Inspire your clients who are dreaming of a future New York City vacation with this deep virtual dive into its iconic cultural scene with “Virtual NYC.”
“During this unprecedented time, New York City’s world-class tourism community is offering a wide-ranging virtual taste of the destination’s renowned cultural experiences. We encourage New Yorkers and would-be travelers alike to show support and embrace escapism through the currently available, online offerings of the City’s attractions, museums, performing arts venues and beyond,” said NYC & Company President and CEO Fred Dixon, in a statement.
“New York City is home to the world’s most talented, committed, and diverse arts and entertainment community who continue to find ways to inspire us even in the most difficult times,” said Anne del Castillo, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, in a statement. “We’re proud to connect everyone to the best the creative capital has to offer and bring all of us together, even when we’re apart.”
From educational programs to critically-acclaimed independent films; soaring orchestral arrangements to inspired choreography; innovative theater to engaging visual arts; and digitized museum exhibitions to virtual neighborhood tours, there’s something for everyone interested in experiencing NYC from the comfort of their home. Virtual tours include:
Educational Programming
The iconic cultural and community center will continue to connect with audiences through archival and live-streamed performances, family-friendly activities and a virtual reading series. Further, diverse online crash-courses, talks and workshops (ranging from a blues guitar intro to a PhD-taught course on emotional intelligence), will keep the homebound-mind occupied.
American Museum of Natural History
By visiting the museum’s Explore page, children and children-at-heart can view educational videos and enjoy interactive activities that intend to foster investment in and passion for the natural world.
Children’s Museum of Manhattan
The museum is sharing “CMOM at Home,” interactive STEM activities for kids and families that includes videos, sing-a-longs, games and more, available by clicking here.
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
On the new “Experience Intrepid Anywhere” section of the website, families can take a virtual tour of this World War II aircraft carrier, browse images of the artifacts on-board, watch interviews with former crewmembers and take advantage of educational resources.
Museum of the City of New York
With more than 200,000 items in the museum’s online collection, videos of dozens of recent programs available on its YouTube channel.
The Society of Illustrators will continue to promote its mission with exhibits, panels, podcasts and children’s activities all hosted at the SI At Your Service section of its official website.
The theater is offering “New Victory Arts Break,” a weekly series of performing arts activities for children and parents to do together at home. Percussion and Just Move! have launched to-date.
Families can continue to discover the world of STEM through a selection of free, NYSCI digital resources including online tutorials, interactive apps, web-based graphic novels, hands-on activities and instructional booklets.
In addition to expanding the number of free e-books available on the e-reader app SimplyE, the library is expanding virtual offers with off-site access to popular research databases such as the New York Times, 1851-2016; Wall Street Journal, 1889-present; and more. Staff are also available Monday-Saturday (during normal business hours) to perform virtual consultations.
Film
Colombian Film Festival New York
In response to its postponement, the director has arranged for three film screenings per week with English subtitles. Updates are posted on the Facebook page and links are available via streaming service Boonet.
Film Forum Presents Virtual Cinema
The venerable cinema has partnered with distributors Kino Lorber, Zeitgeist Films and Film Movement to present recent releases, an Oscar nominee for Best International Film and more.
The ReelAbilities Film Festival, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, is the largest festival in the country dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with disabilities. ReelAbilities will take place online from March 31 to April 6. Virtual tickets, available free or low cost ($6), include a link to the film as well as interactive Q+As with filmmakers.
Movie lovers can stay entertained by watching short-films from Tribeca Film Festival alumni posted to the website daily. Viewers can expect fan favorites from previous festivals, curated works and even some world premieres.
A virtual film festival commemorating International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month highlights feminist films from across the globe. Initially launched for March, the organizers are seeking to extend its run.
Performing Arts
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is offering an online streaming series featuring full length performances, Ailey Extension dance classes and original short films created by the Ailey dancers, along with other specially created content.
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS)
For eight weeks, at 12:30 pm daily, CMS will release chamber music concerts from its 50-year archive on the ‘Watch & Listen’ section of the website, with a new theme each week. Web visitors can also enjoy concerts, lectures, master classes, ‘Meet the Music’ and the CMS National Radio Series.
This Downtown Brooklyn-based arts incubator, a staple in the community for 40+ years, is going virtual. Visitors to the website can now stream past performances from BRIC House and the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival for free.
The Joyce Theater
Considered the international leader in dance presentation, the foundation continues to advocate for the art form and support artists thanks to their podcast ‘Still Spinning”. Hosted on the non-profit organization’s website, episodes help listeners get closer to artistic directors of dance companies, choreographers and dancers as they navigate topics from inclusion, to processing grief and talking climate change, all through the power of dance.
For the duration of its closure, the Met Opera will stream a different encore presentation of a top operatic performance nightly, with each video posted to the website at 7:30 pm and left up for 20 hours.
