Friday, May 1
Bike NYC has declared May as "Bike Month" and they're launching their annual Bike To Work Challenge on Friday. It's a friendly competition that pits workplace against workplace in an effort to see who can bike to work the most between May 1 and May 22. Between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m., interested bikers can meet the Bike to Work Challenge Team at REI Soho and help themselves to free coffee, bagels, posters and new 2015 NYC bike maps. At the end of May, Transportation Alternatives, the organization behind Bike NYC, will honor the winning businesses and individuals at the Bike Home from Work Party Blowout in DUMBO.
The eclectic Red Bull Music Academy Festival launches Friday night with Electronic Africa, a celebration of cutting edge African electronic music, and continues throughout May presenting lectures and workshops, live performances and club nights featuring local musical innovators and international trailblazers. The 20 events in this year’s program feature all-new live show concepts by FKA Twigs and PC Music & SOPHIE, public lectures with A$AP Rocky, George Clinton and La Monte Young, the Brooklyn Flea Record Fair, an outdoor dancehall party and more. Catch Electronic Africa Friday from 9 p.m. at Villain, 50 N. 3rd St., Williamsburg.
Saturday, May 2
In this two-day workshop, “Collected Images: The Collage Artist Book,” learn collage and mixed media practices with Brooklyn-based artist and printmaker Christine Garvey. Garvey will lead collaborative exercises and give demonstrations towards the goal of creating a small artist book using the coptic-bound method. Beginners are welcome and all participants are encouraged to arrive with ideas and some materials ready. Whet your appetite by checking out some of the work from a previous workshop here. Brooklyn Brainery, 190 Underhill Ave., Prospect Heights. Saturday and Sunday, 12 p.m. until 5 p.m., $145.
Celebrate the opening of the new Renzo Piano–designed Whitney Museum of American Art at their free block party Saturday on Gansevoort Street. Throughout the day, booths designed by a diverse group of contemporary artists and community organizations will offer activities including karaoke, map making, and performance workshops. Large-scale acts on the main stage will include all-ages performances, including puppetry, dance, music, and poetry. From 11 a.m. The Whitney is also offering a limited number of free admission tickets to the Museum Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on a first-come, first-served basis. 99 Gansevoort St., Meatpacking District.
By joining the 2015 Amazing Bronx River Flotilla you can help the Bronx River Alliance provide canoe opportunities for young people to connect with nature on the Bronx River. A designated captain will take the lead in forming a team of six people (in three canoes) and paddle five miles down the Bronx River. Each team will commit to fundraising a total of $2,000 ($300 per person). Individual spots are also available on an open team. Bronx River Alliance will support you in reaching your fundraising goal by providing you with your very own online fundraising webpage to spread the word to family, friends and social network. The starting point is Bronx River at 219st and Bronx Boulevard.
Sunday, May 3
So many of the most famous photographs of New York City are of locations in Manhattan rather than the city’s outer boroughs. For nearly two decades between 1990 and 2008, William Meyers sought to correct this imbalance by taking his camera to the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. The photographs in “William Meyers: Outer Boroughs” represent Meyers’s selection of images from that project, printed as a portfolio and acquired by The New York Public Library in 2008. Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, Midtown. 1 p.m to 5 p.m., free.
