A Jazz Tribute to the American Melting Pot: diverse music and musicians in celebration of our national holiday. Led by Carol Sudhalter and our wonderful house band featuring Joe Vincent Tranchina, Scott Neumann and Eric Lemon, the jam welcomes musicians including our jazz jammers from Queens/Long Island, as well as newcomers from around the world, to share their music, lift our spirits and honor those we have lost.
Art Workshop: Contemporary Botanical Collage with Zachari Logan
Wave Hill
Thursday, July 15
11am-2pm, $200 (Members save 10%)
Virtual
Exhibiting artist Zachari Logan returns to Wave Hill with new work that engages ideas of beauty, empirical explorations of landscape and overlapping art-historic motifs. In this two-day intensive workshop, Logan guides participants to combine observational drawing with the techniques of paper mosaic and collage, drawing on inspiration from the intricate cut-paper botanical portraits of 18th C. artist Mary Delany. Class includes a virtual tour of the current exhibition in Glyndor Gallery with the artist-instructor: The Shadow of the Sun: Ross Bleckner and Zachari Logan. All skill levels welcome. The workshop meets from 11AM to 2PM both days.
Art in the Garden: Summer Evenings
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Thursday, July 15
6:30pm, included with Garden Admission
Celebrate summer at Brooklyn Botanic Garden with music and dance performances on Thursday evenings. On July 15, join us for an Afro-Haitian dance performance with Julio Jean. Journey to the nanm (“soul” in Haitian Creole) of Afro-Haitian dance and become acquainted with the different Iwa (gods) in the vodou religion through their dances, songs, rhythms, and rituals. Featuring live accompaniment, this performance will explore the undulating movements of Yanvalu, the powerful precision of Nago, and the grace and beauty of the Kongo dance—all traditional Haitian dance forms with roots in West Africa and the South American Amazon. Presented in partnership with Cumbe Center for African and Diaspora Dance.
Moonlight & Movies | Krush Groove
Museum of the City of New York
Thursday, July 15
7:30pm, $15
Run DMC, LL Cool J, Sheila E., and the Beastie Boys are just a few among the musically star-studded cast of Krush Groove (Michael Shultz, 1985, 97 min.), which tells the tale of a fictional upstart record label helmed by Russell Walker (Blair Underwood), based on the beginnings of the legendary hip-hop label, Def Jam Records.
This is the second event in summer film screening series, inspired by the Museum's new exhibition New York, New Music: 1980 - 1986.
Carnegie Hall Citywide: Spanish Harlem Orchestra
Carnegie Hall
Friday, July 16
7pm, Free, Bryant Park
Feel the irresistible rhythms and be uplifted by the fire of salsa dura (“hard salsa”) when the Spanish Harlem Orchestra takes the stage. The three-time Grammy Award–winning salsa and Latin band’s performances are rooted in the great traditions of the barrio (New York City’s Spanish Harlem), but also break new ground with fresh approaches to the music.
Fist and Sword: The Paper Tigers (outdoor screening)
Museum of the Moving Image
Friday, July 16
Doors open at 7pm, film begins at sunset, $15 (discounts for members)
Join us for a summer evening in the Kaufman Courtyard with an outdoor screening of Tran Quoc Bao’s martial arts comedy The Paper Tigers, marking the return of the Museum's popular Fist & Sword martial-arts film series. Bring your blankets and/or lawn chairs! Please note: chairs will be available upon request for anyone who needs an accommodation. Ticketholders are welcome to arrive even earlier to explore the Museum’s galleries (open until 8:00 p.m.)
Weekend Wonders - Tik Tok Dancing Tutorial
Staten Island Children’s Museum
Saturday, July 17
1pm, free
Dancer Kiara Amoi will break down the latest Tik Tok dances so the whole family can join in the fun. This free show will take place in front of the Museum. Blankets and low chairs are welcome for seating.
Evenings in the Courtyard: Hip Hop Video Mix Party with DJ Wiz
Museum of the Moving Image
Saturday, July 17
8pm, $15 (discounts for Members)
Join us for an outdoor summer celebration featuring music and video by DJ Wiz, the creator of the official Video Mix Party! Watch, relax, groove, and dance as he “mixes and scratches” music videos LIVE in real-time, using the newest audio-visual technology, combining video classic hits of the past with today’s popular music videos. Video starts at 8:00 p.m., dancing never ends!
