How an Emirates Expansion Could Drastically Lower Tel Aviv–New York Airfares

The aviation world is buzzing with a rumor that feels straight out of a frequent-flyer fever dream. The Israeli Ministry of Transportation has reportedly approached Dubai-based mega-carrier Emirates with a jaw-dropping proposal: launch nonstop flights from Tel Aviv (TLV) to New York (JFK) and Bangkok (BKK). If this plan takes off, it would dramatically reshape transatlantic travel and offer a massive win for passengers tired of soaring ticket prices. However, getting those iconic Emirates jets onto the TLV–JFK route requires clearing some unprecedented legal, political, and regulatory hurdles.

Why is Israel Making This Move?

To put it simply: the current travel landscape between Israel and the United States is squeezed. Following the geopolitical turmoil that began in late 2023, U.S. legacy carriers like Delta, United, and American Airlines suspended their lucrative routes to Tel Aviv. While some tentative returns are on the horizon, American Airlines has pushed back its resumption until 2027.

This has left Israel's flag carrier, El Al, alongside Arkia, with a functional monopoly on nonstop flights to the U.S. With high demand and limited supply, airfares have skyrocketed. By courting Emirates, the Israeli government hopes to inject heavy competition into its marquee route, driving down ticket prices and restoring consumer confidence.

The "Seventh Freedom" Twist

Emirates is already famous for its successful Fifth Freedom flights—routes where an airline flies from its home country to a second country, and then continues to a third country, with the right to sell tickets on every individual leg. (Think of Emirates’ popular JFK–Milan–Dubai or Newark–Athens–Dubai routes).

But Israel's pitch goes a step further into uncharted territory. According to reports from Israel's N12 and Simple Flying, the government is offering Seventh Freedom rights.

What does that mean? Emirates wouldn't just be stopping over on the way from Dubai. Instead, they would essentially establish a foreign base of operations in Tel Aviv, permanently stationing aircraft and crews there to fly standalone routes directly to New York and Bangkok without the plane ever needing to touch down in Dubai.

The Massive Hurdles in the Way

While the idea of flying an Emirates A380 or Boeing 777 directly from Ben Gurion to New York sounds incredible, it won't happen overnight. Several major roadblocks stand in the way:

Regulatory Obstacles: Operating Seventh Freedom flights would require Israel to rewrite its own protectionist aviation laws. Furthermore, the deal would require strict U.S. regulatory approval, which is far from guaranteed.

Fierce Domestic Opposition: You can expect vehement pushback from El Al and Arkia, who will fiercely protect their market share on these highly profitable routes. U.S. carriers would likely lobby heavily against it as well.

Operational & Diplomatic Strategy: Emirates historically funnels its entire global operation through its massive mega-hub in Dubai. Basing crews and planes completely separate from their home hub deviates heavily from their core business model. Furthermore, the move relies entirely on the delicate diplomatic framework established by the Abraham Accords.

A Simpler Path Forward?

Some aviation insiders, like those at Live and Let's Fly, suggest a more realistic compromise. Instead of a standalone Seventh Freedom operation, Emirates could simply resume its suspended Dubai–Tel Aviv route and extend it onward to New York as a traditional Fifth Freedom flight.

This path of least resistance wouldn't require rewriting international aviation treaties, yet it would still bring the unmatched premium service of Emirates—and much-needed seat capacity—to the transatlantic market.The Bottom Line For now, this remains a highly ambitious pitch from the Israeli government rather than an imminent route announcement from Emirates. But the mere fact that these discussions are happening highlights just how much the global aviation map is shifting.

If it succeeds, it will be a historic milestone for regional normalization and a massive victory for travelers looking for more luxury, options, and affordability across the Atlantic.

On July 4, The Port Of New York Will Host One Of The Largest Ship Gatherings In History To Mark The Country's Semiquincentennial

For the nation’s 250th birthday, the city’s waterfront becomes the stage for a historic parade of ships, jets and fireworks.

Photograph: Courtesy of Sail250
If your idea of a big Fourth of July crowd is shoulder-to-shoulder on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, get ready to think much, much bigger. Next summer, New York Harbor will celebrate America’s 250th anniversary with what organizers are calling the largest international maritime gathering in U.S. history.

From July 3 through 9, the Port of New York and New Jersey will host a weeklong spectacle featuring more than 60 international tall ships from more than 20 countries, more than 40 allied and U.S. naval vessels, a British aircraft carrier, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 and an aerial armada of over 100 aircrafts led by the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels. By the numbers alone, it’s set to eclipse every Operation Sail celebration that came before it, from 1964 through 2012.

The main event hits on July 4, natch, with an International Parade of Sail that will send towering Class A tall ships gliding under the Verrazzano Bridge, past the Statue of Liberty and up the Hudson to the George Washington Bridge. They will be joined by smaller Class B ships, gray-hulled naval vessels in a rare International Naval Review and a sky full of flyovers, all before the night wraps with the 50th anniversary of Macy’s July 4th Fireworks over Manhattan.

City officials project that as many as eight million spectators could line the 15-mile stretch of New York City and New Jersey coast to watch it all unfold. The economic ripple is just as outsized: an NYC Economic Development Corporation analysis estimates $2.85 billion in total economic activity, including $730 million in net new impact for the city.

The show won’t end when the fireworks fade. From July 5 to 8, many of the international tall ships will be open for free public boarding at piers across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island and New Jersey. The week also brings food festivals, cultural programming and a ticker-tape parade honoring post-9/11 veterans and first responders.

It’s not just another Fleet Week moment. For Semiquincentennial the harbor itself becomes the main stage, with tall ships, naval power and aerial displays converging in a way the city hasn’t seen in decades.

https://www.timeout.com/profile/laura-ratliff

Inside The Jewish Museum’s $14.5m Renovation In New York City

The institution's revamped third and fourth floors present reconfigured galleries, expanded education spaces and a luminous display of more than 100 menorahs from around the world.

In 2018, when an old house in Prague was torn down, a stash of almost 700 works of art by Gertrud Kauders tumbled out of its walls and ceiling, more than 70 years after she had died in an extermination camp. Several of those paintings are now on display at the Jewish Museum in New York City, where renewed galleries offer fresh narratives of the Jewish diaspora.

Located in the historic Felix M. Warburg House on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the museum reopened its third and fourth floors on 24 October after a yearlong renovation. With a combined area of 20,000 sq. ft—half the building’s public space—the redesign was led by United Network Studio in Amsterdam and New Affiliates Architecture in New York. The $14m project is a significant milestone for James Snyder, the director of the Jewish Museum since 2023. In previous roles, he oversaw renewals on a larger scale: a $60m expansion of New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1984, and a $100m revamp of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem in 2010.

Galleries on the third floor, last updated by Tsao & McKown in 2018, adopt a breezier, more interconnected layout to display items from the museum’s collection. Curated by theme, the rooms present centuries-old artefacts alongside Abstract Expressionist paintings by Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell, as well as pieces from living artists that include queer and multicultural voices. In the feminist work What We Bring (2023) by Andi Arnovitz, thousands of laser-cut names of Jewish women—from Natalie Portman to Ruth Bader Ginsburg—pour forth from the artist’s wedding dress.

