Activities for kids: May 29–June 4
Monday
With the Fort Washington branch of the NYPL closed for renovations, the library’s bookmobile provides access to the its riches.
At the bookmobile you can sign up for a library card, browse a small collection of books for people of all ages, speak with a librarian to get reading recommendations, reference services, and return and renew books.
What’s more, the bookmobile is proof that reading takes you places!
Mondays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. near the YM & YWHA in Fort George at 54 Nagle Avnue. Also in Hudson Heights on Wednesdays. The Fort Washington branch is expected to reopen in summer 2024.
If you can’t wait to turn the page, the writer has succeeded in telling you a great story.
What does it take to develop characters, settings, dialogue, and plot elements that have you on the edge of your seat?
Here’s a workshop that answers those questions and more. Join fellow writers to break down the parts of fiction writing each week and test out what you’ve learned with some on-the-spot writing.
You’ll work with your peers, too—giving advice and feedback, while hearing what they have to say about your work. Not only does this workshop make you a better writer, but when you understand the process, it makes you appreciate your favorite writers even more.
For writers 8 to 12 years old.
$600 or pay what you can. Monday afternoon from 4 to 6 at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street. No meeing on Memorial Day. Through June 19.
Tuesday
Look, listen, sing, and have fun with storytime at the Met cloisters. The museum and Literacy INC shares tales through picture-book readings in English and Spanish connected to objects in the Cloisters’ collection.
Recommended for families with children ages 18 months to 6 years. Participants will receive a free book with onsite registration.
Space is limited; first come, first served.
Free with Museum admission; admission is pay as you wish for New York state residents, and free for children under 12 with an adult. Tuesday mornings at 11:30 at the museum
in Fort Tryon Park.
Here’s a call to the brave and the bold for a writing adventure!
This semester you can join fellow authors to write stories that have multiple choices for the reader: different storylines to lead them down alternative paths or to alternative endings.
You’ll take inspiration from a few examples like Jason Shiga’s Meanwhile and Ryan North’s To be or not to be, then you’ll build worlds of your own.
Dig into key writing techniques and learn some new approaches while we forge our own way, whether that’s fiction or nonfiction, the choice is yours. Which way will your adventure go?
$600 or pay what you can. Tuesday afternoon from 3:30 to 5:30 at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street. Through June 20.
Tired of being inside? Do you want to be wild and break out of limitations that are always being set?
Poetry is the answer.
Strap on your shoes and grab a pens, then meet at the P.S. 187 school yard to go on a poet’s adventure.
Poetry is a way of seeing things outside the boxes they are always being put in. You’ll be rejuvenated by the nature of Fort Tryon Park and emboldened by our resilient neighborhood. You’ll explore the wilds of language out in the world, allowing a stream of poetry to flow from the river of possibility.
$600 or pay what you can. Tuesday afternoon at 4; meet at P.S. 187 in Hudson Heights on Cabrini Boulevard above 181st. Through June 20.
Start on a journey into the deepest, darkest corners of your mind, where your imagination make others shiver, squirm, and silently scream. Yes, you’ll be writing our own page-turning horror stories and screenplays, the kind that make your pulse race and your hair stand on end.
In this workshop you’ll visit works by masters of the genre, like Edgar Allen Poe, Shirley Jackson, and Stephen King, while discovering newer voices like Steven Graham Jones, Victor LaValle, and Carmen Maria Machado. And because horror can’t be contained to the written page, we’ll check out selected scenes from movies like Psycho, Nightmare on Elm Street, Shaun of the Dead, and Get Out.
$600 or pay what you can. Tuesday evening from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street. Through June 13.
Wednesday
Join a troupe of creative performers who are looking to practice acting and meet new friends at the same time.
Enrollment is open for the 2023–24 class of the PTP Academy, the multi-year theater and leadership program for immigrant youth and youth of color in middle school and high school.
Admissions for the PTP Academy is a four-step process that includes a brief application, an information session, a group audition, and family interview. All enrolled students receive a commitment for a full scholarship for all six years of the program.
