West Side Fest 2023

The West Side Cultural Network—a group of more than 20 museums, parks, performing arts centers, and cultural institutions located within a half-mile portion of historic New York—is presenting the first-ever West Side Fest, a day of free admission, special indoor and outdoor programming, crafts for kids, artmaking for all ages, an evening dance party, and more to welcome all New Yorkers to their vibrant, exciting, cultural village along the waterfront.

Experience activities from organizations, including Atlantic Theater Company; Center for Art, Research and Alliances; Chelsea Factory; Dia Chelsea; the High Line; Hudson River Park; The Joyce Theater; The Kitchen; The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center; Little Island; NYC AIDS Memorial; Poster House; Print Center New York; Rubin Museum of Art; The Shed; Westbeth; West Village Rehearsal Co-Op; White Columns; Whitney Museum of American Art.

Highlights:
● Free admission, neighborhood tours, and artmaking for kids from 11 am to 3 pm at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Several exhibitions on view, including a permanent collection show with works by Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jay DeFeo, Alexander Calder, Lee Krasner, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, and more.

● Free admission and tours of newly opened exhibitions for the fall season, Art Deco: Commercializing the Avant-Garde and We Tried to Warn You! Environmental Crisis Posters, 1970–2020 will be available at Poster House, plus live performances and printing activities for all ages at Hudson River Park’s Pier 63 (at W 23 St.)

● The SUBMERGE Marine Science Festival at Hudson River Park’s 84 (at S 44 St.) is free and open to all! Come experience wildlife art projects, family-friendly live entertainment, and more.

● A puppet show, open studios, and live music at Westbeth Artists Housing.

● A Creative Break, free art-making activities for all ages at Little Island.

● An Open Rehearsal with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater at West Village Rehearsal Co-op.

● An evening block party at The Shed featuring dance sets by The Dragon Sisters in partnership with Poster House and Ladies of Hip-Hop in partnership with Chelsea Factory, as well as ongoing DJ sets by Riobamba, BEARCAT, and Ashley Venom.

● A free film festival at The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center in partnership with Queer Voices NYC that centers & celebrates Queer-BIPOC voices.

● A presentation of Arthur Russell’s 1973 composition “City Park” at the New York City AIDS Memorial Park.

● A free exhibition of paintings, archival materials, audiovisual elements, and ephemera by multidisciplinary artist Matthew Lutz-Kinoy presented by The Kitchen.

● Free admission and exhibition tours at the Rubin Museum of Art, and a drop-in art workshop from 1 pm to 3 pm led by art therapy graduate students from New York University.

● A poetry reading on the High Line inspired by Pamela Rosenkranz’s Plinth commission Old Tree, featuring New York-based poets.

● The opening of solo exhibition by artist and choreographer Ligia Lewis at Center for Art, Research and Alliances, featuring a live performance of the artist’s newest work.

● A celebration for the opening of The Sea, the Sky, a Window: A Project by Sarah Crowner at the Hill Art Foundation from 11 am to 5 pm. Visitors will have the exciting opportunity to learn about the exhibition from Foundation staff and Teen Educators.

● An exhibition of work by artist Nate Lewis exploring history through patterns, textures, and rhythm presented by New York Live Arts, on view in The Ford Foundation Live Gallery, free and open to the public from 10 am to 9 pm