The fourth floor, previously closed to the public, is anchored by the Robert and Tracey Pruzan Center for Learning, which comprises two art studios, an interactive tactile wall and a simulated archaeological dig for children. The centre, which celebrates its opening on 16 November, is named after its lead donors—an investment banker who co-founded Centerview Partners and a writer who was a longtime interior designer at Cullman & Kravis and a lifestyle consultant on the HBO series Succession.

Also on the fourth floor are the Wilf Family Salon—an event space featuring a faux-woven mural by the Brooklyn-based artist Talia Levitt—additional galleries and a striking show of 139 Hanukkah lamps, housed in a 50ft vitrine that overlooks a double-height gallery below. Drawn from the museum’s collection of more than 1,000 pieces, the nine-branched menorahs are arranged geographically and reflect diverse cultures and stories of hope through the ages. There are lamps made of silver or stone, inspired by Roman tombs or Islamic art, influenced by Rococo or Art Deco, assembled with candlesticks, deconstructed violins or plastic Statues of Liberty.

Some are testaments to creativity born of constraint. One is a piece of trench art crafted from bullet casings and an artillery shell by American soldiers during the Korean War. Another is a hefty wooden creation hewn by a Turkish 15-year-old at a post-war orphanage in France. There is also lighter fare—like the Menurkey, a turkey-shaped menorah that marked the convergence of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving in 2013.

Founded in 1904 by the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Jewish Museum moved in 1947 to the Warburg House, a Gilded Age mansion built in the French Gothic style on Fifth Avenue facing Central Park. A $36m renovation in 1993 added a seven-storey annex, designed by Kevin Roche, that matched the style of the original architecture. In 2024, the chef David Teyf introduced the second location of his cafe Lox, taking over the basement space vacated by Russ & Daughters, which is wrapped by a Maira Kalman illustrated mural.

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/authors/fred-voon

Saks Fifth Avenue Is Bringing Back Its Famous New York City Holiday Light Show This November, A Year After It Was Cancelled

The iconic Fifth Avenue light show returns this holiday season after a one-year hiatus, promising nightly sparkle, music and Midtown magic.

Shutterstock | Saks Fifth Avenue holiday display

Fifth Avenue will sparkle again this holiday season. After pulling the plug in 2024 for the first time in two decades, Saks Fifth Avenue has confirmed it’s reviving its world-famous holiday light show this November, restoring one of New York’s most beloved free spectacles just in time for Christmas.

The comeback was announced by Saks global president and chief commercial officer Emily Essner, who told reporters that the pause was purely a cost-cutting measure during a financially rocky year. With the retailer now on firmer ground, the nightly extravaganza will once again transform the flagship at 611 Fifth Avenue into a choreographed wall of lights, sound and seasonal cheer.

For the uninitiated, the show projects thousands of synchronized lights across the building’s façade in time with festive music, repeating every few minutes from early evening until 11 pm. The entire production is staged directly across from the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, creating a Midtown mash-up of holiday traditions that draw both locals and tourists in shoulder-to-shoulder crowds.

While exact dates haven’t been published yet, Saks typically unveils its windows and kicks off the show with a star-studded ceremony in late November. Past years have included fireworks, live performances and even Elton John on opening night. The light show then runs nightly into early January, with brief pauses on Christmas Eve and the evening of the Rockefeller Center tree lighting.

Even in 2024, when the show went dark, Saks kept its famed holiday windows alive, proving that Fifth Avenue’s appetite for sparkle is insatiable. This year, both traditions will once again run in tandem: the elaborate, themed windows at street level and the music-driven light spectacle soaring above. Together, they create one of Manhattan’s most photographed holiday moments.

Tips from veterans? Get there early if you want a prime view from the Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center, where the angels perfectly frame the Saks façade. Or sneak over to the steps of St. Patrick’s Cathedral for a less claustrophobic diagonal angle. Either way, you won’t need a ticket—it’s free, fabulous and a reminder that not every bit of New York holiday magic requires a credit card swipe.

Dust off your puffer, charge your phone and brace yourself for the crowds: Saks is back, and Fifth Avenue will shine brighter for it.

https://www.timeout.com/profile/laura-ratliff

New York Cultural Giants Bring Major Art Installations To JFK's New Terminal

Four of New York’s most iconic museums are joining forces to transform JFK’s Terminal 6 into a global arts hub, with installations by MoMA, the Met, Lincoln Center, and the American Museum of Natural History.

Copyright Courtesy of JFK Millennium Partners and The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

When John F. Kennedy International Airport unveils its new $4.2 billion Terminal 6, visitors won’t just be greeted by sleek gates and high-tech screens – they’ll walk straight into a mini New York arts district.

As reported by Artnet, four of the city’s most renowned cultural institutions – the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts – are teaming up to showcase major installations inside the terminal.

The artworks, all on loan from each institution’s permanent collection, will be displayed in the international arrivals corridor. It’s part of a wider effort to make Terminal 6 not just a place to pass through – but a cultural experience in its own right.

Rendering of the arrivals area in Terminal 6 at JFK. Courtesy of JFK Millennium Partners and The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

“Thanks to the collaboration with four of New York’s premier cultural institutions, Terminal 6 will offer arriving visitors from around the world a unique New York experience before they leave the terminal,” said Port Authority executive director Rick Cotton.

In addition to these pieces, the terminal will feature 19 permanent, site-specific installations curated by Public Art Fund, plus a rotating display of local work selected by Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning.

Lincoln Center is contributing a 140-foot mural celebrating its work across music, dance, theatre and opera. MoMA has partnered with artist Yoko Ono on a piece inspired by her 2019 work PEACE is POWER. The American Museum of Natural History will create a display drawing from its scientific collections, while the Met’s installation nods to its diverse collection, showcasing 5,000 years of global art.The effort is led by architect Stanis Smith and will also feature 19 site-specific permanent installations curated by Public Art Fund and rotating local artworks curated by Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City Hugo Schneider / CC licence

“We’re honoured to collaborate with such prestigious institutions – icons in the global arts community and deeply rooted in the spirit of New York City,” said Steve Thody, CEO of JFK Millennium Partners (JMP), which is leading the project with the Port Authority. “Each installation will reflect and celebrate the vibrant cultural heartbeat of New York as we welcome the world to JFK and beyond.”

The effort is led by architect Stanis Smith and will also feature 19 site-specific permanent installations curated by Public Art Fund and rotating local artworks curated by Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning.

The 1.2 million-square-foot terminal will feature 10 gates and is expected to create around 4,000 jobs. Airlines including JetBlue, Lufthansa, Swiss, ANA, Avianca, and Cathay Pacific will operate from the terminal. Cotton noted that the terminal will boast “state-of-the-art architecture, cutting-edge technology and iconic, [and] locally inspired dining and shopping."

The first six gates are set to open later this year, with full completion expected by 2028.

While JFK’s new terminal celebrates New York’s artistic spirit, the wider US cultural landscape faces increasing political scrutiny.

A letter sent by the White House last week ordered several US museums to align their content with Donald Trump’s interpretation of American history.

The move follows Trump’s signing of an executive order in March titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which accused the Smithsonian of coming under the influence of a “divisive, race-centered ideology” and called upon it to “remove improper ideology” from the institution's museums.

