A world famous center of American Art, the Whitney Museum's Permanent Collection is situated in its new building in lower Manhattan. Designed by architect Renzo Piano and abutting the High Line park, the building vastly increases exhibition and programming space and provide a comprehensive view of its vast collection of modern and contemporary American art. Since the Museum's opening in 1931, the collection has grown to more than 21,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and photographs, representing over 3,000 individual artists and providing the most complete overview of twentieth-century American art of any museum in the world. At its core are Museum founder Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s personal holdings, totaling some 600 works when the Museum opened in 1931. These works served as the basis for the founding collection, which Mrs. Whitney continued to add to throughout her lifetime. The founding collection reflects Mrs. Whitney’s ardent support of living American artists of the time, particularly younger or emerging ones, including Peggy Bacon, George Bellows, Stuart Davis, Charles Demuth, Mabel Dwight, Edward Hopper, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Reginald Marsh, and John Sloan. This focus on the contemporary, along with a deep respect for artists’ creative process and vision, has guided the Museum’s collecting ever since. The collection begins with Ashcan School painting and follows the major movements of the twentieth century in America, with strengths in Modernism and Social Realism, Precisionism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism, Postminimalism, art centered on identity and politics that came to the fore in the 1980s and 1990s, and contemporary work. The Museum’s signature exhibition is its biennial (and annual, during certain periods) survey of contemporary art, which has always kept the focus on the present, in the spirit of its founder. The highlights of the collection are definitive examples of their type, but there is also much variety and originality in works by less well-known figures. The collection includes all mediums; over eighty percent is works on paper. The Whitney has deep holdings of the work of certain key artists, spanning their careers and the mediums in which they worked, including Alexander Calder, Mabel Dwight, Jasper Johns, Glenn Ligon, Brice Marden, Reginald Marsh, Agnes Martin, Georgia O’Keeffe, Claes Oldenburg, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, and David Wojnarowicz.

The American Museum of the Moving Image is dedicated to educating the public about the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media, and to examining their impact on culture and society. It achieves these goals by maintaining the nation's largest permanent collection of moving image artifacts, and by offering the public exhibitions, film screenings, lectures, seminars, and other education programs. The Museum is located on the site of what was once the largest, busiest, and most significant motion picture and television production facility between London and Hollywood, the famous Astoria Studio. Built in 1920 across the East River from midtown Manhattan, the studio was Paramount's East Coast production facility, and, in the 1930s, a site for independent film production. In 1942 the U.S. Army bought the Astoria Studio and renamed it the Signal Corps Photographic Center. The studio filled a major need for expanded productionapability to speed the training of millions of wartime inductees. After the Army left in 1971, the site fell into disrepair until the Museum took shape in the eighties. The museum has assembled the nation's largest and most comprehensive holdings of moving image artifacts, which is one of the most important collections of its kind in the world, numbering more than 83,000 items. For example, the collection includes: photographed studies of locomotion made by Eadweard Muybridge in 1887; an early mechanical television created in 1931 by C. Francis Jenkins; the chariot driven by Charlton Heston in the epic film BEN HUR (1959); Computer Space, the first coin-operated video arcade game released by Nolan Bushnell in 1971; a character puppet of Yoda, created by Stuart Freeborn for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980); and TUT'S FEVER (1986-88), an installation artwork by Red Grooms and Lysiane Luong.

The Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) is without a doubt one of the least recognized jewels of New York's cultural scene. Dedicated to providing innovative learning opportunities which interpret New York City's rich political, social, intellectual, artistic, and cultural heritages, the Museum makes for a fascinating visit. As the museum underwent extensive renovations, it will probably garner a lot more attention by visitors and native New Yorkers alike. Among the recent additions: a two level 3,000 foot glass-clad gallery pavilion, a vault which holds the museum's silver collection, and a new research room. The exterior façade has also been restored and re-landscaped with a 4,700-square-foot front terrace facing Fifth Avenue. The museum also has full disability access. The Museum's permanent and temporary exhibitions, in coordination with educational programming and publications, reflect the complexity of the history of New York City, the scope and depth of the Museum's collections, and the diversity of the Museum's audiences. The Museum's collections are among the most substantial and voluminous of their kind. There are an estimated 1.5 million objects under the auspices of the Museum, of which 2,000 are paintings ranging in date from the seventeenth century to the present. Among the Museum's most celebrated holdings are its prints, photographs and drawings. Representative of the very best in fine art photography and printmaking, as well as some of the City's most intriguing and valuable visual documentation, this collection is known for its comprehensive archives of architecture, businesses, maps, and photojournalism. The Museum is also home to collections of work by photographer Berenice Abbott, journalist Jacob Riis, and printmakers Currier & Ives, among others. The Museum also boasts the most complete collection devoted to New York professional theater including 3,500 costumes, props, costume sketches set designs and models, production photographs, playbills, scripts, and theatrical memorabilia. The MCNY Costume Collection features garment types worn by New Yorkers from seventeenth-century Dutch women to today's fashion leaders. The holdings are matchless in their breadth and variety, from christening gowns and swaddling bands to sports uniforms and outerwear. The collection has emerged as one of the most preeminent resources for fashion scholarship. A wealth of other New York-related artifacts, part of the cultural patrimony of New Yorkers, is also part of the MCNY collection. Rare and unique toys, fire-fighting equipment through the centuries, ship's figure heads, transport vehicles including - an omnibus, Bellevue Hospital ambulance, nineteenth-century police paddy wagon and 1980 Checker cab - join Yankee Stadium seats, the trademark hats of Congresswoman and women's rights activist Bella Abzug, a Vera Maxwell-designed war workers jumpsuit, and an early 20th-century barber's chair are just some of the types of artifacts that chronicle the history of the City on display at the Museum.

