This and That: Events, Parties, and Things To Do in NYC in September 2026 (with Free Events!)
September in New York City brings Snoopy dressed by BODE, Sandy Liang, and Willy Chavarria in the Meatpacking District, Bvlgari’s Serpenti on the High Line, a champagne-and-oyster retreat on the North Fork, Hunt Slonem at Casita Maria’s Fiesta kick-off, and a six-DJ night at Mood Ring. From fashion and art to nightlife, food, and cultural events, these are some of the most interesting things happening in NYC in September 2026.
Snoopy in Style NYC in the Meatpacking District
What’s happening: Peanuts is opening Snoopy in Style NYC, a 16,000-square-foot exhibition in the Meatpacking District exploring Snoopy’s relationship to fashion, sports, music, and New York. Curated by the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center, the show unfolds across ten zones and includes archival material connected to Charles M. Schulz, tennis, and his friendship with Billie Jean King, alongside new fashion commissions created for Snoopy and Woodstock. The concept has deep roots: earlier fashion-focused Peanuts exhibitions reached the Louvre in 1990 and included houses such as Chanel, Hermès, Dior, Armani, and Givenchy.
Why go: The exhibition moves between fashion, sport, music, and Peanuts history. Visitors can see custom Snoopy and Woodstock looks by designers including BODE, Christopher John Rogers, Coach, Kith, LUAR, Sandy Liang, Tommy Hilfiger, Tory Burch, and Willy Chavarria, alongside archival material on Charles M. Schulz’s relationship with New York, tennis, Billie Jean King, Title IX, and the Women’s Sports Foundation. Joe Cool’s Listening Lounge adds a music-focused space with a DJ booth, rare records, archival material, and Vince Guaraldi’s jazz, while another display highlights Starbucks’ Snoopy Glass Cold Cup. The Sarah Andelman-curated shop brings together Peanuts merchandise from fashion, design, food, and stationery brands, plus a Moleskine hot-stamp cart where visitors can personalize notebooks with bespoke character artwork.
What’s involved: Fashion exhibition, archives, music, shopping.
Wednesday, September 2nd to Saturday, September 26, 2026 from 10 AM to 6 PM at 25 Little West 12th Street, New York, NY 10014. Information here.
Bvlgari Brings Serpenti Infinito to the High Line
What’s happening: Bvlgari is bringing Serpenti Infinito to New York with a large-scale installation on the High Line, continuing a global exhibition project built around the house’s serpent motif. Serpenti has been part of Bvlgari’s design language since 1948, and the brand has increasingly used it as the basis for exhibitions connecting jewelry, contemporary art, technology, and ideas of transformation. The current Serpenti Infinito project began in Shanghai in 2025 before traveling to Seoul and Mumbai, where editions combined archival and contemporary Serpenti pieces with commissions, historic artworks, mixed media, and immersive digital work.
Why go: Earlier editions make clear that Bvlgari treats Serpenti as more than a jewelry display. In Shanghai, 19 Chinese and international artists contributed 28 works, including 11 commissions, while Refik Anadol premiered Infinito: AI Data Sculpture inside a 360-degree mirrored room. Mumbai paired Bvlgari pieces with Indian art and AI-driven installations exploring the symbolism of the snake across cultures. New York takes that idea outdoors, placing a larger-than-life Serpenti installation directly into the High Line and its surrounding architecture. Bvlgari has released fewer details about the exact components here, but the public setting alone makes this a markedly different encounter with one of the house’s defining motifs, an more reason to see it firsthand.
What’s involved: Large-scale public art installation.
Thursday, September 10 to Sunday, September 20, 2026, open daily from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM at the High Line, New York, NY 10011.
Party 017 at Mood Ring
What’s happening: Brooklyn nightlife collective oneoneone.world is bringing its seventeenth party to Mood Ring in Bushwick with a six-DJ lineup. The night is built around the collective’s recurring themes of peace, love, and happiness, with Vapordog, Dr. Fruit, Heartbreaker, DJ Brandy Melville, Kylxr, and Vicegrip on the bill.
