Offering Free Activities and Access to Participating Museums from 6 pm to 9 pm
Opening Ceremony at Museum of the City of New York at 5:30 pm
Will Include Special Performance from the Tony-Nominated Show, New York, New York
Marking its 45th year, the annual Museum Mile Festival—New York City’s biggest block party– will take place, rain or shine, on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, from 6pm to 9pm. Festival attendees can walk the Mile on Fifth Avenue between 82nd Street and 110th Street while visiting eight of New York City’s finest cultural institutions, all of which are free and open to the public throughout the evening.
Museum Mile received its name because of the cultural diversity and vast richness of the museums located on the stretch of the Upper East Side. Since its inception, upwards of two million visitors have come from all over the country to take part in this annual celebration. Participating museums include (listed in order of location along Fifth Avenue, south to north): The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Neue Galerie New York; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; The Jewish Museum; Museum of the City of New York; El Museo del Barrio; andThe Africa Center. As well, additional programming will be presented by (south to north): The Asia Society;Church of the Heavenly Rest; AKC Museum of the Dog; New York Academy of Medicine; and The People’s Bus. Registration is not required. Visitors can see any of the museums along the 28-block stretch of Fifth Avenue with free admission for all.
The opening ceremony begins at 5:30 pm at the Museum of the City of New York, between 103rd and 104th Street on Fifth Avenue.
Special exhibitions and works from permanent collections are on view inside the museums’ galleries, with live music and art-making workshops on Fifth Avenue at selected museums, including:
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art (81-86th Streets)hosts a silent dance party, art-making, and more throughout the night, as well as a musical performance by Mariachi Real de México to end the evening.
- Neue Galerie New York (86th Street) presents an outdoor pop-up, featuring activities and information about the museum’s collections of early twentieth-century Austrian and German art and design, and its historic building, which will reopen in September 2023.*
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (88th Street) invites visitors to enjoy five exhibitions — Gego: Measuring Infinity, Sarah Sze: Timelapse, Young Picasso in Paris, A Year with Children 2023, and the Thannhauser Collection. The museum will also host a series of outdoor art-making activities using sustainable materials.
- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (91st Street)will present its latest exhibition, Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols, which examines the fascinating histories behind many of the symbols that instruct, protect, entertain, empower and connect people. Also on view will be Designing Peace, which explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace.
- The Jewish Museum (92nd Street)hosts an outdoor musical performance by Dingonek Street Band and a drop-in art-making activity, as well as exhibitions including The Sassoons and After “The Wild”: Contemporary Art from The Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation Collection.
- Museum of the City of New York (103rd-104th Streets) kicks off the festival with a ceremony and a special performance from the Tony-nominated Broadway show, New York, New York,in celebration of the Museum’s centennial. Attendees can get a first look at This is New York: 100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture, its epic new exhibition.
- El Museo del Barrio (104th Street) presents Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección, the Museum’s most ambitious presentation of its Collection in more than two decades, as well as a live musical performance by Afro Dominicano, along with music by DJ Jomero; and
- The Africa Center (110th Street) features West African band Kakande, led by Famoro Dioubate, along with art workshops by illustrators from the diaspora and a first look at the Black Future Newstand, an interactive installation created by The Black Thought Project and Media 2070.
Partner programming includes:
- The Asia Society (pop-up located at 85th Street)hosts a pop-up with family-friendly activities including themed coloring sheets and artist-designed temporary tattoos, giveaways, and information about the museum and its upcoming exhibition, Buddha, Sage of the Shakya Clan
- Church of Heavenly Rest (90th Street)presents performances by The Heavenly Rest Jazz Vespers Trio and The Queer Big Apple Corps Marching Band; family activities include a balloon artist, BubbleMan NYC, and face painting; as well as a solo exhibition by Visual Artist Roland de Fries in the Undercroft Gallery and an interactive art piece, “Fill Up On Wonder.”
- AKC Museum of the Dog (pop-up located at 91st Street) hosts a pop-up with family-friendly activities, giveaways, and information about the Museum and its collection.
- New York Academy of Medicine (103rd Street)will be outside (weather permitting) with a variety of offerings. We will offer an assortment of coloring tools for use with our annual Color Our Collections book, a look at pieces from our collection, giveaways, and other surprises!
- The NYC Civic Engagement Commission’s People’s Bus (pop-up located at 104th Street), has been transformed into a giant puppet called, “Tippy: The Tender Money Monster,” to encourage voting on The People’s Money – NYC’s first-ever citywide participatory budgeting process open to all New Yorkers 11 and up. Until June 25th, residents can visit on.nyc.gov/pb to decide how to spend $5 million of the city budget.