The deadline to apply is Wednesday. To apply, click here.
With the Fort Washington branch of the NYPL closed for renovations until summer 2024, the library’s bookmobile provides access to the its riches.
At the bookmobile you can sign up for a library card, browse a small collection of books for people of all ages, speak with a librarian to get reading recommendations, reference services, and return and renew books.
What’s more, the bookmobile is proof that reading takes you places!
Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. near the Moriah Center in Hudson Heights at 90 Bennett Avenue. Also in Fort George on Mondays.
Girls, we’re facing challenges we haven’t seen in more than two generations. Our roles as women—in the home, at work, as citizens—is all at once advancing and retracting, driven by forces that may seem beyond our control. In the face of all that is going on around us, we can say this with all certainty: your voice is the answer to what comes next.
Take your unique perspective to the writers’ table, and be surrounded by girls who have opinions, dreams, fears, and frustrations, just like you. Come get inspired by women writers and artists, past and present, who speak truth to power and each other. You’ll get in-depth on how far women have come, where we are now, and what you want your future to be. Using whatever writing style suits each of us best, we’ll unflinchingly take on a world that often underestimates our individual will and collective might.
$600 or pay what you can. Wednesday afternoons starting from 4 to 6 at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street. Through June 14.
Get yourself outdoors for a movie under the stars.
In the musical comedy Vivo, an adventurous and music-loving capuchin monkey makes a perilous journey from Havana to Miami to pursue his calling and ambitions in show business.
Free. Wednesday night at 8:30 in Highbridge Park near 174th and Amsterdam Avenue. The film runs 95 minutes.
Thursday
Enjoy an outdoor story hour with the Public Library in the RING garden, a delightful pocket park.
The reasders shore books over 45 minutes, sometimes with songs, clapping, movements, and puppets, for the younger set and their caregiviers.
Rain cancels.
Thursday mornings at 11 in the Riverside-Inwood Neighborhood Garden at the confluence of Broadway, Riverside Drive, and Dyckman Street.
Girls, it’s time to let your voice be heard.
Come write, discuss, and revel in what you love, in what inspires you, and discover how you’re going to change the world. From politics to body image to #metoo, you’ll tackle what it means to be an empowered young woman right now. Any and all kinds of writing are welcome, from real life to poems to fiction, just bring the unique girl you are.
This free workshop is in partnership with The Uptown Hub, and offers a $20 stipend for each class you attend.
If you are in high school and are a girl or self-identify as a girl, all you need to do is register.
Free. Thursday afternoons starting from 3:45 to 5:15 at The Uptown Hub at the Columbia Medical Center in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 168th Street. Through June 15.
For many of us, picture books are what first sparked a lifelong joy for reading and crafting stories. From Max's wild rumpus to Sam-I-am's obsession with green eggs and ham, these books stay in our hearts long after the last page has been read.
In this bilingual workshop, you’ll revisit your favorite children’s books through the eyes of a writer and illustrator, getting to the bottom of what makes them so memorable. Then you’ll develop and write your own book, mapping out characters, plot and narration.
You can create a story from scratch, explore a cultural children's story that has been shared with you, or dive into a timeless fairy tale, transforming it into a fascinating page-turner that's all your own.
For ages 8 to 11. This is a bilingual workshop: all Spanish and English speakers are welcome.
$600 or pay what you can. Thursday afternoons starting from 4 to 6 at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street. No meeting on June 1. Through June 22.
Friday
Tired of being inside? Do you want to be wild and break out of the limitations that are always being set?
Poetry is the answer. Join a group that’s strapping on their shoes and grabbing their pens and going on a poet’s adventure.
Poetry is a way of seeing things outside the boxes they are always being put in. You’ll be renewed by the nature of Ft. Tryon park and emboldened by our resilient neighborhood as you explore the wilds of language out in the world, allowing a stream of poetry to flow from the river of possibility.
