Celebrating New Year’s (and Making Better Resolutions) in NYC

By Alison Durkee

A new year is almost here, and as New Year’s Eve approaches, it’s time to start making plans for how to ring in 2018–and what resolutions we’ll be making once it begins. Start the year off right with these upcoming events to help you ring in the New Year and make smarter resolutions.

Image: Bob Jagendorf/Flickr

Though Times Square may be the heart of New York City’s New Year’s festivities, those hoping to steer clear of its crowds still have a few fun alternatives. Traditional fireworks displays in Prospect Park and Central Park kick off at midnight. The Central Park fireworks mark the start of the New York Road Runners’ annual Midnight Run, which gives New Yorkers the chance to immediately get to their New Years resolutions and start the year with a four-mile run through the park. Prior to the race’s start, there’s a 10pm kick off with music and dancing. Over in Brooklyn, Coney Island will host their own family-friendly New Year’s celebration, complete with food, entertainment, fireworks, and free rides.

New Yorkers looking to end 2017 on a musical note can check out a program of works by Vivaldi and Bach at Bargemusic, the floating concert hall just under the Brooklyn Bridge, or enjoy the New Year’s Eve Concert for Peace, an annual performance at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine that Leonard Bernstein began in 1984. Fans of Bernstein, however, have a tough choice to make, as the famed composer’s musical theatre works will be honored during a New Year’s Eve concert at Lincoln Center featuring some of Broadway’s brightest stars.

Image: European Southern Observatory — Flickr

As 2018 approaches, New Yorkers can look to the cosmos to see what the new year has in store at the American Museum of Natural History, which will host an event on December 26 on the highlights of 2018’s Astronomical Calendar. Those more focused on what their own lives have in store for 2018, meanwhile, can get a leg up on their New Year’s Resolutions at the New York Open Center, which offers an event on January 5 dedicated to beginning the New Year with “clarity, intention and inspiration,” or at the 92nd Street Y’s session devoted to setting achievable resolutions on January 23. On December 29, Caveat will host a philosophical look at New Year’s Resolutions, sharing what the great thinkers throughout history can tell us about making us a little happier in the New Year.

If you’re looking to tackle a more specific goal in 2018, there are also plenty of events that will help New Yorkers improve in a variety of areas. The Brooklyn Brainery will host upcoming workshops in everything from writing to networking, while those looking to improve their relationships can join the Brainery for a psychological look at relationships through the lens of the sitcom Friends on January 4. Those wanting to achieve mindfulness in the New Year can head instead to the Brooklyn Public Library for Yoga and Poetry on January 14, or learn more about starting a meditation practice from ABC News anchor Dan Harris, who will talk about Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics with Anderson Cooper later that same evening.

New Yorkers hoping to learn more about the scientific world in 2018 can develop their ability to differentiate real science from “alternative facts” at Caveat on January 4, as they host a session on Real/Fake Science featuring presentations from experts in a range of scientific disciplines. Science lovers just hoping to make sense of our vast universe, meanwhile, can head to the New York Academy of Sciences on February 7, as they discuss how to craft meaning from the wonder of the cosmos.

The past year has brought about a great degree of political turmoil and unrest throughout the country–and as 2018 kicks off, there are plenty of ways to respond by getting more involved in our democracy. Learn more about democracy itself through BAM’s upcoming seminar series on questioning democracy and understanding the ideas that have shaped it throughout history, which will take place on February 8. New Yorkers wanting to respond more dramatically to our current political climate can develop their writing chops at Screenwriting in the Age of Trump on January 21, a writing workshop for all levels that will focus specifically on how to address our current sociopolitical climate through storytelling. Of course, New Yorkers unhappy with the current situation can also take to the streets to stand in solidarity and have their voices heard, which New York women will have the opportunity to do at the upcoming 2018 Women’s March on January 20.

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