FRIDAY
8pm (+ 2/4)

8pm (thru 2/5): multiple playwrights collaborate on one work without knowing what others are doing at piper mckenzie’s dainty cadaver. the brick, $10.

8pm: buried alive! = deborah kaufman’s intimate performance staged on a tabletop with sets constructed entirely of matchboxes. observatory, $12.

9pm: blurghlesque, a burlesque tribue to 30 rock, a sexy tribute to liz lemon, jack, kenneth, tracy and all the rest of the tgs gang, with comedy by jena friedman and jessica delfino. matchless, $5.

SATURDAY
4pm: novelist and macarthur fellow colson whitehead reads from his new post-apocalyptic novel zone one, which follows new york’s clean-up job of removing zombies to make manhattan inhabitable again. bpl, free.

5pm: brooklyn museum’s target free first saturday celebrates black males defying stereotypes with discussions, a talk with author carla peterson, a fashion showcase, music from afro-punk band game rebelion, violinist daniel bernard roumain, and dj stormin’ norman, more free.

6pm: the bed-stuy bar crawl includes a free drink from four bars, small appetizers, free stuff from yelp and a copy of the latest not for tourists brooklyn guidebook. $25 (must purchase tickets by midnight fri).

9pm: the folks at secret formula have formulated a grease sing-along and 50s dance (with spiked punch, of course) including shout outs, drinking games, trivia, a costume contest and dance-off, more. bell house, $10 adv, $12 dos.

10pm: the rub classic hip hop dance party rubs one out one last time at southpaw before the venue closes at the event moves to the bell house, $10

11pm: nerds + burlesque = nerdlesque. followed by strip operation! the brick, $10.

SUNDAY
1pm (every first sun thru march): a licensed psychotherapist and garden guide leads a special ‘chase away the winter blues‘ tour of the brooklyn botanic garden. free with $10 garden admission.

3pm (thru 5/26): brooklyn’s truffle theatre company performs shakespeare’s a midsummer night’s dream in the mezzanine of 61 local (cobble hill), $5 for super bowl sunday (reg $15).

6:30pm SUPERBOWL!

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Sneak peak: check out the finished product on Sunday!

Here’s another reason to take advantage of tomorrow’s Heart of Brooklyn Free Summer Sunday cultur-palooza with free admission and special programs at six BK institutions including Brooklyn Museum, the Prospect Park Zoo and the carousel: Brokelyn will be there with sweet surprises! Come say hi to Team Brokelyn at our table in Grand Army Plaza next to the (free) Brooklyn Icons mini-golf, from 12-5pm. In addition to games and Brooklyn-themed goodies, we’ve got a big present for you: the debut of our brand-new, super-stylish Brokelyn t-shirts! The designers shirts come from Brooklyn Royalty‘s Bob Bland and sell for only $20.

(In the event of rain, we’ll be in the Brooklyn Public Library)

Brooklyn Museum, photo by Flickr's Emilio Guerra

Today is a rainy mess, sure, but it’s also Art Museum Day, which means free or reduced admission to lots of museums in the city (and across the nation), and waltzing into a museum for free is a pretty nice way to spend a rainy day. It’s the second year the Association of Art Museum Directors has organized the Art Museum Day, and today is also International Museum Day, which this year is focusing on the theme Museum and Memory. Participants in today’s discount include the Brooklyn Museum and MOMA. See a full list below, via WNYC:

• The American Folk Art Museum offers free admission and a 10 percent discount to items purchased at the museum store.
• Admission to the Bronx Museum is free on Wednesday.
• Tickets to the Brooklyn Museum are two for one on Wednesday.
• When you buy one ticket to the Guggenheim Museum, your second ticket will be half-price.
• Entry to the Museum of Arts and Design is free.
• The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) offers half-priced general admission tickets if you purchase them online.
• The Morgan Library and Museum offers half-priced general admission tickets on Wednesday.
• Tickets to the Studio Museum in Harlem are free on Wednesday, as is a tour of spring exhibition highlights.
• When you buy one ticket to the Whitney Museum of American Art, your second ticket will be half-price.

Bushwick Open Studios returns for its fifth year next month. Photo from 2009 by Flickr's Joann Kim

Your warm-weather free music plans may have been paywalled or thrown on the rocks indefinitely, but luckily the chance to view loads of incredible art sans-prix is alive, well, and just building up steam for the spring and summer seasons. Scan through our round-up of coming attractions, get that Dali ‘stache growing, and let your inner arts critic run wild (especially since most of these involve free booze). You can even kick off your warm weather season of arts appreciation tonight with DUMBO’s monthly free gallery walk. 

DUMBO & Culture411’s First Thursday Gallery Walk
First Thursday of each month (today!)
If your commitment to the arts took a wintry nosedive, now’s the time to get back out there. DUMBO’s First Thursday Gallery Walk returns for May with open studios, art from multiple disciplines and free booze from 5:30-8:30pm between Main and Jay Streets.

