NYC Parks’ annual Wreath Interpretations exhibition returned to the Arsenal Gallery, with almost 40 inventive, handcrafted wreaths on display that celebrate the holiday season. Free to the public, and on view until December 30, this year’s collection of wreaths was created by artists, designers, and creative individuals of all ages who have used inventive and unexpected materials tore-envision the traditional holiday decoration.
It’s back! Chess-In-The-Parks Rapid Open is in its 21st year. Bishop to Bethesda & 72nd! will take place on the Bethesda Terrace in Central Park on Saturday, September 17th at 11:00am.
It was announced on February 16, 2023 that the city has selected Legends Hospitality as its new operator for the iconic Loeb Boathouse in Central Park, for a 10-year term. If approved by the Franchise & Concession Review Committee (FCRC), the iconic venue will reopen to the public this summer.
Continue reading “Legends Hospitality to Reopen Central Park’s Loeb Boathouse in Summer 2023”
See New York City in 1968 through the lens of photographer Katrina Thomas with “Streets in Play”. Curated from the NYC Parks Photo Archive collection, the exhibition features more than 40 of Thomas’ photographs of “Playstreets” or residential blocks closed to traffic and equipped with recreational and cultural activities. With dynamic black-and-white images that document carless streets and children engaged in inventive and self-directed forms of play, the 1968 images speak to present-day questions of whom and what purposes city streets might serve. Where were you in 1968?
Last Saturday, June 18th, NYC Parks invited New Yorkers to meet at the Central Park Bandshell for a day of adventure. From 11am to 4pm, kids and their parents (or kids at heart) zip lined, rock climbed, paddle boarded and more at the annual Adventures NYC with the NYC Parks Department and Outside, transforming Central Park into the nation’s largest urban adventure playground.
Continue reading “Last Weekend with NYC Parks Celebrating Adventures NYC 2022 in Central Park”
The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre in Central Park is reopening on February 18! Join them for the debut of the original production Wake Up, Daisy!
Continue reading “The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre in Central Park Reopens!”
In celebration of Black History Month, NYC Parks is pleased to announce the exhibition, “The NYC Parks Renaming Project: Celebrating Black Leaders,” now on view at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park. The show highlights some of the parks and park features that the agency has recently renamed to honor the Black experience in New York City. This exhibition is presented by NYC Parks’ Art & Antiquities and Ebony Society and will be on view through February 28, 2022.
Continue reading “NYC Parks Celebrates Black Leaders in the Arsenal Gallery for Black History Month”
NYC Parks today reopens the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park with “Paul Hunter: Confinement Gardens.” Created during the COVID-19 pandemic, Paul Hunter’s series was inspired by his walks through New York City’s public parks and gardens during lockdown. As he sought refuge from these restrictions in the city’s greenspaces, he experienced the restorative power of flowers in bloom, which gave him hope despite the surrounding pandemic and political turmoil.
Public Art Fund is pleased to present British conceptual artist Gillian Wearing’s life-size bronze sculpture Diane Arbus—a tribute to the legendary photographer. Arbus was a lifelong New Yorker and often frequented Central Park, where she made photographs of everyday people. Wearing’s sculpture is on view in Doris C. Freedman Plaza at the southeast entrance to the park. It depicts Arbus with her finger on the shutter button of her iconic twin lens camera, as she might have been seen in the 1950s and 60s.
In a first for New York City, the Consulate General of France in New York, the French Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF), and the Committee of French Speaking Societies (CAFUSA) will present a special Bastille Day Celebration in Central Park on Wednesday, July 14th, beginning at 6:00pm featuring live jazz, a dance party and a new French film.
Continue reading “Celebrate Bastille Day in Central Park on July 14th!”
The Central Park Five ~ now known as The Exonerated Five ~ have worked tirelessly toward criminal justice reform since their release. Now, a permanent exhibit will be installed in the northeast part of the park in their honor, near where the teens entered on that fateful night in April, 1989. The installation will highlight a fight for justice.
NYC Parks today issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the operation and maintenance of Wollman Rink in Central Park and a separate RFP for the operation and maintenance of the Friedsam Memorial Carousel, also in Central Park.
Continue reading “NYC Parks Announces RFP’s for Central Park Carousel and Wollman Rink”
As the COVID-19 vaccine is distributed throughout New York City and the winter storm begins to fade, NYC Parks is remembering and honoring the 96th anniversary of the lifesaving Nome relay, which was completed on February 2, 1925. Following the iditarod trail, famed sled dogs Balto and Togo saved the children of Nome from a diphtheria outbreak by delivering the antitoxin to the remote Alaskan outpost, completing the last leg of a dog sled relay through blizzard conditions.
For the first time ever, NYC Parks is pleased to present its Wreath Interpretations exhibition virtually. The 38th annual exhibition rings in the holiday season with an array of nearly 40 inventive, handmade adaptations of the traditional decoration. While the Arsenal Gallery is closed, this year’s wreaths are presented in a slideshow on the agency’s website here.
Continue reading “38th Annual Wreath Interpretations, a Virtual Exhibition at Arsenal Gallery”
Michael Stewart: Reckoning, an Installation on Political Power, Greed, and the Climate Emergency is a multi-media installation created by painter, sculptor, printmaker & graphic designer, Michael Stewart., dramatizing “the heedless greed and political malfeasance which has brought us to the brink of an environmental catastrophe.” In this work, he focuses on the devastating impact the current U.S. administration is having on environmental policies. On view for one night, October, 17th in Central Park.
