Photo of Madison Square Garden via NYC and Company

This month, 19 buildings throughout the five boroughs will be lighting up rainbow in honor of WorldPride and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. The city-wide display is part of NYC and Company’s Project Rainbow, a marketing initiative led by the city’s official tourism organization. Among the sites listed are the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, and the World Trade Center.

Find out where to be on the lookout for Pride-themed lights…

Image via Flickr

The 37th annual Mermaid Parade kicks off in Coney Island this Saturday, signaling the official start of the summer season. Celebrated as the largest “art parade” in the country, the festive lineup features marching bands, drill teams, floats, antique cars and some 1,500 participants dressed in handmade costumes of mermaids, sea creatures, and mythical figures. This year, Coney Island natives Arlo Guthrie & Nora Guthrie—who both grew up on Mermaid Avenue—will lead the way as Queen Mermaid and King Neptune. Per tradition, they’ll be wheeled through in an antique wicker Boardwalk Rolling Chair dating back to 1923.

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Photos by Nicole Mondrus for 6sqft

From June 21 to sometime in August, LA’s premier street art and graffiti exhibit will call Brooklyn home. “BEYOND THE STREETS” is a multimedia art exhibition that takes up two floors of 25 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg and is the biggest showcase of street art to date. With art by the likes of Fab 5 Freddy, The Beastie Boys, and the late Keith Haring, the exhibition celebrates the history of graffiti and street art and also examines public art as a means of protest and self-expression.

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Image of Mozart’s Requiem being played at the National September 11 Memorial during Make Music Day 2018

During the summer solstice this Friday, New Yorkers will enjoy 15 hours, 5 minutes and 38 seconds of daylight. While there are many ways of celebrating the year’s longest day, you can’t go wrong by filling it with music. This year, Make Music Day returns to the city on June 21, featuring over 1,000 free outdoor concerts, music lessons, and jam sessions in public spaces across the five boroughs.

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The Library After Hours. Image courtesy of NYPL.

Celebrate Pride Month at the library! As part of the New York Public Library‘s “Love & Resistance: Stonewall 50” exhibition, the doors at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building are staying open on Friday, June 21 for the “city’s most cerebral happy hour.” The after-hours event offers access to the Rose Main Reading Room and other gorgeous library spaces, artist and curator talks, readings from the archives by special guests, a literary drag show with Drag Queen Story Hour, music, food, drinks and more.

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The Brooklyn Flea under the Archway. Photo: Noemie Trusty, courtesy of Dumbo Improvement District.

On Friday, June 21, Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Archway under the Manhattan Bridge–the “UMBO” of Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), so to speak. The Archway–one of the only covered outdoor spaces in New York City—has for the past decade served as the neighborhood’s town square, giving hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors a prime public place for large-scale events, community gatherings, film shoots, art exhibitions and local start-up events. In celebration, expect food, music and visual arts exhibitions befitting a neighborhood with Dumbo’s unique creative history.

Ahead, a transformation

“Harlem Street Scene Showing Local Businesses,” 1939, Photographer: Sid Grossman, Street Scenes Collection, Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture courtesy of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

“A Ballad for Harlem,” the new exhibit now on view at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, explores the history of the neighborhood and celebrates Black placemaking in 20th and 21st century America. The exhibit uses photographs, manuscripts, objects, art and sculpture from the Schomburg’s collection to revisit “Harlem’s places, people, and moments—both known and underrepresented—that capture the realities of community and hardship experienced by Black Americans.” Ahead, hear from curator Novella Ford to learn more about the show.

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Photo: Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit

The Federal government may be banning Pride flags at U.S. embassies, but here in New York, our city agencies are prouder than ever to show off the rainbow. The latest initiative comes from the MTA, who has revealed a special set of Pride MetroCards, along with Pride-themed Transit merchandise and a new Pride logo on select subway cars. All of the festive additions mark not only World Pride being hosted in NYC this year but the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.

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