In February, Trump removed the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees and replaced them with his supporters. He even named himself chairman and vowed to end events featuring performers in drag, indicating he would take on a larger role in dictating the institution's programming schedule.

https://www.euronews.com/profiles/3106

NYC Congestion Pricing Start Date Postponed Indefinitely, Sources Say. Here's Why.

New York City's congestion pricing start date is postponed indefinitely due to concerns from Gov. Kathy Hochul, sources tell CBS New York.

The new tolls were scheduled to start on June 30 -- less than a month away.

Sources tell CBS New York the governor is concerned about how the toll will impact economic recovery in Midtown, Manhattan, as inflation remains high in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mayor Eric Adams was asked about the delay at an unrelated event Wednesday morning.

"We have to get it right, we have to make sure that it's not an undue burden on everyday New Yorkers, we have to make sure that it's not going to impact our recovery," he said. "If she's looking at analyzing what other ways we can do it and how we do it correctly, I'm all for it. We have to get it right. This is a major shift in our city and it must be done correctly."

The governor's office did not respond to CBS New York's request for a comment. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it has no comment at this time and directed us to reach out to the governor's office.

It's unclear if the state Legislature will be able to come up with another source of funding for the billions of dollars the MTA hopes to receive from the tolls. There's also the question of whether federal approvals will run out, if the plan doesn't start on time.

The Riders Alliance released a statement earlier Wednesday morning, calling a delay an "outrageous betrayal of our trust."

"New York City public transit riders gave Governor Hochul her margin of victory in the 2022 election. Stopping congestion pricing before it even starts would be an outrageous betrayal of our trust," the statement read. "Congestion pricing is the only public policy that can make our subway more reliable and accessible, speed up slow bus service, and help clear the air as wildfire smoke thickens. Governor Hochul must turn it on June 30 as planned."

Hochul previously voiced her support for congestion pricing, saying it's expected to result in less air pollution, lower carbon emissions and fewer crashes. She also said the money would be "transformative" for the MTA.

NYC congestion pricing map shows the zone

Manhattan's Congestion Relief Zone starts at 60th Street and heads south to include the Lincoln, Holland and Hugh L. Carey tunnels on the Hudson River side, and the Queensboro Bridge, Queens Midtown Tunnel, Williamsburg Bridge, Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge on the East Side.

People who live within the zone will only be charged if they leave and come back, and some roadways, like the FDR Drive and West Side Highway, will be excluded, as long as vehicles stay off the city street grid.

The MTA was scheduled to hold a series of congestion pricing webinars starting Wednesday morning, but it appears those have been postponed, as well.

So now when does congestion pricing start?

Congestion pricing was supposed to start at 12:00 a.m. on Sunday, June 30.

New York City would be the first in the nation to implement such a toll. It's now unclear when it will take effect.

June 30 also happens to be the annual Pride March in Manhattan and leads into the Fourth of July holiday week.

How will congestion pricing work in NYC?

Under the plan, drivers will be charged to enter Manhattan at or below 60th Street. Fees will be highest during peak hours, which are 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.

For drivers using E-ZPass, passenger and small commercial vehicles will pay $15 during peak hours, motorcycles will pay $7.50, and trucks and buses will pay $24 or $36 depending on size.

Some discounts and exemptions will be available, including the Individual Disability Exemption Plan for those who are unable to use mass transit due to medical conditions.

Officials say the goal of congestion pricing is to reduce traffic and improve air quality in Manhattan. The money raised from the plan will be used for mass transit projects and upgrades.

However, the plan has faced significant pushback, including multiple lawsuits in New Jersey and New York.

https://www.cbsnews.com/team/katie-houlis/

The Museum At FIT Presents Africa's Fashion Diaspora September 18 - December 29, 2024

The Museum at FIT (MFIT) presents Africa's Fashion Diaspora, an innovative exhibition that explores fashion's role in shaping international Black diasporic cultures. This exhibition is the first to examine fashion as a mode of cross-diasporic cultural production. Sixty ensembles and accessories by Black designers from Africa, Europe, North and South America, and the Caribbean are placed in dialogue with each other, showing how these designers take complex inspirations from their own Black cultures and others across the diaspora.

The concept that Black peoples build and share common cultural networks—despite differences in geography, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, language, and religion—is an enduring idea that scholars and leaders such as W.E.B. DuBois, Frantz Fanon, Kwame Nkrumah, and Paul Gilroy have hypothesized over the 19th and 20th centuries. Self-identified Black peoples within the diverse nations of Africa and throughout the Black Diaspora have expressed this connectivity as Pan-Africanism, Black Consciousness, and Afrocentricity, among many other movements.

While Black Diasporic connections have been explored in music, literature, art, and philosophy, this exhibition is the first to investigate how 20th- and 21st-century fashion designers contribute to these conversations with creative practices that focus on visual storytelling to explore how Black identity operates in the contemporary world.

The exhibition includes nine themes. "Reaching for Africa" opens the exhibition by considering the multi-layered reasons that Black American designers such as Patrick Kelly and Arthur McGee create connections to Africa in their work. These designs, from the 1960s to today, sometimes lean on idealized conceptions of Africa, but they also work to repair severed cultural heritages, express Black solidarity, and celebrate Black cultures.

"Mothers and Motherlands" explores the influence of family, lineage, and cultural tradition on fashion design from a specifically Black perspective. South African designer Thebe Magugu, for example, venerates Tswana motherhood practices through his 2023 Mother and Child dress. Fabrice Simon, who ran a family fashion business during the 1980s, spanning New York City and his birth city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, worked with expert Haitian beaders to modernize their historic motifs.

In "A Black Atlantic" designers draw inspiration from Black cultures across multiple locations, finding similarities or personal points of interest. French designer Olivier Rousteing takes inspiration from Black American cowboys for his 2021 Balmain capsule collection, while the Ivorian brand Kente Gentlemen's The Birth of Cool collection looks at international musicians from Fela Kuti to Miles Davis.

The designers in "Homegoing" investigate the roots of their own family histories, reflecting wider social trends for identifying cultural origins. Dutch designers Giorgio Toppin and Onitcha Toppin of Xhosa created their KABRA collection in Suriname, connecting with the skilled textile artisans there, as well as with their own heritages. Telfar Clemens designed the Olympic uniforms for the Liberian national team in 2021 after they reached out to him during a trip to his country of birth.

"History Is Political" demonstrates fashion as a key vehicle for communicating buried histories. Tremaine Emory's Denim Tears Cotton Wreath capsule collections with Levi's link the labor of 19th-century enslaved Americans to international capitalist systems. Colombian designer Esteban Sinisterra Paz shapes history as it is made, designing the 2022 inaugural gown for Colombia's first Black vice president, Francia Márquez, in his signature wax print textiles.

Black designers explore the cultural impact of religion and mythology in "Transcendent and Supernatural." American Grenadian designer Fe Noel partnered with Harmonia Rosales to feature the artist's depiction of Oshun, the Yoruba goddess of rivers, love, and fertility. Papa Oppong's (Fashion Design MFA '23) "Witchcraft" ensemble sheds light on the harmful practice of accusing Ghanaian women of channeling dark magic and recasts the witch as an empowered modern woman.

Textiles from Africa and the diaspora are emblematic of the artisanship and creative practices found in Black communities around the world. "Monumental Cloth" features designers who work with communities of weavers and dyers to produce contemporary fabrics rooted in historical practices: from Pathé'O in Côte d'Ivoire to Emmanuel Okoro of Emmy Kasbit in Nigeria to Aurora James of Brother Vellies in the United States.

