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NYC.com's guide to arts and attractions features comprehensive cultural listings on all New York museums, galleries, classical & opera, dance, universities, parks, parades & festivals, historic city sites, beaches, gardens and hundreds of other venues. Don't miss our list of top must-see sites!

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Lincoln Center - Alice Tully Hall

Upper West Side

After a stunning $59 million renovation, the 80,000-square-foot Alice Tully Hall, the home of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, reopened in February 2009. Alice Tully Hall is located at the northwest corner of 65th Street and Broadway and also features the charming at65 Cafe. Named after a former opera singer and vocal recitalist who agreed to help finance a chamber music hall on condition that it have exemplary acoustics and comfort, the Chamber Music Society's inaugural concert on September 11, 1969 marked the opening of its home, Alice Tully Hall.

Tribeca Film Festival

Tribeca

The Tribeca Film Institute successfully launched the First Annual Tribeca Film Festival in 2002. Created by Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro, the mission of the Tribeca Film Festival is to enable the international film community and the general public to experience the power of film by redefining the film festival experience. The Tribeca Film Festival was founded to celebrate New York City as a major filmmaking center and to contribute to the long-term recovery of lower Manhattan. After only 120 days of planning and with the help of more than 1,300 volunteers, the inaugural Festival became a critical and popular success and was the springboard for what is now one of the leading annual film festivals in the world. Through the years, hundreds of native films have made their world premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival, with generally half of the festival's total screenings making their debut. The obscurely independent find themselves screening alongside legendary directors like Woody Allen, and while the quantity of films has decreased in recent years, the quality has risen with a more closely curated schedule of the city's true best and brightest. No genre is out of bounds for the home-spun festival, and even established foreign films—some Oscar-winners, at that—have found a place in the hallow program of the festival. The Tribeca Film Festival takes place in various locations throughout Lower Manhattan, although a great deal of screenings occur at the Tribeca Cinema. A full list of Festival venues and a schedule is available at their official website.

Metropolitan Opera

Upper West Side

The Metropolitan Opera has been one of the world’s leading opera companies since its opening in 1883. Originally housed on Broadway and 39th Street, The Met moved to its current home at Lincoln Center in 1966. Since its inception, The Met has engaged many of the world’s most significant artists, and continues to strive for musical and dramatic excellence. Now celebrating its 125th season, The Metropolitan Opera continues to present the best available talent from around the world, and also concentrates on training artists through its Lindemann Young Artists Development Program and National Council Auditions. The opera house is equipped with the finest of technical facilities. The renowned “Met Titles”, a unique system of simultaneous translation, appear on individual computerized screens at every seat in the opera house.

Dia: Beacon

Brockway

Dia:Beacon is a museum for Dia Art Foundation's renowned collection of art from the 1960s to the present. Located on the Hudson River in Beacon, New York, Dia:Beacon occupies a nearly 300,000-square-foot historic printing factory and includes work from Andy Warhol, Richard Serra, Walter De Maria, Dan Flavin, Joseph Beuys, Agnes Martin, Hanne Darboven and other select artists. Each artist’s work is displayed in a dedicated gallery or galleries: in many cases these presentations were created in collaboration with the artists themselves.