Why go: This is a straightforward late-night Bushwick dance party in a venue with a very specific social character. Mood Ring is a queer, POC-owned astrology-themed bar, with large purple booths up front and a darker dance floor in back, and it has become a neighborhood fixture for dancing and people-watching. The night will have a loose, internet-native energy that suits the room. Arrive before 11 PM and admission is free.
What’s involved: DJs, dancing, late-night party.
Thursday, September 11, 2026 from 10 PM to 4 AM at Mood Ring, 1260 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11221. Ages 21+. Free before 11 PM, $10 before midnight, and $15 after. Information here.
SIP & SEA Brings a Three-Day Wine Retreat to the North Fork
What’s happening: SIP & SEA, presented by New York Champagne Week, is a three-day wine retreat built around harvest season, sparkling wine, seafood, and vineyard visits. Limited to 12 guests, the itinerary includes luxury transportation from New York City, accommodations at Shoals Slips & Suites, vineyard experiences, meals, tastings, sailing, and optional wellness programming.
Why go: The retreat strings together several of the North Fork’s most appealing pleasures without requiring guests to organize the logistics themselves. The first day includes a harvest-season lunch and private tour at Macari Vineyards, followed by a sunset champagne toast, oyster roast, and dockside dinner at Shoals Slips & Suites. Day two adds a low-ABV punch brunch, oyster shucking, spritzes, and a champagne sail with sparkling wine from Sparkling Pointe, before a private chef dinner. Optional movement and massage sessions round out the weekend.
What’s involved: Overnight vineyard tours, tastings, oysters, sailing, dinners, and wellness.
Friday, September 11th to Sunday, September 13, 2026 on the North Fork of Long Island. Luxury transportation from New York City and accommodations are included. Information and tickets here.
Casita Maria Fiesta 2026 Kick-Off
What’s happening: Founded in East Harlem in 1934 and now based in the South Bronx, Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education has spent more than ninety years using arts, education, and community programming to support generations of New Yorkers. Ahead of its annual Fiesta benefit, the organization is gathering supporters at Findlay Galleries for a cocktail party hosted by James Borynack and Adolfo Zaralegui, alongside honorary chairmen HRH Prince Dimitri de Yugoslavia, Stephanie Borynack Clark, Frederick Stirling Clark, and Jacqueline Weld Drake. This year’s Fiesta honorees are artist Hunt Slonem and Sonia Gutt de Haime, while Ben Rodriguez-Cubeñas will receive the Jackie Weld Drake Living Legend Award.
Why go: The evening is essentially the social prelude to one of Casita Maria’s major annual fundraisers (taking place in October), but the setting gives this edition particular art-world character. Hunt Slonem has spent nearly five decades developing his exuberant Neo-Expressionist vocabulary of birds, butterflies, bunnies, and tropical forms, with work now held by institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, and Whitney Museum of American Art.
What’s involved: Cocktails and gallery reception.
Wednesday, September 16th, 2026 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Findlay Galleries, 32 East 57th Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10022. Information and tickets here.
Affordable Art Fair New York Returns for Its Fall Edition
What’s happening: Affordable Art Fair New York returns this fall with more than 400 established and emerging artists represented by local, national, and international exhibitors. The fair is built around accessibility, with original contemporary paintings, sculptures, photographs, and prints priced from $100 to $12,000.
Why go: Visitors can browse thousands of original works in one place, moving between painting, photography, sculpture, and printmaking with prices positioned for both first-time buyers and more experienced collectors. SHEER, returning to the fair after a hiatus, will be exhibiting select works at Booth A1 by artists Nia Imani Winslow, Asari Aibangbee, and Rhoda Clayton.
What’s involved: Contemporary art fair, gallery booths, art buying, and community programming.
Wednesday, September 16 to Sunday, September 20, 2026 at the Starrett-Lehigh Building, 3rd Floor, 601 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10001. First Look runs Wednesday from 5 PM to 9 PM for All-Access Pass holders, followed by general admission Thursday through Sunday. Information and tickets here.
A Soundtrack of a Nation, presented by The Atlantic and Juilliard
What’s happening: On the opening night of The Atlantic Festival 2026, The Atlantic and Juilliard are presenting A Soundtrack of a Nation, a performance examining American music as the country marks its 250th anniversary. Produced by Damian Woetzel and presented as part of the Juilliard Fall Festival, the program starts from the argument that there is no single “American sound,” instead tracing how different regions, communities, traditions, and artistic forms have continually influenced one another. The cast brings together Juilliard alumni and Arnhold Creative Associates spanning music, theater, and dance.