"Tun Yuh Han Mek Fashan" is a Jamaican patois phrase that describes Caribbean ingenuity, the ability to create beauty and utility from meager or unexpected resources. This section features designers from across the African Diaspora who engage innovative materials to promote sustainability in fashion. Nairobi Apparel District upcycles secondhand garments with graphic motifs to create modern Kenyan streetwear, and Dyandra Raye designs vegan shoes from Piñatex for her brand Jo-Anne Vernay.

"Ubuntu" is a Bantu word that has come to encompass African humanist philosophies of community support, compassion, and generosity. Designers—from Tracy Reese, whose Hope for Flowers brand is helping to revitalize urban Detroit, to Akosua Afriyie-Kumi, whose AAKS accessories brand consciously pays fair wages to raffia weavers in northern Ghana—show how fashion companies can be a force to build communities with job security and respect for labor.

Africa's Fashion Diaspora ultimately reveals fashion as a significant contributor to international dialogues on Black cultural production. Some of the designers featured use fashion to document, explore, and interrogate their own localities and histories, while others take inspiration from across the diaspora—and because fashion circulates internationally, all build networks across a specifically (but not exclusively) Black cultural space. Black communities across the globe are uniquely situated in their own societies, yet movements for solidarity and connection are beautifully expressed by designers who use fashion to tell stories of parallel, interconnected, and evolving Black cultures.

Africa's Fashion Diaspora is curated by Elizabeth Way, associate curator of costume at The Museum at FIT.

Africa's Fashion Diaspora is accompanied by a multi-author volume edited by Way and published by Yale University Press which will be released in September 2024.

The Museum at FIT is a proud partner of Bloomberg Connects, a free digital guide to cultural organizations around the world that makes it easy to access and engage with arts and culture from mobile devices, anytime, anywhere. The Bloomberg Connects app, available for download from Google Play or the App Store, makes the museum accessible for onsite or offsite visits through photographs, audio, and video features that offer insights into the world of fashion and design. For Africa's Fashion Diaspora, the app will feature an audio tour led by the exhibition curator.

Africa's Fashion Diaspora, https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum/exhibitions/, has been made possible thanks to the generosity of the Couture Council of The Museum at FIT. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.

See All Of Taylor Swift’s Eras On Display At The Museum Of Arts and Design In New York, Through September 4th

Taylor Swift has been breaking records and delighting fans on the U.S. leg of her Eras Tour, a splashy celebration of her career and new releases since the pandemic.

It’s become a notoriously tough ticket to get.

But on the second floor of the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York City, fans can catch glimpses of Swift’s “eras” for much cheaper. “Taylor Swift: Storyteller,” features dozens of costumes and objects spanning her music videos, tours and awards show performances — from the lace gown she wore when performing “All Too Well” on the Red Tour to the “key to the castle” featured in the video for “Bejeweled.”

The goal, museum director Tim Rodgers said, was to explore how Swift uses clothing and props to tell stories — almost as much as she does lyrics. “It’s different than stars that use costumes or fashion in order to enhance themselves,” Rodgers said. “Taylor Swift is using costumes and props like a vocabulary.”

Rodgers said Swift’s team came to MAD with the idea because of another exhibit they hosted — “Queer Maximalism X Machine Dazzle” — featuring the work of artist, performer and costume designer Matthew Flower, also known as Machine Dazzle. “It was totally unexpected,” Rodgers said.

“Taylor Swift: Storyteller” opened ahead of Swift’s three-night stop nearby at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. Like her concerts, the collection walks visitors through her genre- and decade-spanning career. There’s the crystal-encrusted guitar she used when performing her 2010 album “Speak Now,” a hooded bodysuit she wore during her Reputation Stadium Tour, the striped T-shirt she wore in a 2020 photoshoot for “folklore.”

“She’s a visual storyteller. Everything she does ... it feels very intentional,” said Teresa Bocalan, a fan visiting the museum. “So it’s really cool to see those outfits up close.”

The exhibit, on display through Sept. 4, is accompanied by a playlist of Swift’s music videos — including her short film for the 10 minute version of “All Too Well” — which are projected on screens around the room. Lyrics scrawled in Swift’s handwriting adorn key walls in the space.

But perhaps the centerpiece of it all is a more recent piece of Swift’s lore: the flowing red wedding dress she wore in the 2021 video for “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault),” directed by Blake Lively and co-starring Miles Teller. The song, featuring Chris Stapleton, was an addition to the re-released version of her 2012 album “Red.” Adorned with tulle roses, the dress was custom made for Swift by Nicole + Felicia Couture.

In the video, the red gown is a showstopper — or, more literally, a wedding stopper.

In the exhibit, it seems to hold the same power.

“We had people come in and look at that red wedding dress over there and literally start to cry,” Rodgers said of the exhibit’s opening weekend. “It is, for a lot of people, almost like a religious experience to see this clothing that Taylor once wore.”

“I’m also super excited to see the ‘I Bet You Think About Me’ dress over there,” said Greta Myers, a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology. “We haven’t looked at it yet. I’m saving it.”

By ELISE RYAN

One Of Manhattan's Oldest Small Hotels Offered For Sale

Built in 1841, the Incentra Village House was one of the first hotels in the city of New York. It is still in high demand today, as the only remaining guest house right in the center of the Greenwich Village Historic District, the most desirable area of downtown Manhattan. It opened its doors long before other historic hotels such as the Plaza, the Carlyle, or the St. Regis - all built decades later. The Incentra was - and still is - a private guesthouse for independent travelers.

Charles Dickens, who traveled to New York the year after the Incentra opened its doors, described his impressions of a booming city: "Heaven save the ladies, how they dress! We have seen more colors in these ten minutes than we should have seen elsewhere in as many days. What various parasols! What rainbow silks and satins! The young gentlemen are fond."

Even today, the property frequently serves as the location for movies, TV shows, and photo shoots, as it so perfectly embodies the spirit of historic Manhattan.

New York kept its vibrancy, and the Incentra kept its special flair, antique furniture, and vintage feel to this day; many historic details were lovingly preserved. Air conditioning, private kitchenettes, smart TVs, high speed internet and modern private bathrooms were carefully added over the years for a supreme level of comfort for the Incentra's guests. The 12 unique rooms all have a loyal following - some guests even change their travel dates to ensure their favorite room is waiting for them. "It truly feels like a private home, not like a hotel," says Thomas Guss from NYR.com, the brokerage that got the listing when the current owners recently decided to part with it.

Small hotels in the center of Manhattan are extremely rare and almost never offered for sale, but a sudden interest from private membership clubs looking for an outpost in a trendy part of the city and sharply increased demand for legal Airbnb space and other alternatives to faceless chain hotels have created multiple offers for the property, so the owners finally decided to enter into discussions regarding a sale.

But regardless who the new owners will be, one thing is certain: The property will keep its historic significance and soon begin a new chapter of its story, perfect for a new generation seeking quality and authenticity.

To learn more, please visit: https://www.incentravillage.com/

Travelore News: Power Outage Cancels, Diverts International Flights At Kennedy Airport

NEW YORK (AP) — A power outage in a terminal of New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport stretched into a second day Friday after forcing some flights to be canceled or diverted, including one that was turned around and sent back to New Zealand after nearly making it to the U.S.

