upcoming events
MoRUS Film Festival
The 14th Annual Film Festival at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space returns with “Spyborg.” This year’s programming interrogates the culture and reality of surveillance through film.
Girl Power in the Garden!
The Harper Arts Group and International Girls Ensemble present an afternoon showcase featuring young performers from the Lower East Side to Harlem and beyond. Live performances, free food, and plenty of community energy.
Free and open to everyone!
NEW DATE! East Village Rocks For Ukraine!
This event has been rescheduled from the original date to October 17th due to rain.
Dasi 다시 · Again - Community Engagement Tea
Join EunYoung Sebazco at 6th & B Garden in Manhattan as Dasi returns for a public autumn gathering.
Branches, soil, and native seeds form an open outdoor sanctuary where the community is invited to slow down and connect. Throughout the day, a tea ceremony, tea tastings, and a community engagement table offer different ways to participate, each one a small act of care for the present moment.
We invite neighbors and friends to slow down, share tea traditions, and take part in a collective experience.
FREE event! All are welcome!
Meet EunYoung Sebazco:
EunYoung Sebazco is a New York–based artist working at the intersection of ecology, ritual, and public space. Through plants, photography, and site-specific installation, she creates moments of pause, inviting audiences to experience the city as a living, breathing environment.
Trained in landscape architecture and horticulture, she works with layered, living materials to cultivate connections between human presence and the natural world. The Japanese tea ceremony is the heartbeat of her practice, extending into ceramics, floral design, and landscape interventions. Her work asks viewers to become co-creators, slowing down, paying attention, and recognizing the quiet life that surrounds them.
More about Dasi 다시 · Again here.
RESCHEDULED! Tweed TheaterWorks: Garden Variety
The event in this series previously scheduled for August 27th is now scheduled for September 15th, due to rain. Hope to see you then!
THE BOWERY: From tap dance & vaudeville to skid row and punk rock - an Illustrated talk by author David Mulkins
THE BOWERY: From tap dance & vaudeville to skid row and punk rock
An Illustrated talk by author David Mulkins
Native American trail, Dutch farm road, free Black homesteads, and Washington’s march route during the British evacuation, Bowery became the main street of immigrants & the working class. NYC’s 1st entertainment district, it has seminal links to tap dance, vaudeville, Yiddish theater, Stephen Foster, Irving Berlin, Harry Houdini, and modern tattooing. It later became an iconic skid row, but reemerged and helped foster Abstract Expressionism, Beat literature, Free Jazz, and punk rock. Special guest: Ramona Baker (ragtime pianist)
MAPUTI - live music!
Shona mbira music is one of the most soulful sounds on the African continent. Originally used in spirit possession ceremonies, the iron-pronged mbira produces melodies beautiful enough to draw in the spirits—and rhythmically charged enough to keep people dancing throughout the night.
Maputi reinvents these deep musical traditions with a New York edge. Trained by mbira masters of Zimbabwe, Maputi breathes new life into songs passed down through generations. Hypnotic mbira melodies collide with the pulse of West African flute, violin lines echoing mbira patterns, driving percussion, and layered vocal harmonies—pushing into uncharted territory for a sound that’s both traditional and unexpected.
“The best mbira fusion I've ever heard!"
— Jennifer Kyker, mbira scholar, ethnomusicologist, author of “Oliver Mtukudzi: Living Tuku Music in Zimbabwe,” and professor at Eastman School of Music.
Nora Balaban – mbira, vocals
Susan Rapalee – mbira, vocals
Rima Fand – violin, vocals
Sylvain Leroux – Fula flute, vocals
Nari Emeline Cerman Zechman – djembe, vocals
Stuart Zechman – hosho, vocals
find more info here
FILM - American Stories: Food, Family and Philosophy (1989) by Chantal Akerman
KESSELGARTEN
Gardens, immigrants & unruly public space
Two film programs AUGUST 23rd & SEPTEMBER 10th (rain date September 13th) at 8pm
KESSELGARTEN: Yiddish slang for any noisy, chaotic, confusing situation or “ruckus.” It originates from the Eastern-European-accented pronunciation of “Castle Garden”, America’s first official immigrant depot, located on the southern tip of Manhattan from 1855 to 1890.
KESSELGARTEN is screening series that probes the relationships between immigrant communities and green, unruly urban spaces, here in NYC, and interrogates the definition of a garden: both as a serene place for communion with nature, and as a public space of encounter, contest, labor & urban reclamation, spaces that are continuously remade by their communities.
Thursday, September 10 - American Stories: Food, Family and Philosophy (1989) by Chantal Akerman
Chantal Akerman’s rarely screened film, was shot on overgrown vacant lots along the East River, in which Jewish legends of the downtown avant-garde (like Judith Malina, founder of the Living Theater) recite first-person accounts of the hardship of Ellis Island-era immigrants. A makeshift outdoor restaurant is set up, jokes are told & stories continue. Their retelling of the experiences of an earlier generation creates a spectral feeling, almost though they are inhabited by ghosts of their own families. Today the film is doubly spectral; not only does it conjure the resilience and humor of our immigrant forebears, but it brings back the old waterfront itself, land that has since beenpaved over and gentrified beyond recognition.
