Looking for a fun new cultural activity but not sure what to check out next? We’ve rounded up some of the highlights that you can experience for free this month with Culture Pass, from new exhibition openings to limited-run live performances. Check back each month for a new set of recommendations!
You can learn more about individual exhibitions and events by clicking the links in the blurbs below, but if you want to book a Culture Pass, click here to return to the homepage and log in with your library card to make a reservation.
January 2025
All offers listed below are subject to availability.
EVENT: Take the Kids to MCNY for Art Deco Activities
Dates: 1/4, 1/5, 1/11, 1/12, 1/18, 1/19, 1/25, 1/26
Families with kids ages 5-12 can head to the Museum of the City of New York every Saturday and Sunday this month for drop-in Art Deco activities at the NYC Discovery Lab, including a scavenger hunt and the chance to design and collage your own Art Deco building. Participants will learn all about the Art Deco style and its influence on New York City from fashion to architecture.
SCREENING: Catch a Movie at Film Forum
Dates: 1/6, 1/7, 1/13, 1/14
Film Forum will offer free Culture Passes to screenings of two new movies this month. The Last Republican (1/6 & 1/7), director & screenwriter Steve Pink's (HOT TUB TIME MACHINE, HIGH FIDELITY) profile of former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, ponders why heroes are in such short supply in American politics. In Oceans Are the Real Continents (1/13 & 1/14), debut filmmaker Tommaso Santambrogio renders the ache of leaving and being left behind.
EXHIBITION: Don't Miss a Truly Enlightening Show at The Met
Date: Closing 1/12
A mandala is a diagram of the universe—a map of true reality that in Tibet is used to conceptualize a rapid path to enlightenment. Through over 100 artifacts and works of art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition Mandalas: Mapping the Buddhist Art of Tibet serves as a dazzling visual experience that provides a roadmap for understanding Himalayan Buddhist worship, juxtaposed with a newly commissioned contemporary installation by Tibetan artist Tenzing Rigdol.
EXHIBITION: See a True Spectacle at ICP
Date: Opening 1/23
A new show opening later this month at the International Center of Photography will explore the career of celebrated photographer Weegee (born Arthur Fellig). With his body of work often divided into two distinct phases—one gritty, the other glamorous—Weegee captured sensationalist images of crime scenes and harrowing events across New York City in the 1930s and ‘40s, as well as the joyful crowds, premieres, and celebrities of Hollywood. Weegee: Society of the Spectacle aims to reconcile these two sides.
PERFORMANCE: Celebrate the Fusion Groups of the Late 60s and 70s at The Jazz Gallery
Date: 1/23
human music is jazz pianist and composer Sam Towse’s fusion group, born from his love of fusion groups from the late 60s and 70s. The group emphasizes exploration through simplicity, and will bring its genre-defying improvisational and atmospheric soundscapes to The Jazz Gallery later this month.
EXHIBITION: Last Chance to See the Inaugural Brooklyn Artists Exhibition
Date: Closing 1/26
Prepare to be dazzled by the inaugural edition of The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition, illuminating the unparalleled breadth of talent in New York City's most populous borough. Uniting more than 200 artists, this major group show highlights the remarkable creativity and diversity of Brooklyn’s populace, and has served as a kick-off for the Brooklyn Museum's 200th anniversary celebration.
EXHIBITION: Explore Four Decades of Documentary Photography of the Bronx
Date: Closing 1/26
Seis del Sur’s HISTORIAS: The Stories Behind the Images is an interactive multimedia exhibition that explores the collective’s early documentary photographs of The Bronx as well as those of friends and colleagues. Their images—many unseen and stretching back decades—reshape the borough’s narrative and personalize it with anecdotes about the images on display at The Bronx County Historical Society’s Museum of Bronx History.