The airport operators said in a tweet late Thursday that Terminal 1, which handles some of the airport’s international flights, would remain closed Friday “due to electrical issues.”

The outage was caused by an electrical panel failure that led to a small fire, which was quickly extinguished, authorities said.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs New York’s major airports, said it was working to accommodate affected flights at JFK’s four other active terminals.

The agency did not provide any estimate of how many flights were canceled or diverted, but thousands of travelers were likely affected.

Yahayra Hunt and her husband were stuck in a hotel near the airport Friday after their flight to Rome was canceled Thursday. They’re part of a group of 16 people who booked an 11-day tour to Italy and Israel.

“We actually have another agent trying to see if we can find another airport to fly out of,” she said. “It’s a nightmare.”

Hunt, 46, said they would like to leave the hotel and see the city as they wait. But they don’t want to risk missing a rescheduled flight.

“Being stuck in a hotel during your vacation is not fair at all,” said Hunt, who owns a beauty salon in North Carolina.

Some planes were forced to return to their points of origin.

An Air New Zealand flight was two-thirds of the way across the Pacific Ocean when it had to make a U-turn and head back to Auckland. The flight landed back in New Zealand after more than 16 hours in the air.

Terminal 1 opened in the late 1990s. It is scheduled to be replaced by a new, $9.5 billion terminal now under construction. Groundbreaking was initially supposed to happen in 2020 but was delayed until last summer by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Richard Gilder Center For Science, Education, And Innovation At The American Museum Of Natural History Will Open To The Public, February 17, 2023

The American Museum of Natural History today revealed how the vision for its Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation is rapidly taking shape in steel, glass, and artfully shaped “shotcrete,” as the Museum released new in-process photographs showing the soaring, light-filled spaces that will welcome visitors when the Gilder Center opens to the public on February 17, 2023.

With spectacular architecture designed by Studio Gang, the international architecture and urban design practice led by Jeanne Gang, the 230,000-square-foot Gilder Center project invites exploration of the fascinating, far-reaching relationships among species that comprise life on Earth and reveals connections across the Museum’s rich collections, trailblazing research initiatives, educational programs, and exhibition galleries. Physically, the Gilder Center connects many of the Museum’s buildings, creating a continuous campus across four city blocks as envisioned more than 150 years ago. Intellectually, it provides a dramatic embodiment of one of the Museum’s essential messages: all life is connected.

Museum President Ellen V. Futter said, “In a time when the need for science literacy has never been more urgent, we are thrilled and proud to be nearing the long-awaited opening date for the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, a major new facility that will transform both the work of our museum and the cultural landscape of New York City. In its exhibits and programs, and in the astonishing architecture that presents them to the world, the Gilder Center weds evidence-based thinking and transporting experiences that capture exploration and innovative scientific discovery.”

The Gilder Center, with exhibition design by Ralph Appelbaum Associates, will feature:

The Kenneth C. Griffin Exploration Atrium, a soaring, four-story civic space that serves as a new gateway into the Museum from Columbus Avenue, opening onto Theodore Roosevelt Park and creating a visitor path to Central Park West. The space’s elegant, dramatic curves and recesses will reveal the Gilder Center to visitors and encourage exploration.

The David S. and Ruth L. Gottesman Research Library and Learning Center, a dynamic hub that connects visitors with the Museum Library’s unparalleled resources. Featuring sweeping views to the west, the fourth-floor facility will be open to the public and include a new scholars’ reading room, exhibition alcove, group study room, and space for visitors to stop by during the day to read or browse, as well as to attend organized programming or view collection displays that, among other things, share the history of science through holdings such as the Museum’s Rare Book Collection. The five-story Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Collections Core, a vertical collections facility featuring three stories of floor-to-ceiling exhibits representing every area of the Museum’s collections in vertebrate and invertebrate biology, paleontology, geology, anthropology, and archaeology, from fossil tracks to trilobites and antlers to pottery. A series of media columns will feature stories of how scientists analyze various collections, and glass panels will provide glimpses into working collections areas at the heart of the Collections Core. All told, the Gilder Center will house close to 4 million scientific specimens, approximately 12 percent of the Museum’s collection. The collections and exhibits on the first and second floors of the Collections Core are supported by the Macaulay Family Foundation. The 5,000-square-foot Susan and Peter J. Solomon Family Insectarium, the first Museum gallery in more than 50 years dedicated to the most diverse—and a critically important—group of animals on Earth. Featuring live and pinned insects and graphic and digital exhibits, the Insectarium will feature many of the 30 orders of insects, helping visitors explore the vital roles that insects play in different ecosystems. Oversized models of honeybees mounted overhead will draw visitors through the gallery toward a monumental hive at the west end. Along the way, visitors will pass under a transparent skybridge built as a route for live leafcutter ants in one of the world’s largest leafcutter ant displays. Touch screens will provide displays of insects of the boroughs of New York City, and a sound gallery will surround visitors with the music of Central Park’s insects and offer the ability to feel the corresponding vibrations.

The year-round, 3,000-square-foot Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium, where visitors can mingle with up to 80 species of free-flying butterflies—and sometimes experience one landing on them. This gallery will offer opportunities to observe butterflies, one of nature’s vital environmental barometers, in various micro-environments ringing a meandering route. Visitors will be able to identify the butterflies they see by referring to an ID board featuring an illustrated card for each species in flight, updated daily. With the assistance of staff, visitors will also be able to view butterflies through a digital microscope.

Invisible Worlds, an extraordinary 360-degree immersive science-and-art experience that offers a breathtakingly beautiful and imaginative yet scientifically rigorous window into the networks of life at all scales. Designed by the Berlin-based Tamschick Media+Space with the Seville-based Boris Micka Associates, who worked closely with data visualization specialists and scientists from the Museum and around the world, Invisible Worlds will be shown in a custom venue that builds on the Museum’s long tradition of transporting visitors across the world via its iconic habitat dioramas and throughout the universe in its science-visualization-driven Hayden Planetarium Space Shows. Visitors will pass through an introductory gallery designed by the Museum’s Exhibition Department that flows into a wide space as large as a hockey rink, with 23-foot-high walls that surround visitors with projections at all scales and mirrors at ceiling height suggesting infinity. A looping 12-minute immersive experience will reveal that all life on Earth is interconnected: from the building blocks of DNA to ecological interdependencies in forests, oceans, and cities to communication made possible by trillions of connections within the human brain. At key moments, visitors will become part of the story as their own movements affect the images of living networks depicted all around.

In the Museum’s most comprehensive addition and modernization of educational space in decades, the Gilder Center includes 18 newly built, renovated, or repurposed classrooms designed to meet the specific needs of formal education as well as the needs of families and adult learners. These state-of-the-art spaces include a zone for Middle School Learning, supported by Josh and Judy Weston, that will be available for middle-grade learners, including participants in the Urban Advantage science initiative for New York City public schools; a zone for High School Learning, which will feature a Learning with Data classroom and a biology and chemistry classroom; and a zone for College and Career Readiness, with spaces dedicated to promoting career paths associated with STEM and building on the Museum’s current work in programs like the Museum Education and Employment Program (MEEP) for college students and the Science Research Mentoring Program (SRMP) for high school students. Adjacent spaces in the existing Museum complex include the Michael Vlock Family Learning Zone, newly renovated classrooms supporting young children and families, and a zone for Teacher Learning repurposed for Museum programs for teacher professional development. These classrooms will allow the Museum to serve students and teachers in new ways that align with national educational standards and offer high-quality science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning relevant to today’s students for successful college and career trajectories.