Family Art Project: The Brilliance of Seeds and Weeds
Wave Hill
Saturday, July 17 & Sunday, July 18
10am-1pm, free with admission
Weeds are defined for their ability to grow in the most unexpected places. Seeds are first able to take root through dispersal to grow where they will thrive. Honor the resilience of weeds and seeds through using these plant parts as materials to make paper. Illustrate the journey that these plants take, from germination to dispersal.
Science Talk: Brood X Sounding Off
Staten Island Museum
Saturday, July 17
2-3pm, free with museum admission
Join Colleen Evans, Director of Natural Science at the Staten Island Museum for a talk about how she helped collect insects for the current exhibition, Jennifer Angus, Magicicada. What is Brood X? When will we see another emergence in Staten Island and how do they make that cacophonous sound!?
Night Science Discovery Kit - Volume II
Staten Island Museum
Saturday, July 17
All Day, Virtual, free
Celebrate National Moth Week by exploring the wonders of nocturnal science with our Night Science Discovery Kit – Volume II. Available for free download starting July 17! Demystify the nocturnal world of science right from your windowsill or backyard with a downloadable kit of night science activities! With instructional videos, closer-looks, games and art activities, this interactive guidebook helps users explore the wonders of the scientific world, which comes alive when the sun goes down.
Yoga in the Gardens
Wave Hill
Sunday, July 18
10-11am, $25
Root your feet in the grass and look out upon the vistas as you enjoy a gentle yoga class with certified yoga instructor Susie Caramanica. Enjoy the gardens as the setting for your yoga practice as your find your breath and connect to the landscape. All levels welcome. Please bring a mat and be on time. This class is shine only. In the case of rain, the class is cancelled.
Garden Highlights Walk
Wave Hill
Sunday, July 18
2-2:45pm, free with admission
Join a knowledgeable Wave Hill Garden Guide on a tour of favorite garden areas and summer highlights. Severe weather cancels. Walks do not include the Conservatory at this time. Garden Highlight Walks are most appropriate for adults or young adults. Not intended for groups; maximum 5 people allowed to register together.
EXHIBITS & ONGOING
KUSAMA: COSMIC NATURE
April 10 – October 31
Free with admission
Contemporary Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is one of the most popular artists in the world, drawing millions to experience her immersive installations.
Exclusively at NYBG, Kusama reveals her lifelong fascination with the natural world, beginning with her childhood spent in the greenhouses and fields of her family’s seed nursery. Her artistic concepts of obliteration, infinity, and eternity are inspired by her intimate engagement with the colors, patterns, and life cycles of plants and flowers.
Free Shakespeare in the Park, Merry Wives
The Public Theater
July 6 – September 18
8pm, Free via digital lottery ticket system
We’re thrilled to return to Central Park this summer for Free Shakespeare in the Park beginning July 6 through September 18, with MERRY WIVES, a fresh and joyous adaptation by Jocelyn Bioh of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, directed by our Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director Saheem Ali.
Eric Carle’s World of Wildlife
Bronx Zoo
July 5 – August 29
Beloved books by legendary children’s author Eric Carle come to life at the Bronx Zoo this summer with live performances, music, games, and other activities.
Art in the Garden: AnkhLave Garden Project
Queens Botanical Garden
June 18 - Sept 12, included with Garden Admission
The annual AnkhLave Garden Project is a fellowship where Queens-based Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) artists create installations in a natural community space as an alternative studio and exhibition space. For the second year at Queens Botanical Garden, AnkhLave has selected five fellows to create site specific art installations within the grounds of QBG. By presenting artists and art-making in a non-traditional setting like Queens Botanical Garden, AnkhLave aims to promote artists of color who represent and reflect the Garden’s visiting audience.
Art in the Garden: Walking Broadway: Signs of Nature on the Wickquasgeck Trail by Jessica Maffia
Queens Botanical Garden
June 25 - Sept 6, included with Garden Admission
Jessica Maffia’s project follows a walk along the length of Broadway in Manhattan, the Bronx, and northward, where she photographed an element of nature on every block. The series asks the viewer to look more closely and explore the wisdom of the non-human and the poetry of the natural world.