Lincoln Center - David Geffen Hall - New York Philharmonic

Upper West Side

David Geffen Hall is home to the New York Philharmonic and is located at the northern end of the Lincoln Center Plaza, with main entrances facing the Plaza'a main fountain. New York Philharmonic concerts begin promptly at the announced starting time. Ticketholders who come late will not be seated in the hall until after the conclusion of the first work on the program. We suggest you arrive 20 to 30 minutes before the concert is scheduled to begin. That will give you ample time to find your seat, relax, read the Program Notes, and watch the musicians as they take the stage. Designed by Max Abramovitz, the hall opened in 1962 as the new home concert venue of the New York Philharmonic. In 1973 the hall was renamed for Avery Fisher, a member of the Philharmonic board of directors, following his $10.5 million donation to the orchestra, and in 2015 renamed for David Geffen after his generous support. The hall has a capacity of 2,738 seats, larger then originally intended, and the acoustics have been a source of controversy over the years. Robert C. Ehle succinctly states the issues surrounding the acoustics: "The seating capacity is large (around 2,600 seats) and the sidewalls are too far apart to provide early reflections to the center seats. The ceiling is high to increase reverberation time but the clouds are too high to reinforce early reflections adequately. The bass is weak because the very large stage does not adequately reinforce the low string instruments." In order to address the acoustic deficiencies as well as modernize some of the amenities, the hall is slated to undergo renovations in 2017. The shell of the building will be left intact and work will focus on improving the hall’s poor acoustics, modernizing patron amenities and reconfiguring the auditorium. The hall is accessible through automated doors from the Josie Robertson Plaza, via the accessible ramp on the corner of 65th Street and Columbus Avenue, and from the handicapped parking area in the Lincoln Center Park-and-Lock Garage. Elevators on the concourse level, located to the left of the Cork Gallery from the West 65th Street entrance to the garage, provide access to the David Geffen Hall Box Office, Josie Robertson Plaza, and all levels of the concert hall. Security guards are posted in the area and available to assist all patrons. Open 1 hour before showtime through intermission nightly and during matinees. The hall also features full-service bars with cocktails, wine, beer, coffee, sandwiches and snacks in the Promenade lobby.

New York Botanical Garden

Bronx Park

A tranquil oasis of around 250 acres in the Bronx, the New York Botanical Garden was established in the late 19th century. Visit the stunning and recently-renovated Enid A. Haupt Conservatory to take "an eco-tour of the world under glass" or wander around the sprawling 47 gardens and plant collections. You might also check out the largest Herbarium in the Western Hemisphrere, which has over six million plant specimens. And don't miss the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, which won the 1999's President's Award for the most outstanding All-America Rose Selections. The new International Plant Science Center is includes the new William and Lynda Steere Herbarium and the renovated and expanded LuEsther T. Mertz Library, the largest plant-research collections of their kind in the Western Hemisphere and crucial resources for scientists the world over. The state-of-the-art facilities of the new International Plant Science Center will ensure that the Garden remains at the forefront of biodiversity research and that its research collections are preserved and accessible for generations to come.

Museum of Sex

Midtown East

The mission of the Museum of Sex is to preserve and present the history, evolution, and cultural significance of human sexuality. In its exhibitions, programs and publications, The Museum of Sex is committed to open discourse and exchange, and to bringing to the public the best in current scholarship. The Museum's exhibition schedule changes frequently, and we encourage you to visit their website for up-to-date information. Aside from frequent exhibitions, the Museum is home to the Ralph Whittington Collection. Ralph Whittington, who recently retired as a curator at the Library of Congress after 38 years of service, was a major force in acquiring and documenting pornography since the 1970s. Since picking up a pocket-size magazine on a second-grade school trip to Baltimore, he has known of his interest in the subject, and 'came out' as a collector about twenty years ago. His collection, which includes more than four hundred 8-millimeter films, 700 videos, 1,500 magazines, 100 books, and artifacts such as blow-up dolls and bawdy house coins, has been recently acquired by the Museum of Sex.

Statue of Liberty

Few brief ferry trips can be more exciting; departing from Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan, both the spectacular New York skyline and the magnificent Statue of Liberty loom large in the distance. A potent symbol of freedom and democracy, the Statue was a gift from the French people to the people of the United States, and was dedicated in 1886. After a short walk around the base of the Statue, head to the Statue of Liberty Museum, located inside the pedestal. An elevator goes as high up as the top of the pedestal inside the Statue, and before 9/11 visitors could climb the seemingly endless 354 steps—approximately 22 stories—to the Statue's crown. The walk up was definitely for the intrepid or strong-willed, especially in the hot summer months. Ferry service leaves Battery Park every 30 minutes from 8:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. every day. Note that one round trip ferry ticket includes visits to both Liberty and Ellis islands and that there can be long lines and waiting periods in the busy summer months. For further info on the ferry service please call: 877-LADY-TIX.

