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Sometimes it seems like everything in New York costs too much, but in fact the city has tons of free or cheap things to do—you just need to know where to look for them. Note that NYC is at its most free in summer when there are all sorts of outdoor events, but you can find a “wealth” of freebies all year round.
Free Art
The $25 admission fee to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the $22 fee to the American Museum of Natural History, and the $16 admission to the Brooklyn Museum are actually suggested donations. Smaller donations may get some eye-rolling from the cashier, but it’s a small price to pay for access to world-famous works of art. The Museum at FIT, “the most fashionable museum in the city” at the Fashion Institute of Technology, is home to a collection of some 50,000 garments and accessories from the 18th century to the present. It’s free, off the beaten museum path, and fabulous. Another less trafficked—and free—gem, the American Folk Art Museum, features traditional folk art as well as contemporary works by self-taught artists. The museum’s diverse collection includes everything from drawings, paintings, and ceramics to mummylike sculptures, decorative furniture, and a beautifully stitched quilt made by female slaves on a Southern plantation. The National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian Institution), in a majestic Beaux Arts building on the south side of Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan, is a small museum (by New York standards), but it offers free admission as well as free music and dance performances and an extensive permanent collection of textiles, ceremonial objects, and decorative arts. Decidedly on the beaten path, and for good reason, MoMA is free on Friday between 4 and 8 pm, when the $25 entry fee is waived. Arrive as close to 4 as you can, and once you get your ticket (the line is long but fast), avoid the crowds by working your way down from the fifth floor. If you want to avoid the crowds altogether—and get ahead of the art game—take a gallery crawl in and out of the scores of galleries in Chelsea for free access to up-and-coming and superstar artists alike. Unlike major museums, galleries are rarely crowded (except for Thursday, when they often host openings with free wine and cheese). You’ll also find trendy art scenes in SoHo, and Williamsburg and Bushwick, in Brooklyn.
Free Entertainment
If you don’t see enough movie stars wandering around New York City, you can catch them on a big screen—under the stars—with a free summer flick. There are free screenings all across the five boroughs in summer, from Brooklyn Bridge Park to Bronx Terminal Market ( www.nycgovparks.org/events/free_summer_movies ). In Manhattan, take your blanket and picnic basket to Bryant Park : a tradition since 1992, watching films alfresco surrounded by tall Midtown buildings is a summertime rite of passage for New Yorkers. Be prepared to stake out a good spot on the lawn early in the day. Movie schedules are posted at www.bryantpark.org .
If you prefer live entertainment, catch tango dancers and jazz musicians outside Lincoln Center at the annual, free, monthlong Out of Doors festival, held in August. It includes more than 100 performances. You can also experience free music performances, film screenings, and artist conversations at Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium ; check the online calendar before you visit. Central Park SummerStage is your free ticket to big-name performers like Afrobeat bandleader Seun Kuti and Columbia University’s own Vampire Weekend. There are also a few concert series in Brooklyn, most notably in Prospect Park for summer’s Celebrate Brooklyn! festival.
Catch rising stars in music, drama, and dance at the Juilliard School ’s free student concerts (check www.juilliard.edu for a calendar of events). Free tickets are available at the Juilliard box office for theater performances; standby tickets are available an hour before the show.
One of the city’s most beloved events (and the hottest free ticket in town) is Shakespeare in the Park, which usually features celebrities practicing their olde-English acting skills in outdoor performances in Central Park. Get in line very early at the Public Theater for a shot at tickets, or head to the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. | www.shakespeareinthepark.org.
Like your theater a little less scripted? Get gratis giggles at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre ’s improv comedy shows, where professional comedians, including UCB cofounder and Saturday Night Live alumna Amy Poehler, are sprinkled in with amateurs during the performances. Many of the shows are just $5; some are free. | www.ucbtheatre.com.
Another way to save your pennies for dinner is to catch a free reading at one of the city’s bookstores—big (Barnes & Noble) and small (Housing Works Bookstore Café). Or you can get your fix of free words at KGB in the East Village, where authors have been reading since 1993. In Brooklyn, Pete’s Candy Store and Franklin Park (both bars) have reading series.
Free Rides
One of the best free rides in the city is on the Staten Island Ferry. A one-way trip takes 30 minutes and offers magnificent views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the southern tip of Manhattan—plus there’s inexpensive beer and snacks. Note that you have to disembark at St. George Terminal in Staten Island before your return trip. Another cheap/sometimes-free ferry sure to (ahem) float your boat is the seven-minute ferry ride from Lower Manhattan to Governors Island, a 172-acre island oasis in the heart of New York Harbor. You can visit the former military base turned sculpture park and public playground daily from late May to late September to bike, picnic, wander forts, take in views of Lower Manhattan, and enjoy a variety of cultural offerings and festivals. Ferries are free on weekend mornings and $2 round-trip (for adults) on all weekday and weekend-afternoon ferries. Give your sea legs a rest and take to the sky for an almost-free aerial ride on the Roosevelt Island Tramway. For the price of a subway ride ($2.75), you can glide over the East River on the only commuter cable in North America and score stunning city views while you’re at it. The trip takes only a few minutes (board at the East 59th Street and 2nd Avenue station) so you have plenty of time to explore Roosevelt Island and FDR Four Freedoms Park before you make the return trip.