Ohkehteau (Plants of the Earth): A Shinnecock Oral History
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
through November 7, included with Garden Admission
Plants contain a multitude of stories—botanical, medical, ecological, and more. Humans also have many stories to tell about plants. Ohkehteau (Plants of the Earth): A Shinnecock Oral History is a new exhibit and audio tour that highlights native plants around Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the ways that Indigenous peoples use and know them. On your self-guided tour, hear Chenae Bullock tell stories passed down to her and describe traditional uses for plants, including medicines that have been used for thousands of years.
Jennifer Angus: Magicicada
Staten Island Museum
July 10, 2021 – May 22, 2022
Artist Jennifer Angus presents Magicicada, taking inspiration from the museum’s collection of cicadas – one of the world’s largest. Angus has created an immersive environment to discover, full of exquisite and ornamental patterns and imaginative vignettes, unexpectedly created with hundreds of preserved insects.
The Happiness Experiment
New York Hall of Science
Thursday-Sunday all summer
Free with admission
WHAT IF YOU HAD THE ULTIMATE SUPERPOWER – CONTROL OVER YOUR OWN HAPPINESS? There is no better time than now to explore how happiness isn’t just one feeling; it is personal, unique, and can be experienced at different durations and intensities. In The Happiness Experiment, you’ll learn about the culture and science behind how and why we experience happiness. But most importantly, you’ll have fun exploring, experimenting and accepting that life doesn’t have to be perfect to find and make your own happiness! You’ll walk away with a smile and a pocketful of habits that you can apply in your own way, to inject more happiness into your life.
Tavern Terrace Beer Garden
Historic Richmond Town
Saturdays through Sept. 25
6-11pm
Free, beer & wine $6
The Tavern Terrace Beer Garden features a selection of hand-crafted ales and lagers from Staten Island's famed Flagship Brewery, delectable meal choices, and LIVE music throughout the season. Enjoy good beer, good food, good music, and cool down at Egger’s Ice Cream Historic Richmond Town with a sweet treat!
Screening of La Haine
BAM Film
July 9-15
Various times, $16 or $8 for members
This explosive tale of simmering unrest on the margins of Paris tracks 24 hours in the lives of three young men—the Jewish Vinz, the black Hubert, and the Arab Saïd—as their rage at an act of police brutality threatens to boil over into violence. A bravura feat of visceral filmmaking, now screening in a brand new 4K restoration, La Haine is a still-stunning look at the deep-rooted racial and economic injustices of French society.
Screening of The Woman Who Ran
BAM Film
July 16-29
Various times, $16 or $8 for members
The 24th feature from Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo follows a woman (Kim Min-hee) through three separate encounters while her husband is on a business trip. Young-soon (Seo Young-wha) is divorced, has given up meat, and likes to garden in her backyard. Su-young (Song Seon-mi) has a crush on her architect neighbor and is being hounded by a young poet she met at the bar. Woo-jin (Kim Sae-byuk) works for a movie theater. Their meeting is polite, but strained. Before long, their shared history bubbles to the surface.
Watercolors
Staten Island Children’s Museum
Thursday – Sundays in July
Free with admission
In their Walk in! Workshop you will be able to experiment to see how techniques such as wet on wet, wet on dry and evaporation with salt make beautiful effects with watercolors. Workshops are every 30 minutes.
About the Cultural Institutions Group (CIG)
The Department of Cultural Affairs' mission of fostering dynamic public partnerships with private cultural organizations has its most dramatic expression in its relationship with the Cultural Institutions Group (CIG). The 34 members of this group are each located on City-owned property, and receive operating support from the City to help meet basic security, maintenance, administration, and energy costs. In return for this support, these institutions operate as publicly-owned facilities whose mandate is to provide cultural services accessible to all New Yorkers.
The genesis of this public-private partnership began in 1869, with the creation of the American Museum of Natural History. Since that time, each Institution's relationship with the City has commenced in ways that reflected the City's cultural priorities of the time. Follow the @CIGNYC on Twitter and LinkedIn or go to cignyc.org.
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Press
For media inquiries please contact CIG Communications Chair Sheryl Victor Levy at svlevy@mcny.org or reached at 917-747-5920.