Free Highlights: Things to Do in NYC, January 2026

Looking ahead to a new year of Blankman Lists of music, art, theater, and more in New York City

Piano virtuoso Yuja Wang performs at Lincoln Center alongside conductor and composer Thomas Adès on January 22–24. Photo: Quincena Musical

I began this project in 2023 and did not expect it to continue into 2026.

In some ways the persistence makes sense. I love list making, and I love this city. The culture is what drew me here, and it’s what keeps me here. I will never take for granted proximity to world-class museums, opera houses, black box theaters, avant-garde concert spaces, hole-in-the-wall dim sum joints next to dirt-cheap gray market cannabis dispensaries, or the chance to hear in cafes and subways not only hundreds of major world languages, but also plenty of “oral, minority, and endangered languages, sometimes from different branches of the Indo-European family, if not other language families altogether.”¹

The Blankman List remains a labor of love, but let it be known: Labor. This is a human generated list. I don’t use ChatGPT to write so much as two consecutive words on this site and truthfully find it a little gross when I see clearly AI-generated text and images in the wild. I’m aware it lurks within some of the links below, which I simply accept with a harrumph. Not everyone feels the same. But I have cut plenty of events because the AI slop on the event’s website was more than I could stomach.

I think a lot about the people who have purchased an annual subscription. This remains a one-man operation. The reality that people have paid $50 for a year’s worth of content feels daunting at times, but it has helped me persevere through doubts. And for those who have “bought me a coffee” and subscribed for even one month, I appreciate you, too. Coffee shop baristas around my apartment can attest to your generosity working.

So I end the year with gratitude for people who have been willing to pay for a subscription—whether for a month, several months, or a whole year. You are the reason I remain committed to writing at least one “official” list (here’s the January 2026 Blankman List) and one free highlights post (like this) through at minimum all of 2026.

Disclaimer: Before going anywhere, please confirm the date, time, location, cost, and description using the listed website. Any event is at risk of being rescheduled, relocated, sold out, at capacity, or canceled. Costs are rounded to the nearest dollar and may change. I try to vet quality and describe accurately, but I may misjudge. All views are my own.

Music

One tough choice for me was deciding what video to embed above. It was either Kota the Friend’s mesmerizing “No Rap on Sunday” in honor of his two sets at Blue Note Jazz Club (which I went with) or a video of pianist Yuja Wang (shown at the top of this post). Wang is a veritable rock star of the classical piano world, but unfortunately I can’t find a video of her playing Rautavaara’s rock star-worthy Piano Concerto No. 1, the highlight of her concert at Lincoln Center later this month. YouTube is filled with other Yuja Wang videos, however. Here she is playing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3.

• Thursday, January 15: The Louis Armstrong House Museum Presents: Listening Session

  • Listening session of rare and classic Louis Armstrong recordings hosted by Matthew “Fat Cat” Rivera and Ricky Riccardi; 1–2 pm

  • Free

  • The Louis Armstrong Center, Jerry’s Place

  • 34-56 107th St (North Corona, Queens)

• Monday, January 19: Kota the Friend

  • Performance by Brooklyn-based rapper and singer Kota the Friend; 8 & 10:30 pm

  • $32–$44, plus $20 minimum from bar and dinner menu

  • Blue Note Jazz Club

  • 131 W 3rd St (West Village, Manhattan)

• Thursday, January 22–Saturday, January 24: Yuja Wang & Thomas Adès

  • Pianist Yuja Wang performs Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and other works with conductor and composer Thomas Adès

  • $96–$273

  • David Geffen Hall, Wu Tsai Theater

  • 10 Lincoln Center Plaza (Lincoln Square, Manhattan)

• Friday, January 30: Motion City Soundtrack and Say Anything Winter Tour 2026

  • Concert tour stop featuring alternative rock bands Motion City Soundtrack and Say Anything; 6:30 pm

  • $64–$120

  • Brooklyn Paramount

  • 385 Flatbush Ave Ext (Fort Greene, Brooklyn)

Actor Keanu Reeves, alongside Alex Winter and other cast members and understudies, finish their run of Waiting for Godot on January 4. Photo: Daniel Benavides

Dance & Theater

I don’t proclaim to be the be-all and end-all for theater in NYC. Broadway World might be a better site to get a comprehensive round-up of what’s happening on stages around the city, and I especially recommend B’way Rush (as I have many times before!) if you’re specifically looking for a round-up of Broadway shows. Here I group theater and dance performances and call attention to a few highlights that have caught my eye for January. NYC Ballet’s New Combinations shows might be my pick for the performance I’m most excited about, although I urge ballet fans to check out the company’s full calendar, which goes through May.

