The third annual West Side Fest—this Friday, Saturday and Sunday—will offer three days of festivities, including free admissions, artmaking activities for all ages, music and performances, special indoor and outdoor programming, and much more. New Yorkers and visitors of all ages are invited to celebrate the vibrant, cultural village along the waterfront of Manhattan’s west side! 

The complete schedule, with contact info/links is HERE

The West Side Fest neighborhood includes organizations and community gathering spaces that have been on the West Side for decades as well as newer arrivals like Hudson River Park’s Gansevoort Peninsula. West Side Fest is conveniently accessible by subway, bus, the High Line, bike, or car. While many organizations are offering free admission to programs and events, advance registration may be required. To confirm the details for each organization, please visit westsidefest.nyc.

Some of the West Side Fest highlights include:
·                The Whitney Museum of American Art [top] will host Open Studio for Teens from 1–3 pm on Friday, July 11. Later in the evening, Public Records will fill the Museum with music during Free Friday Night. The Whitney is also offering free admission from 5–10 pm on Friday, July 11, and from 10:30 am–6 pm during Free Second Sunday on July 13. Visitors of all ages will enjoy artmaking, tours, classes, and other special activities that celebrate Whitney exhibitions and community events. Free Second Sunday also includes free storytimes with The New York Public Library. In collaboration with the Whitney, the Meatpacking District Management Association (Meatpacking BID) will return with “Step Into Hopper,” a program that will bring immersive 3-D recreations of Edward Hopper paintings to the Meatpacking District during West Side Fest. Free and open to the public, “Step Into Hopper” is designed by Theresa Rivera Design and will also feature live interactive elements.

·                Join CUE Art and artist Jairo Sosa to learn more about his practice and the work on view in his solo exhibition, Boomerang. The show presents new ceramics-based sculpture by Sosa that navigates personal and communal histories, hope, tragedy, and the nuanced weight of aspiration.

·                Throughout the weekend, Dia Chelsea will present Kishio Suga: Being and Murder, a selection of film and video works by artist Kishio Suga, including his feature-length, murder-mystery film Being and Murder(1999), as well as the exhibition Steve McQueen. Other activities taking place on Saturday, July 12, include a curator-led tour of Steve McQueen, as well as Playsets: Steve McQueen, an interactive, artist-led activity for children. Dia Chelsea will also offer special opening hours on Sunday, July 13.

·                Offerings at the High Line [above] include an artist-led workshop for families which will focus on creating artworks inspired by the plants, soil, fungi, and insects in the High Line gardens. On Sunday, High Line wellness instructors will all come together for a special day to offer samplings of Tai Chi, Afro-Brazilian Dance, and Fit and Lit.

·                Hill Art Foundation will have special extended hours and an all-ages game night on Friday, July 11. Activities will include a backgammon tournament on artist Sam Moyer’s handcrafted boards, a children’s scavenger hunt, and special tours led by Hill Art Foundation Educators.

·                Hudson Guild will host The 27th Annual Community Art Jam at Hudson Guild Gallery, and New York City Scenes/Paintings by MKS Adams, Barbara Berger, Debbie Berger, Kimberly Hall will be on view at Guild Gallery II.

·                Hudson River Park will offer music by Sonido Costeño, walking tours that engage with the local ecology of the Hudson River, and a painting workshop at Manhattan's newest beach, Gansevoort Peninsula.

·                The Joyce Theater will stage performances of Pilobolus’s Other Worlds Collection, traversing the landscape of the human experience with heart-stopping grace, acrobatic power, and breathtaking artistry.

·                The Kitchen will present School for Temporary Liveness (STL) Vol. 4, a unique series of performances, sonic convenings, workshops, and conversations with over fifteen artists, alongside a multi-day reading room, participatory window installation, and screening program.

·                Little Island [below] will present the second annual Bomba Festival featuring music curated by Gio Escobar, frontman of Standing on the Corner, on Friday, July 11 at 10 pm. The weekend also includes a live recording of Escobar’s radio show, “Puerto Rican Rumble Rock Radio Offensive”, where visitors can expect fresh salsa and Latin soul music remixes.

The complete schedule, with contact info/links is HERE

·                New York City AIDS Memorial and LGBT Community Center will partner with the Kinfolk Tech Foundation to imagine expansive futures through collaging and zine-making in a Community Imagination Workshop using the LGBT Center's National History Archive. This workshop is presented as part of Portals of Remembrance (May 17, 2025–April 2026), a new exhibition at the New York City AIDS Memorial featuring three monuments created by four renowned contemporary artists.

Poster House will be offering free admission alongside a jam-packed lineup of engaging activitis, including exhibition tours, hands-on workshops drop-in art-making, and live entertainment. Stop by the museum’s Poster History Timeline anytime between 1:30 and 6:30pm for a special screen-printing activity with The Arm. Visitors of all ages are invited to try their hand at screen printing and create a custom West Side Fest graphic on a complimentary tote bag. No experience necessary—just drop in while supplies last—first come, first served, so don’t miss out!

·                Print Center New York will host a zine-making workshop with artists Francisco Donoso and Edward Steffani. During this futurist-archive-in-the-making activation, participants will contribute to collective imagining and respond to guiding questions with a quick zine, using pre-folded paper and provided materials. Finished zines will be donated, photocopied and added to a zine wall, or scanned as part of a collective digital archive.

Explore the West Side Fest guide featuring weekend-long activities and program highlights on Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.

The Shed will host a variety of public programs spanning installation, performance, music, and readings. They include Portals, an exhibition of passage, transformation, and resistance featuring new work by twelve early-career, NYC-based artists and collectives; an immersive, audiovisual performance by Marwa Eltahir; Chelsea Odufu’s Transmissions from the Archive: Unearthing Gold’s Frequency; a live performance by Jarrett Key; a mixed-media sculpture installation by Yelaine Rodriguez and Luis Vasquez La Roche; and music and dance on the Plaza with the DJ collective Soul Summit.

·                Westbeth Artists Housing will bring the vibrant spirit of its creative community to West Side Fest with a dynamic weekend of programming for all ages. Highlights include a performance by jazz vocalist, lyricist, and composer Eve Zanni; an interactive session reflecting on the legacy of Merce Cunningham; a children's puppet show with Penny Jones & Co. Puppets; and open studios throughout the weekend.

·                White Columns will celebrate the opening reception of its summer exhibition, in which director and chief curator Matthew Higgs will consider aspects of his tenure over the past 20 years. The opening will feature a musical performance by Private Time to celebrate their new EP Walkable, the latest release from White Columns’ vinyl-only record label The Sound of White Columns

Explore the West Side Fest guide featuring weekend-long activities and program highlights on Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.

The complete schedule, with contact info/links is HERE