Make your culture week splendid
Hope your weekend was stellar, despite everything.
Tonight (Monday) at 7-8pm ET, the 92nd Street Y here in New York — one of our most important cultural centers — is having a star-studded “Evening of Gratitude and Hope.” Guests include Billy Collins, Tony Blair (yes, that Tony Blair), Nicole Krauss, Salman Rushdie, Dorrance Dance, and a lot more. I have a class or else this would be my most highly anticipated event of the week. It will be on 92Y’s website, YouTube, and Facebook, and you can see more here.
On Thursday at 6pm ET, Sam Sifton (until recently the NYT’s food editor, now one of its assistant managing editors) is talking with Yewande Komolafe, who among other things is author of Essential Nigerian Recipes. I love these chats. They’re a good way to end the workday.
Speaking of food and drink, the very cool publication Punch does a “Tip Your Bartender” live chat, including cocktail recipes, with a different bartender every weekday at their Instagram (@punch_drink) at 5pm ET.
Tomorrow night, a group of all-stars (including Stacey Abrams and Norman Lear) are talking at 8pm ET about “Democracy in the Age of COVID-19,” and it’s free.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you that this Friday, at 8pm ET, the terrific new nonfiction film The Painter and the Thief is premiering through the new platform Movie Night, and I am hosting the Q&A afterwards with the two main subjects and director. This is a really good movie, and if you’re thinking, “Man, documentaries, I don’t want to sit through some talking head educational experience,” then you definitely need to watch and discover what nonfiction filmmaking can really do. You can buy a ticket (and support a local theater in your area or elsewhere) here.