New York City Ballet
City Ballet The Podcast features in-depth conversations with dancers, choreographers, orchestra members and more. Also worth tuning-in for, @tilerpeck (a Principal NYCB Dancer for over ten years), is helping aspiring dancers pass the time with free ballet classes on Instagram at 1 pm daily.
#NYPhilPlaysOn will show past performances of the world-renowned symphony orchestra posted to Facebook every Thursday at 7:30 pm EST. The next rebroadcast will spotlight Act 1 of Wagner’s Die Walküre on April 2.
Theater
Stars in the House is being produced daily by SiriusXM’s Seth Rudetsky and his husband James Wesley. Mini-shows featuring Broadway stars stream live at Actorsfund.org, Playbill and BroadwayWorld.com at 2 pm and 8 pm, traditional showtimes. Stars announced include: Laura Benanti, Wayne Brady, Kristin Chenoweth, Gavin Creel, Idina Menzel, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kelli O’Hara and many more beloved luminaries of the screen and stage.
While this family-friendly, Off-Broadway magic show is on pause for now, fans can book 30-minute virtual magic lessons from the comfort of their homes. No special props required.
Broadway HD
This streaming platform helps locals and travelers access The Great White Way from afar. It is offering 7-day free trials to entertain and inspire theater lovers while stages are dark in New York City. A few of the productions in its library of hundreds include: Cats, Broadway’s dearly departed Kinky Boots, Lincoln Center Theater’s recent production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I and Sweeney Todd starring Angela Lansbury.
Joe’s Pub Live! at The Public Theater
A free series of live-streamed and archived performances titled ‘Joe’s Pub Live!’ will helps theater enthusiasts maintain a connection to the Off-Broadway community. Optional donations can be made directly to featured artists, to help sustain theatrical innovators in this uncertain time.
Broadway World’s e-newsletters and website are hosting daily, surprise performances by Broadway’s top talent. Cast members of Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Jagged Little Pill and more have already belted showtunes from the living room. Upcoming performers include: Telly Leung, Lesli Margherita, Renee Rapp, Erika Hennigsen, Stephanie J. Block and more.
Visual Arts
Each day, Brooklyn’s preeminent art museum will be sharing “Art for the Socially Distanced” on their Tumblr, spotlighting a piece from the collection and explaining why it was chosen. A daily #museummomentofzen at its best.
With virtual tours, an art history library, video lectures and more available online and via the museum’s app, art buffs from around the world can continue to engage with the museum’s storied collection of more than 1,400 works of European sculpture and decorative arts.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The largest art museum in the United States has launched a digital digest bringing together catalogues from past exhibits, video series, digital archives of lectures, talks, performances and more. Highlights include: The Artist Project—a series of discussions reflecting on the Met’s collection of more than 470,000 works—MetCollects, a digital highlight of recent acquisitions, and Met 360, offering virtual tours.
MoMA is inspiring art enthusiasts to #MuseumFromHome via a diverse array of inspiring and culturally relevant content across its social channels. Further, its digital publication Magazine will continue to be published and its 30+ episode BBC podcast titled “The Way I See It” remains accessible. Additionally, the museum offers a free online course “What Is Contemporary Art?” that teaches participants about 70 pieces from their collection.
Visitors to the museum’s Collection Online can browse more than 1,700 works by over 625 artists, while this recently-curated YouTube playlist dives into the multi-faceted process of creating an exhibition.
Whitney Museum of American Art
The contemporary art destination is encouraging patrons to #WhitneyFromHome. Its online collection offers an overview of more than 25,000 works from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries while Artport is an online portal to internet art. The exhibition archive offers digital access to past Whitney Biennials and even the recently-opened Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art, 1925-1945 exhibit.
While its observatories are temporarily closed, the iconic skyscraper’s social media is current and its Earth Cam broadcasts views and signature lightings.
On the new NYBG at Home section of the website, visitors can view recent installations, browse horticulture lecture videos, join virtual events and more.
007XSPYSCAPE, the attraction’s new James Bond exhibition, can now be explored online, allowing franchise fans to experience original sketches, gadgets used in the film, new perspectives of classic scenes and more.
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation
The historic destination—emblematic of New York City’s rich history of welcoming immigrants from around the world—is inviting locals and visitors to embark on a genealogy journey. The online database of 65 million passenger records makes virtual passenger search a reality.
Each day at 11 am, Turnstile Tours’ guides will host virtual versions of their expansive lineup of citywide tours. Virtual tours to-date have included “How It Works: The Brooklyn Army Terminal Atrium” and “Hidden Treasures of Prospect Park.” .
For more information, visit Recommend’s Coronavirus Updates Center at recommend.com/coronavirus.
