Photo: Paula Lobo, Courtesy of Harlem Stage Partake in free films, workshops, open mic nights, art exhibitions and more this August all around Harlem. Listed in date order: Open Mic Mondays Every Monday @ 8pm Harlem Nights Bar Live music is BACK! Bringing back the live band open mic every Monday. Great ambiance and likeminded people. Artists from all walk of life. Crafty cocktails and tasty food. Musicians, poets, comedians and clowns are welcomed. More info Harlem Week August 6 - August 15 All over Harlem HARLEM WEEK is an annual celebration of the best of Harlem which works to promote its rich African-American, African, Caribbean, Hispanic, and European history, as well as arts, culture, religion, business, entertainment, and sports. HARLEM WEEK began in 1974 as HARLEM DAY, a one-day event of encouragement and fellowship in Harlem for New Yorkers and beyond. More info NYC Senior Citizen's Day (Harlem Week) August 6th @ 10am More info The National Jazz Museum in Harlem August 7th - October After almost 15 months of being closed to the public, they are now able to reopen for visitors to explore their exhibition. Please bring your own wired headphones for listening stations. More info Face of Harlem August 7th Morningside, Jackie Robinson, Marcus Garvey, and Rucker Park This public art installation will open on August 7, 2021 and stay up for three months, with events scheduled on the first Saturday of each month. Throughout the duration of the exhibition, we will create opportunities for visitors to respond to the images on view, inviting them to add their own voices to the diverse stories that make up FACES OF HARLEM. More info A Great Day In Harlem (Harlem Week) August 8th @ 1pm Grant National Park More info Dripsets Park Show August 10th @ 7pm (every Tuesday) St Nicholas Park at 135th Do you love comedy? Do you love to laugh Do you love outdoors!!!! Well were here for you!!! Welcome to Dripsets. We're doing live Comedy In the park every Tuesday until Nov 30th. Bring a blanket some snacks an A hunger for laughter! We will bring! At the park right above The C and B train telling jokes. More info Jazz in the Park August 13th @ 4pm Jackie Robinson Park Harlem Late Night Jazz with the music of "Keeping the music alive in Harlem" with live soul, blues and R&B". More info In the Heights - ImageNation Outdoors Festival August 13th East River Plaza, Garage Rooftop, 117th Street and the East River A film version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical in which Usnavi, a sympathetic New York bodega owner, saves every penny every day as he imagines and sings about a better life. More info Limón Outdoors August 13th @ 6pm West Harlem Piers Park Join the world-renowned Limón Company Dancers as they teach the energetic and ease-filled Limón Technique, accompanied by live music! All classes are FREE, include live accompaniment and are open to all levels and ages. No experience required. More info Movies Under the Stars: Red Pill August 13th @ 7pm St. Nicholas Park Grab a blanket and come enjoy a movie in a neighborhood park or playground! This summer, NYC Parks will host family-friendly movie showings across the five boroughs. Movies begin at dusk. You should arrive before 8:00 p.m. to get your spot. More info Craig Harris’ Nocturnal Nubian Ball for Conscientious Ballers and Cultural Shot Callers August 13th @ 7pm Marcus Garvey Park The culmination of Harlem Stage’s Afrofuturism series that launched in 2019 as a citywide, multi-venue celebration of Sun Ra’s legacy. We are thrilled to be a part of welcoming New Yorkers back to live, in-person performances with two consecutive outdoor concerts presented in partnership with Bryant Park, NYC Parks, and Jazzmobile. More info A Thrilling Night of Jazz with Network 5 August 14th @ 7pm Patrick's Place NETWORK 5 doing a thrilling night of jazz featuring Annette St. John on Vocals, Matthew Smythe on Piano, Mike Campanni on Drums, Larry Rowland on Bass, Warren Smith curating Vibes. Outside Seating Available. More info Marvel’s Blade Anime - ImageNation Outdoors Festival August 14th St. Nicholas Park, 135th Street and St. Nicholas Ave. In this series, Blade is tracking Deacon Frost, a very powerful and influential vampire who killed his mother and who heads Existence, a secretive vampire organization that operates in Southeast Asia. More info Summer in the City (Harlem Week) August 14th @ 1pm 135th Street between St. Nicholas Ave & Adam Clayton Powell More info NYC's Children Festival (Harlem Week) August 14th @ 12pm Howard Bennett Playground More info Harlem Day (Harlem Week) August 15th @ 1pm 135th Street between St. Nicholas Ave & Malcolm X BLVD More info The Joy of Art August 21st @12pm Dream Center Harlem The objective and purpose of the event is to re-find, re-establish, and reimagine Joy in our lives. It is a creative celebration of humanity through the arts. We will set our purpose and intentions through art, mindful meditation, music, and reconnection with our community. More info Jazz in the Park August 27th @ 5pm Jackie Robinson Park Harlem Late Night Jazz with the music of "Keeping the music alive in Harlem" with live soul, blues and R&B". More info Kiki - ImageNation Outdoors Festival August 27th Marcus Garvey Park, NYC Considered an unofficial sequel to the influential 1990 film Paris Is Burning, Kiki profiles several young LGBT people of colour participating in contemporary LGBT African American ball culture. Preceded by the short film “Dust, Mask, Soul directed by Harlem-based artist Sheila Prevost.” More info Kids Night Out! featuring The Wiz! - ImageNation Outdoors Festival August 28th East River Plaza The Wiz is a musical retelling of L. Frank Baum's children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) in the context of contemporary African-American culture. The Wiz will be preceded by the short film “Adventures of Booga and Mommy.” This Kids’ Night Out program will also offer games, face-painting, and giveaways provided by East River Plaza. More info Charlie Parker Jazz Festival August 29th @ 6pm Marcus Garvey Park NYC’s annual salute to legendary Harlem saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker with multiple generations of musicians. The lineup includes artists from both around the way and around the world, reflecting the global impact that Parker continues to have on music and the musicians that make it. More info Rejoice/Resist Festival - ImageNation Outdoors Festival August 29th West 124th Street between St. Nicholas and Morningside Aves. A new partnership with the Rejoice/Resist Festival will feature a sidebar including a block party with an outdoor art exhibit, vendors, a panel discussion on activism, and screenings from the RIZZLE/RejoiceResist film collection. More info Rejoice/Resist Festival - ImageNation Outdoors Festival August 30th Marcus Garvey Park Amphitheater, 122nd Street and 5th Ave. This official Tribeca Film Festival selection is directed by comedian CJ Hunt and executive produced by comedian Roy Wood, Jr. and explores memory, monuments and America’s confederate past. More info