Friday afternoons starting from 4 to 6. Meet in the school yard of P.S. 187. Concludes June 16.
Hear how Inwood was transformed into a fairy tale.
In “Uptown Magic,” Cinzia Meneghello depicts a luminous, fantasy realm full of whimsical creatures, enchanted forests, and symbolic thresholds. Many of the works in the exhibition were inspired by the natural and cultural richness of Northern Manhattan.
Meneghello explains her creative process in this talk, held amid her exhibition.
Viewers are invited to see themselves as heroines and magicians, fairies and angels, or simply as curious beings enthralled by the potential and magic within themselves, their community, and the places they inhabit.
Free. Friday evening at 6 at the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in Inwood on Broadway at 204th Street. The exhibit runs through September 2.
Saturday
Hike the Giraffe Path with friends and family and then join a neighborhood celebration of National Trails Day in Highbridge Park.
The path, which resembles the neck of a giraffe, stretches from Central Park North to the southern tip of Inwood, takes you on a loop around Fort George and Hudson Heights. The non-competitive event aims to revitalize public spaces, strengthen community, and hike toward a more equitable future.
Hike any or all of the route.
Free. Saturday morning at 9:45 at the RING garden at Broaday, Riverside Drive, and Dyckman Street; then heading generally downtown, walking through Swindler Cove in Sherman Creek at 10, J. Hood Wright Park on Fort Washington Avenue and 175th at 10:45; and concluding with a walk across the High Bridge. Walk only the portions you wish to, and whether that’s miles or just a stroll you can celebrate with a party at the Sunken Playground in Highbridge Park near Edgecomb Avenue and 167th Street from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Stock up for summer reading!
Scholastic hosts a free giveaway of books for kids. The spring book bash also hands out prizes to young readers for their non-reading time.
Free. Saturday from noon to 4 in Mitchell Square in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 166th Street. Rain date: June 4.
If you can’t get enough of shows like Hamilton, Wicked, Lion King, and Sweeney Todd, this is the workshop for you. Come unite your stories and your songs into an amazing, must-see miniature musical—performed by professional actors (jazz hands included).
Once your write the outlines for your stories, you’ll learn how to break down them into scenes, and how to choose a genre of music that sets the mood. You’ll work with your fellow theater kids to collaborate, write lyrics, and help each other create musicals that Broadway will be jealous of. Throughout the workshop, you'll draw on favorite and lesser-known musicals for inspiration.
No writing or musical experience is needed to take this workshop because all that’s needed is the song in your heart.
For ages 8 to 13. The class size is limited at 14.
$600 or pay what you can. Saturday from noon to 2 at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street. Through June 17.
Get ready to run faster and jump higher, one frame at a time, as you take your stories and transforming them into comics.
Choose an ordinary day (or the wildest story you can imagine) and use comic book language, illustration, and frames to share with everyone the next super adventure.
You don’t need to be an artist to join us—just bring your best ideas. You’ll learn all the steps to comics illustration and development, including pin-ups, single-frame and multi-frame pages, using any pencils, pens, paints and other art materials.
For ages 10 to 14. The workshop is limited to 14.
Saturday afternoon from 1 to 3 at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street. Through June 17.
You are invited to Snobby Poetry, should you be up for the challenge. Join a band of self-motivated, über-supportive misfits who read, write, and share poems.
It’s a group who loves words, rhyme (only when used sparely, thank you), observation, and Walt Whitman (obviously).
Poetry is an illogical measuring device, filled with seemingly impossible comparisons and instructions; that is why you are called to write it. Poets are the liars who tell the truth. If this sounds like you, or if you’ve already taken a class with Jane LeCroy and want more, Snobby Poetry is the workshop for you.
For ages 14 to 16. The workshop is limited to 14.
Saturday afternoon from 1 to 3 at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street. Through June 17.
The New York Scandia Symphony presents an educational children's music performance of The Emperor's New Clothes.
The classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale features a comic look at human vanity. The emperor is overawed with his own appearance, and his court is full of nobles who affirm everything he believes. In the end, the truth is revealed by the innocence of a child.
