Cheap and Free NYC Weekend Events, May 18-20, 2012

Friday May 18, 2012

Who knew games=art? Find out more at tonight’s MOMA lecture: "Contemporary Art Forum: Critical Play—The Game as an Art Form!" 6 p.m., MOMA, 11 West 53rd Street, Theater Three (The Celeste Bartos Theater), mezzanine, The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building, $10, For more info and to buy tkts go here!

Art meets wine or wine meets art at the Michael Katz Art Preview Party and Wine Reception! 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., Serendipity Wines and Spirits, 1585 1st Ave (between 82nd and 83rd Sts.), free! (the artist himself will also be on-hand)

Veg out with the all-vegan Veggie Prom tonight! Snack on vegan goodies including desserts and snacks. Plus get your pic taken in a photo booth and win prizes for the most creative costume! Fontana’s, 105 Eldridge Street, cost: $10 in advance, $15 @ the door to benefit Mercy for Animals, buy tkts here!

Shuffle, ball, change at the Fourth Annual Tap Extravaganza in Queens! 8 p.m., Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Boulevard (at the corner of Linden Place) cost: $10 students/all others $20, buy tkts here!

Pump up the volume with the Harlem Dances “Groove with Me” a free performance offered as part of the Summer on the Hudson Program, West Harlem Piers Park, W. 125 Street, cost: free!

Also today…Free museum admission as part of Int’l Museum Day, get the “write” stuff w/free writing workshops all day! (Reservations required) and free jazz at BAMCafe!

Saturday May 19, 2012

Moms of the NYC-area unite at the 9th Annual Mamapalooza! This free outdoor festival will fearure art, mom bands, a Gymboree Play Tent, environmental info, food, vendors, and interactive activities! 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Riverside Park, W. 68th and the River, cost: free!

Hook up w/orgs in need @ the N. Brooklyn Volunteer Fair, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., McCarren Park Farmer’s Market, N. 12 St., Lorimer St., Manhattan Ave. bet. Bayard St. and Berry St., cost: free!

Bookworms of the world unite for Boek Dag (Book Day) at the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum, Brooklyn’s oldest historic house! This event is not just for kids, tho while there will be children’s authors such as Melanie Hope Greenberg and Laura Lee Gulledge on-hand as well as a crafts table for the young folk ther will also be activities for the adults in attendance. Adult authors such as Eliot Glazer and Hilary Davidson will lend a hand to the festivities! Plus fun for all ages includes a book swap, and a book cover-inspired photo booth! Feed your stomach (not your mind!) with tacos and sliders from Mike and Willie's food truck! 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wyckoff Farmhouse, Directions here, cost: free!

If you’re not tuckered out by the day’s activities, then head to a nighttime literary event in Bklyn, the Lit Crawl! More info and deets here!

“The cheese is old and moldy,” (bonus points if you get the movie reference!) Hopefully there won’t be any mold on the cheese at the Cheeses of France Pop-up Café hosted by former Top Chef contestant Ash Fulk, who will prepare "Frenchified" American fare incorporating cheese, such as grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, and dumplings. Plus Krai, an international sculptor will create a masterpiece out of cheese! 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Circle in the Square Theater, 159 Bleecker Street, cost: free!

Show your appreciation for city parks during “It’s My Park Day” at Prospect Park! “volunteers will be outfitted around New York City with paint brushes, brooms, shovels, rakes, and trash grabbers. Even with the mild winter, Prospect Park's trees still need plenty of care. Your helping hands will tend to a variety of spring cleaning projects such as: painting, weeding, litter patrol, path sweeping, and more!” This event will happen rain or shine, cost: free, but registration is required, as of this posting there were only 11 slots available, so go here and see if there are any openings left!

Go Asian for the day at the Paley Center’s screening of the original 1955 "NBC Opera Theatre: Madame Butterfly." Q and A with Elaine Malbin, Soprano ("Cio-Cio-San") who played the title role to follow screening! 2 p.m. Paley Center for Media, 25 West 52 Street, cost: free w/museum admission ($10)!

Take in free screenings of doc Vanishing of the Bees (12:15 p.m.) and Men in Black (3 p.m.) at the Sony Wonder Technology Lab, Sony Plaza at 56th Street and Madison Ave., free, but reservations rec, call (212) 833-8100 and select option 3 to save your seat!

Plus go fly a kite at the free rain-or-shine Kite Flight at the Socrates Sculpture Park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday May 19 and Sunday May 20, 2012

Celebrate the Brooklyn Bridge’s birthday with Discovery Walking Tours “by walking its length and learning its history, pausing for birthday egg creams, spinach pie and baklava in Brooklyn Hts and Cobble Hill. Stops there include Plymouth Church, the homes of Arthur Miller and Truman Capote, and the birthplace of Churchill’s mother." 2 p.m., Call 212-465-3331 for reservations and meeting place, cost: $27 (includes food)!

Trek to Queens for the LIC open Studios w/e!

Go the opposite direction for the shearing of the sheep at the Fleece Festival in Prospect Park!

Get some religion in your life by visiting NYC’s sacred sites during The New York Landmarks Conservancy’s Sacred Sites Open House!

And eat your heart out @ The 9th Ave Int’l Food Festival!

Sunday May 21, 2012

Join the LES Jewish Conservancy for their popular Lower East Side Then and Now Walking Tour! "Visit active, landmark synagogues founded by 19th century immigrants. Tour the Bialystoker Synagogue, the largest active orthodox congregation on the Lower East Side today; the exterior of Beth Hamedrash Hagadol - former home of the largest Russian-Jewish orthodox congregation in the United States; and Kehila Kedosha Janina, the only Romaniote (Greek heritage) synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. Tour Historic East Broadway, featuring Shteibl Row, settlement houses, Seward Park, Strauss Square, and more.” 11 a.m., Meet at the LESJC Kling and Niman Family Visitor Center, 400 Grand Street (between Clinton Street and Suffolk Street)! Cost: Adults $18 (in advance,+$2 day of tour) Buy tkts here! Please note the tour will not be stopping for lunch, so feel free to bring a beverage and snack to "nosh" on during the tour!


Plus the New York Marble Cemetery, will be open to the public today from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., the The Coney Island Olde Time Strongman Spectacular is happening, and celebrate all things Polenta at the Festival di Polenta!



And all w/e long…

Go out of this world with Tom Sachs: Space Program: Mars exhibit at the Park Avenue Armory, (thru June 17, 2012), enjoy "world wide fun" with events happening in conjunction w/Internet Week (thru June 21, is a picture really worth a 1000 words? Find out at the New York Photo Festival (thru June 20th,) Celebrate DanceAfrica with BAM, the NYC Popfest is a four day festival that takes place at multiple venues across the city (May 17-20,) The Brooklyn Folk Festival is going on (thru May 20), and the NYC Tattoo Convention is in town!