For more information on the Gilder Center, please visit amnh.org/GilderCenter.

Closed Since Pandemic, Statue Of Liberty’s Crown Reopens

One of New York’s most popular attractions has reopened to the public.

The National Park Service began allowing visitors to go up into the Statue of Liberty’s crown on Tuesday, more than two and a half years since it closed during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Other parts of the statue including the observation deck had reopened previously.

Due to the popularity of the crown, visitors are required to make reservations in advance and there is a limited number of tickets available each day. As of Tuesday evening, the first available tickets were for early November.

Situated in New York Harbor overlooking New York and New Jersey, the statue routinely drew more than 4 million visitors in the several years leading up to the pandemic. About 1.5 million visited in 2021, according to the Department of the Interior.

The park service warns visitors with physical limitations that the climb to the crown is 162 steps up a double-helix spiral staircase and can be strenuous.

New York Law Will Require Museums To Disclose Works Looted By Nazis

New York governor Kathy Hochul on August 10 signed legislation that will require museums in the state to publicly acknowledge whether a displayed work has passed through Nazi hands. The signing ceremony took place at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York. According to the new law, any exhibited artwork that “changed hands due to theft, seizure, confiscation, forced sale, or other involuntary means” during World War II and the run-up to that conflict must be accompanied by a wall label or placard detailing its history. New York law already requires works of this nature to be recorded in the Art Loss Register, the world’s largest private database of stolen art. The legislation does not apply to works seized in other contexts, by other parties in other eras.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo: Bill Gracey/Flickr.

Recent years have seen a number of cases in which heirs have sued New York museums in attempts to recover works—among them three paintings by George Grosz that reside in the Museum of Modern Art and Pablo Picasso’s The Actor, 1904–05, previously owned by Jewish collectors Paul and Alice Leffmann and which now hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art—they claim were looted or sold under duress during the Nazi regime. In both of those cases, the museums were allowed to keep the works, in part due to the statute of limitations.

The bill was introduced by State Senator Anna M. Kaplan. “During the Holocaust, some 600,000 paintings were stolen from Jewish people not only for their value, but to wipe our culture and identity off the face of the Earth,” said Kaplan in a statement. “Today, artwork previously stolen by the Nazis can be found hanging in museums around New York with no recognition of the dark paths they traveled there. With the history of the Holocaust being so important to pass on to the next generation, it’s vital that we be transparent and ensure that anyone viewing artwork stolen by the Nazis understand where it came from and its role in history.”

The new law is one of several aimed at raising awareness of the Holocaust, broadly seen as increasingly necessary, as the event recedes into history and living memory of the tragedy fades. Hochul also signed legislation authorizing the commission of education to conduct a survey regarding instruction on the Holocaust, and a law requiring the state superintendent of financial services to maintain and update a list of financial institutions that waive wire transfer or processing fees associated with Holocaust reparations payments.

Source: https://www.artforum.com/

Coney Island’s Luna Park To Expand, Introduce 3 Attractions

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, step right up and witness Coney Island’s Luna Park like you’ve never seen it before.

The beachfront tourist destination will soon be introducing three new attractions and pedestrian plazas on several acres along the iconic Coney Island, New York, boardwalk as part of Luna Park’s expansion.

“Coney Island been this great, rich place with so much legacy and emotions and memories for all — not just New Yorkers, but Americans,” said Alessandro Zamperla of Central Amusement International, which operates the park.

Of the three new attractions are two intertwined rides: a roller coaster called “Tony’s Express” and a log flume ride called “Leti’s Treasure.” The two rides are designed to pay homage to classic, 19th century Coney Island rides, as well as Zamperla’s family, which has been involved in circuses, carnivals and amusement parks for generations. The rides are named after Zamperla’s late grandparents, Antonio and Letizia.

Tony’s Express is modeled after America’s first roller coaster, the Switchback Railway, which opened on Coney Island in 1884. Leti’s Treasure is a throwback to Shoot the Chutes, another Coney Island classic, which opened a year later in 1885.

As part of the expansion, Luna Park will also introduce a 50-foot (15-meter) Sky Chaser Ropes Course and pedestrian plazas that will increase the size of the park by 50%, using land that has been vacant for almost half a century.

Coney Island’s original Luna Park was destroyed by a fire and then sold in the 1940s, but the park was reborn in 2010 with the construction of a new Luna Park, which has been evolving and expanding since then.

“We’ve been blessed to be in the amusement park industry and overall entertainment for more than five generations,” Zamperla said. “So for us to be here and to be really associated with the revitalization and really kind of rebirth of Coney Island is extremely exciting and a great honor.”

The new attractions, excluding Tony’s Express, are still under construction, but Zamperla said he hopes the new rides and plazas will be open to the public by the middle of summer.

By JOSEPH FREDERICK

New York City Police Are On The Hunt For A Couple Who Tried To Make Off With A $45,000 Basquiat From A Chelsea Gallery

Taglialatella Galleries staff thwarted the would-be thieves.

New York City police are on the lookout for a couple that brazenly attempted to steal a Jean-Michel Basquiat screenprint worth $45,000 off the wall of a Manhattan gallery.

The couple (one male, one female) casually walked into Taglialatella Galleries on May 14, in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. They spoke to the attendant with what investigators called an “unknown European accent,” and then perused the gallery’s public area.

Then the couple made their way to a back office of the gallery that also doubles as a private viewing room. Video footage of the event shows the couple assessing the framed print, titled Dog Leg Study (1982/2019), looking up details of its value on their phone.

Seconds later, they casually removed the artwork from the wall, distracted only by a nearby bottle of whiskey in the office, which they also took.

As they attempted to leave, a gallery staffer stopped the couple at the exit, noticing they had in their possession the three-and-a-half-foot framed print.

“It was pretty brazen. We’ve had stuff stolen from the gallery before but nothing quite this obvious,” gallery owner Brian Swarts told Hyperallergic. “Luckily my staff is quite attentive and courageous and one of the brave young women who work here literally pulled the piece from the guy’s hand.”

The shameless attempted robbery of the Basquiat is not the first time the gallery has been targeted. Last year, thieves attempted to lift a Kaws figurine, which was much smaller in size. “That’s typically what people try to steal,” Swarts told Hyperallergic, “small sculptures or pieces they can put in a hoodie or a backpack. But never a work that was framed like that.”

The couple did end up making off with about a one-third-full bottle of Maker’s Mark.

With NYPD still searching for the aspiring Thomas Crown Affair couple, and no word on whether any of the whiskey is left, police are asking that anyone who may recognize the couple get in touch with them immediately.

Source: https://news.artnet.com/

Renovated American Museum Of Natural History In New York Showcases Indigenous Perspectives

In his first visit to the American Museum of Natural History, Morgan Guerin had a list. Not of things he wanted to check out, though — a list of things that he hated.

It started with seeing certain regalia from his Musqueam Indian Band — sacred objects not intended for public display — in the museum’s Northwest Coast Hall.