The performance is the opening concert of the sixteenth Scandinavian Music Festival, held in Fort Tryon Park on June 4, 9, and 11.
Free. Saturday afternoon at 2 in Bennett Park in Hudson Heights on Fort Washington Avenue at 183rd Street.
Sunday
Get off the island and on the water this summer with the Inwood Canoe Club.
The group hosts guided 20-minute kayak trips on the Hudson River. No experience necessary, but you must be able to swim and complete a 2023 waiver in advancer.
The event is popular and spaces are liming, so arrive early to sign up. The club opens at 9 a.m., and then it’s first come, first served.
Waves of rowers departs the dock at 10, 10:45, and 11:30.
In the boathouse, everyone must wear a mask. Rowers must be at lest 8 years old, and rowers under 18 must have a parent or guardian present.
Free. Sunday mornings at 10 at the clubhouse on Dyckman Street at the Hudson. Through September 3.
The annual Drums Along the Hudson began in 2002 as a traditional Pow Wow to celebrate Native American heritage and culture, and also to commemorate the Lenape people who first inhabited Inwood Hill Park, or Shorakapok (“edge of the water”).
The twenty-first anniversary event will feature Mohawk Elder Tom Porter, the Thunderbird American Indian dancers, Sri Lankan dancers and
drummers, storytelling, crafts, food and more.
The event has attracted a growing audience, numbering from 400 in the first year to over 8,000 in
pre-Covid years.
Free. Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Inwood Hill Park at Indian Road and 218th
Street.
Uptown activities
Where are you going?
Use a compass rose to help you get there. A video from the Hispanic Society will show you how to make one with a potato, some paint and a few more household objects.
You’ll also learn a bit about maps through the centuries and how explorers used them to travel to places they’d never seen.
Here’s a way to make your next outing with the kids a little different.
Print out a family scavenger hunt booklet and take a walk through Fort Tryon Park’s historic estate remnants.
Find, draw, and map natural marvels and constructed treasures while you explore the path network that leads from Billings Lawn to the Palisades Overlook.
The booklet is provided by the Fort Tryon Park Trust.
Scavenger Hunt 2020 Fort Tryon Park.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [5.6 MB]
Drawing a building is easy when you break it up into shapes.
See for yourself with some help from the Center For Architecture, which created an instructional lesson and video on how to draw Manhattan’s oldest house, the Morris-Jumel Mansion. The site of a famous meeting held by George Washington, the Jumel Terrace landmark is said to be haunted.
Drawing-Buildings-Activity-Final-2020-2.[...]
Adobe Acrobat document [386.3 KB]
Need something new for the kids to do?
The Hispanic Society of America offers several coloring pages, each based on one of the most famous paintings in the museum’s collection. Recognize the Duchess of Alba? Download the pdf below.
And here’s a recap of the Society’s summer camp for kids.
For adults, the society has posted several lectures here.
¿Necesita algo nuevo para que hagan los niños?
La Hispanic Society of America ofrece varias páginas para colorear, cada una basada en una de las pinturas más famosas de la colección del museo.
¿Reconoces a la duquesa de Alba? Descargue el pdf a continuación.
Para los adultos, la sociedad ha publicado varias conferencias aquí.
hsml-kids-coloringbook-final.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [717.7 KB]
Share your Uptown event
Uptown Ink is the magazine that celebrates the best of creativity and storytelling from Uptown Stories writers by giving them a platform to write what’s next and share it with the world.
At the end of every semester, Uptown Stories collects students’ work to be published in a printed anthology. For many of our students, this is a transformative experience: being a published author in a real book, for sale at Word Up Community Bookshop and on Amazon. Typically, each anthology contains over 500 pages of short stories, poems, essays, screenplays, manifestos, songs, and other free forms of youth expression.
Want to be part of it? Find out more here.
