Things to Do in New York in April: Events for Each Day This Month

By Ethan Wolff

Bird City Event

April 2026 featured event, Friday, April 24: gain new insight into the deep connection between literature and visual art on the inaugural Thought Gallery Curations private tour of the Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe Art of Stories features highlights from galleries that include Greek & Roman Art, European Paintings, and Arms & Armor.


April is full of smart things to do in New York. For fans of the city, presentations vary from The Mets and baseball history to bird migrations and the long backstory of the pickle. We're also looking forward to filmmaker Tran Anh Hung (The Scent of Green Papaya), Lena Dunham of Girls fame, and Academy Award-winning actress Ellen Burstyn explaining why Poetry Says It Better.

Wednesday, April 1. Mark spring at powerHouse Arena with a book launch for Metropolitans: New York Baseball, Class Struggle, and the People's Team, blending politics, baseball, and the fabric of New York City.

United Palace

Karen Green/Flickr

Thursday, April 2. Travel back to 1930, when the United Palace was one of the city's epic “Wonder Theatres,” on a Happy Hour Historical Tour of the opulent building (one drink included with ticket).

Friday, April 3. Get a rare look inside the Gertrude Whitney Studio, the first site of the Whitney Museum, at a New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture tour.

Saturday, April 4. Meet at the intersection of performance art, fashion, and installation with performance artist Pat Oleszko, showing her work and in conversation as part of the Whitney Biennial.

Satan rises from the burning lake

"Satan rises from the burning lake" (1866) by Gustave Doré.

Sunday, April 5. Strive for insight into Alfred Lord Tennyson's 1833 lyric poem Ulysses as Roundtable by The 92nd Street Y presents a virtual reading and discussion.

Monday, April 6. Fix a way to visit the Storefront for Art and Architecture for a night celebrating repair as a creative practice with three architect-editors behind Opera Aperta: Repair as a Radical Act.

Tuesday, April 7. Unveil a teenager's secret life in the London underworld with Patrick Radden Keefe as he shares his new London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth. In conversation with Sarah Jessica Parker at The 92nd Street Y, New York.

Event Screenshot

Wednesday, April 8. Listen to the Language of Cinema at a rare appearance by acclaimed French-Vietnamese filmmaker Tran Anh Hung (The Scent of Green Papaya). Asia Society and Museum.

Thursday, April 9. Explore plant intelligence and forest consciousness with scientist Dr. Suzanne Simard, author of the new When the Forest Breathes: Renewal and Resilience in the Natural World. Pioneer Works.

Friday, April 10. Delve deep with Adam Phillips, "the best living essayist writing in English," as he joins The New School to discuss Psychoanalysis as Moral Education.

Psychoanalysis Book

Saturday, April 11. Scratch The Seven-Year Itch with a screening of the Marilyn Monroe/Billy Wilder classic, followed by a book event and film critic conversation. Museum of the Moving Image.

Sunday, April 12. Celebrate World Art Deco Month with the Art Deco Society of New York and a spring afternoon stroll through the Grand Concourse, one of the Bronx’s most surprising architectural enclaves.

Monday, April 13. Immerse yourself in an alternative future with a screening of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, followed by a talkback with Dr. Matthew Clemente of Boston College, whose work overlaps philosophy, psychoanalysis, and theology. Sheen Center for Thought & Culture.

Metropolis Event

Tuesday, April 14. Take a nostalgic trip back to the 2010s with Lena Dunham of Girls fame, as she brings The Famesick Tour: An Evening of Stories and Togetherness to the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

Lena Dunham Tour

Wednesday, April 15. Find yourself in a real pickle as the Museum of Food and Drink hosts a tasting and discussion of The Pickled City, tracing the iconic brined cucumber from ancient Mesopotamia to the Lower East Side.

Thursday, April 16. Join the modern with antiquity at a Museum at FIT talk on Karl Lagerfeld’s fascination with Greek Antiquity, as seen in the designer's work for both Chloé and Chanel.

Friday, April 17. Ponder the implications of our more automated future with Hopkins sociology professor Allison Pugh, author of The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World. Graduate Center, CUNY.

Dancing with Black Holes

Saturday, April 18. Meld astrophysics and choreography at BRIC for Dancing with Black Holes, "an immersive journey into the threshold of the cosmos activated by music and dance."

Sunday, April 19. Experience an only-in-New-York performance as the Museum at Eldridge Street presents a concert that connects traditional Ashkenazi and Indian classical musical.

Monday, April 20. Kick off Earth Week with an artist and curator salon exploring the life cycles of the urban environment. The Permanent and the Insatiable: Botanical City at Onassis ONX.

Tuesday, April 21. Receive an object lesson in object lessons as Radiolab host Latif Nasser shares the extraordinary true stories behind the American Museum of Natural History's collections. Enjoy the space after hours at The Weirdest Thing: A Science Gameshow and Dance Party.

Brain Chart

Wednesday, April 22. Probe The Brain-Body Connection with experts in genetics and neuroscience, using the mind of the fruit fly to explain brain function. Jerome L. Greene Science Center.

Thursday, April 23. Fly to Green-Wood Cemetery for the story of NYC's importance as an avian stopover and the more than 400 species that have been identified here; with Ryan Goldberg, author of Bird City: Adventures in New York’s Urban Wilds.

Bird City Event

Friday, April 24. Gain new insight into the deep connection between literature and visual art on the inaugural Thought Gallery Curations private tour of the Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe Art of Stories features highlights from galleries that include Greek & Roman Art, European Paintings, and Arms & Armor.

Saturday, April 25. Scope America from the outside with graphic novelists and illustrators Julie Rocheleau (Globetrotters) and Elene Usdin (Detroit Roma, René·e aux bois dormants). They'll share A Feminine Gaze on the Other America as part of the French Institute Alliance Française's Comic Arts Festival.

Sunday, April 26. Look back on Village Nights with musician and author Richard Barone, bringing in singer-songwriter Eric Andersen for an interview and performance. The Bitter End.

Monday, April 27. Grasp "The Haptic Realm" as acclaimed New York-based architect Steven Holl speaks at Asia Society and Museum as part of Columbia University's Architecture as Poetry series.

The Haptic Realm

Tuesday, April 28. Or enjoy poetry as poetry at The Strand. Academy Award-winning actress Ellen Burstyn discusses her new collection Poetry Says It Better.

Frick Collection Event

Thomas Gainsborough (1727–88). Mary, Countess Howe, 1763–64.Oil on canvas 94 15/16 × 60 3/4 in. (243.2 × 154.3 cm) English Heritage, Kenwood House, London; The Iveagh Bequest. Image © Historic England/Bridgeman Images.

Wednesday, April 29. Stitch together fashion and art with Anna Reynolds, Surveyor of The King’s Pictures, Royal Collection Trust, as she discusses “The Apollo of the Palace”: Gainsborough, Fashion, and the Royal Family at The Frick Collection.

Thursday, April 30. Reserve a night at the movies with acclaimed novelist Katie Kitamura, author of the Booker Prize-shortlisted Audition, as she shows movie clips and discusses great forgotten cinema with Le Conversazioni's Antonio Monda. The New York Society Library.


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