Pier 17 is located just South of the Brooklyn Bridge, on the Eastern edge of the South Street Seaport district. The Rooftop at Pier 17 is New York City’s most dynamic open-air entertainment venue, set against panoramic views of the Lower Manhattan skyline. The inaugural Summer Concert Series launched on The Rooftop in 2018 with opening nights from Amy Schumer and Kings of Leon. A total of 23 shows that first year earned The Rooftop multiple accolades, including being named the “Best New Concert Venue” by Pollstar. Concert goers can again expect to see their favorite artists in an intimate atmosphere (3,500 capacity), all from one of NYC’s only locations that has direct views of such iconic landmarks as the Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, and One World Trade Center.

The Africa Center’s work is premised on the idea that that this emerging market of one billion people, characterized by extraordinary diversity and complexity, is inescapably relevant to building a prosperous and secure future. Africa is the world’s oldest continent, while boasting the youngest population; it encompasses a huge land mass, but a small population in relation to its size; and it possesses great natural resources, only surpassed by its enormous human potential. These unique dynamics place Africa at the center of global discourse, and The Center will serve as the platform and hub for this discussion. Encompassing policy, business and culture, The Africa Center will operate locally and globally to transform our understanding of the continent by promoting partnership and collaboration between Africa and the United States. The Center will host visual, performing, and digital arts presentations; develop and disseminate innovative educational tools; convene peer-to-peer exchanges; and sponsor results-oriented policy dialogues

The legendary building soaring more than 100 stories over Manhattan's skyline made famous by the movie King Kong, the Empire State Building was for 40 years the world's tallest building. Its gorgeous Art Deco details and beautiful marble lobby make it the perfect stop for visitors, for the building captures the very essence of New York: huge, full of people, and breathtaking. Opened in 1931 on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, the Empire State Building is located in the heart of NYC. A testament to the power of American industry, the Empire State was the first building in the world to have more than 100 floors, and its steel frame was considered a modern marvel.The building’s Art Deco design has inspired visitors from around the world. At nightfall, the 200-foot crowning spire captures the city’s gaze, illuminated by tower lights that dazzle with ever-changing combinations of color. It’s no wonder the Empire State Building is the most photographed building in the world. Ride up the elevator to the 86th floor observatory, maybe stop a moment to pick up a souvenir, then go outside for incredible panoramic views of the New York area. Marvel at the glittering roof of the nearby Chrysler Building or the neat, rectangular shaped of Central Park. Stare out at the famous bridges that span the East River. At, 1,050 feet (320 meters), reached by high speed, automatic elevators, it has both a glass-enclosed area, which is heated in winter and cooled in summer, and spacious outdoor promenades on all four sides of the Building. Maybe it's not as dramatic as it might be if there were no enclosure-there is no wind howling around you here, and you don't hear the sounds of the city more than 1,000 feet below you-but you'll find it a pleasant space, particularly when it is chilly or raining outside. High powered binoculars are available on the promenades for the convenience of visitors at a minimal cost. A snack bar and souvenir counters are also located in the 86th floor observatory. The 86th floor observatory is handicap accessible. 102 floors above New York City, the Top Deck observatory takes your Empire State experience higher, with breathtaking views in every direction. Sixteen stories above the 86th floor observation deck and accessed through a one-of-a-kind glass elevator, the 102nd floor offers true 360-degree views thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows on all sides. When you’re this high up, the view doesn’t end at New York City. On the clearest days you can gaze up to 80 miles into the distance, far enough to see six states from a single vantage point! For a romantic evening, why not go up at night? The last elevator runs at 11:15 pm. For visitors looking to dodge the crowds, we recommend taking a trip to the top between 12pm and 2pm, as the daily morning rush is over by then. Want to skip the line entirely? Add an Express Pass to your ticket at checkout and spend more time enjoying the view. Fun Fact On most nights of the year, you will see the Empire State Building's tower illuminated by a state-of-the-art LED lighting system, capable of displaying more than 16 million colors (the exception is spring and fall bird migration seasons as the birds are attracted to the lights). This is because the Empire State Building has developed an annual lighting schedule which honors National Holidays, seasons, the myriad ethnic groups living in the New York City area and many worthy causes. The following is a list of the Empire State Building's annual lighting schedule, with the related events. Learn them and impress your friends! Green: St. Patrick's Day March of Dimes Rainforest Awareness Earth Day Red, White & Blue: Presidents' Day Armed Forces Day Memorial Day Flag Day Independence Day Labor Day Veterans' Day Red: St. Valentine's Day Fire Department Memorial Day Big Apple Circus Red & Blue: Equal Parents Day/Children's Rights Yellow & White: Spring/Easter Week Blue, White & Blue: Israel Independence Day First Night of Chanukah Blue: Police Memorial Day Child Abuse Prevention Purple & White: Alzheimer's Awareness Red, Yellow & Green: Portugal Day Lavender & White: Stonewall Anniversary/Gay Pride Purple, Teal, White: National Osteoporosis Society Red & White: Pulaski Day Red Cross Red, White & Green: Columbus Day Blue & White: Greek Independence Day United Nations Day Red & Yellow: Autumn Black, Yellow & Red: German Reunification Day Pink & White: "Race for the Cure"/Breast Cancer Awareness Green, White & Orange: India Independence Day Green & White: Pakistan Independence Day Red & Green: Holiday Season Dark/No Lights: "Day without Art/Night without Lights" AIDS Awareness