Hailed as a singer possessing a crystalline timbre and intense acting ability, the Puerto Rican soprano Carmen Elisa Cancél joins the singer and percussionist Jainardo Batista, who’s also from Puerto Rico, for a performance in the Rising in the Heights spring series.
Free. Wednesday afternoon, June 7, at 5 at the Word Up Community Book Shop in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue at 165th Street.
Do some digging, then get in some riding with your BMX buds.
Meet up for a day of work and play in the woods and learn what it takes to build, maintain, and ride the most progressive urban bike park in America, with the help of the New York City Mountain Bike Association.
There will be light trail maintenance tasks for all ages in the morning. Every volunteer receives a free 20-minute clinic and, in the afternoon, a guided ride throughout the trails from 12:30 to 3. Even better, bikes and helmets are provided, so you don’t need your own.
Uptown is the home of the city's first mountain biking course, 3 miles of trails of varying difficulty and a free-ride trail that includes drops, steeps, and berms. The park also features a dirt jump park and pump track, making it a good place to develop different skills at all levels.
Updates on trail work posted are on the New York chapter’s web site.
Free. Saturday morning, June 10, from 10 to 3 in Fort George at the BMX trailhead in Highbridge Park, on Fort George Avenue, just northwest of the Buczek Ballfield. Monthly on the second Saturday.
Wade into the Hudson River to collect and count species of fish and contribute to World Fish Migration Day. The seining event is held in partnership with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.
Free. Saturday, June 10, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the 172nd Street Beach in Fort Washington Park.
Discover the multicultural heritage of New York with exploration stations covering narratives of Black and indigenous people, and people of color.
The event features multicultural heritage exploration stations, where you can work on arts-as-advocacy projects to promote a diverse, equitable, and inclusive future for everyone. Participants may create advocacy chalk drawings, legacy bracelets, and other creative expression projects.
Free. Saturday afternoon, June 10, from 1 to 3:30 at the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in Inwood on Broadway at 204th Street.
Let your kids explore life in colonial New York at Manhattan’s oldest remaining house.
The Morris-Jumel Mansion offers family day programming with a fun, hands-on activity for children and their care-givers.
Free. Saturday afternoon, June 10, from 1 to 3 at the mansion on Jumel Terrace in Lower WaHi.
Get you ideas out and on paper with friends.
Uptown Writers hosts Saturday Write Live, a get-together for the creative set that just wants to put some ink on paper (or pixels on a doc).
Saturday night, June 10, from 7 to 10 at Buunni Coffee in Inwood on 4961 Broadway.
Let your kids get their hands dirty in the Growing Uptown program. They will come home with a grow kit so they can grow their own food in their apartments.
In this hands-on workshop, participants will receive a grow bag, compost, seeds, and a mini greenhouse. In one hour kids will learn about the growth process and how to grow from seeds. Wear comfy clothes and expect to get dirty.
Free. Thursday evening, June 15, at 5 and 6, and Saturday afternoon, June 17, at 4 and 5 at the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in Inwood on Broadway at 204th Street. Monthly through September.
Join NYC Parks and Council Member Carmen De La Rosa for skate night in the park.
Dance and enjoy an outdoor roller-skating event with music, jumbo games, and much more.
Free. Friday afternoon, June 16, from 4 to 5:30 at the Anne Loftus Playground in Fort Tryon Park. Adults get their own session from 6 to 7.
Welcome summer with a splash!
Join NYC Parks and the Fort Tryon Park Trust to celebrate the start of summer with the inauguration of the brand new fountain in Anne Loftus Playground. You’ll get to hear live performances from Annette Aguilar, the People’s Theatre Project, and Dance Project of Washington Heights, and participate in games, crafts, giveaways, face-paint, and more.
Free. Saturday, June 17, from noon to 3 at the playground in Fort Tryon Park.
Share ideas and enjoy hands-on gallery activities that bring medieval works of art to life. Presented in Spanish and English.
Recommended for families with children ages 3 to 11 years. Note: Space is limited; first come, first served.