United Nations

Midtown East

The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, and some four years later the cornerstone was laid for the present UN Headquarters in New York City. While television has captured famous scenes of debate from both the General Assembly and Security Council, much behind-the-scenes diplomacy occurs every day among delegates from the nearly 190 member states as well as between the numerous international organizations and international civil servants of the UN. In addition, translating the many words spoken and printed here is done by an amazingly dedicated staff of professionals. Some of the more well-known sights to see include the Chagall Stained-Glass Window, the Norman Rockwell Mosaic, the Chinese Ivory Carving, Japanese Peace Bell, Swords into Plowshares Sculpture, and the UN Post Office. After the tour, get your souvenir stamps and have them cancelled at the UN's own post office, visit the book store and coffee shop, and don't forget to get your picture taken outside with the flags of the world! The sad reality of the current state of the Secretariat building, however, is that it urgently needs renovations and a modern heating-cooling system. It remains to be seen as to when and whether the entire UN will pick up and temporarily move to Brooklyn while multi-year renovations take place. The Visitors' Entrance is located on First Avenue at 46th Street. The building is closed on some holidays including Thanksgiving Day (usually fourth Thursday in November), Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. A limited schedule may be in effect during the general debate of the General Assembly (mid-September to mid-October), between Christmas and New Year, and during special conferences and events. For general information on tours call: (212) 963-TOUR (8687). For tours in languages other than English, call: (212) 963-7539 on the day you plan to visit. For group reservations call: (212) 963-4440; write to the Group Programmes Unit, Room GA-56, United Nations, NY 10017; fax (212) 963-0071; or e-mail: [email protected].

Rose Center for Earth and Space (Hayden Planetarium)

Upper West Side

The Frederick Phineas & Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space is one of the most talked about additions to the NYC cultural scene in the last decade. Clad in almost an acre of glass, the Hayden Sphere can look like a strange visitor from outerspace, rather than a window into it. The Planetarium is unlike any other such facility in the world. In the top half of the Hayden Sphere, the most technologically advanced Space Theater in existence uses advanced visual technology (including a customized, one-of-a-kind Zeiss Star Projector) to create shows of unparalleled sophistication, realism, and excitement. With this high-definition system, the Hayden Planetarium is the largest and most powerful virtual reality simulator in the world. The bottom half of the Hayden Sphere houses the "Big Bang," where visitors can experience a dramatic, multisensory re-creation of the first moments of the universe. From here, visitors continue on an awe-inspiring journey that chronicles the evolution of the universe by following the Harriet and Robert Heilbrunn Cosmic Pathway — a sloping walkway that takes them through 13 billion years of cosmic evolution.