With temperatures in the 80s and a host of Juneteenth celebrations coming up on Saturday, this week is full of events every New Yorker should know about. June 19th marks the 156th anniversary of the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans, and on Juneteenth, it’s important to both celebrate freedom and commemorate the past. If you’re looking for ways to do just that, check out this list of brunch events, film screenings, and dance parties happening between June 15th and June 20th. And consider donating to organizations like Black Joy Farm, Farming While Black, and Soul Fire Farm. MORE

Many Black businesses claim to have made more money on Juneteenth 2020 than they had the whole year, or ever. This year, so far, the same applies. In an effort to consciously or naturally buy Black the entire year, EBONY focuses on destinations in major urban centers with a photo series supporting local Black businesses. As African Americans, whose ancestors built this country, it’s our time to build our own wealth as well as support our own. MORE

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration of African American heritage and Culture and it’s come a long way since those first cheers in 1865 of people in Texas who were informed that they were slaves no more. Now it’s spread nationwide and President Biden has signed a bill to make it a federal holiday. Multiple cities will play host to major events to commemorate the event. Here are five that are definitely worth visiting. MORE

This Juneteenth, many cities around the United States are holding events to boost local Black-owned restaurants. After all, while interest in Black-owned restaurants spiked in June 2020 amid the George Floyd protests, Google Trends shows, it has fallen dramatically since. Additionally, Black business owners tend to be excluded from many of the events that aim to support local restaurant owners. “When we looked at a lot of the formal restaurant weeks … we noticed a lot of businesses within our community really didn’t have involvement,” Falayn Ferrell, co-founder and managing partner of the organization Black Restaurant Week, told PYMNTS in a March interview. “So we wanted to create a platform to showcase who they were … as well as to create some economic stability in our communities.” MORE

It's official: Juneteenth is now a federal holiday. Also known as Freedom Day, the holiday commemorates the day the last enslaved Black people were liberated in Texas on June 19, 1865. Naturally, there are loads of ways to celebrate in Harlem, including a city-sponsored kickoff in St. Nicholas Park on Friday evening. MORE

Shop & Sip Harlem will take place in Harlem, NY between June 18-20! Shop from several black-owned businesses and celebrate with some of the best cocktails by Maker's Mark. For a list of all locations participating, visit experienceharlem.com. MORE

This Saturday celebrates American freedom. The ancestors will be proud. Harlem will be moving and shaking with three events that include a family block party, a ribbon cutting and supporting Harlem businesses. The weekend starts on Friday as Experience Harlem, the award-winning marketing solutions company, kicks off their 15th anniversary with a special summer Juneteenth edition of their Shop & Sip series, highlighting Harlem’s Black-owned businesses. “Harlem has long been recognized as the Black capital of the world, there’s no better way to celebrate Juneteenth weekend, kick off summer and the reopening of New York than to discover Harlem’s scores of Black entrepreneurs, small businesses, artists and artisans,” said founder Angie Hancock. Liz Osei, brand manager of sponsor Maker’s Mark added, “We know it’s been such challenging times....by supporting the SHOP HARLEM campaign, we hope we can make this summer a little more remarkable.” MORE

Experience Harlem will kick off their 15th anniversary with a special summer Juneteenth edition of their successful event series, SHOP & SIP HARLEM highlighting Harlem’s Black-owned businesses with a weekend filled with supporting restaurants and restaurants across Harlem. SHOP & SIP – Juneteenth celebrates the roots of the now-observed holiday in New York state; Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. MORE

Experience Harlem’s popular SHOP & SIP gives some well-deserved shine to the neighborhood’s Black-owned businesses with a weekend-long event series supporting restaurants and retailers across Harlem. This year, the award-winning marketing solutions company is celebrating its 15th Anniversary with a special Juneteenth edition of SHOP & SIP. Juneteenth is a holiday that recognizes the liberation of enslaved African-Americans. It is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. MORE

Experience Harlem will kick off their 15th Anniversary with a special summer Juneteenth edition of their successful event series, SHOP & SIP HARLEM highlighting Harlem’s Black-owned businesses with a weekend filled with supporting restaurants and retailers across Harlem. MORE

Y’all can keep July 4th because we know that while one group was freed from another country’s control, Black people were still enslaved and fighting for our freedom. That is until one fateful day came: June 19th. MORE