Compartan sus ideas y disfruten participando en actividades en las salas para dar vida a las obras de arte medieval. Presentado en español e inglés. Recomendado para familias con niños de 3 a 11 años.
Gratuito con la entrada al Museo; la entrada es gratuita para niños menores de 12 años con un adulto. Nota: el aforo es limitado; entrada por orden de llegada hasta agotar la capacidad.
Free with Museum admission; admission is free for children under 12 with an adult. Saturday afternoon, June 17, at 2 at the museum in Fort Tryon Park.
Get yourself outdoors for a movie under the stars.
Encanto opens deep in the Colombian mountains, where the Madrigal family possesses an extraordinary secret. Each of them can perform magic. Yet at the heart of the family is 15-year-old Mirabel, who does not seem to possess any unusual abilities. Faced with this harsh reality, Mirabel struggles to reconcile her place within her family while searching for who she truly is.
Free. Saturday night, June 17, at dusk (around 8:45) at the Raoul Wallenberg Playground in Highbridge Park near 189th and Laurel Hill Terrace in Fort George. The film runs 102 minutes.
Grossly overweight yet good hearted, Prof. Sherman Klump invents a miraculous weight-loss solution that turns him into the slim but obnoxious Buddy Love.
Eddie Murphy delivers belly-laughs playing multiple roles in The Nutty Professor, a 1996 romantic comedy.
A pre-show stand-up comedy routine by Last Stop begins at 7:30.
Free but tickets required. Monday night, June 19, around 8:30 at The Hudson in Dyckman Marina where Dyckman Street meets the river.
Row New York’s summer rowing camp is the perfect opportunity for those who want to spend the summer outdoors learning a new sport, getting fit, having fun, and making friends.
Campers in grades 8 through 12 will learn the basics of the sculling rowing stroke–which uses two oars, one in each hand–on and off the water. By the end of the sessions, rowers will gain the confidence and skills to participate in a scrimmage, or informal race, with fellow rowers.
Each session will include basic land training and stretching. No athletic experience is necessary, but a willingness to take on physical challenges and an interest in learning new things is helpful.
Participants with an annual household income below $100,000 row for free.
The first session runs nine days and costs $1,080; the rest of the summer session runs 10 days and cost $1,200; $50 registration fee. Tuesday, June 20, through June 30 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Peter J. Sharp Boathouse, which you can access through Swindler’s Cove in Sherman Creek Park. The ten-day sessions start July 10, July 24, and August 7.
It’s story time with the gifted racanteur Rachael Harrington. She’s a storyteller who performs traditional and personal tales in arts venues, schools, festivals, and museums.
Her performance concludes the Rising in the Heights series.
Free. Wednesday afternoon, June 21, at 5 at the Word Up Community Book Shop in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue at 165th Street.
Discover the extent of Native American involvement in the military and militia during the colonial wars of the eighteenth century. You’ll get to handle crucial woodland and combat tools of the period such as firearms, water-carrying devices and pack baskets; and test European and Native American fire making techniques and survival methods.
A practical black powder demonstration with discussion of the importance and technological evolution of firearms is included in this program, which will be led by Drew Shuptar Rayvis.
Free. Sturday, June 24, from noon to 3 at the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in Inwood on Broadway at 204th Street.
Join the Fort Tryon Park Trust for the launch of the Birds and Trees Coloring Book, developed by author Leslie Day and artist Trudy Smoke.
You’ll get a tour of the trees illustrated in the book, learn about the research and artistic processes, and try your hand at nature drawing based on the beautiful environs of the Heather Garden.
All participants will receive a free copy of the coloring book. Take a pack of crayons. For all ages.
Free. Sunday afternoon, June 25, from 2 to 3:30 in the Heather Garden in Fort Tryon Park, near the Margaret Corbin Plaza entrance in Hudson Heights.
When a litter of Dalmatian puppies is abducted by the minions of Cruella De Vil, the dogs’ owners must find them before she uses them for a diabolical fashion statement. A Disney classic, 101 Dalmations was released in 1961.
