How to celebrate Women’s History Month 2023 in NYC

Every March, Americans celebrate Women’s History Month to honor the countless achievements and contributions of women nationwide. New York City, where the month-long celebration originated, has plenty of special events and happenings for those looking to show their appreciation to the women of the world. Ahead, here are some ways you can celebrate Women’s History Month in NYC, from learning about the influential women behind Central Park’s most iconic attractions to listening to music by trailblazing women composers at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.

Flushing Town Hall
137-35 Northern Boulevard, Queens
March 3, 17, and 31 at 7 p.m.
Flushing Town Hall’s annual Women’s History Trilogy is back. The three-part series will feature vocalists performing music by legendary pop music singers and songwriters. Golden Girls, the first night of the event, will kick off on March 3 with vocalist Zoe Lyons Nieves performing more than 40 years of popular music made famous by legendary artists like Dionne Warwick, Barbra Streisand, Carole King, Katy Perry, Alicia Keys, and Lady Gaga.

On March 17, Paris is for Lovers – French Songs Made Famous by Women will be led by German-born vocalist Gabriele Tranchina and her husband and music director Joe Vincent Tranchina, who will perform a variety of iconic, romantic French songs by Edith Piaf, Jacques Prévert, Yves de Montand, and Michael Fugain.

The last night of the Trilogy, I’m Every Woman, will be hosted on March 3 by vocalist Emilie Surtees with her band and background singers. Surtees will perform songs by Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston, Olivia Newtown John, and Aretha Franklin.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan
The Met currently offers a selection of exhibitions featuring the work of famous women artists and photographers. There is no better time to view the work of these influential women than during Women’s History Month. Berenice Abbott’s New York Album, 1929 showcases Abbott’s New York album, a collection of 266 black-and-white photographs that capture the evolution of the city and highlights the creative process of one of the greatest photographers of the twentieth century. The exhibition is located in Gallery 852 and runs until September 4.

The museum’s New Art Worlds, 1870-1890 exhibition showcases works by Cecilia Beaux, Helena de Kay, Edith Mitchill Prellwitz, and other famous women artists who worked in NYC during the 1870s and 80s. The exhibition is located in Gallery 773 and runs until July 21, 2024.

Water Memories showcases the world of Cara Romero and other contemporary, historical, and modern artworks that depict the importance of water to the Indigenous peoples and nations of the United States. The exhibition is located in Gallery 749 North and runs until April 2.

New York Botanical Garden
2900 Southern Boulevard, The Bronx
The NYBG is offering a wide variety of Women’s History Month events, both in-person and virtually.

One way to celebrate women is by visiting the NYBG’s Orchid Show, which is open at the garden through April 23. Created by landscape artist Lily Kwong, the exhibition features immersive installations using thousands of colorful orchids that are inspired by Kwong’s connection to nature and adoration of ancient Chinese garden designs.

On the Women in Garden Design Tour, NYBG volunteer experts will lead guests on a one-hour guided tour through collections that were designed by women, including the Perennial Garden, the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, and more. The tour will be hosted on March 11, 19, 25, and 26.

Hosted every Saturday at 2:30 p.m., the Native Plant Garden Tour focuses on the contributions of trailblazing botanist and NYBG co-founder Elizabeth Gertrude Knight Britton to the study of bryology, or the study of mosses and their closely-related species.

Women’s History Month: Peruvian Music Party
Queens Public Library, 14-01 Astoria Boulevard, Queens
March 3 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, Grammy-nominated artist Araceli will host a Peruvian music party at the Queens Public Library in Astoria. Guests will listen to stories about influential Peruvian women, including Yma Sumac, the bestselling Peruvian artist of all time, and Victoria Santa Cruz, the “mother of Afro-Peruvian dance and theatre.” Araceli will also perform using the charango, a traditional Peruvian stringed instrument, and using traditional puppets.

Image via WikiCommons

Special Mansion & Grounds Tour: Women of the House
Morris Jumel Mansion, 65 Jumel Terrace, Manhattan
March 4, 11, 19, and 26 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
This special tour of the Morris Jumel Mansion, Manhattan’s oldest surviving house, will be shown through the lens of Women’s History Month. The tours will focus on the women who worked and lived in the house, including Mary Philipse-Morris, Martha Morris, Eliza Jumel, Anne Northup, Lillie Earle, and Kady Brownell. The tours include a 45-minute guided orientation around the mansion’s site and grounds, followed by a self-guided tour through the mansion.

Photo by Steven Pisano on Flickr 

Women’s History Month: Cass Gallagher
Van Cortlandt Nature Center, The Bronx
March 4 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Hosted by NYC Park’s Urban Park Rangers, this informative event will teach participants how to see the world through the eyes of a naturalist over the course of a hike through the Bronx’s Van Cortlandt Park. Guests will travel down a natural trail named after Cass Gallagher, a longtime Bronx resident and naturalist whose work made a lasting impact on the local neighborhood and natural environment.

Women’s History Month: Women in Conservation
Nevada Avenue Parking Lot in High Rock Park, Staten Island
March 5 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.
This journey through Staten Island’s High Rock Park with the Urban Park Rangers and Greenbelt educators will teach participants about women who changed the field of environmental conservation in the past and present.