This wasn’t just any visit. Guerin was there at the museum’s invitation in 2017 for the start of a project to renovate the hall, incorporating Indigenous perspectives. For him and representatives of other Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest and western Canada, the 5-year, $19-million renovation of the Northwest Coast Hall, which reopened to the public Friday, was an opportunity to tell their stories themselves.

“Our people are very, very tired of being ‘studied,’ because the misconception of who we are has always been the outside community’s downfall,” he said. “We have always been here, ready to tell people who we are.”

The hall was the museum’s first gallery, opened in 1899 under the auspices of Franz Boas, an anthropologist who was deeply interested in the Indigenous cultures of the Northwest and western coastal Canada. Boas was also a proponent of what was then a revolutionary idea that different cultures should be looked at in their own right and not on some kind of comparative scale.

It had largely remained unchanged, though, since the early 1900s. When museum officials decided it was time to renovate, they knew they couldn’t do it without input from the people whose cultures are on display.

“A lot of what we did was trying to bring this historic collection to the 21st century, and that’s by telling new stories with active voices in all of these communities and nations,” said Lauri Halderman, vice president for exhibition.

The museum brought together representatives of the Indigenous communities to talk about what the gallery should contain and what it should look like for the showcase of 10 Pacific Northwest tribal nations.

It wasn’t a simple process, made even less so by the impact of the pandemic, which forced remote instead of in-person collaborations.

“We didn’t really have a process or roadmap in front of us. We had to figure that out as we went ... it’s hard work,” Halderman said. “But I think it was validated beyond all expectation when everybody came and said how proud they were.”

The hall includes some iconic pieces that anyone who has been to the museum will remember — including a massive 63-foot-long canoe that for decades was placed outside the hall but has now been brought in and suspended from the ceiling along with several giant carvings.

In what’s new, items on display are accompanied by text in both English and Indigenous languages and the hall includes a gallery section showing how younger Indigenous artists are using motifs and designs from prior generations. There’s also a video piece with people talking about the tribes’ pasts, and their concerns in the present.

There remains the fundamental question of whether museums should be holding these collections and trying to tell these stories in the first place, given the role that theft and colonialization has played in building them, and the way Indigenous communities have been treated.

Museums “seem to function as very expensive, and in the case of the American Museum of Natural History, maybe the most expensive, trophy cases in the world,” said Haa’yuups, co-curator of the hall, who is Head of the House of Taḳiishtaḳamlthat-ḥ, of the Huupa‘chesat-ḥ First Nation.

He said, “They seem to have a meta-language about them or a meta-message: ‘Aren’t we powerful? Don’t we go forth and dominate the world?’”

Haa’yuups saw his involvement as a way to help spur a difference, to get people thinking about whether the items on display would be better served by being with the people they came from.

“Does it make sense to have a bunch of people who have nothing to do with those objects, to have them spend their lives managing them?” he said. “Or does it make sense to send those treasures back to the communities where they come from?”

It’s an issue the museum has and is continuing to grapple with, said Peter Whiteley, curator of North American ethnology. He said the institution, which has repatriated items over the years, had decided through the renovation process that it was willing to do some additional limited repatriation and develop greater collaboration between the museum and native tribes.

Deeper questions notwithstanding, members of the Indigenous nations and museum staff who took part in the process said it showed what’s possible in terms of collaboration and listening to Indigenous voices.

“The best thing about this, the result of these consultants from the different native tribes,” said David Boxley, representing the Tsimshian tribe, “is that it’s our voice speaking.”

Contributed by DEEPTI HAJELA

New Year’s Eve In Times Square Still On, With Smaller Crowd

NEW YORK (AP) — Revelers will still ring in the new year in New York’s Times Square next week, there just won’t be as many of them as usual under new restrictions announced Thursday as the city grapples with a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Viewing areas that normally accommodate about 58,000 people will be limited to about 15,000 to allow for more distancing, and everyone in attendance must show proof of vaccination and wear a mask, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a news release announcing the changes.

“There is a lot to celebrate and these additional safety measures will keep the fully vaccinated crowd safe and healthy as we ring in the New Year,” de Blasio said, noting the city’s success in getting residents vaccinated while also keeping businesses open.

The added precautions for New Year’s Eve in Times Square were spurred by the rapid spread of the omicron variant in the Big Apple, where lines for testing have snaked around blocks in recent days.

On Wednesday, the city set yet another one-day testing record with 22,808 new cases, though a true comparison to the number of cases during the initial COVID-19 surge in spring 2020 is impossible because tests were very limited at the time.

Because of vaccinations, hospitalizations and deaths from the current surge are far fewer than at the pandemic’s height.

Times Square Is Back Open On New Year’s Eve — With Vax Proof

NEW YORK (AP) — Crowds will once again fill New York’s Times Squar

e this New Year’s Eve, with proof of COVID-19 vaccination required for revelers who want to watch the ball drop in person, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.

“Yes, we are proud to announce that Times Square, wonderful celebration in Times Square, the ball drop, everything, coming back full strength the way we love it,” de Blasio said at a virtual news briefing. “Hundreds of thousands of people there to celebrate. We can finally get back together again. It’s going to be amazing.”

Tom Harris, the president of the Times Square Alliance, said all spectators aged 5 and over will be asked to show proof of full vaccination. People who can’t be vaccinated because of a disability will have to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test, he said.

The New Year’s Eve celebration, perhaps the city’s most iconic public gathering, was a socially distant affair during the height of the pandemic last year.

There were no packed crowds of giddy revelers, jammed together cheek-by-jowl. Instead there were mostly empty streets as officials told people to stay home and watch the ball drop on television. Entertainers including Jennifer Lopez performed behind police barricades to small groups made up of essential workers.

With the advent of vaccines, the city’s public celebrations have been on the upswing in 2021. The Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks once again welcomed crowds to gather and watch as fireworks lit up the sky, and some parades have returned to city streets.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade will also be returning to pre-COVID form, with giant balloons guided by volunteer handlers making their way through the event’s Manhattan parade route, instead of the one-block stretch they were kept to last year.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade To Snap Back, Add Baby Yoda

NEW YORK (AP) — The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will return to its pre-pandemic form this year, with its route restored through Manhattan, high-flying helium balloons once again pulled by handlers and crowds welcomed back to cheer them on. And Baby Yoda is joining the party for the first time.

This year’s parade — the 95th annual — will snap back to form after bowing to pandemic restrictions last year. It will feature 15 giant character balloons, 28 floats, 36 novelty and heritage inflatables, more than 800 clowns, 10 marching bands and nine performance groups and, of course, Santa Claus.

New balloon giants joining the line-up on Nov. 25 include Ada Twist, Scientist; Grogu (so-called Baby Yoda from the “The Mandalorian”); and the Pokémon characters Pikachu and Eevee. Broadway will be represented by the casts of “Six,” “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” and “Wicked.” The Rockettes will be there, as will the cast of the upcoming NBC live production of “Annie.”

“For our 95th celebration, Macy’s has created a spectacle to remember featuring a dazzling array of high-flying balloons, animated floats and incredible performers. We can’t wait to help New York City and the nation kick-off the holiday season with the return of this cherished tradition,” Will Coss, executive producer of the parade, said in a statement.