A pre-show musical performance by Tony Davis begins at 7:30.
Free but tickets required. Monday night, July 3, around 8:30 at The Hudson at The Dyckman on Dyckman Street where it meets the river.
Is your teen interested in the sciences? Maybe she’s thinking about a career in medicine?
If so, consider the Lang Youth Medical Program at the Columbia Medical Center. It’s a free opportunity to expose high school students to the science of medicine and aims to inspire teens to achieve their college aspirations through hands-on learning and mentorship.
It’s open only to students in WaHi who attend a Community School District 6 school at meets on seventeen Saturdays through the year and during the entire month of July. Find out more here.
The deadline for next year’s session is in March.
Start on a journey into the deepest, darkest corners of your mind, where your imagination make others shiver, squirm, and silently scream. Yes, you’ll be writing our own page-turning horror stories and screenplays, the kind that make your pulse race and your hair stand on end.
In this workshop you’ll visit works by masters of the genre, like Edgar Allen Poe, Shirley Jackson, and Stephen King, while discovering newer voices like Steven Graham Jones, Victor LaValle, and Carmen Maria Machado. And because horror can’t be contained to the written page, we’ll check out selected scenes from movies like Psycho, Nightmare on Elm Street, Shaun of the Dead, and Get Out.
For writers ages 12 to 18. Take your lunch and a bottle of water each day.
$600 or pay what you can. Monday through Friday, July 10 to 14, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street.
For many of us, picture books are what first sparked a lifelong joy for reading and crafting stories. From Max's wild rumpus to Sam-I-am's obsession with green eggs and ham, these books stay in our hearts long after the last page has been read.
In this bilingual workshop, you’ll revisit your favorite children’s books through the eyes of a writer and illustrator, getting to the bottom of what makes them so memorable. Then you’ll develop and write your own book, mapping out characters, plot and narration.
You can create a story from scratch, explore a cultural children's story that has been shared with you, or dive into a timeless fairy tale, transforming it into a fascinating page-turner that's all your own.
For ages 8 to 11. This is a bilingual workshop: all Spanish and English speakers are welcome.
Take your lunch and a bottle of water.
$600 or pay what you can. Monday through Friday mornings, July 10 to 14, from 10 to noon at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street.
Want to get out and dance?
Jointhe Washington Heights Dance Project’s summer workshop, It’s a fusion of all of a variety art forms and dance styles, such as Afro-Brazilian, Cuban rumba, jazz , theater, yoga, and hula. Over six weeks you can experiment with fusing these styles with Latin dance, hip hop, and contemporary.
$210 per week, or $1,200 for all six weeks. Mondays through Fridays from July 17 through August 25 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the studio in Lower WaHi on Fort Washington Avenue at 176th Street.
Get ready to run faster and jump higher, one frame at a time, as you take your stories and transforming them into comics.
Choose an ordinary day (or the wildest story you can imagine) and use comic book language, illustration, and frames to share with everyone the next super adventure.
You don’t need to be an artist to join us—just bring your best ideas. You’ll learn all the steps to comics illustration and development, including pin-ups, single-frame and multi-frame pages, using any pencils, pens, paints and other art materials.
For ages 10 to 14. The workshop is limited to 14. Take your lunch and a water bottle each day.
$600 or pay what you can. Monday through Friday, July 17 to 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street.
It's time to be the master of your own universe!
Explore worlds of your own creation, inhabited by beings that only you can imagine. You'll work with your workshop friends—whether you prefer fantasy, science fiction, magical realism or dystopia—to bring your ideas to life.
You'll map out stories rich in symbolism, unleash your hidden storytelling skills, and be each other's sounding boards along the way.
If you've ever dreamed of another world, this is the workshop where you can make it happen!
For ages 8 to 12. Class size limited to 14. Take you lunch and a water bottle each day.
$600 or pay what you can. Mondays through Friday, July 24 to 28, at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street.
