These inexpensive outdoor activities are a breath of fresh air for NYC culture vultures.
In these Recession-hit times, the revival of the open-air Bryant Park Reading Room, originally conceived in 1935 as a way to give unemployed Depression-era New Yorkers somewhere to read and discuss literature, is a boon for cash-strapped culture vultures. In addition to custom-designed carts stocked with books, magazines, and newspapers, the current incarnation hosts educational programs and readings from voices as diverse as Bradford Morrow, a professor at Bard College, and actress/comedienne Janeane Garofalo. In the egalitarian spirit of the original, the reading room is completely free and doesn't require library cards or ID.
Lay a picnic blanket down on the Pier 63 lawn at the Hudson River Park waterfront and watch the free summer cinema series, River Flicks. Held around dusk every Wednesday through August, the lineup isn't exactly high-brow art house fare—think popcorny crowd-pleasers such as Horrible Bosses, Bridesmaids, and Crazy, Stupid Love—but the crowd is grown-up (kids have their own series held on Fridays at Pier 46), the mood convivial, and if the onscreen action lags you can try to pick out a star overhead.
Opened in May 2012, the Claire Tow Theater is set on the rooftop of Lincoln Center's Eero Saarinen–designed Vivian Beaumont Theater. Home to the LCT3, an initiative for emerging talents in theater, the airy two-story addition with terrace was designed by architect Hugh Hardy. The series of spaces are easy on the eye and the environment thanks to an energy-saving "green roof" with flowering plants. Tickets cost a mere $20 for shows such as Disgraced by playwright Ayad Akhtar.