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.
July 2024
All offers listed below are subject to availability.
EXHIBITION: Brighten Up Your Day at BBG
Date: Tuesday-Sunday
Spring's cherry blossoms are an iconic site at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, but summer is an equally splendid time of year for a walk in the garden. Grab a Culture Pass for BBG this month and spend the afternoon amidst the flowers. You can get a preview of what's in bloom now, or read up on summer highlights like the Cranford Rose Garden (pictured) on the garden's website.
PERFORMANCE: Get Your Groove On at the New Victory Theater
Date: 7/11, 7/18, & 7/25
Hosted by teaching artists and thoughtfully curated specifically for young audiences, the New Victory Theater's summer dance program will showcase a mixed bill of acclaimed NYC-based dance companies—three per program, nine in total—and features an interactive Talk-Back with the dancers and choreographer. Click for details on who's performing at Program A (7/11), Program B (7/18), and Program C (7/25).
SCREENING: Attend a Foreign Film Festival at the Japan Society
Date: 7/13 & 7/20
The Japan Society, located a stone's throw from the UN in Midtown Manhattan, will offer Culture Passes to two presentations of short films during this month's JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film. Catch screenings of Mayu Nakamura's Hail Mary, Kimi Yawata's Wife’s Power Outage, and Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi's Bottle George (pictured) at Shorts Program 1. Or check out Eri Saito's Social Circles, Toru Masuyama's Parking Area, and anime legend Rintaro's Nezumikozo Jirokichi at Shorts Program 2 the following week.
EXHIBITION: Discover Unknown Pleasures at the Society of Illustrators
Date: Closing 7/13
There are just a few weeks left to catch the Society of Illustrators' exhibition Unknown Pleasures: The Art of Tomer Hanuka. Hanuka's latest book, Unknown Pleasures, showcases a culmination of a visual language shaped by his Middle Eastern childhood, the graphic boom of 80s sci-fi, and a captivating relationship with color.
EXHIBITION: Explore How the Great Migration Reshaped Modern Art at the Met
Dates: Closing 7/28
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's groundbreaking exhibition The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism explores the comprehensive and far-reaching ways in which Black artists portrayed everyday modern life. Among the 160 artworks featured are pieces by Charles Alston, Meta Warrick Fuller, and Archibald Motley shown in direct juxtaposition with portrayals of international African diasporan subjects by European counterparts ranging from Henri Matisse to Edvard Munch.
EXHIBITION: Shift Your Perspective at The Jewish Museum
Date: Closing 7/28
The exhibition Frederick Kiesler: Vision Machines, on view at The Jewish Museum through the end of the month, is a concise yet rich examination of Frederick John Kiesler’s experimental design practice. A selection of approximately 100 drawings, photographs, and research studies, as well as the never before realized construction of Kiesler’s Mobile Home Library, illuminate the artist's attempts to grasp human vision, record dreams, and to correlate libraries, information, images, and consciousness.