There will be new floats led by the cast of “Girls5eva” — Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell and Busy Philipps — Nelly and Jordan Fisher, while Jon Batiste will be on an alligator-themed float celebrating Louisiana’s music, food and culture.

Other celebrities on hand include Carrie Underwood, Jimmie Allen, Kelly Rowland, Rob Thomas, Kristin Chenoweth, Darren Criss, Foreigner, Andy Grammer, Mickey Guyton, Chris Lane, Miss America Camille Schrier, Muppets from “Sesame Street” and the three past and current hosts of “Blue’s Clues” — Steve Burns, Donovan Patton and Josh Dela Cruz.

Some of the returning balloons will be Astronaut Snoopy, ’The Boss Baby,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” Chase from “Paw Patrol,” the Pillsbury Doughboy, Red Titan from “Ryan’s World,” Papa Smurf from ”The Smurfs,” Sonic the Hedgehog and SpongeBob SquarePants.

The Macy’s parade has been a traditional holiday season kickoff and spectators often line up a half-dozen deep along the route to cheer about 8,000 marchers, two dozen floats, entertainers and marching bands.

Last year, the usual 2 1/2-mile route through crowded Manhattan was scrapped in favor of concentrating events to a one-block stretch of 34th Street in front of the retailer’s flagship Manhattan store. Many performances were pre-taped and most of the parade’s performers were locally based to cut down on travel. The balloons were tethered to specialized vehicles instead of being controlled by handlers.

Visitors this year will once again be allowed to see the balloons inflated the day before the parade as long as they show proof of vaccination. Children under the age of 12 may be accompanied by a vaccinated adult.

Sharks, A New American Museum of Natural History Exhibition, Opens December 15

Featuring Dozens of Life-Sized Models Ranging from 33 Feet to 5 Inches Long, New Exhibition Brings Visitors Face to Face with Vast Diversity of Shark Species, From the Ancient Megapredator Megalodon to the Tiny Pocket Shark

Opens to Museum Members on December 10 and to the Public on December 15

People have been fascinated by sharks for as long as we have been exploring the oceans. Fixed in the public imagination as toothy, fearsome predators, sharks are far more fascinating and more complex, than their description in popular culture. Sharks, a new exhibition opening at the American Museum of Natural History this winter, will bring to life the incredible diversity of this ancient group of fishes and will offer visitors a unique look at pre-historic and modern shark species, their habitats and hunting styles, and the conservation threats these magnificent animals are facing today.

The evolutionary history of sharks began nearly 450 million years ago, more than 200 million years before the first dinosaur. Today, there are more than 500 species of sharks and more than 650 species of their close relatives—rays, skates, and chimaeras—inhabiting nearly all of the world’s aquatic environments, from coral reefs to the polar seas, and even freshwater rivers. While the terrifying monster from the movie Jaws is what many might imagine when they think of sharks, today’s scientists are uncovering many surprising facts about this diverse group. Convinced that all sharks are carnivores? (Fact: Recent research shows that bonnethead sharks eat seagrass and can digest plants). Where do great white sharks give birth to their young? (Fact: By tracking females, scientists recently discovered a great white shark nursery off the coast of Long Island, New York). Can shark tourism be more profitable than shark fishing? (Fact: where fishing and ecotourism are regulated, tourism can support shark communities for generations. In fact, a single whale shark has been shown to bring thousands of more dollars as a beacon for tourism than could be earned by killing it). Sharks addresses these exciting questions and reveals more secrets of the ocean’s top predators through life-sized models, touch-free interactives, real fossils, and dynamic media presentations.

Visitors to Sharks will explore the diversity, anatomy, and behavior of sharks and their close relatives through encounters with tiger sharks, great whites, and other familiar favorites along with little-known creatures such as the torpedo ray, the longnose chimaera, and the tiny dwarf lantern shark, which glows in the dark and is small enough to hold in your hand. The exhibition will showcase fossils from the Museum’s extensive collections, current Museum research, and a spectacular “parade” of sharks highlighting the diversity of ancient and modern shark species through 30 lifelike models that range from 33 feet to 5 inches long, including the prehistoric megapredator megalodon, the “Tyrannosaurus rex of the seas,” which was so large it preyed on whales. Other exhibition highlights include an interactive that challenges visitors to hunt like a hammerhead and touch-free media that reveals distinctive shark traits with the wave of a hand. Sharks also delves into the serious conservation issues facing sharks today, including overfishing and habitat destruction, demonstrating that while these amazing animals pose few threats to people, we represent a serious danger to them.

Sharks is curated by John Sparks, curator in the Museum’s Department of Ichthyology in the Division of Vertebrate Zoology, who previously curated Unseen Oceans, which explored the latest ocean science, and Creatures of Light: Nature’s Bioluminescence, which focused on the diversity of organisms that produce light. He also co-curated Life at the Limits: Stories of Amazing Species, about organisms with surprising abilities and those that thrive in extreme habitats. Sparks’ recent research explores the role that bioluminescence and biofluorescence play in the diversification of both shallow-reef and deep-sea fishes. His current projects include investigating the evolution and function of bioluminescent signaling systems in ponyfishes (Leiognathidae), lanternfishes (Myctophiformes), and dragonfishes (Stomiiformes), the origins of Madagascar’s freshwater and nearshore marine fishes, and the evolution and function of biofluorescence in marine fishes. Sharks has also drawn on the expertise of John Maisey, curator-in-charge emeritus, fossil fish, Division of Paleontology, whose research focuses on early chondrichthyans and shark evolution.

American Museum of Natural History (amnh.org) The American Museum of Natural History, founded in 1869, is one of the world’s preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The Museum encompasses more than 40 permanent exhibition halls, including those in the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and the Hayden Planetarium, as well as galleries for temporary exhibitions. The Museum’s scientists draw on a world-class permanent collection of more than 34 million specimens and artifacts, some of which are billions of years old, and on one of the largest natural history libraries in the world. Through its Richard Gilder Graduate School, the Museum grants the Ph.D. degree in Comparative Biology and the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree, the only such freestanding, degree-granting program at any museum in the United States. The Museum’s website, digital videos, and apps for mobile devices bring its collections, exhibitions, and educational programs to millions around the world. Visit amnh.org for more information.

Hours The Museum is open Wednesday-Sunday, 10 am–5:30 pm. The Museum is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Admission Museum admission is free to all New York City school and camp groups. New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut residents (with ID) have the option to pay what they wish for General Admission; the reservation must be made online and the transaction must be completed at the Museum ticket counter.

General Admission, which includes admission to all permanent exhibition halls and the Rose Center for Earth and Space but does not include special exhibitions, giant-screen 2D or 3D film, or Space Show, is $23 (adults), $18 (students/seniors), and $13 (children ages 3-12). All prices are subject to change.

Health Protocols The Museum maintains COVID-19 protocols to protect the health and safety of visitors and has taken steps to maintain a safe environment, including requiring facial coverings for visitors ages 2 and up and upgrading ventilation. As of August 25, 2021, in accordance with the New York City vaccination requirement, visitors ages 12 and older must be vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter the Museum and show proof of vaccination. Personal identification is required for visitors ages 18 and over. Visit amnh.org/plan-your-visit/covid-19-visitors-staff for more information about these and other health and safety protocols.

Public Information
For additional information, the public may call 212-769-5100 or visit the Museum’s website at amnh.org.

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