Author: Site Adminstrator

Brookfield Place is a one stop shop for some incredible summer activities! From celebrating Pride this month and enjoying new art installations, to a waterfront lounge when there’s a heatwave, this harbor hangout will be the place to be.

All through June, escape the heat at the nautical oasis, Portside. Complete with a full schedule of programming throughout the summer, the al fresco lounge is right on the waterfront with stunning sunset views and craveable cocktails. This harbor hangout is the place to be, right next to the North Cove Marina.

Kick back, and enjoy views of one of the largest Pride flags in NYC. Show your pride by snapping a photo and tagging @bfplny to receive swag from the concierge desk while supplies last, or try a delicious Pride cocktail with proceeds going to The NEW Pride Agenda.

Throughout Brookfield Place, enjoy art installations, music performances, and so much more! Through August 28th, visitors can view an exhibit by National Geographic photographer Ami Vitale, “The Elephant Guardians,” that captures the stunning story of the Reteti elephant sanctuary in Africa as part of Photoville’s annual city-wide photography festival. 

Some Brookfield staples during the summer include happy hour specials in Hudson Eats Jazz, which happens every Thursday until July 27th from 5pm to 8pm. Get together with friends, family or co-workers and enjoy specials from Hudson Eats while listening to a rotating selection of jazz musicians curated by The Jazz Gallery.

During this happy hour, eateries at Brookfield Place have some deals too! At Tartinery from 4pm to 7pm all beers and glasses of wine are half off. Their Watermelon Spritz is a notable drink to try! Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar’s happy hour takes place at the same time and offers $7 handrolls and $9 Asahi Beers. 

Later this summer, the Winter Garden will host a large-scale installation by visual artist Miya Ando as part of the Brookfield Place New York Annual Arts Commission. For this year’s commission, Ando reimagines the year 2023 not in days, but in flowers, depicting the 72 seasons of the nature-based ancient Japanese system of time-telling. The installation, titled Flower Atlas, comes to life with a cascade of 72 chiffon banners suspended across the majestic glass atrium of the Winter Garden. 

From July to September, Brookfield Place visitors can enjoy a series of curated programs that complement the installation, including Mindful Reflections and Appreciation with Tea Arts & Culture – an artful tea experience that will explore the vast world of tea and expand our appreciation of nature, Artistic Reflections on Climate Change – a talk hosted in the Winter Garden on July 20th with Miya Ando and Ami Vitale who will discuss their observations and documentation of climate change, and much more.  

Brookfield Place is located at 230 Vesey Street, in Lower Manhattan. From enjoying art and cocktails outdoors or shopping and enjoying the AC indoors, Brookfield Place might be the perfect place to unwind after work or on the weekend.

The post Plan Your Summer Escape At Brookfield Place In NYC appeared first on Secret NYC.

* This article was originally published here

Back for its third year in New York City, Aesop’s Queer Library will return this June to provide New Yorkers with free books by LGBTQ+ authors. Many of the books in the collection have been banned or challenged across the country, and the brand-sponsored queer library aims to increase access and discussion about these titles while highlighting the necessity of self-expression.

New York’s Queer Library branch will open at Aesop Williamsburg (85 North 3rd Street) from Tuesday, June 20 through Saturday, June 25. As in previous years, each visitor is invited to select a complimentary book from the shelves and take it home, while supplies last. 

RECOMMENDED: The best LGBTQ+ things to do in New York for Pride Month

According to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, 2022 saw a 38% increase in titles targeted for censorship. Of those titles, the vast majority were written by or about members of the LGBTQ+ community or by and about Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color. 

The library celebrates the transformative power of literature—its ability to affirm, uplift and illuminate—and has donated $100,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which works to defend freedom of expression, both in the courts and beyond.

“The Aesop Foundation is proud to support the ACLU to end classroom censorship, challenge book bans and promote access to public libraries,” says Catherine O’Dea, Chair of the Aesop Foundation. “The grant reflects our shared commitment to supporting literacy and education and we stand in solidarity with the ACLU’s Right to Learn campaign and other activities that defend freedom of expression to advance equity.”

The books included in this year’s Queer Library were selected by Aesop team members, and sourced from independent queer-owned bookstores—Glad Day Books in Toronto and Bookwoman in Austin—along with titles donated by Penguin Books. The shelves will include classic queer texts by James Baldwin and Audre Lorde plus contemporary titles by writers including George M. Johnson and Maia Kobabe. The project aims to show the importance of these voices in the literary canon and help readers develop empathy for those different than them. 

And while the New York Public Library is always free (books have to be returned though), a few LGBTQ+ and feminist bookstores are also accessible in the city. On the Lower East Side, Bluestockings offers a range of progressive titles and the Bureau of General Services-Queer Division inside Greenwich Village’s LGBT Center curates LGBTQ+ books for all ages and readers. 

* This article was originally published here