Times Square

Theater District

From the hustle of the Port Authority Bus Terminal to the bustle of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street, much of New York’s dazzling vibrancy and energy emanates from this area stretching from Times Square to Central Park South. Packed with theaters, tourist attractions and tall office buildings, the buzz and glow of the city are most obvious amid the huge neon signs, giant wraparound news tickers and Broadway marquees. For Times Square New Years information, read below. For a list of Hotels at or near Times Square, click HERE. Times Square New Year Info 5:00 p.m. If you want to be in the thick of the celebration, arrive early and dress appropriately! You should wear warm winter clothing, especially warm socks and a hat, and ideally carry with you a hot beverage in a thermos. Average temperatures for this event are typically 32°F or 0°C. Revelers start arriving late in the afternoon on New Year's Eve. By approximately 6:00 p.m., the Bow Tie of Times Square (42nd to 47th Sts. Between Broadway & 7th Ave.) is fully closed to traffic. Revelers are directed by the NYPD to gather in separate viewing sections. As one section fills up, the revelers are directed by police to the next viewing section. As the evening progresses, revelers continue to fill the Times Square neighborhood along Broadway and Seventh Avenue. 6:00 p.m. At approximately 6 pm, the raising and lighting the Times Square New Year's Eve Ball takes place. The lighting and raising of the New Year's Eve Ball traditionally kicks off the evening's events. The New Year's Eve Ball is lit by Con Edison and raised to its highest position on the flagpole at One Times Square, marking the official beginning of Times Square 2003. Music will continue throughout the evening marked by hourly countdoewns. 6:58 p.m. Hourly Video Countdown Begins! And don't worry, you will know when the New Year is close at hand. Two minutes of sound effects and music culminate in a 30-second video countdown on giant Panasonic Astrovision screens mark the end of each hour. The music and sound effects are heard using a wireless surround sound system specially engineered for the Times Square New Year's Eve celebration. 9:30 p.m The Times Square BID sanitation crews clad in bright red uniforms distribute tens of thousands of fun handouts to the assembled revelers for cheering in the New Year. The handouts include pom-poms, balloons. confetti Bags, single-use cameras, and American flags. 10:00 p.m. Beginning at 10:00 p.m., a live video feed of the celebration in Times Square is sent to broadcasters worldwide via fiber and via satellite at 11:15 p.m. This video feed will be carried by Crosswalks TV in Manhattan and Channel 74 on Time Warner Cable. 10:30 p.m. The Times Square wireless surround sound system begins running continuously to heighten the excitement of the rapidly approaching New Year. 11:59 p.m. At one minute to midnight, the Mayor and the Times Square 2003 Special Guest push the Waterford crystal button that signals the final sixty-second countdown prior to the Ball Lowering. The Countdown Stage is located at the center island on Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets. The lighted Ball descends 77 feet in sixty seconds. The Ball is a geodesic sphere, six feet in diameter, weighing approximately 1,070 pounds. The Ball is covered with 504 Waterford crystal triangles, 696 multicolored Philips light bulbs, 96 high intensity strobe lights, and 90 rotating pyramid mirrors. 12:00 a.m. -- New Year's Day!! Marking the New Year at the stroke of Midnight, the light bulbs on the New Year's Eve Ball are turned off as the numerals of the New Year burst to life shining high above Times Square. The world-famous New Year's Eve confetti is released from rooftops of buildings throughout Times Square as the revelers celebrate the New Year. For More Info Visitors to Times Square can receive transportation instructions and general information for this event by calling (212) 768-1560 or by visiting the Times Square Visitors Center located on Broadway between 46th and 47th Streets (open 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. daily).

Cooper Union

NoHo

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, established in 1859, is among the nation's oldest and most distinguished institutions of higher learning. The college, the legacy of Peter Cooper, occupies a special place in the history of American education. It is the only private, full-scholarship college in the United States dedicated exclusively to preparing students for the professions of art, architecture and engineering.

Denise Bibro Fine Art

Chelsea

Specializing in contemporary established and emerging artists. Also specializing in art advisory services to both artists and collectors. •Presentation •Promotion •Estate Sales •Art Placement Art Appraisal Services-Contemporary Art and General Properties

New School University

Greenwich Village

New School University is an innovative educational institution founded as a bastion of intellectual and artistic freedom. At the New School, education is seen as a tool to produce positive changes in society. The University excels at providing transformative ideas and skills to its students. Education and research at New School University are guided by a linkage of theory and practice, and members of the University community are committed to working towards a more equitable, peaceful world. The New School pioneered the idea of lifelong University-level education for adult students. Today, it is a residential university in which 7,000 students are enrolled in graduate and undergraduate degree programs. Celebrated for its social science, humanities and public policy initiatives, New School University has grown into one of the largest arts education resources in the nation, and the majority of degree students register in arts programs The founders of the New School supported controversial ideas and opposed the curtailment of free inquiry at their own universities. Visionaries all, they probably could not have foreseen that their "new school" would take root and thrive, much less grow into a large, diversified urban university that would continue to embrace their mission. That this occurred testifies not only to the prescience of their original idea, but also to the dedication of many hundreds of innovative teachers and generous patrons who have sustained it and built upon it for more than eight decades.