• Sunday, January 4: Waiting for Godot

  • Broadway closing night of Samuel Beckett’s 1952 tragicomedy play Waiting for Godot, starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter; 2 & 8 pm

  • $66–$447

  • Hudson Theatre

  • 141 W 44th St (Times Square, Manhattan)

• Opens Thursday, January 8: The Disappear

  • A new comedy about a power couple whose picture-perfect life goes “gloriously off script” written and directed by playwright Erica Schmidt; through Feb 15

  • $45–$120

  • Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre

  • 18 Minetta Ln (West Village, Manhattan)

• Opening Tuesday, January 27: Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca

  • Flamenco dance performance from the Spanish troupe Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca; through Feb 8

  • $32–$82

  • Joyce Theater, The Tino & Rajika Puri Auditorium

  • 175 8th Ave (Chelsea, Manhattan)

• Opening Thursday, January 29: NYC Ballet New Combinations

  • Program of diverse ballet works including the latest ballet from resident choreographer Justin Peck; through Feb 7

  • $54–$297

  • David H. Koch Theater

  • 20 Lincoln Center Plaza (Lincoln Square, Manhattan)

Food Events

The general consensus is that NYC Restaurant Week isn’t quite the drop-everything-and-make-a-reservation event that it once was, but it has become a bit of a wintertime (and summertime) tradition and is still a chance to try many of the city’s high-end restaurants at a discount. I recommend the FoodNYC Subreddit as a good source for questions and recommendations. See, for instance, threads from last summer on menu reviews and Michelin starred options.

• Through Sunday, January 11: World Food Photography Awards Showcase

  • Showcase of photos curated by the World Food Photography Awards to complement the Museum of Food and Drink’s exhibit on street food

  • Free

  • Throughout the lobby of Empire Stores

  • 55 Water St (Dumbo, Brooklyn)

• Starting Tuesday, January 20: NYC Restaurant Week

  • Prix-fixe meals at hundreds of restaurants; through Feb 12

  • Specific deal depends on restaurant; typically there are special menus for $30 two-course lunches and/or $60 three-course dinners

  • Hundreds of meals across all five boroughs

  • List of restaurants and menus available a couple weeks beforehand

• Friday, January 23: Collab Dinner: From Waikīkī to NYC: A Modern-Day Lūʻau

  • Multi-course Hawaiʻian meal from chef Shaymus Alwin, with cocktail reception and wine or beverage pairings; 6:30 pm

  • $185–$250

  • Pier 57

  • 25 11th Ave (Chelsea, Manhattan)

• Every Saturday: East Village & Lower East Side Vegan Food Tour

  • Approximately 2-mile guided walking tour with stops for vegan bites; 2:30 pm

  • $125 (includes food tastings)

  • Meet at the Gandhi Garden

  • 14th St & Union Square W (Union Square, Manhattan)

Artist Kandy G Lopez is best known for her fiber portraits, like these ones hanging at ACA Galleries in 2023. Her current exhibit is up through January 17. Photo: Brandonm305

Art Events

This is always a tough category for me. The options are as overwhelming as they are for music or theater, but they rarely require as much advance planning. Anyone can simply walk around the Chelsea art galleries or bop in and out of the wide-ranging exhibits at The Met without having any specific works in mind. I see my role here as less curator and more nudger. “Not sure what to see? Here, start walking this way.” Kandy G Lopez’s fiber portraits (shown above) are stunning, but less than a block away are, say, a couple of shows both opening on January 15, neither of which are listed below: Gabriel Kuri’s exhibition on chance and Alexis Rockman’s paintings representing ecological disruption.

• Through Saturday, January 10: Love Series / Megan Berk

  • Exhibition of paintings by Megan Berk, whose work “translates private impulses into formal explorations of shape, light, and color”

  • Free

  • The Scion Project

  • 288 Smith St (Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn)

• Through Saturday, January 17: Kandy G Lopez: Textile Truths: Faces of Resilience

  • Solo exhibition of fiber portraits by multimedia Afro-Caribbean artist Kandy G Lopez; 11 am–6 pm

  • Free

  • ACA Galleries

  • 173 10th Ave (Chelsea, Manhattan)

• Through Tuesday, January 20: Baseball Cards from the Collection of Jefferson R. Burdick