What is The Atlantic Festival?
Launched in 2009 as the Washington Ideas Forum, The Atlantic Festival brings The Atlantic’s journalism to the stage through conversations, performances, screenings, book talks, and live podcasts. This year’s speakers include Pete Buttigieg, Malcolm Gladwell, Colin Kaepernick, Padma Lakshmi, Florence Pugh, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Anne Applebaum, and Jeffrey Goldberg.
Why go: The range of artists makes that premise unusually tangible. Actor Laura Linney joins jazz trumpeter and composer Summer Camargo, mezzo-soprano and Cherokee Nation citizen Kate Morton, and bass-baritone Davóne Tines, alongside composer and pianist Nicholas Britell, dancer and choreographer Michelle Dorrance, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Rhiannon Giddens, and multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell. Rather than treating American music as one tidy tradition, the program puts jazz, classical voice, composition, dance, theater, and American vernacular music into the same conversation. Before the performance, ticket holders are invited to a cocktail reception with food by chef Marcus Samuelsson, turning the opening night into something considerably more social than a conventional concert.
What’s involved: Cocktails, food, music, dance, and performance.
Thursday, September 17, 2026 from 5:30 PM onward at the Perelman Performing Arts Center. 251 Fulton Street New York, NY 10007. Information and tickets here.
MvVO ART SHOW 2026 at the Waldorf Astoria
What’s happening: Since 2018, MvVO ART has built its exhibitions around the relationship between contemporary art and the commercial creative world, particularly artists whose practices move between fine art, advertising, design, and work for brands. Its earlier AD ART SHOW editions brought that idea to venues including Powerhouse Arts, Sotheby’s, Times Square, and the New York Stock Exchange. For 2026, MvVO ART is expanding that platform with a week-long exhibition at the Waldorf Astoria New York, presented in partnership with the hotel and Guerlain Wellness Spa. Artists from MvVO ART’s existing community will appear alongside new participants chosen through an open call.
Why go: MvVO ART has always been most interesting when it makes the boundary between art and commerce feel less rigid than the art world sometimes pretends it is. Its artists often understand both beauty and commercial value, moving between studio practice, advertising, design, photography, branding, and other creative disciplines without treating those worlds as mutually exclusive. Previous editions have turned that premise into exhibitions, awards, discussions, and large-scale public exposure, including winners appearing on billboards in Times Square and across the country. At the Waldorf Astoria, that same conversation moves into another environment where art, design, hospitality, luxury, and commerce already coexist, while a selection committee of collectors and art professionals determines the final group of participating artists.
What’s involved: Contemporary art exhibition.
Monday, September 21st through Sunday, September 27, 2026 at Waldorf Astoria New York, 301 Park Ave, New York, NY 10022 Open to the public. Information here.
The United Nations 81st General Debate
What’s happening: The United Nations General Assembly’s 81st session will hold its General Debate from September 22 through 26 and again on September 28, bringing heads of state, heads of government, foreign ministers, and national delegations to New York for the UN’s most visible annual political gathering. This year’s theme is “Restoring trust, managing transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all,” framing a week of speeches around institutional credibility, geopolitical change, and the UN’s ability to respond to global crises.
Why go: For most people, attendance means watching rather than entering the General Assembly Hall itself. UN Web TV broadcasts the debate live, offering direct access to speeches by national leaders as they set out their governments’ priorities on war, diplomacy, climate, development, trade, migration, and international cooperation. The appeal is cumulative: over several days, the podium becomes a rare place where countries large and small make their case to the world in the same room, often producing some of the clearest statements of national policy all year.
What’s involved: Speeches, diplomacy, and live international debate.
Tuesday, September 22 through Monday, September 28, 2026 at United Nations Headquarters, 405 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017. The General Debate can be watched live on UN Web TV.