Gagosian Gallery Chelsea — West 24th Street

Chelsea

Since it's origins in 1980 as a small Los Angeles gallery specializing in modern and contemporary art, Gagosian Gallery has evolved into a global art octopus devouring the contemporary art world. Gagosian rivals many public institutions in terms of breadth and reach and maintains multiple distinct exhibition spaces in multiple cities and countries. Gagosian Madison Avenue opened in New York in 1989 and has expanded to occupy three floors of the building. The versatile gallery complex on West 24th Street in New York, which opened in 1999, was joined by a spectacular gallery on West 21st Street, both designed by Richard Gluckman. In 2013, a specialist bookshop and adjoining gallery opened at 976 Madison Avenue. A storefront gallery, Park & 75, opened in the spring of 2014. Over the last three decades, Gagosian Gallery has presented an unparalleled program of exhibitions by legendary figures such as Richard Artschwager, Francis Bacon, Max Beckmann, Constantin Brancusi, Alexander Calder, John Chamberlain, Willem de Kooning, Walter De Maria, Alberto Giacometti, Arshile Gorky, Mike Kelley, Roy Lichtenstein, Kazimir Malevich, Piero Manzoni, Claude Monet, Henry Moore, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Egon Schiele, David Smith, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, and Franz West. Such programming attracts remarkable crowds: "Picasso: Mosqueteros" (Gagosian New York, 2009) drew 100,000 visitors, while "Picasso: The Mediterranean Years (1945–1962)" (Gagosian London, 2010) received more than 60,000 visitors. Major exhibitions in New York in 2012 included a retrospective of the work of Lucio Fontana, and the monumental photographic murals and related photographs of Richard Avedon. In 2013 a major survey of more than 50 paintings by the late Jean-Michel Basquiat attracted 85,000 visitors to the West 24th Street gallery. Together with its distinguished historical program, Gagosian presents a roster of ambitious exhibitions by the world’s most acclaimed living artists, including Georg Baselitz, Cecily Brown, John Currin, Urs Fischer, Mark Grotjahn, Andreas Gursky, Damien Hirst, Jasper Johns, Anselm Kiefer, Jeff Koons, Yayoi Kusama, Sally Mann, Brice Marden, Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, Ed Ruscha, Jenny Saville, Richard Serra, Cindy Sherman, Rudolf Stingel, Mark Tansey, Tatiana Trouvé, Rachel Whiteread, and Christopher Wool. The exhibitions are accompanied by beautifully designed scholarly catalogues and monographs. Gagosian also publishes catalogues raisonnés on several key artists, as well as a vibrant quarterly magazine for its global constituency.

Museum Mile Festival

New York City has officially designated Fifth Avenue from 82nd to 104th Streets as "Museum Mile" because of the vast richness and diversity of the cultural institutions found there. The third Tuesday of every June is the Annual Museum Mile Festival. In the past two decades, well over one million people have taken part in this annual celebration where Fifth Avenue closes to traffic and becomes a walker's haven. Festival attendees can visit nine of New York City's finest cultural institutions for FREE that evening, while also enjoying various street entertainors and free live music. The museums along the mile are: 104th Street El Museo del Barrio (212) 831-7272 103rd Street Museum of the City of New York (212) 534-1672 94th Street International Center of Photography (212) 860-1777 92nd Street The Jewish Museum (212) 423-3200 91st Street Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution (212) 849-8400 89th Street National Academy of Design (212) 369-4880 88th Street Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (212) 423-3500 83rd Street Goethe Institut New York/German Cultural Center (212) 439-8700 82nd Street The Metropolitan Museum of Art (212) 535-7710

Columbia University

Morningside Heights

Columbia University was founded in 1754 as King’s College by royal charter of King George II of England. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States. The Royal Charter formally establishing King’s College in 1754 defined the institution’s goal as “the Instruction and Education of Youth in the Learned Languages and Liberal Arts and Sciences.” This mandate has not essentially changed, even with the transformation of King’s College into Columbia, one of the world’s foremost research universities. Columbia’s undergraduate curriculum combines the breadth of learning provided by general education courses with the solid mastery of a discipline achieved through a major. And, because Columbia is a great research university as well as a small liberal arts college, students with the will and ability to pursue their majors to the highest levels of scholarly sophistication are free to do so.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Upper West Side