Image courtesy of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

2023 Women’s Jazz Festival
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, Manhattan
March 6, 13, and 20 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The Women’s Jazz Festival is celebrating 31 years of Black women’s innovation in the field of jazz. The festival’s opening night will be Moods of Her, curated by percussionist Shirazette Tinnin. Tinnin will be joined by vocalist and saxophonist Orange Coffee, bassist Amina Scott, guitarist Alicyn Yaff, pianist Brittany Anjou, and tap dancer Maurice Chestnut. New Orlean’s The Original Pinettes Brass Band will be performing on March 13, and renowned vocalist and songwriter Lizz Wright will be performing on March 20. You can purchase tickets for the opening night here. Tickets for the 13th are available here, and for the 20th are available here.

Women’s History Month: The Gals Who Squeeze!
85-12 Main Street, Briarwood
March 7 from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, learn about some of the most influential women accordionists from around the world. Led by Broadway accordionist and childhood music educator Mary Spencer Knapp, participants will learn about Creole zydeco music from legendary Louisiana accordionist Queen Ida, experimental music by Pauline Olivero, and more.

Image courtesy of the Central Park Conservancy

Hidden History: Women in Central Park Tour
Central Park
March 10, 18, 23, and 25
On this tour, participants will learn about the hidden history of women who have influenced many of Central Park’s most iconic sites, including the Pulitzer Fountain, Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Wollman Rink, and the Bethesda Terrace. The tour will also bring light to recent efforts to counteract the lack of representation in the city’s public landscape and promote monuments made for and by women. Tickets cost $35, and you can sign up for one of the tour dates here.

Women’s History Month Paint & Sip
Queens Public Library at Rosedale, 144-20 243rd Street, Queens
March 11 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, the Lewis Latimer House Museum is hosting a family-friendly paint-and-sip experience. Families and children ages five and up will work with neon acrylic paint, canvases, and blacklights to share their stories and “bring memorable quotes to life.” After finishing their creations, participants will put their work under blacklight to see how they shine.

Image courtesy of the Museum at Eldridge Street

Celebrate Women’s History Month with the Music of Alhambra!
Museum at Eldridge Street, 12 Eldridge Street, Manhattan
March 12 from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Held within the main sanctuary of the Lower East Side’s Museum at Eldridge Street, Alhambra will perform a variety of exciting Judeo-Spanish music arrangements, with special songs to celebrate Women’s History Month. Alhambra consists of Jenny Luna on vocals and percussion, Adams Good on oud, Marandi Hostetter on violin, and Philip Mayer on percussion. Tickets can be purchased here.

Women’s History Month Film: Little Women
Macomb’s Bridge Library, 2633 Adam Claytom Powerll Jr. Boulevard, Manhattan
March 18 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
To celebrate Women’s History Month, the New York Public Library’s Macomb’s Bridge Branch is screening director Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, a fictional story based on a novel by Louisa May Alcott that follows the lives of four sisters as they grow up in post-Civil War America.

Image courtesy of the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music

Trailblazers: BKCM Celebrates Women’s History Month
Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, 58 7th Avenue, Brooklyn
March 18 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Led by the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music’s Suzuki Program and Community Music School, this celebratory musical event will showcase works by trailblazing women composers, ranging from contemporary pop to classical. Tickets are being sold on a “pay what you wish” ticketing model, but the BKCM’s suggested price is $10.

227 Duffield Street; Photo by Rhododendrites on Wikimedia

Black Historic Sites in Conservation: The Abolitionist Heritage Center
Virtual Workshop
March 23 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Learn about the history of Mama Joy and the women of the Brooklyn abolitionist movement at this virtual NYC Parks event. Participants will learn about the history of Abolitionist Place, a Downtown Brooklyn street that was once the hub of abolitionist and woman’s suffrage activity in NYC. A group of panelists will connect the 1860s abolitionist movement to the 1890s Women’s Suffrage movement, explore the erasure of Black history in Downtown Brooklyn, and more. You can register for the free event here.

Athletes, Activists, Changemakers: Celebrate Women’s Stories at JRM
The Jackie Robinson Museum, One Hudson Square Building, 75 Varick Street, Manhattan
March 25 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
The Jackie Robinson Museum is hosting an event celebrating the legacies of women athletes, activists, and changemakers, many of whom inspired and influenced Jackie Robinson himself. The museum’s tour will highlight women like Mallie Robinson, the legendary baseball player’s mother, civic leader and educator Mary McLeod Bethune, activist Daisy Bates, team owner Effa Manley, tennis star Althea Gibson, and more. Tickets can be purchased here.

Women’s History Month Film: The Woman King
Macomb’s Bridge Library, 2633 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, Manhattan
March 25 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The NYPL’s Macomb Bridge branch will be hosting a screening of director Gina Prince-Bythwood’s The Woman King, a true story about the Kingdom of Dahomey, an African state that flourished in the late 18th century and is faced with the threat of European merchants aiming to make money at the expense of their people.

Women’s History Month Trivia
Soundview Library, 660 Soundview Avenue, The Bronx
March 30 from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
In light of Women’s History Month, the Soundview Library is hosting a women’s history-themed Jeopardy. Participants are encouraged to bring along a group of friends and compete in teams to win prizes and enjoy free snacks at the end.

The Library After Hours: Icons of Women’s History
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, 476 5th Avenue, Manhattan
March 31 at 7 p.m.
After a three-year pandemic hiatus, the New York Public Library’s Library After Hours event is back. During this exclusive after-hours event, the NYPL will present selections from their special collection of artifacts that highlight the lives and works of women throughout history. There will also be librarian-led book-matchmaking, arts and crafts, games and puzzles, live music by DJ Rimarkable, and much more. Tickets are sold on a “pay-what-you-wish” basis with the library suggesting a donation of $15.