The Global Bridgebuilders Gala Gathers International Leaders During UNGA
What’s happening: During the United Nations General Assembly’s High-Level Week, the Global Subnational Diplomacy Council and Global Partners NYC are hosting the Global Bridgebuilders Gala, bringing together figures from diplomacy, international institutions, national and regional governments, business, philanthropy, and civic life. The evening recognizes individuals whose work strengthens relationships across borders, institutions, and communities through the Bridgebuilders Honors, alongside a leadership conversation examining the future of international cooperation.
Why go: New York becomes a remarkable gathering place during UNGA, and the gala brings together several of the communities that make that week significant. The evening begins with a reception before moving into a seated dinner, the Bridgebuilders Honors, and a fireside conversation titled What’s Next? The discussion will examine how international institutions, governments, cities, regions, and businesses can respond to geopolitical change, emerging technology, economic transformation, and climate pressures. Particular attention will be given to the growing diplomatic role of mayors and governors, the relationship between business and international cooperation, and New York’s position at the intersection of global diplomacy, capital, and culture.
What’s involved: Reception, seated dinner, awards, and leadership conversation.
Wednesday, September 23, 2026 from 6:30PM onward in New York City. Information and tickets here.
The Armory Show 2026
What’s happening: The Armory Show returns with nearly 230 galleries from more than 30 countries and lands squarely in the middle of New York’s fall art season. Led by director Kyla McMillan, the 2026 edition expands both its Presents section for younger galleries and its Solo section for single-artist presentations by more than twenty percent. This year’s curatorial emphasis turns toward the Caribbean and its diasporas, with Platform curated by Jovanna Venegas of SculptureCenter and Focus curated by María Elena Ortiz of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
Why go: The fair is broad enough to reward both serious collecting and aimless wandering, but the strongest reason to attend this year is the concentration of distinct curatorial ideas inside that scale. Platform will use large-scale installations to examine architecture, materiality, reconstruction, resilience, and self-determination across the Caribbean, with artists including Bony Ramirez, Lucia Hierro, Margarita Cabrera, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, and Hew Locke. Focus shifts toward solo and dual presentations exploring the Caribbean as a site of movement, exchange, and diaspora, with artists including Renée Cox, Lizania Cruz, Yanira Collado, Simon Benjamin, and Gio Swaby. Elsewhere, the expanded Solo section creates more concentrated encounters with individual practices, while Presents brings around 55 younger galleries into the fair, including first-time participants such as Adegbola Gallery, Amanita, Catinca Tabacaru, Rajiv Menon, and The Fridge. El Museo del Barrio also receives this year’s Armory Spotlight and will present Lulu Verona, who will invite visitors to participate in the making of one of her textile works.
What’s involved: Contemporary art fair, installations, solo presentations, and gallery exhibitions.
Thursday, September 24th to Sunday, September 27, 2026 at the Javits Center, 429 11th Avenue, New York, NY 10001. Information and tickets here.
Lexus and MSCHF Twist the Automobile Into Sculpture for Armory Week
What’s happening: Lexus has commissioned Brooklyn conceptual art collective MSCHF to transform two production electrified vehicles into surreal sculptural doubles for MOTOMORPHOSIS, a three-day exhibition at Chelsea Industrial during Armory Week. Known for projects including the viral Big Red Boots, MSCHF frequently takes familiar objects and pushes them into forms that feel digitally manipulated but physically real. Here, that approach is applied to the Lexus RZ 450e and RX 450h+, with each production car shown beside a radically distorted counterpart.
Why go: The works are strange enough to justify seeing them in person. Circle Car loops a Lexus RZ 450e nose-to-tail into a continuous ring, while Twisted Car takes an RX 450h+ and torques its body into a long spiral, stretching its lines and surface details with it. MSCHF describes the pair as “Form Cars” rather than concept cars, and the joke is that these vehicles look like they are moving even though they have been rendered immobile. Shown beside the unaltered production models, the sculptures make the transformation immediately legible and turn the familiar proportions of a luxury SUV into something closer to a physical animation frame.
What’s involved: Automotive sculpture exhibition.
Friday, September 25 to Saturday, September 26, 2026, from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM at Chelsea Industrial, 545 West 28th Street, New York, NY. Information here.