Atlantic Avenue Art Walk 2011
June 4-5
Atlantic Avenue holds its eighth annual artwalk featuring the work of more than 300 artists. Studios and venues are scattered throughout Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, Gowanus and Downtown Brooklyn. Besides the avalanche of art, the weekend also includes live music, public art projects, films, performances and specials at neighborhood bars and restaurants. Curated tours are also offered free of charge. Find more details, lists of participating artists and businesses, and an events schedule and map here.

Bushwick Open Studios ’11
June 3-5
Bushwick’s premiere arts party returns for a fifth year with a promise of more than 500 participating artists taking over the ‘hood’s streets, parks, lofts, roofs, businesses and studios. Last year’s event sprawled across 3 miles of Bushwick and into Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy and Ridgewood and included special events like a Cabaret show, a 17-band music fest, and a panel and open forum on local housing and commercial policy. Updates to the 2011 schedule can be found here.

Brooklyn Museum’s Target’s First Saturday
First Saturday of each month
This month’s First Saturday lineup is nature-themed with live music and dance performances, a documentary screening, gallery talks, interactive art projects, a book reading and open mic session, and a dance party spinning straight-up Brooklyn soul. If you’re starving for a smorgasboard of arts and culture, this afternoon is your fully-loaded fix. See the full schedule and details for free tickets here.

Renegade Craft Fair, via Paul Kieper

Renegade Craft Fair
June 11-12
For an arts experience that turns up the down-home appeal without compromising its uptown vibes, there is the Renegade Craft Fair in Greenpoint’s McCarren Park. The weekend boasts a “best of” list when it comes to local and national DIY and craft artisans. Peruse the stands for inspiration and take a hands-on workshop to test your trad-ey tricks. Get the deets on what else you can expect here.

7pm (+ 5/13, 6/10): the l magazine kicks off audiophile at the brooklyn museum. this month: performances by electro-popster mndr + multimedia pop band newvillager. bonus: free vodka 7-8pm. free (rsvp) with $10 suggested museum admission.

SATURDAY
help get city parks spruced up in time for summer during hands on new york day

local record shops offer limited releases during record store day (titles and qty vary by store). plus, a chance to see an intimate regina spektor performance at other music.

12:30-10pm: coney island’s luna park and the coney island history project open for the season. first 100 guests ride the cyclone for free.

7:30pm: the brooklyn bombshells battle it out with manhattan mayhem at tonight’s gotham girls rollerby bout. l.i.u. (brooklyn), $19.99+.

8pm: comediennes arden myrin and lisa delarios get their always fun ‘party machine‘ on at union hall. tonight: janeane garofalo, brody stevens, kurt braunohler, morgan murphy and adira amram and the experience. $5.

SUNDAY
thru 4/19: save 30-70 percent on panties, chemises, bras, more at williamsburg’s brooklyn fox

2-5pm: an all-vegan popup sprouts in bushwick’s pine box rock shop. bonus: free brownies from babycakes and gifts from babeland. $3 well drinks, $1 off drafts.

4pm: for the non-vegans: flatbush farm roasts two whole pigs at their garden patio roast complete w. early spring vegetables + bbq sides. approx $10/plate.

9pm: ‘comedy at the knitting factory‘ with hannibal buress: todd barry, anthony jeselnik, elton james white, damien lemon, nick turner, and musical guest darling cait. free.

ALL WEEKEND
thru 4/17: the 5th annual congress of curious peoples = 10 days of performances, exhibitions and films by sideshow artists. coney island, $5-10/event.

Free first Saturdays at the BK Museum: one of the best parties in town.

Culture is part of the reason we love Brooklyn, but it often comes at a premium: steep entrance fees in the city museums. Many places also have those “suggested” fees that make you acutely uncomfortable as you whisper to the cashier you’ll be donating less than the recommended amount. Dan Nguyen, a journalist with ProPublica, has solved some of those problems with his new site I Heart NY Museums. It’s an easily sortable, color-coded database that  indexes most of the city’s major cultural centers, listed with normal entrance fees, hours, Yelp ratings — and when you can get in for free.

Look for the light blue color code designating the “free/special suggested donation,” wherein the museum won’t pressure you nearly as much to donate as it does during its normal, “suggested donation” time period (indicated in dark blue). The site even includes a Google Map pinpointing each museum, color-coded according to their hours at the current time. So because right now it is 12:30pm on Friday, the MoMa will cost you the regular $20,  but come 4:00 PM, it’s free, and the map changes to indicate that.

Nguyen’s self-compiled site also links to a lot of cool resources, if you’re feeling too lazy to actually venture out to a NYC museum, like the Google Art Project, which allows you to see into museums across the world, take tours, and zoom in on the details of famous masterpieces.

Get your culture on: www.iheartnymuseums.com

Via L Magazine