This week the holiday season starts with Thanksgiving! Whether you want to take some time to get zen before the rush of the holidays or dive right into the festivities, here are our Untapped Picks for things to do this week in New York City:
Friday, November 16th
Take part in a mass meditation inside The Town Hall’s 1,500 seat theater with the Big Quiet. The mass meditation will be accompanied by sound bath practitioners spread throughout the aisles and a group-wide vocal toning, followed by a powerful live string orchestra and musical performances from special guests.
See the work of award-winning realist painter Hyeseung Marriage-Song at FRANKENSTEIN: KÖNFIDENTIAL, an exhibition at the Gowanus Loft co-created with author and educator Tommy Zurhellen. The exhibition is an immersive experience with curation and lighting design by George Del Barrio and large-scale paintings and monoprints inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Zurhellen’s own imaginative retelling of the classic tale and the myth of the golem. The exhibition is only on view until Sunday, November 18th.
Saturday, November 17th
Explore the abandoned hospital complex on Ellis Island with an expert guide and see all 26 site specific collages of historical photographs pasted on the decaying walls, doors, windows, floors, and furniture by world-renowned artist JR as part of his Unframed series. Untapped Cities’ Unframed JR Tour of the Abandoned Ellis Island Hospital Complex takes guests into the most off-limits spaces the hospital complex, including areas not accessible on any other tour.
Get in the holiday spirit with the opening of the 27th Annual Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden. This year will feature new replicas of the historic Battery Maritime Building, vintage ferry boats, the Battery Park Control House, the Woolworth Building, One World Trade Center, the Oculus, and the Terminal Warehouse plus a new introductory video featuring interviews with Applied Imagination staff and footage from their workshop in Alexandria, Kentucky.
Sunday, November 18th
Meet a furry friend at Petcon! This Javits Center convention will feature meet and greets with famous pets like Crusoe the Celebrity Dachshund and The Klaus Cat, as well as panels on subjects like pet adoption, interactive activities and booths from innovative animal care brands. The best part is that you can bring home a new pet from the dog adoption garden or adoptable cat cafe!
Don a hard hat and do some urban exploration on Untapped Cities’ Behind-the-Scenes Tour of the Abandoned Ellis Island Hospital complex. Once the standard for United States medical care, the 22-building compound has been left to decay for nearly 60 years. Now, Untapped Cities is bringing you exclusive access to the site where you will visit the contagious disease wards, the autopsy rooms, laundry facilities, and other areas usually closed to the public.
Behind-the-Scenes Hard Hat Tour of the Abandoned Ellis Island Hospital
Monday, November 19th
See a presentation of plans for the renovation and additions proposed for the The Frick Collection at Open House New York’s Projects in Planning: The Frick Collection at the SVA Theatre. This event is part of OHNY’s Project Planning series where the public is invited to explore a single project in its early stages of development and learn how major projects in New York City are designed and built. The Frick groundbreaking is anticipated in 2020.
Hear from Brooklyn’s best slap poets at BRIC’s monthly Brooklyn Poetry Slam. The event, hosted by poet, activist, and educator Mahogany L. Browne with music by poet and educator DJ Jive Poetic, brings together Brooklyn’s best slam poets for a monthly gathering of words and wisdom. The Slam is followed by an Open Mic, where anyone who arrives early and signs up can make their voice heard! This month’s featured poet is Jon Sands.
Wednesday, November 21st
Watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons get inflated! This year you can watch sixteen giant character helium balloon stars, and forty-three novelty/ornament balloons, balloonicles (Macy’s invented hybrid balloon and vehicle), balloonheads and trycaloons (Macy’s invented hybrid tandem bicycle and balloon) get filled, inspected, and tethered in preparation for the big day. The inflation will be open to the public from 1:00pm to 8:00pm and can only be accessed at 73rd Street and Columbus Avenue.
Catch the premiere of The World Before Your Feet, a new documentary film that follows Matt Green as he journeys to walk every street of all five boroughs in New York City, a trip that measures over 8,000 miles and has taken over six years. Green gave up his job and his apartment to take on this exploration of our endlessly fascinating city.
Thursday, November 22nd
RONALD McDONALD® by McDonald’s® Photograph Courtesy of Macy’s, Inc.
Watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from the comfort of your home or claim a spot along the parade route which runs from 76th Street and Central Park West down to Columbus Circle, crosses town on Central Park South and then heads south down Fifth Avenue to the Macy’s at Herald Square. New figures you will see floating in the skies this year are Goku, the first anime star, and the elves from Netflix’s “The Christmas Chronicles.” The parade starts at 9 AM!