Civic Courses
NYCDOG: New York Council of Dog Owner Groups
Dedicated to improving our communities by promoting the establishment and maintenance of humane off leash recreation opportunities, responsible dog ownership and respectful park stewardship.
Libraries and Book Stores
NYC Public Library Bloomingdale Branch
The Bloomingdale Regional Library is bright, spacious, fully wheelchair accessible and houses a comprehensive general reference collection and collections for adults and teenagers for borrowing on the ground floor. The children’s collection shares the second floor with an auditorium used for library programs and community meetings.
NYC Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts houses one of the world’s most extensive circulating, reference, and rare archival collections in its field. These materials are available free of charge, along with a wide range of special programs, including exhibitions, seminars, and performances. An essential resource for everyone with an interest in the arts—whether professional or amateur—the Library is known particularly for its prodigious collections of non-book materials such as historic recordings, videotapes, autograph manuscripts, correspondence, sheet music, stage designs, press clippings, programs, posters and photographs.
The library is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza. Please check their website for a calendar of classes and programs.
Book Culture
Located at 536 W. 112th Street, Book Culture is a book shop where you can browse and discover the widest range of publications in the arts and humanities. The shop has an extensive representation of new books in areas you will not see elsewhere. The first floor, dedicated to new publications, organized by subject, is a singularly wonderful book experience. Our second floor extends the possibilities with an extensive selection of backlist titles, remainders and rotating bargain books. The store also offers reading groups and kids’ story time.
Music and Art Classes
Bloomingdale School of Music
The Bloomingdale School of Music offers high-quality music services at reasonable cost to the people of the Upper West Side. To that end, the school offers a broad program of private music instruction, classes, community outreach projects, ensembles, and concerts.
El Taller Latino Americano
El Taller is an arts and education organization, founded in 1979 by Latin and North Americans to afford opportunities for artistic expression and the exchange of ideas and experiences between people of different cultures. They offer conversational Spanish classes, plus art exhibits, Latin and world music, salsa and tango dance classes, and more. Visit them at the corner of 104th and Broadway or check out their web site to see what’s happening. Be sure to look up and see the colorful display in their big picture windows overlooking Broadway.
Harlem Open Artists Studio Tour
The Harlem Open Artist Studio Tour (H.O.A.S.T.) is a community-based arts organization that was established in 2004. Their mission is to foster artistic expression by uniting and promoting the visual artists of Harlem and to strengthen the community by stimulating awareness of the contemporary arts movement. Block resident, Asia Ingalls, is a featured artist.
Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music prepares highly talented students for careers as passionate performers and composers, and as imaginative, effective leaders in the arts. Our international student body thrives in a supportive atmosphere that encourages excellence, values individuals and welcomes innovation. MSM’s artist faculty inspires the performance, creation and knowledge of great music, while exchange programs, distance learning and entrepreneurial opportunities expand the School’s reach. Offering hundreds of concert presentations and community events each year, Manhattan School of Music is a vigorous contributor to the cultural fabric of New York City and an important player on the world stage.
Nicholas Roerich Museum
A major center for the exhibition of paintings by Nicholas Roerich. Nicholas Roerich is known first and foremost as a Russian-born artist. His paintings, of which there are thousands around the world, explore the mythic origins, the natural beauty, and the spiritual strivings of humanity and of the world. The Museum houses approximately two hundred of these works, and keeps most of them permanently on display, for visitors who come from around the world. Indeed, for many of these visitors, the Museum is a destination of great importance; the paintings speak to them of their own inner yearnings and possible fulfillment. For them, Roerich’s paintings are a kind of teaching—about spiritual development, about culture and its role in human life, and about opportunities for the achievement of peace in a fractious world.
The museum also offers poetry readings and free concerts. Check their website to see a list of the upcoming events. The museum is located at 319 West 107th Street.
Cathedral of St. John the Divine
Explore the many highlights of the Cathedral’s history, architecture, and artwork from the Great Bronze Doors to the seven Chapels of the Tongues. The Cathedral is located at 1047 Amsterdam Ave. Please check their website for a listing of tours and lectures.
Pottery Classes
We are fortunate to have two stores which not only sell beautiful pottery but also offer classes in pottery for children and adults.
Supermud Pottery, located at 2744 Broadway at 106th Street, offers classes in hand building, wheel throwing and a variety of surface techniques to adults and children of all skill levels.
Mugi Pottery Studio, located at 993 Amsterdam at 109th Street, is a gem in the Upper West Side of Manhattan (NYC). Mugi offers a relaxed and comfortable pottery studio for making pottery in fun and creative classes for kids and adults, and now an Intro to Wheel Throwing class.