If you can’t wait to turn the page, the writer has succeeded in telling you a great story.
What does it take to develop characters, settings, dialogue, and plot elements that have you on the edge of your seat?
Here’s a workshop that answers those questions and more. Join fellow writers to break down the parts of fiction writing each week and test out what you’ve learned with some on-the-spot writing.
For writers 8 to 12 years old. Take your lunch and a water bottle each day.
$600 or pay what you can. Monday through Friday, July 24 to 29, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street.
Move your writing beyond the page.
In this workshop, you’ll take on the fundamentals of playwriting, focusing on dialogue and character. You’ll read (and act!) works from playwriting greats to get a sense of structure and how what we see on stage plays out on the page.
Then you’ll get started writing your own ten-minute play, meant to be read aloud by the class and some guest professional actors. You’ll also take a trip to Drama Book Shop for play reading, inspiration, and immersion into the world of theater.
For ages 12 t0 16. The class is limited to 14. Take your lunch and a water bottle each day.
$600 or pay what you can. Monday through Friday, July 31 to August 3, at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street.
Discover the nature of poetry amid the poetry of nature.
In this workshop, young poets will discover, observe, and breath inspiration from the poetry of the natural world.
In addition to reading and writing poetry, they will create pocket-pals, fairy dwellings, drawings of natural objects, and use all their senses to connect with nature through artistic expression and imagination.
A week of field trips in WaHi with a poetry focus will yield artful journals filled with creative experiments from which poems, and their minds, will grow.
For ages 8 to 18. Class size limited to 14. Take a lunch and a water bottle each day.
$600 or pay what you can. Monday through Friday, July 31 through August 4, at the Cornerstone Center in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street.
Everyone’s favorite leche-loving, swashbuckling, fear-defying feline returns in this smart, sweet, and funny adventure. The daring outlaw Puss in Boots (voiced by Antonio Banderas) discovers that his passion for peril and disregard for safety have taken their toll.
The 2022 film comes from DreamWorks.
A pre-show musical performance begins at 7.
Free but tickets required. Monday night, July 31, around 8:30 at The Hudson at Dyckman Marina where Dyckman Street meets the river.
Little Lions Camp is a kid-centered, fun-based day camp that aims to keep kids physically and creatively active.
Programming features an ever-changing combination of classic P.E. games, backyard favorites, sports, and special surprises to keep kids happy, active, and engaged. A trained staff of teachers, athletes, camp veterans, creative types, and child-care specialists ensure that games are always changing and that the counselors can tailor programming to fit children’s needs and likes.
The camp holds two sessions of one week each, and includes lunch.
Full scholarships are available for kids who live Uptown. The deadline is noon on June 5; get application information from Carolyn at (212) 305-9483 or gca@cumc.columbia.edu.
$520, or two sessions for $499 each. Monday through Friday, August 7 through 11, from 9 to 3 at the Baker Athletic Complex in Inwood. Also on August 14 through 18.
Food and books are the themes of a bilingual garden-to-table literary camp that focuses on urban gardening, foodways, healthy cooking, arts and crafts, and storytelling. Each student will receive a Grow Kit to start and sustain a mini herb garden at home to observe after the program finishes.
The activities are for children ages 8 to 13. Lunch will be provided.
Registration opens Friday at noon.
Free. Monday through Friday, August 7 through 11, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum in Inwood on Broadway at 204th Street.
The Medieval Festival is the most famous event in the Heights, drawing tens of thousands of visitors to the neighborhood.
Lords, ladies, knights and commoners bring to life the customs and spirit of the middle ages, transforming a slice of Upper Manhattan into a medieval market town decorated with bright banners and processional flags. Visitors are greeted by period music, dance, magic, and minstrels, as well as jugglers and jesters. The day concludes with a joust among four knights on horseback.
The festival brings tens of thousands of people to the neighborhood, so expect crowds and limited parking.
Free. A Sunday in late September or early October from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Fort Tryon Park.
Have an event to submit? Send it to web@ThePinehurst.org
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