Daybreaker ALIVE: NYC at Brooklyn Bridge Park
What’s happening: Brooklyn-born sober dance movement Daybreaker is expanding its morning-party concept into ALIVE: NYC, a free sunrise-to-sunset music and wellness festival at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 3. Founded in 2013 with a pre-work dance party for roughly 180 people, Daybreaker now operates across 66 cities and has reached more than one million participants. ALIVE takes that original idea considerably further, combining dance music, movement, spirituality, wellness, storytelling, food, art, and family programming into a full-day participatory festival rather than a conventional sequence of concerts.
Why go: Brooklyn-born dance music legend Danny Tenaglia headlines with a DJ set, joined by Nickodemus and Saint James Joy, while Matthew and Renee Morrison appear alongside the Grammy-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Marianne Williamson will deliver a sermon on aliveness, Jivamukti and Sky Ting lead yoga, and The Earth Elders open the day with a ceremony. Taryn Toomey brings The Class to the park, Othership handles breathwork, and Bathhouse, Huht, and Recoverie provide sauna and cold-plunge experiences.
The point is to participate rather than simply watch. Visitors can move between dancing, communal singing, fitness, breathwork, yoga, devotional dance, recovery sessions, talks on friendship and social connection, a kids zone, magic, storytelling, international food trucks, and open space overlooking the Manhattan skyline. There is no alcohol-centered VIP culture, and the sunrise-to-sunset format means the crowd can include children, longtime club-goers, wellness regulars, families, and people encountering Daybreaker for the first time.
What’s involved: Music, dancing, wellness, talks, food, and family programming.
Saturday, September 26, 2026 from sunrise to sunset at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 3, Brooklyn, New York. Free admission with RSVP. Information and registration here.
Comic Strip Live Hosts a New Faces Stand-Up Showcase
What’s happening: The Comic Strip Live is hosting a New Faces Show presented by Funny People Productions, giving stand-up comedians a chance to test material on the Upper East Side club’s stage. The evening is built around emerging talent rather than an established headliner, with performers working through newer sets in front of a live audience.
Why go: New-faces comedy nights are useful precisely because they are less polished and more unpredictable than a conventional club bill. The lineup includes Rosalee Mayeux, an award-winning writer and comedian whose credits include Cedric the Entertainer and CBS’s Comedy Pays, more than 300 commercial and screen appearances, and roles in The Lawnmower Man and Blast from the Past. The format gives audiences a chance to see comedians before they are fully established, with the possibility of catching a strong new act in a much smaller room.
What’s involved: Stand-up comedy showcase.
Sunday, September 27, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at The Comic Strip, New York, NY. Information and tickets here.
Denyce Graves Foundation Harvest Moon Gala 2026
What's happening: Founded in 2021, the Denyce Graves Foundation supports emerging artists while expanding the visibility of overlooked figures in American musical history. Its programs include Hidden Voices, devoted to musicians and educators whose contributions have largely disappeared from the historical record, and Shared Voices, which connects Historically Black Colleges and Universities with leading music conservatories. Its work includes artist development, educational partnerships, and programs connecting classical music with a broader account of American culture. The foundation's Harvest Moon Gala returns for 2026, honoring Misty Copeland, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Ann Ziff, with Suzi Cordish, Ann Gottlieb, and Barbara Tober serving as Gala Chairs.
Why go: This year's honorees bring together ballet, opera, orchestral music, and philanthropy in one place. Misty Copeland arrives from American Ballet Theatre, Yannick Nézet-Séguin from the Metropolitan Opera and Philadelphia Orchestra, and Ann Ziff from New York's arts-philanthropy world. Guests begin with cocktails beneath Guastavino's tiled vaults before moving into dinner and the awards program, giving the evening the kind of formal, cross-disciplinary character that suits the setting.
What's involved: Cocktails, dinner, and awards.
Dress Code: Black tie.
Monday, September 28, 2026 with cocktails at 6:00 PM and dinner and program at 7:00 PM at Guastavino's, 409 East 59th Street, New York, NY 10022; Information and tickets here.
This Month’s NYC Events Guide
Many of today’s top creative talent balance fine art careers with work in advertising. Since 2018, the MvVO ART / AD ART SHOW works celebrate to the journey and craft.