Can you experience great art in NYC at prices you can afford? Yes! If you know where to look and can plan ahead and be flexible.
[Do you have tips for affordable arts experiences? Share them as a comment below!]
Visual art: Some major museums have "free nights." The Museum of Modern Art is free on Friday evenings from 4-8pm, and Brooklyn Museum has a great "First Saturdays" event (coming up on March 6!) that is free and includes live music, dancing and other programs. Both would be great to attend with a group of friends!
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Cloisters (in Washington Heights) are always "pay what you wish" (check the fine print - it's a "suggested donation"). The Frick Collection - a great "unknown treasure" - is "pay what you wish" on Sundays from 11am-1pm, the Guggenheim on Saturdays from 5:45-7:45pm, and the Whitney on Fridays from 6-9pm (regular admission is only $8 at the Whitney through February 24!). Don't feel guilty - the museum would rather have you come for what you can afford than not visit at all! The staff won't hassle you. (If it would make you feel better, go to the museum three times in a year, and split your "suggested donation" into three installments.)
Check the Visitor Information page for other museums to see what they offer. Art galleries are always free and NYC has the best galleries in the world, featuring the most cutting-edge contemporary art.
Performances: A number of discount programs offer tickets to theater, dance and music performances for affordable prices. Theatre Development Fund, which also runs the TKTS booths, has a membership program that features tickets to all kinds of performances, between $9-$37, up to a month in advance of the performance. Annual membership is $30/year and is open to students, artists, teachers, those working in non-profits, retirees, and more. Click here for details.
Other ticket discount programs like Audience Extras and Play-by-Play have a higher annual fee, but only a small service charge for day-of-show tickets to a wide range of performances, including Broadway.
Many of the major venues also offer inexpensive tickets to their regular performances, including New York City Ballet ($15/ticket plus $20 annual membership), Metropolitan Opera ($20), New York Philharmonic ($31+) and more. Yes, you have to plan well ahead to get these tickets. And, no, you won't be on the front row. But let's face it, how big are the people on your TV set at home?
Some performances offer discounted day-of-performance "rush" tickets. Check the website of the organizations you're interested in for more details.
You also might consider ushering - it's a great way to serve the people and arts organizations of our city, and see some shows for free! Contact your favorite venue for more information.
Redeemer also offers group-priced tickets through our "Culture Club" program, which attends an arts event each month. Sign up for the email newsletter here to receive announcements about these events. Most Culture Club outings are not also announced in the worship service bulletin or elsewhere.
Enjoy some great art!
--Luann
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The Good of Art
Jonathan Edwards poetically expressed how the creation of the world came into being as an overflow of the relational love dynamically expressed among the persons of the Trinity. The material world is the manifestation of the active love present within God’s own triune being. Is it any wonder, then, that God consecrates his creative outcome in Genesis 1 as good? In a similar manner Colin Gunton understands God as the ultimate artist creating for love’s sake. He believes, “creation is a project, something God wills for its own sake and not because he has need of it” (The Cambridge Companion to Christine Doctrine, p.142). Creation then is intrinsically good in and of itself as an outpouring of God’s own love and beauty. Therefore, Richard Viladesau is correct to exclaim, “To experience beauty is to experience a deep-seated ‘yes’ to being” (Theology and the Arts, p.42).
One beautiful aspect of art is its ability to operate on many levels. Art reveals, inspires, and heals. It facilitates in a sensory way mediation of the world and our experiences in it. Art also reserves the power to elevate, motivate, and touch us in deep and meaningful ways that mere communication of facts cannot produce. Most importantly, art reminds us what it means to be human while at the same time discloses the divine and the transcendent—what is beyond us, what we hope for. But to continue to list the human benefits of art becomes a bit of an apologetic appeal. In our rationalistic society, pragmatism tends to rule and there is little room for art. We must therefore take the paradigm of God creating the world in and through love, not because he needed to, but because the constitution of love is generative and giving. Love and beauty beg for regeneration. Art is a gift to be given away, to inspire more works of art and to provide hope and meaning.
If it is true that art is self-expression as well as a reflection of the community it comes from, is it not likely that our work, our artistic creations as those who have a relationship with God, also contains the aroma of Christ? Despite the troubles and tribulations of our lives (that may also be evident in our art) Christ leads us in “triumphal procession,” and according to 2 Corinthians 3:14 distributes through us a fragrance—a sensory knowledge of himself. The love of God is so active it pours over us and inundates us with a scent. A scent, though not seen, is physically present—sometimes even discerned by taste. This presence clings to us, latches onto our work. Christians, therefore, should continue to participate in artistic actions not because they are necessary, but because love bids them to do so.
--Maria
One beautiful aspect of art is its ability to operate on many levels. Art reveals, inspires, and heals. It facilitates in a sensory way mediation of the world and our experiences in it. Art also reserves the power to elevate, motivate, and touch us in deep and meaningful ways that mere communication of facts cannot produce. Most importantly, art reminds us what it means to be human while at the same time discloses the divine and the transcendent—what is beyond us, what we hope for. But to continue to list the human benefits of art becomes a bit of an apologetic appeal. In our rationalistic society, pragmatism tends to rule and there is little room for art. We must therefore take the paradigm of God creating the world in and through love, not because he needed to, but because the constitution of love is generative and giving. Love and beauty beg for regeneration. Art is a gift to be given away, to inspire more works of art and to provide hope and meaning.
If it is true that art is self-expression as well as a reflection of the community it comes from, is it not likely that our work, our artistic creations as those who have a relationship with God, also contains the aroma of Christ? Despite the troubles and tribulations of our lives (that may also be evident in our art) Christ leads us in “triumphal procession,” and according to 2 Corinthians 3:14 distributes through us a fragrance—a sensory knowledge of himself. The love of God is so active it pours over us and inundates us with a scent. A scent, though not seen, is physically present—sometimes even discerned by taste. This presence clings to us, latches onto our work. Christians, therefore, should continue to participate in artistic actions not because they are necessary, but because love bids them to do so.
--Maria
Monday, February 1, 2010
NYC Church architecture
In our Arts Month devotional series, debuting today at www.faithandwork.org/artsdevotional, we talk about "beauty" - that God cares about beauty, and experiencing beauty brings us closer to Him.
One of our suggested activities is to visit a church that is "beautiful" in its architecture and decoration. We suggested "the usual suspects" - St Bart's, St Patrick's, St John the Divine (sensing a theme here?) - but we'd like to know what other beautiful churches you've found in NYC. Let us know in a comment below and we'll add it to the list when we move these devotionals to their permanent location on the website.
Thanks!
--Luann
One of our suggested activities is to visit a church that is "beautiful" in its architecture and decoration. We suggested "the usual suspects" - St Bart's, St Patrick's, St John the Divine (sensing a theme here?) - but we'd like to know what other beautiful churches you've found in NYC. Let us know in a comment below and we'll add it to the list when we move these devotionals to their permanent location on the website.
Thanks!
--Luann
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