Today, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) announced the launch of Seneca Village Unearthed, an online exhibit and collection of artifacts from what was once New York City’s largest community of free African-American landowners. Seneca Village was located in what is now Central Park, a scenic landmark. Through this online exhibit and collection, the general public will for the first time have access to nearly 300 artifacts and get a glimpse of what life was like for Seneca villagers in the mid-19th century.
Presented by NYC Parks, the Olympic Regional Development Authority, I Love NY, and I Ski NY, Winter Jam is a free winter sports festival for New Yorkers of all ages! Our partners at Gore Mountain will blow a mini mountain of snow in the heart of Manhattan, creating an urban wonderland for all to enjoy!
Continue reading “The Annual NYC Parks ~ WinterJam ~ February 1, 2020”
The Central Park Conservancy launched its first major interpretive signage initiative in Central Park to commemorate Seneca Village, a predominantly African American community that existed before the City of New York created Central Park. The interpretive signs build on decades of research, including the work of the Institute for the Exploration of Seneca Village History (IESVH) — a group of scholars and archeologists who have been studying Seneca Village — as well as the Conservancy’s deep knowledge of the history of Central Park and long involvement in the study of Seneca Village.
Continue reading “Central Park Conservancy Honors History by adding Seneca Village Signage”
Hidden deep within Central Park, in a secluded place, stands a perfectly situated tree, dressed up for the Holiday’s every year ~ the ornaments all dedicated to beloved pets who have passed on ~ but as we see each year, are never forgotten.
Walk with us as we hit the less-traveled paths in search of the Memorial Pet Tree in Central Park from years past.
Continue reading “New Yorkers Celebrate Beloved Pets on a Memorial Tree in Central Park”
New York City Park announced the dates for the 37th Annual Wreath Interpretations Exhibition, bringing in the Holiday Season with an array of imaginative and unusual wreaths.
Elizabeth W. Smith, President & CEO of the Central Park Conservancy, joined with New York City Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, to unveil designs for a transformative project that will create a beautiful new recreational facility seamlessly integrated into the landscape around the Harlem Meer. The project will repair the damaged landscape, improve the ecology of the north end, and re-establish long-severed connections to one of the Park’s most picturesque areas. The new facility will replace the aging pool and rink, which has suffered from systemic problems since it was built and obstructs the flow of people, views, and water through the Park.
Take a peek (below) at current construction in the Harlem Meer in October via abc7. Completion anticipated in summer of 2024. Breaking ground for a new Harlem Meer Center.
Scroll to the end for information on the unveiling of The Gate of The Exonerated and ‘In Conversation with The Exonerated Five’ at The Schomburg Center. Both events, December 19th.
Jean-Marie Appriou: The Horses arrived on the Doris C. Freedman Plaza this month, following Mark Manders: Tilted Head. Curated by Public Art Fund Curator, Daniel S. Palmer, the massive equine sculptures stand like surreal sentinels at the entrance to Central Park.
Continue reading “Jean-Marie Appriou: The Horses Arrive on the Doris C. Freedman Plaza”
Fastnet: Plein-Air Drawing at Freshkills Park is an exhibition of plein-air drawings and ink studies of Freshkills Park that were produced through a series of workshops held within a 20-foot shipping container named Fasnet.
The Public Art Fund has a lot going on this year, on the heals of the opening of Siah Armajani in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Coinciding with Met Breuer’s Siah Armajani: Follow This Line, it will unveil Mark Manders: Tilted Head at the Doris C. Freedman Plaza, on the southern end of Central Park at Fifth Avenue.
Continue reading “Public Art Fund introduces Mark Manders: Tilted Head at Doris C. Freedman Plaza”
New York City’s parks have a long history of playing host to public demonstrations and protests that dates to the American Revolution. Since then, people have taken to the city’s streets, plazas, and parks to voice their distress during numerous periods of unrest. Today, parks continue to be some of the most democratic spaces for people to gather and declare their calls to action. NYC Parks Ebony Society’s exhibition Power to the People shares artists’ interpretations of public demonstration, drawing on both the city’s rich history of protest and current social conflicts.
Continue reading “Power to the People to Open at The Arsenal”
Hidden deep within Central Park in a secluded place stands a perfectly situated tree, dressed up for the Holiday’s every year ~ the ornaments all dedicated to beloved pets who have passed on, but as we see each year, are never forgotten. Walk with us as we hit the less-traveled paths in search of the Memorial Pet Tree in Central Park from years past.
Continue reading “Memorial Holiday Pet Tree in Central Park”
Do you remember NYC in 1978? The Arsenal Gallery will take you there in the new exhibition, 1978: The NYC Parks/New York Times Photo Project, opening on Wednesday, May 2nd.
Continue reading “1978: The NYC Parks/New York Times Photo Project ~ an Arsenal Gallery Exhibition”
It’s here! It arrived at sunrise on August 15th, shrink-wrapped and covered.
We joined Monumental Women in the unveiling ceremony livestream on August 26th at 7:45am filmed on Literary Walk. Below are a few images taken from Livestream.
Continue reading “Monumental Women ~ Unveiling Ceremony Livestream on August 26, 2020”
The exhibit, Over Here: A Centennial Commemoration of World War I Memorials in NYC Parks features 39 of the 102 World War Memorials in New York City Parks with 94 vintage and contemporary photographs, original renderings and objects.
Continue reading “Over Here: A Centennial Commemoration of World War I Memorials in NYC Parks”
The Conservatory Garden, a six-acre site in Central Park, is beautiful at any time of year. But in the month of May it comes to life with Cherry Blossoms and tulips. Below are some photos showing some of the enormous volunteer effort it takes to create this garden.