The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is the world's largest cultural complex. The 12 world-renowned independent resident companies that make up the Lincoln Center represent the very best in the performing arts today. Their world famous festival, "Lincoln Center Presents" has more than 350 live performances each year through six distinguished performance programs which bring music, opera, theater, dance, puppetry, circus, and cultural expression from around the globe to Lincoln Center stages. The Lincoln Center Tours (which include The Met) are given every day. They sometimes, but not always, include part of the auditorium. Please call for more information. For detailed information on each Lincoln Center venue, including schedules and Box Office hours, please visit the following links: 1. New York State Theater (David H. Koch Theater) 2. Damrosch Park 3. Metropolitan Opera House 4. New York Public Library for the Performing Arts 5. Vivian Beaumont Theater & Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater 6. David Geffen Hall 7. Josie Robertson Plaza 8. Milstein Plaza 9. Alice Tully Hall 10. The Juilliard School 11. Samuel B. & David Rose Building Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, 10th Floor The Clark Studio Theater, 7th Floor 12. Walter Reade Theater

Bronx Zoo

West Farms

From the Sea Bird Colony to the Butterfly Zone, the World of Reptiles to the Himalayan Highlands, through Africa, Wild Asia and the Congo Rain Forest with Congolese gorillas, visiting the Bronx Zoo is like to travelling through the world’s nature zones. You’ll find a Sky Fari and Children's Zoo as well as paths that lead from gazelles and giraffes to ostriches, elephants, and every other imaginable animal from axis deer to zebras. Since the Bronx Zoo is so big--it's home to over 6,000 animals and covers 265 wooded acres that reflect the animals’ natural habitats--there's a Zoo Shuttle and Bengali Express Monorail to help you get around. Wildly popular are the Butterfly Zone and Congo Rain Forest with Congolese gorillas; the 1,000 butterflies and moths are now complemented by a new butterfly garden. The Gorilla Forest’s 6.5 acre habitat features one of the largest breeding groups of Western lowland gorillas in the USA. It has its own special website where you can even take a virtual tour! The Zoo itself hearkens back to 1895, when the New York Zoological Society was founded. Now called the Wildlife Conservation Society, with its headquarters at the Bronx Zoo, the Society also administers the New York Aquarium, and the wildlife centers in Central Park, Queens, and Prospect Park. The Bronx Zoo is now a smoke free environment. No pets, radios, bikes, skateboards or scooters. Blind, visually impaired and hearing-impaired visitors may be accompanied by properly harnessed guide animals. ADA maps are available at all gates. Some basic tips for your visit: At 265 acres, the Bronx Zoo is the biggest urban zoo in the country -- you can't see it all in one day! Study the map of exhibits before going and plan your day around the animals you most want to see. Cafeterias and food stands are located throughout the Zoo. Stuff to leave at home: rollerskates, rollerblades, skateboards, scooters, bicycles, radios, boomboxes, tape or CD players, AND THE FAMILY PET (dog, cat, lizard, or whatever) since pets are not allowed in the Zoo! Wear comfortable shoes! There's a lot of ground to cover here. If you want to avoid crowds and school groups, plan your visit for non-holiday Mondays, Saturday or Sunday mornings, or most weekdays after 1 p.m. (by that time, most visiting school groups are gone). Avoid Wednesdays (admission is by donation that day, and the zoo is always packed!)

Prospect Park

Park Slope

Every visitor to New York has heard about Central Park, but Brooklyn's massive Prospect Park rightfully deserves its fame. Featuring fantastic events, green spaces, and the famous Grand Army Plaza arch at the main entrance to the Park, built in 1892, the "Jewel of Brooklyn" receives more than six million visitors annually. Visit the magnificant 1905 Beaux-Arts boathouse, currently under renovation, or rent a pedal boat and glide across the 60-acre Lake Prospect. Take a stroll in the 90-acre Long Meadow or take the kids for a ride on the historic 1912 wooden carousel, brought from Coney Island in 1952. Whatever options you'll choose, enjoy some time in the quiet, wide-open spaces of Prospect Park.

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