The July Calendar: Events for Each Day of the Month

By Troy Segal

Complement your calendar with this guide to New York City’s top talks, tastings, tours, and screenings in July.

July 1. Listen as novelist James Carroll describes the research he did on post-World War II Rome, the setting of his newest book, Warburg in Rome. 92nd Street Y.

July 2. Hear the war cries as a former historian for the Gettysburg National Military Park examines the events leading up to the 1862 Battle of Antietam, which has the dubious honor of being the bloodiest single-day conflict in American history. Bryant Park Reading Room.

Photo: metopera.org

July 3. Let lyrical sounds wash over you at an al fresco concert of up-and-coming opera stars, courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera’s Summer Recital Series. Clove Lakes Park.

July 4. Get your early-morning groove on as Jason Derulo broadcasts live from Rumsey Playfield, one of Good Morning America’s summer concerts. Central Park.

July 5. Ponder what the well-dressed were wearing, back around 1200, as a museum curator gives a gallery talk on Adornment in the Middle Ages. The Cloisters.

July 6. Channel your inner artist during Family Sundays at the Rubin Museum of Art for an afternoon full of art-making activities and tours of Asian artifacts.

July 7. Rock on at an appearance by the legendary group Crosby, Stills & Nash, whose memories of the 1970s are boosted by historic performance footage. Paley Center for Media.

July 8. Hearken to New York Times bestselling kids’ book author Rainbow Rowell (Eleanor & Park and Fangirl) sharing excerpts from her first novel for grownups, Landline, about a troubled marriage and a magical phone. Barnes & Noble, TriBeCa.

July 9. Decide who wins the argument over which meal is better — breakfast or dinner — at this oh-so-earnest debate between two comedian/comedy writer teams. Symphony Space.

July 10. Get the inside scoop on where fashion is heading from André Walker, a force for avant-garde outfits since the 1980s. Museum of Arts and Design.

July 11. Stage a belated celebration of Independence Day with a lunchtime lecture on July 4 activities 200 years ago, at this historic stone house. Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden.

July 12. Have a first look at a new musical about Rachel Carson, whose book Silent Spring kicked off the modern “green” movement. The Studio Theatre at Theatre Row.

July 13. Decode Chinese calligraphy — how it was done and what it means — by handling a brush or two yourself at this technique peek program. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Courtesy of Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University

July 14. Take a tour of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, exploring its unique vaults, domes, and Rafael Guastavino-designed tiles, at this Museum of the City of New York-sponsored event.

July 15. Partake in a demonstration of real-live robots (and get a sneak peak of more from a future exhibit). Museum of Mathematics.

July 16. Watch a dramatic (but real) tale of a slave ship mutiny, as the movie Amistad recreates a once-forgotten incident in American history. Museum of Jewish Heritage.

July 17. Judge a live storytelling competition, with each celebrity-told tale evoking the theme of Baseball As Good Medicine. Bergino Baseball Clubhouse.

July 18. Laugh along at the futurist film Sleeper, after getting insights from a psychoanalyst who will introduce the Woody Allen classic. Rubin Museum of Art.

July 19. Muse about appearances at a cornucopia of dramatic presentations exploring the theme of Beauty—in Dance, Music, & Love. Aesthetic Realism Foundation.

Installation view of Lygia Clark: The Abandonment of Art, 1948-1988 at The Museum of Modern Art. Photo by Thomas Griesel. © 2014 The Museum of Modern Art

July 20. Achieve some insight into the creative process of artist Lygia Clark and her use of physical space at this informal gallery talk. Museum of Modern Art.

July 21. Listen in as Wallace Shawn and André Gregory (best known as the co-stars of My Dinner With André) discuss their new movie version of Ibsen’s The Master Builder. 92nd Street Y.

July 22. Get a ringside seat as two performance artists, Tania Bruguera and Karen Finley, engage in a dialogue about intellectual resistance and the role art can play in social protest. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

July 23. Hear how a new breed of politician was born at the turn of the 20th century, thanks to Theodore Roosevelt and his fellow Progressives. Bryant Park Reading Room.

Lucy Liu with Jonny Lee Miller in Elementary.

July 24. Rock the tube with as trio of actresses—Maggie Gyllenhaal, Lucy Liu, Mira Sorvino—talk about their star turns in current TV series. The TimesCenter.

July 25. Grin in spite of yourself at a screening of the black-humored cinematic masterpiece The Hospital, preceded by a chat with a clinical neuropsychologist, who tells us how much medicine has changed since the 1971 thriller — or has it? Rubin Museum of Art.

July 26. Celebrate the power of verse at the opening day of the weekend-long New York City Poetry Festival, which not only features 250 reciting poets, but also a beer garden, a crafts fair and writing games for kids. Governors Island.

July 27. Hear artist Mary Temple, a specialist in light installations, describe the piece she’s just created for the Museum of Biblical Art.

July 28. Ride along as New York Times reporter Bruce Weber describes his solo journey via bicycle across the U.S., as chronicled in the newspaper and his new book Life is a Wheel. Mid-Manhattan Library.

July 29. Embark on a grand tour of the universe via the wonders of the Hayden Planetarium’s digital technology, accompanied by a astronomical guide. American Museum of Natural History.

July 30. Remember wondering what President Nixon knew and when he knew it? John Dean, the White House Counsel during the 1970s Watergate scandal, talks about old secrets and new revelations. Barnes & Noble–Upper West Side.

July 31. Get an elevated perspective (literally) on the cinema at a screening of new indie Appropriate Behavior, on the lawn of the Greenpoint High School, part of the Rooftop Films: Underground Movies Outdoors series.