  • Current rotation of rare and early baseball cards from between 1895 and 1956 from the Jefferson R. Burdick collection of ephemera at The Met

  • Free with museum admission, which is pay-what-you-wish for NYC residents and NY, NJ, CT students, otherwise $30 adult / $22 senior / $17 student

  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art Fifth Avenue, Gallery 774A

  • 1000 5th Ave (Upper East Side, Manhattan)

• Friday, January 23: Red Horizon: Art. Heritage. New Energy

  • Opening reception for a group exhibition featuring Asian art in celebration of the Lunar New Year; 6–8 pm (6:30 pm tea ceremony); exhibition through Mar 1

  • Free

  • Flushing Town Hall

  • 137-35 Northern Blvd (Flushing, Queens)

Social Events

I encourage all readers to let me know if there’s a specific type of event you come here for, as that has influenced many of my choices over the years. The events that make my lists aren’t all events I’d necessarily go to myself. I’m just one person, for heaven’s sake! Hearing from you is how I catch blind spots and is the reason I currently seek (to scratch the surface) food events, child-friendly events, and—as evidenced below—various meetups and mixers.

• Wednesday, January 7: The Feels NY, Edition 63

  • Singles mixer event developed to promote more “thoughtful dating”; 6:30–9:30 pm

  • $102–$112 (includes drinks + light bites; use promo code “blankman” for 20% off)

  • Loft in Tribeca

  • 120 Walker St, 5th floor (Lower Manhattan)

• Four Wednesdays: January 7, 14, 21 & 28: PubClub: Winter Season

  • Four-week “season” of small-group meet-ups with facilitated discussion about philosophy, technology, and culture; 7:30–8:30 pm

  • $40 (season) / $15 (drop-in session)

  • Bars and coffee shops in Hell’s Kitchen

  • Address given upon registration (Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan)

• Wednesday, January 14: Drink ’N Draft: Creative Writing Workshop

  • Monthly laptop-free writing workshop for writers of all genres and experience levels with visual prompts and time to share writings; 8–9:30 pm

  • $22 (includes $8 drink voucher)

  • Book Club Bar

  • 197 E 3rd St (East Village, Manhattan)

• Thursday, January 29: NYC Tech Mixer 2026

  • Networking event focused on tech, startups, and entrepreneurship; 6–9 pm

  • $20–$48 entry, plus cash bar

  • Arlo Williamsburg

  • 96 Wythe Ave (Williamsburg, Brooklyn)

Bull riding can be found every year in Manhattan, with an annual exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Here, Air Force Honor Guard members present the colors at the start of a previous year’s exhibition. Photo: Staff Sgt. Christopher Muncy

Sports

Once upon I time I ate it all up. For at least one solid summer in my twenties I could get unironically excited about live golf. These days, most of my sports watching happens during Orioles season, the baseball team of my childhood hometown of Baltimore.² Large play spaces can be a little hard to come by in this city, but we’ve still got some gigantic stadiums and arenas, along with places like Chelsea Piers or organizations like NYCRUNS (listed below), which allow for athletic participation all year round.

• Friday, January 9–Sunday, January 11: PBR: Buck Off at the Garden

  • Annual exhibition of Professional Bull Riders [PBR] athletes competing

  • $57–$430+

  • Madison Square Garden

  • 4 Pennsylvania Plaza (Midtown, Manhattan)

• Saturday, January 10: Subriel Matías vs. Dalton Smith

  • Boxing match between Puerto Rican boxer Subriel Matías and English boxer Dalton Smith; 7 pm

  • $97–$414+

  • Barclays Center

  • 620 Atlantic Ave (Prospect Heights, Brooklyn)

• Friday, January 16: NYU vs. University of Rochester Men’s Basketball

  • NCAA Division III men’s basketball game between the NYU Violets and the University of Rochester Yellowjackets; 5:30 pm

  • $12 adult / $9 student

  • John A. Paulson Center

  • 181 Mercer St (Greenwich Village, Manhattan)

• Saturday, January 17: NYCRUNS Frozen Pigeon 5K

  • Casual 5-kilometer running race through Prospect Park organized by NYCRUNS; 9 am (7 am arrival)

  • $60–$75 (includes medal and refreshments)

  • Prospect Park

  • Start at Well House Dr & West Dr (Prospect Park, Brooklyn)

1. Perlin, Ross. (2024.) Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York. New York: Grove Press, p. 59.

2. Sigh . . . which doesn’t often include an Orioles postseason.