Take a deep dive into democracy and politics this election week, or lose yourself in the art and culture of New York City. From election night result parties to lectures on space and a releasing of fishes, here are our Untapped picks for things to do this week:

Friday, November 2nd

Photograph by Ian Douglas, Courtesy of Albertine Bookstore

Examine what democracy is and what is could be at the 5th annual Festival Albertine. This five day event brings together thinkers, authors, and artists from both sides of the Atlantic to explore this years theme of “Reimagining Democracy.” If you are an Untapped Cities Insider, you can grab a free reserved seat to one of the festival’s last panel discussions on Saturday, “Redefining Normality and Disease,” with writers Siri Hustvedt, Laure Murat, artist Johanna Hedva and two representatives of L’Oiseau Mouche Theater Company.

[mepr-show if=”rule: 518547″][uc_booking_button title=’Book Now’][/mepr-show][mepr-hide if=”rule: 518545″][uc_insider_button title=’BECOME A MEMBER TO JOIN THIS EVENT FOR FREE!’ url=’/plans/insiders/’][/mepr-hide][mepr-show if=”rule: 518546″][uc_insider_button title=’UPGRADE YOUR MEMBERSHIP TO EVENT THIS TOUR FOR FREE!’ url=’/plans/insiders’][/mepr-show]

Take a book walk through the Financial District with “Holly’s Hurricane” Author Marie Carter. Based new novel, this tour designed especially for Untapped Cities, will cover hundreds of years of history in one hour while visiting various historic sites in Lower Manhattan. Along the way, you will hear excerpts from Carter’s new novel and have the chance to ask questions and discuss the topics raised with the author. You can join this tour if you are an Untapped Cities Insider! Not an Insider yet? Become a member today to gain access to free behind-the-scenes tours and special New York City events all year long!

[mepr-show if=”rule: 518547″][uc_booking_button title=’Book Now’][/mepr-show][mepr-hide if=”rule: 518545″][uc_insider_button title=’BECOME A MEMBER TO JOIN THIS TOUR FOR FREE!’ url=’/plans/insiders/’][/mepr-hide][mepr-show if=”rule: 518546″][uc_insider_button title=’UPGRADE YOUR MEMBERSHIP TO JOIN THIS TOUR FOR FREE!’ url=’/plans/insiders’][/mepr-show]

Saturday, November 3rd

Uncover the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal on an Untapped Cities walking tour through this icon station. See inside the terminal’s hidden tennis courts, peek into the entrance of the glass walkways, learn about the major design flaw in the main atrium, discover a multi-million dollars jewel hidden in plain sight and so much more! Led by an expert New York City tour guide, guests are sure to learn something new about this nearly 150 year old terminal.

Tour of the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal

See our full list of Untapped Cities Insiders Tours and our upcoming Public Tours.

Sunday, November 4th

Join an illustrated book talk and signing with author John Freeman Gill who will talk about his novel The Gargoyle Hunters, and its encompassing theme of historic preservation, at the Society of Jewish Science/Center for Applied Judaism, hosted by the Murray Hill Neighborhood Association. Gill, a former reporter for the New York Times, will will tell the sweeping story of the creation, near demise, and ultimate salvation of some of the city’s most extraordinary architectural visages. The talk and signing will be followed by a reception with refreshments and piano music performed by Bob Dawson.

Monday, November 5th

See photographs taken by Astronaut and best-selling author Scott Kelly from his unique perspective 250 miles above the planet’s surface inside the International Space Station. Commander Kelly’s photographs will be featured in his latest book, Infinite Wonder. The images that will be presented at this American Museum of Natural History Frontiers Lecture provide both an artistic appreciation of our planet and a passionate argument for conservation. Kelly will be joined by John Logsdon, author of The Penguin Book of Outer Space Exploration.