Organized by Zoe Beloff and Mina Mattes in collaboration with Matt Mckinzie and the Film-Maker’s Co-op. In conjunction with Zoe’s exhibition, Life Forgotten at City Lore, with support from LMCC and the New York State Council for the Arts.
The Lupine Series presents: the O'Rourkestra
The Lupine Series is a community concert series dedicated to sharing the gift of New York City musicians with the broader community. Founded by Alphabet City residents Marybeth and Jonah Bobo, the concert series began as an effort to program more musical events in the treasured community gardens in their neighborhood. Follow at @lupine.series for updates and information about all events!
Zen Out in the Garden
SOUND BATH ASCENDING
The third in our ZEN OUT IN THE GARDEN SERIES
Hosted by Kim Depole, featuring guest artist Maya
We will create a space for you to lie down and surround yourself with the transporting sounds and incantations to guide you deep within. Kim will begin with a simple guided meditation. Seating will be provided for your comfort. We recommend to bring a blanket, pillow or mat to support your experience.
STORYTIME for kids with Ms. Lily
Ms. Lily from the Ottendorfer Library reads stories in the garden.
POSTPONED AGAIN! My Women, My Tribe - Readings & Interactive Storytelling
THIS EVENT ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FOR 8/28 IS POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER! PLEASE STAY TUNED FOR THE NEW DATE.
STORYTIME for kids with Ms. Lily
Ms. Lily from the Ottendorfer Library reads stories in the garden.
“Josephine the Singer or the Mouse People” by Zoe Beloff with short films from the collection of the Film-Maker’s Coop
KESSELGARTEN
Gardens, immigrants & unruly public space
Two film programs AUGUST 23rd & SEPTEMBER 10th (rain date September 13th) at 8pm
KESSELGARTEN: Yiddish slang for any noisy, chaotic, confusing situation or “ruckus.” It originates from the Eastern-European-accented pronunciation of “Castle Garden”, America’s first official immigrant depot, located on the southern tip of Manhattan from 1855 to 1890.
KESSELGARTEN is screening series that probes the relationships between immigrant communities and green, unruly urban spaces, here in NYC, and interrogates the definition of a garden: both as a serene place for communion with nature, and as a public space of encounter, contest, labor & urban reclamation, spaces that are continuously remade by their communities.
Sunday, August 23 : “Josephine the Singer or the Mouse People” by Zoe Beloff with short films from the collection of the Film-Maker’s Coop. A retelling of Franz Kafka’s last short story staged in the gardens of the Lower East Side, with performers drawn from different walks of life: a puppeteer, a cantor, a shoe repair man, older people who still remember Yiddish but young people too, like a girl recently arrived from Dagestan. Beloff’s portrait of the descendants of the “mouse people” explores the labor of memory of an oppressed people and the function of every day art in bringing communities together.
Organized by Zoe Beloff and Mina Mattes in collaboration with Matt Mckinzie and the Film-Maker’s Co-op. In conjunction with Zoe’s exhibition, Life Forgotten at City Lore, with support from LMCC and the New York State Council for the Arts.
Game Night with Ellen
Come join us for a fun evening of games in the garden! Most of the games will be card games such as Rummy, 99, Cribbage, and any other games people might want to play. This will be a great way to spend the evening socializing and getting to know others in the neighborhood!
Building Looms for Community Weaving
In this collaborative workshop, we’ll construct looms from branches, prunings, and other found objects, then use them to weave together.
STORYTIME for kids with Ms. Lily
Ms. Lily from the Ottendorfer Library reads stories in the garden.
Zen Out in the Garden
SOUND BATH ASCENDING con una bruja blanca
The second in our ZEN OUT IN THE GARDEN SERIES
Hosted by Kim Depole, featuring guest artist Jude the Obscure
We will create a space for you to lie down and surround yourself with the transporting sounds and incantations to guide you deep within. Kim will begin with a simple guided meditation. Seating will be provided for your comfort. We recommend to bring a blanket, pillow or mat to support your experience.
We will begin promptly at 2:15pm on Saturday August 15th . Come and join us.
Blessings, Kim
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BAÑO DE SONIDO ASCENDENTE con una bruja blanca
La segunda sesión de nuestra SERIE ZEN EN EL JARDÍN
Presentada por Kim Depole, con la participación del artista invitado Jude the Obscure
Crearemos un espacio para que te recuestes y te rodees de sonidos e invocaciones que te transportarán a lo más profundo de tu ser. Kim comenzará con una sencilla meditación guiada. Habrá asientos disponibles para tu comodidad. Recomendamos traer una manta, almohada o esterilla para mayor comodidad.
Comenzaremos puntualmente a las 14:15 h del sábado 15 de agosto. ¡Únete a nosotros!
Bendiciones, Kim
Game Night with Ellen
Come join us for a fun evening of games in the garden! Most of the games will be card games such as Rummy, 99, Cribbage, and any other games people might want to play. This will be a great way to spend the evening socializing and getting to know others in the neighborhood!
STORYTIME for kids with Ms. Lily
Ms. Lily from the Ottendorfer Library reads stories in the garden.
POSTPONED!!! My Name, My Nature - Spontaneous Poetry Play + Open Mic
This event has been postponed until further notice, please stay tuned!
POSTPONED!!! My Women, My Tribe - Readings & Interactive Storytelling
This event has been postponed until further notice, please stay tuned!