Get ready for election day at the Brooklyn Historical Society with FiveThirtyEight Senior Political Writer Clare Malone and John Sides, professor of political science at George Washington University, as they discuss Elections in the Age of Trump, and Sides’ new co-authored new book, Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America. Identity Crisis provides a gripping, in-depth account of the 2016 presidential election from the bruising primaries, to the election night that defied the predictions of pundits and pollsters.

Tuesday, November 6th

Attend the 31st Annual Hilla Rebay Lecture at the Guggenheim. Every year the Hilla Rebay lecture series brings distinguished scholars to the Guggenheim Museum to examine significant issues in the theory, criticism, and history of art. This year’s lecture, “God, Ivory, and Gold: Vincent Van Gogh, Henry Van De Velde, and Gustav Klimt at the Cusp of Abstraction,” will he led by Debora Silverman, Distinguished Professor and University of California Presidential Chair in Modern European History, Art and Culture at the University of California, Los Angeles. The program is followed by a reception in the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed rotunda.

Watch the election results roll in at Storefront’s Critical Halloween: REAL event. This event has all the trappings of a Halloween party, like drinks and a costume contest, with an added dash of activism. Instead of tickets for admission to this event, Storefront is asking guests to become members at any level. For each membership sold, a donation will go to the Movement Voter Project in support of issues such as economic fairness, racial justice, gender equality, immigration, LGBTQ advocacy, healthcare access, and environmental sustainability through electoral change.

Wednesday, November 7th

Image Courtesy of The Green-Wood Historic Fund

Learn how staff at Green-Wood Cemetery are Preserving BrooklynNeela Wickremesinghe, Green-Wood’s Manager of Restoration and Preservation, will moderate a discussion on how Brooklyn’s past is being preserved for generations to come with panelists that include conservators, artist and architects who work in various mediums. Whether at Green-Wood, with its tens of thousands of gravestones, mausoleums, stained glass windows, and landmarked structures, or across the borough, important preservation projects are keeping Brooklyn in the forefront of the field.

Thursday, November 8th

Photograph by Melissa Rex of The River Project

Help return fishes and invertebrate to the water at the River Project’s Release of the Fishes, a beloved annual event that marks the winter closing of The River Project’s Wetlab. This year, visitors will have a rare opportunity to see Big, the largest oyster found in New York Harbor in some 100 years! Guests can also touch crabs, snails and other native invertebrates in their tanks, look at plankton under a microscope, and see blue mussels that are hooked to infrared sensors that monitor their heart rates. This is a free family event with refreshments and raffles that will take place at the end of the south side of Pier 40 at Houston and West Street in Hudson River Park from 4:00p.m. to 7 p.m.

Image via Wikimedia CommonsLibrary of Congress

Join noted Gilded Age historian, Esther Crain, for a trip back through the mists to those years when Edgar Allan Poe wandered New York City, at “Nevermore: The UWS of Edgar Allan Poe” A Landmark West! illustrated lecture. Esther will weave together historical facts, anecdotes, and imagery of the time to examine Poe’s start in Manhattan, his journey from Greenwich Village to the fields of the Upper West Side and how this “shy, solitary, taciturn sort of man” would ease his mind with long walks down through the woods to the not-yet-created Riverside Park. You can attend this event for free if you are an Untapped Cities Insider!

[mepr-show if=”rule: 518547″][uc_booking_button title=’Book Now’][/mepr-show][mepr-hide if=”rule: 518545″][uc_insider_button title=’BECOME A MEMBER TO JOIN THIS EVENT FOR FREE!’ url=’/plans/insiders/’][/mepr-hide][mepr-show if=”rule: 518546″][uc_insider_button title=’UPGRADE YOUR MEMBERSHIP TO EVENT THIS TOUR FOR FREE!’ url=’/plans/insiders’][/mepr-show]

See the paintings and works on paper created by Elaine and Willem de Kooning on view at Heather James Fine Art in their new exhibit de Kooning X de Kooning. The exhibit traces the artists’ early experimentation with abstraction and figuration with paintings and photographs from the Rudy Burckhardt family collection, and includes later works from other private collections to illustrate how their styles evolved.